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I had an issue like this with Three in the UK, everyone in the office who was listening for 25 minutes of my lunch to the conversation.

-Hi, I'd like to cancel.

-Cool, we are upgrading your account so you don't need to. -Umm, just cancel it please.

-Today only, you get 5GB for free

-I don't care, I want to cancel.

-Why?

-Because I don't need your service anymore.

-But what about the free data!?

-I don't need you, I am moving country.

-What country and when? Do you want another month before you leave?

-I am leaving tomorrow.

-But what about the free 5gb?

-If I say yes to the free 5gb, then what happens?

-Well we can't make more than 1 change to your account in a day, so you can't cancel if you accept our upgrade.

-Then just cancel.

-Ok putting your through to the right department

line goes dead

Next attempt, they take my number in case line goes dead, it does, they ring back, after one ring, line goes dead.

Third attempt, they cancel it.



I begin to suspect going nuclear is the only option. "Hi, I'd like to cancel my service" "But what about X?" "Ombudsman and or Lawyers. Cancel. You have been instructed, the next time I say this will be in court/writing/etc".


They'll just transfer you to legal. Worst case, they tag your account and do this every time you call, and you're in limbo for months. Ugh.


That's not how it works. They won't transfer you to a lawyer: those are damned expensive.

In Australia, if you threaten to go to an ombudsman, companies tend to listen. Ombudsman cases are very expensive.


Legal department are not lawyers, and are also usually much much smaller in size than customer support as a whole. Also legal departments are typically fairly terrible at resolving disputes in a reasonable amount of time (before months have passed). Even if your issue is simple or a misunderstanding, if you get transferred to legal, it is no longer simple at that point.


You don't get a lawyer, you get the legal department. Big difference :-)


What limbo? I dont care who am I speaking with. "I am cancelling thank you" + recording is all it takes.




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