Everyone wants to save money. We believe, as consumers in this modern day, we are well protected against sharp practice and generally tend to assume that fellow businesses will be honest and honourable in their dealings with us. Not always so.
This is my own account of my experiences with telecom company Unicom.
Just over 3 years ago I signed to Unicom. It seemed like a good deal and was presented to me enthusiastically by an elderly gentleman dressed in a smart, grey suit. A year later I decided to go back to BT, mainly because I wanted a reliable broadband service. Unicom did not supply this service at the time and even if they had I still wanted a more established company. The wheels were put in motion by BT and very soon I got a call from Unicom to ask if I was aware I was in a 3 year contract and that as I hadn’t given them notice, I would have to pay to end the contract. This ran into hundreds of pounds – I can’t remember now exactly what she said but it was enough to make me wait another 2 years. So I waited, and recently, just over 3 years after first going with Unicom, I contacted BT to take my lines back. The letter soon arrived from Unicom saying I would have to pay £100 ‘admin’ charge + 100% of service charges + 30% of calls I ‘would have’ made for the rest of my contract. As you can imagine, I swiftly emailed them telling them to check the dates. I was outside the 3 years. I then got another call telling me that actually I was not released from my contract as I hadn’t given them not less than 3 months notice before the 3rd anniversary of the contract that I wanted to end it. Another person from Unicom rang me today to inform me I would owe £1853.00 if I leave Unicom. Bearing in mind I was not told by the original salesman of these clauses. Nothing to do with severing the contract was ever explained and I can’t find any trace of the original contract even though I have my telecom paper meticulously filed. I have asked them to send me a copy of the contract. They informed me this would take ‘some time’ to pull from the archives and I would be best advised to re-instate the lines while it was all being sorted out. I told them I would not re-instate the lines, had never been advised of this termination clause when I signed and would not pay this money to which she said, ‘well, you’d better get legal advice then. It’s up to you to read your contract.’ She also mentioned another of my numbers – a residential line – which I was not even aware was with them (because they deal with business lines). When I closely inspected my records I saw that that number is with them too – though I’m sure I never asked them to take it on. I know I should have realised about that sooner – but it still came as a shock because I was sure that number was in with my TV package??? I’m wondering now if I gave the salesman that number just as a ‘contact’ and he went ahead and put it on the bill. I’ve now applied to BT to take that one back too so it looks like I’ve got a massive fight on my hands.
I have done some research to find others in my situation. There used to be a 15 page thread on vunet with dozens and dozens of similar complaints against Unicom. The vast majority were by people being caught in the same 3 year 'roll-over' situation as us. This thread now seems to have disappeared???
Here are a few others I have found.
http://www.reviewcentre.com/review247942.html
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=26921
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=84666
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/finance-news/2008/01/24/it-s-time-to-name-and-shame-the-contract-sharks-86908-20296114/
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/132433-unicom-missled-us-about.html
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=682401&highlight=unicom
In a nutshell the repeated and over-riding complaints are:
Customers attention is seldom ? (no reported cases) brought to the fact they are signing a 3 year contract.
(Unicom claim it is printed on the front of their forms clearly, but I am unaware of how long that has been the case – please see anecdote below which was written in reply to Chris Earle of Unicom claiming the clause is clear)
‘Hi Chris
I agree the forms are clearly marked, however, it's the way the forms are presented. I'll explain. The sales rep visits you and spends perhaps 30 minutes explaining the advantages of changing to Unicom. No mention what so ever of the 3 year tie in or extremely heavy cancellation fee.
After your convinced to change service provider and the sales rep has your “trust” out come the forms ( I think about 4 in all requiring signing, one straight after the other)
with the words from him “please sign these now I’ll explain what your signing afterwards”. So you quickly sign them. Because there are a number of these forms to sign and you have been re-assured that all will be explained afterwards, you focus your attention to the little box at the bottom where you have to sign and not at the top of the form.
Then afterwards, after more friendly chat the meeting ends and you’ve forgotten that you have not had explained to you the terms and conditions you bid him farewell. I guess it’s basic human psychology and it works, because the customers attention is distracted from the top of the form where it states 3 year contract and once convinced to buy the service you wish to please the sales man and speed things up so you can get back to your own work.
If you want to improve the form(s), simply place the “3 year contract” bit right next to where the customer has to sign in big red letters and there will be a much higher chance they will see it, not watermarked in the same colour scheme as the rest of the form. I read the form twice last night and didn't even notice the watermark underneath the signature box as all that bright orange tends to merge into one. I guess there’s little point asking the sale men to point out verbally to the customer it’s a 3 year contract, or explain about the high cancellation fees as compliance is very difficult to monitor and prove.
But what I can say is, when you have such a significant cancellation clause (which is only in the myriad of small print on the reverse of the form and not in clear sight at all) I think it is very important that it should also feature very prominently next to the box where the customer is signing and has their attention focus on and that should be clear and in a different colour to the rest of the form so it stands out, after all I have to admit I’ve never come across such a draconian clause before when switching services whether they be telecoms or Gas / Electric etc so your just not looking for it.
Now I am cancelling not because I’m unhappy with the service you supply, because I haven’t received it yet, nor because of the experiences of the people here. I don’t know if they represent the mainstream or just a small unfortunate number. I am cancelling merely because the projected benefits for me are so small (maybes £5 to £8 per month) and the risks of cancellation on a 3 year contract which would incur high costs are so significant.
I hope this input helps and the form design is changed because clearly it’s wasting both your time and the potential customers time when significant terms and conditions are not made crystal clear at the point of sale.’
Customers are not being made aware that if you don’t give 3 months notice before the 3rd anniversary of your contract, it automatically ‘rolls over’ for another 3 year period.
I ask,who, in their right mind, would ever knowingly sign up to a deal like this?
I would love to hear from anyone else with good or bad experiences of Unicom. My aim is to be both fair and accurate in this report and I will publish any honest account.
I have no complaints against the service Unicom provided and certainly have no objection to any company making a profit for that is the reason they exist.
My passion here is to expose a very bad business practice of luring customers into an unreasonable contract. I personally do not know of or have ever dealt with any other company which needs to tie you in for 3 years and then makes it difficult to withdraw from. Why would there be a need for this if the service/product is good? If they do feel the need of it, then salespeople should make it very clear at the initial meeting. This was definitely not done in our case and apparently not in most others.
Currently my case has now been passed to debt collectors. I have asked Otelo to investigate but failing this I will fight the matter in court to see if British justice is a fact or a myth.
I would be happy receive comments.
Please contact us here.
Shirley
Update
I took my case to Otelo. The end result was that the amount Unicom said I owed (I don't agree) was reduced from £1853 to £400. I have now settled this.
I feel bitter about my experience with Unicom, being a person who believes in dealing honestly and fairly.
I received the following emails recently from other Unicom customers.
Received 29th Jan 2009
'We are in exactly the same boat. when we found out we couldn't cancel, we contacted the sales rep who said he was told to sell at all costs and never to mention the 3 year contract, but rather to fob it off as a "deal" that couldn't be beaten or your money back! Any advice would be more than appreciated Thanks for your time!'
From J (names witheld but can be verified)
Received 1st Feb 2009
'Hi shirley. My wife and I too are having the very same problems with Unicom that is mentioned in your article. We have had many conversations with said company and it was and has never been mentioned about there "3 yr rollover contract",so imagine how decieved ( to put it lightly) we feel to now find out we are tied to them till 2011 ( The contract started in 2005!) or must pay £500 pounds to be released! I would be interested to hear how you get on in your case and if you have any advise I would grateful to say the least. Many Thanks SB'
Received 9th Feb 2009
'read with dismay your report on unicom. as i have just joined them and big mistake. on 5/1/09 i recieved a phone call asking if i wanted to change my telephone line and charges to unicom with the promise that it would save me a small fortune. as i run a small business. i said that i was happy with my present provider BT but they then said that BT were currently one of the highest chargers to small companies. i said i have only just renewed my contract with BT in November 08 and i could not change supplyers as i would be in breach of contract with BT and incure cancelation charges. as i have once before when i changed providers. he said when you call out from your phone do you have to put a 9 in first i said yes he then said that is what is called a feature line and BT charge you for that service but you only have 1 line so you have been miss sold the product. and unicom would sort this out with BT for me through there legal department on my behalf because i had been missold the line. i said i would think about it but he was quite determined he said one of our reps is in your area tommorow he can call and talk you through how much you can save with unicom by downgrading my business line. with no obligation. so i said ok sure enough the following morning 6/1/09 a rep in a suit called. and went into a sales rutine but i pointed out to him that my main problem was that i had just renewed my phone contract with BT and did not want to end up with cancelation charges from BT and asked him to confirm that unicom legal department would deal with this should it happen he said yes we have had lots of people in the same position and he can confirm that unicom would deal with it.after aprox 40 mins of listening to him tell me how much i would save he got out the forms and asked me for all my information that he needed to remove me from BT to unicom. he said it would take about 2 weeks to transfer me and i would be billed by direct debit and he requested my bank details and then put the forms in front of me and said if you can sign these that will give us consent to take over your line and billing from BT nothing about the forms was explained as i signed the forms he was telling me about how much i will save with unicom. i said to him one question should i decide not to stay with unicom have i got the right to cancel without incuring charges. yes he said you have a 20 day cancelation period i said is that from the day we change over he said yes if for any reason you do not want to continue just call us up and your contract will be canceled. with that he handed me a copy of the forms and left. about ten days went by and a letter from unicom arrived saying that they would be taking over my line on 26/01/09 the transaction will be seamless and i will only notice when i call out as i wont need to enter 9 to ring out. i recieved a letter from BT a few days later informing me that they had a request from unicom to take over the line and did i know of this.aprox 20/01/09 i had a phone call from unicom asking me if i had been informed of the change over date and was i happy to continue with it i said yes. as i had no reason not to at that time.until the date i was to be changed on the 26/01/09 a member of my family called round about 16.00 and enquired why i was not been ansering my phone i said because it has not wrang i picked up the phone to find it was dead not a good start i phoned unicom on my mobile to complain and the operator at unicom said she would do a line check and confirmed there was a problem and then did a fault check and again confirmed that there was a fault at the exchange she would contact the engineers to fix the problem i said i need my phone on as soon as posible she said i will ring you back before 6pm to let you know when the engineer will call but also said if it is at fault because of my equipment i could end up with the call out costs i was not inpresed. but as 6pm went passed i recieved no phone call and my phone remained dead.the following morning unicom wrang my mobile to tell me the engineer will call at 9.30 to start repairs on my phone. he arrived at 10.05 and checked the line at my end there was no fault there. he then whent to the exchange he returned at 11.30 and told me the phone was now working the phone was dissconected from BT at the exchange but not reconnected to unicom. it had been off 24 hours loosing me a full days takings. but then the post arived and a letter from BT warning me that i had breached my contract and cancelation charges would be incured. i contacted unicom to inform them that BT were trying to charge me for leaving them and can i pass this information on to there legal department and was stunned when i was told i am sorry but we dont contact your previous supplier you have to deal with them we are not alloud to.that is not what i was told by the rep. so i was not very happy. unicom wrang about 14.00 to check that the repair had been done i said yes but not happy with the situation with BT charges i was told we can only advise you we can not contact another suplier direct.but later that day i found that i had also lost my broadband that is with sky but comes through my telephone line. i again phoned unicom who said we can provide you with broadband that is faster yhan your provider they were trying to sell me there b/band i then said enough is enough i have had nothing but trouble with unicom and i wished to cancel my contract with them as it was only the 28/01/09 under my 20 days rights to cancel and was told i cant cancel because i am locked in a three year contract with them i said but i only went with them on the 26/01/09 i have 20 days to cancel if i wanted what a shock to be told that the 20 days started from when the sales rep called on the 6/1/09 connection date 26/01/09 the same day cancelation period runs out.not what i was told by the rep. i complained about this and said i would seek legal advise and still wanted to leave unicom they said i would be liable to pay 3 years charges.i contacted my old supplier to take me back but now unicom are saying that they will stop me returning to BT i informed them i wanted to launch a dispute and not to stop my transfer back to BT why did i ever go to unicom never again.'
From M
Received 20th March 2009
From: Derrick
I was contracted to Unicom and decided to leave at the end of last year and return to BT (also a mistake). I was asked to pay £100,--, which I did and thought that the matter was closed. As I work abroad most of the time I checked my invoices at the end of February to find not only BT, but also Unicom. BT had charged for the service and Unicom for my telephone calls. Immediately phoned Unicom and informed them that they were wrong and that I had paid £100, -- to terminate their contract. They informed me that the calls had slipped through to their server as BT had not completed correctly. I called BT who said no problem they would clear the situation. Three weeks later another invoice arrived for February from Unicom. Again I called BT and explained the situation and was told that they would again sort it out. I informed Unicom of my situation and that due to the £100, -- paid they had accepted my termination of contract and should have informed BT of any calls that were 'slipping through'. They noted this and later the same day I received another call from them. This time the person was very aggressive and told me that the fine lines would be closed if I did not pay immediately. Again the situation was explained and I told him to wait two of three days until BT came back and cleared the situation. This was not accepted and now my company is without telephone calls. Checking through the internet sites I found a page from Ofcom concerning an on going BT / Unicom argument where it appears that Unicom does not release the telephone numbers as requested. I have now complained to Ofcom in the hope of stopping a company such as Unicom acting in such a manner. Now I use Skype and with hold my right to cancel BT due to their poor performance in the whole situation. A sad sad situation in these very stressed economical times.
If you have information on this subject, please contact us here.
Shirley