Tiscali

I'm very pissed off with Tiscali - I've been trying to get a refund from them since I cancelled my account more than 3 months ago. It's only a small amount, but dammit, it's my money and not theirs, and I want it back! (At the very least, I don't want them to have it - I'd rather they send it to a charity than just give up and let them have it). Here's a summary of what happened - I'll try to keep it short, but there was a lot of bouncing backwards and forwards so it'll be a long post.

At least in this exchange I mostly manage to avoid the script-people. But because each time you reply it's picked up by a different person, you lost a lot of continuity. Also, there's no incentive for them to solve the problem - they know that when you reply it'll be someone else's issue, so why put any effort into trying to sort it out?

Here goes. In February, I phoned Tiscali to cancel my account as of 15 March, told them I was moving overseas, and gave them my non-UK forwarding address. At no time was this a problem, nor did they mention any potential limitations on refunds.

At the end of March they took a full month's fee from my bank account, and I emailed them to query this, since it should only have been a pro-rata amount. I struggled to find the billing email address, and got stuck in a loop with the script people who said I have to phone the billing department. Eventually I got the email address, but by then I had found info on the web which suggested that they take a full month then give you a refund at the end of the next month.

By 11 May, I hadn't received a refund so I emailed them. Person One replied saying that I am due a refund, and they would post me a cheque. I immediately replied asking them to rather refund directly to my bank account since it's very expensive to deposit foreign currency cheques in SA. Person Two responded saying they can only refund by cheque, or I can email them my credit card details and they would refund to that. Admittedly I misread his reply slightly (mentally added in a 'not' where there shouldn't have been one) and replied asking them to refund to my bank account. Person Three replied saying that I could phone them to have the refund sent to my credit card, since they couldn't accept credit card details via email (contradicting Person Two). I replied explaining why I can't phone and can't accept a cheque (since the forex fees would be too high), and asked if there is no way it could be refunded to my bank account. Person Four then replied asking me to phone them so they can refund back to my credit card. I replied, again saying that I cannot phone since international calls are extremely expensive, and asked if the cheque could be sent to someone else, made out to some else, or sent directly to my bank.

On 12 May, Person Five replied asking me to write to their head office, and saying that the cheque could only be made out to me. I also received a reply from Person Six, saying that they can make the cheque out to anyone I request. She suggested that I write to their head office to request the cheque to be sent directly to my bank. I replied saying that if I have to post something to the UK regardless, they might as well send the cheque to me here, and I could decide how to proceed from there. I again gave them my non-UK address.

On 16 May, I emailed them request a confirmation that the cheque was being processed. By 21 May, I had received no reply so I emailed again, again giving them my non-UK address.

On 22 May, Person Seven said she would put through an escalation to the billing department, but it could take 28 days to be processed.

By 25 June, I still had not received a cheque. I emailed them again, asking them to look into whether the cheque had been processed, and what address it had been sent to. On 26 June, Person Eight replied saying that the cheque was sent to my UK address on 23 May, and that a note had been attached to my account saying that it should be sent to SA instead. She said that if I cannot get hold of the cheque sent to the UK, they would cancel it and send a replacement to my SA address. I replied asking them to do so, giving them my SA address again (and complaining about how ridiculous the whole situation was). I received a reply from Person Six, asking if I have received the cheque since my last email, and if not, to advise them of the address I want the cheque sent to. I replied with a copy of my previous reply.

I then received a reply from Person Nine, saying that they cannot send cheques overseas, and I must confirm if I have a family member in the UK who they can send a cheque to who can then forward it on to me. At this point I nearly freaked out, and replied saying that this was not acceptable, that I do not have any family members in the UK, that no other company had had a problem refunding either to my bank account or sending a cheque to SA, and I did not not understand why it could not be done, especially since no-one had previously said it would it be a problem. I asked her to sort it out ASAP or escalate the issue to someone who could sort it out.

I have had no reply today. I don't think I can take another reply from them - we're just going backwards. I've going to email this summary to them, asking them to escalate to the Customer Service Manager or General Manager as per their Code of Practice, but I just know it'll end up having no effect - I'll just keep floating around the support pool. I'd take them up on their offer of mailing the cheque direct to my bank, but since I have to do it in writing they'll probably lose or ignore my letter, or send it to the wrong bank, or not include my account details, or wait another month and then tell me they can't do it.

Edit (28/06/2007): I've removed the names from the story, since one of the Tiscali customer service reps was uncomfortable with it (see the 3rd comment below).

I've since asked them just to send the cheque direct to my bank - Person Six replied saying that they will do so, and that they apologise for the problems and that they take on board all comments with a view to improving their services. I wonder if that includes laughing at their customers? (See the 1st comment below).

It's become two - no, three - issues: getting my money; getting contradictory answers; attitude towards customers. But I just want to get the money I'm owed. The customer service reps clearly don't care, and I can't force them to care. The head of customer service should care, and the general manager should care, but I've been fighting with them for over three months and I'm too tired.