Companies I've had problems with.

Australia Post

Have you ever wondered what would happen if an expensive item you sent by Registered Post was damaged by a huge impact in transit, and you tried to claim compensation from Australia Post?

What if all your efforts achieved absolutely nothing, and you sought assistance from the Commonwealth Ombudsman?

Click this link to read my experience of having an electronic test instrument destroyed in the post, and the time-wasting run-around I got which left me very much out of pocket.

Next we have Virgin Mobile (Aust). Don't give them authority to direct debit your credit card or bank account without reading this fax I sent them (on letterhead paper to 1300 300 454 at 1:58am, 6/12/01)....

6th December 2001

Account number: 7000924202
ID: ******
Mobile number: 0403777430
Name: Robert Parker
Hi there,
   I'll be blunt. If you don't act on this fax, I am going to go to the ACCC with a complaint about Virgin Mobile. Now I've got your attention, I'll give you a bit of history.
   On November 12, 2001 I sent a registered letter to you at Virgin Mobile (Australia) Locked Bag 17, Royal Exchange NSW 1225. That letter contained your SIM card and a request to terminate all my involvement with Virgin Mobile, and especially to remove my Visa card details from your system so you could no longer charge it to further increase the amount I was in credit with you. On the same day I sent you an e-mail telling you the letter was on the way.
   On November 17, 2001 I received a bill from you, indicating that you had charged my Visa card $1.96 for reasons I was unable to work out. I phoned Al on your 1300 555 100 number and asked him about my account status. He said it was still active and there was nothing on the system about my request to have it terminated. I explained the situation to him, and he cancelled the account and said he'd leave information about this issue so others would know what was going on.
   On November 20, 2001 I received an e-mail in reply to my e-mail of 12/11/01, claiming my 'letter of complaint' had not been received. The next day I replied to this e-mail, explaining what had happened up to this point, and asking what I was going to have to do to terminate all involvement with Virgin Mobile and especially to get my Visa card details removed from your system. I never received a reply.
   This morning I checked activity on my Visa card account, and was less than impressed (to put it politely) to find that on 4/12/01, Virgin Mobile had extracted another $1.18 from it, several weeks after my requests to have all involvement with you terminated.
   What I want from Virgin Mobile is very simple: Immediate removal from your computer system of all my personal and Visa card details, and confirmation in writing that this has been done.
   If this issue is not finalized this time, I am going to formally complain to the ACCC about Virgin Mobile failing to act on my requests to have my account terminated, and for charging my Visa card long after I made those requests, when I was already in significant credit anyway.
   I look forward to your immediate cooperation in this matter.

Faithfully,
[signed]

Current status:

Virgin Mobile ignored this fax as well as two further messages sent via their website.

The ACCC says this is nothing to do with them because "... this situation does not appear to raise any issues under Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974 ... which prohibits certain types of conduct that are harmful to consumers, such as misleading and deceptive conduct ...". [Yeah, right]

My bank (the ever-helpful Westpac) recovered the unauthorized Visa card transactions mentioned in the fax, but unbelievably on December 28, 2001 Virgin Mobile debited my Visa card yet again, this time for only $0.20.

Westpac reversed this unauthorized debit, but I'm still waiting to hear if it's possible to permanently block Virgin Mobile from accessing my credit card. It was only $0.20 last time, but what's to stop them making it $200.00 next time? I'll be watching my Visa card statements very carefully for the words "Virgin Mobile" for a very long time yet.

Having problems with Virgin Mobile in the UK? Click here!
Click here for a very funny and well-written saga involving Virgin Mobile (UK).

Vodafone Australia 'No Plans'™
I'm so happy with their mobile phone service that I'd recommend it to anyone. :-)

More companies which ignore e-mails when they cause their customers problems....

When I e-mailed Blue Sky Computers (then in Ermington, now in Ashfield Australia) about buying a new PC from them, they didn't stop trying to contact me until I ordered one. When it appeared that the keyboard was defective because Blue Sky Computers sold me the PC set up for a Brazilian Portuguese one, the replacement keyboard I paid extra for was missing its software and wrist rest. They ignored my e-mail about this. When the whistling unstable power supply began to cause multiple resets of the PC and I e-mailed them asking if they'd replace it under warranty, that e-mail was ignored too. I won't be going back to Blue Sky Computers now that the PC is out of warranty.

Asti Magnetics make video recorder heads. Their website shows that their "415" video head assembly suits the Sony SL-HF77 hifi VCR which has four heads. I ordered this assembly from one of their distributors in the USA. When it arrived down here in Australia, I found that it has only two heads and is obviously totally incompatible. I e-mailed Asti Magnetics asking why they claim that this is the correct head assembly and asked if they make one which does suit that machine. No response. So I had to return the head to the USA, which cost me time and postage. Obviously I won't be dealing with Asti Magnetics again.

Old used modem supplied as new...

I ordered a Maestro Woomera modem online from Netlink Connect Shop. What promptly arrived in a beat-up carton was Woomera modem Serial Number 1000000 562606. Its RS-232 cable was missing from its opened bag but a mysterious telephone cable was in its place. The modem's Liquid Crystal Display was misaligned in its window, and the dusty rear connectors looked like they had been wet. It had the appearance of being an old, well-used modem.

Maestro Digital Communications who made the modem confirmed that this unit was manufactured years ago. When I phoned Netlink Connect, first they said that one of their old test modems must have found its way amongst the new ones. When I asked about a replacement, they said they had no new ones in stock...

The modem worked very well, but I returned it for the full refund which Netlink Connect promised me (and delivered). This incident cost me wasted time, the expense of shipping it back, and confidence in buying things online even from apparently large companies with very professional-looking websites.

Back to my home page...

Last update: 11th Aug, 2007