Nothing to rant about? Don't you believe it!

Oh dear, I am a lazy blogger. But just because I haven't ranted here since April, don't imagine that there's been nothing to rant about. It's just that I've been expressing my wrath elsewhere. On the phone and via letters of complaint usually.

The endownment policy saga
In June, I finally managed to prove my identity to Winterthur and extract the money owed to me for the endowment policy. Actually, the "with bonuses" policy paid out exactly the amount I had paid in over the past 25 years. Funny that.

And I got an apology (I think) after one of their customer service reps accused me of dishonesty. (The company couldn't find any of the documents that I referred to, even though I had copies, so I must be lying.)

I think the letter was meant to be an apology, but it was long, rambling and practically incomprehensible. Ah well, at least that saga's all over now.

The mobile phone saga
Then, last month, I encountered the most unpleasant sales tactics from a company purporting to be 3Mobile. I had previously told 3Mobile I did not want any calls from their associated companies. So when "John" called and said he was from 3Mobile and offered me an "upgrade" I stupidly agreed to accept.

However, the phone I received was "reconditioned", broken and had fewer gizmos than my existing phone. And I discovered the new "plan" I had agreed to gave me FEWER minutes and texts than my existing plan.

So I called "John" to cancel the agreement and to arrange to return the phone.
"John" immediately started yelling at me, accusing me of putting his job at risk, of being underhand, and making some really quite personal remarks. I tried to calm him down but he became so aggressive and threatening that I hung up.

It was only when I called 3Mobile's customer service to complain that I discovered he was not a 3Mobile employee, but was from an associate company - FreeMobiles4U.
3Mobile couldn't (or wouldn't?) change my plan back to the original because it had been arranged through FreeMobiles4U and they refused to change it because I had "entered into a contract" on the phone.

However, "Harvey", a lovely 3Mobile customer service chappie, set up a conference call and listened in on the conversation. Eventually, when I explained my rights as a consumer and threatened to use the full force of the law, FreeMobiles4U agreed to cancel the new "contract".

That'll teach me to agree anything over the phone! But I'm disgusted that 3Mobile associate themselves with companies like this, and that they pass on all my details to these crooks.