Being charged for unknown contract

I

irweasel4

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Being charged for someone else's contract

I'm posting on this forum, hoping that I might get a reaction from iBurst.

For almost a year, I haven't been receiving invoices from iBurst. I tried logging into my account on www.iburst.co.za, but kept on getting "Login Error". I logged (multiple) calls via their website for some assistance, and after 2 months I received a call, on a Saturday morning, from a friendly gentleman, informing me that my username has been changed from <name>@wbs.co.za to <name>@iBurst.co.za.

Viewing my invoices online also proved to be a shocking experience: iBurst have been charging me for an additional account, which I have no knowledge of.

My account: Contract ib00001477 (Wireless 2)
Unknown account: Contract ib00153097 (Wireless 1)

I've never signed another contract with iBurst, and the only similarities between the owner of this account/contract and myself, it seems, is that we share the same first name.

iBurst have been deducting monies from my account for this contract for more than 6 months.

I sent an email to the accounts department ('[email protected]') regarding the issue on Thu 2010/04/22 11:48 AM – no response. I then continued to send a mail to all available iBurst email addresses I could find on their website ('[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]') on Fri 2010/04/23 11:10 AM, unfortunately no response.

I tried my luck this morning (Mon 26/04/2010) by calling iBurst accounts on 087 722 9999, and was helped by Anolien (sp?), who opened a ticket for me with reference number 153558, and referred me to the “Retention Department” (011 676 6550). The “Retention Department” referred me to the “Accounts Department” (087 720 2020) where Thabo referred me back to the “Retention Department” AFTER informing me that they don’t deal with “contract termination”.

Will someone from iBurst please look into the matter ASAP, and contact with me.
 
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:mad:

Thanks....I was able to contact iBurst via the email above. Kagiso contacted me re. an investigation.

I then recieved the following mail:
"
Good Day

Kindly be advised that the second account was linked on the 16/09/2009 on your account, however an invistigation has been put on place, i would also advice you to contact the reseller store who created this account for you ACM Technology there contact number is 011 795 **** and you can also contact Retantios Department as this account is bound on 24 months contract on 011 676 **** for further assistance.

ref no:001-00-156034


Kind regards
Accounts Department


Nontobeko Mthembu | Consultant
"

:mad::confused::(:twisted: REALLY!!! I have to sort out why IBURST linked an unknown contract to MY NAME!!!!

I've been trying to get feedback since Friday! Calling helpdesk, and the number indicated, only gets me to a consultant that indicates I should email Kagiso! Kagise doesn't reply to the mails!! THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!!!!

Any suggestions on what my next steps should be?
 
irweasel4 said:
Thanks....I was able to contact iBurst via the email above. Kagiso contacted me re. an investigation.

I then recieved the following mail:
"
Good Day

Kindly be advised that the second account was linked on the 16/09/2009 on your account, however an invistigation has been put on place, i would also advice you to contact the reseller store who created this account for you ACM Technology there contact number is 011 795 **** and you can also contact Retantios Department as this account is bound on 24 months contract on 011 676 **** for further assistance.

ref no:001-00-156034


Kind regards
Accounts Department


Nontobeko Mthembu | Consultant
"

:mad::confused::(:twisted: REALLY!!! I have to sort out why IBURST linked an unknown contract to MY NAME!!!!

I've been trying to get feedback since Friday! Calling helpdesk, and the number indicated, only gets me to a consultant that indicates I should email Kagiso! Kagise doesn't reply to the mails!! THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!!!!

Any suggestions on what my next steps should be?
Click to expand...

The information is correct as there are 2 UTIDs on the account and these actions were performed by the reseller. What is the opinion of the reseller?
 
r00igev@@r said:
The information is correct as there are 2 UTIDs on the account and these actions were performed by the reseller. What is the opinion of the reseller?
Click to expand...

So if a reseller added something to my account without my consent it would be up to me to resolve the issue? Would be an interesting question as to whether I would take legal action against iBurst or the reseller. The person billing me I think...
 
You can get that contract cancelled.

They need to provide you with proof that you signed that contract & you ID copy they should have recieved. If it is not you they need to stop that account & return all funds (possibly interest- not sure on law) to you. The losses are then their to incur for not accurately varifying the details to ensure that they were taking money from the correct acount &&&& if it was a data capture error or something , then the correct owner will be recieving a nasty surprise , as he/she probably possibly thought they were lucky as the debit order was not being deducted.

But yeah start with the bolded bit above.
in the meantime instruct your bank to stop their debit order & only pay over via eft or cash the correct amount that is due if this takes a few months to sort out.
 
Mercury said:
So if a reseller added something to my account without my consent it would be up to me to resolve the issue? Would be an interesting question as to whether I would take legal action against iBurst or the reseller. The person billing me I think...
Click to expand...

I unilateral decision cannot be taken without the input of the reseller. The purpose of the reseller is to service the customer and act on behalf it's customers.

iBurst has a great bunch of resellers who are quite willing to interact and help their customers solve their problems.
 
r00igev@@r said:
I unilateral decision cannot be taken without the input of the reseller. The purpose of the reseller is to service the customer and act on behalf it's customers.

iBurst has a great bunch of resellers who are quite willing to interact and help their customers solve their problems.
Click to expand...

the bottom line is still this: If he did not sign that contract, it will be an internal problem for IBURST & their reseller to resolve, not involving this customer. Hence if that is the case a refund should be done. Then a further investigation should be done & the money recouped form the correct person.
 
ChillGirl said:
the bottom line is still this: If he did not sign that contract, it will be an internal problem for IBURST & their reseller to resolve, not involving this customer. Hence if that is the case a refund should be done. Then a further investigation should be done & the money recouped form the correct person.
Click to expand...

The subscriber is a customer of the reseller?
 
here is something that happened where I was a reseller involved about a year ago.....
lets name people for the example:
ISP reseller A - me
ISP reseller B - another reseller
Customer A - my client
Customer B - the other resellers client
The ISP does not matter from what I was lead to understand.
Customer A approached me after noticing the billing amount increased on their debit order. They did not realise til it had gone off for 3 months.
I then contacted the ISP who said yes there was 2 packages being debited on the same account after they looked into it.
the contracts were then pulled.
Contract A was correctly being debited from the correct account.
Contract B did NOT belong to my client & was signed via another ISP reseller B, to customer B.
on further investigation.....
Customer B had somehow managed to get hold of my clients bankstatements (how it was done, I will never know, as criminal charges were brought against Customer B). Then Customer B modified Customer A's statement adding thier name on it.
The ISP is normally expected to do a credit check on the person, how it was never discovered that the statement was not Cunstomer B's I don't know as I do not work in an ISP & dont know what procedures they follow.
My client was refunded ALL the money that was incorrectly debited on their account. The last I heard. Sadly customer B was M.I.A. & no where to be found. This means the ISP has to carry the costs themselves.
It took less than 2 weeks for my client's refund to appear in their account.
 
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Nicely done Chilli- sure you had to jump on some people to get that done though.

The average consumer shouldn't have to...
 
Update

Just an update:

iBurst contacted the reseller that opened the second account, and apparently they accidently linked it to my account.

Since then I've made multiple calls/send emails, and the only response: "We are looking into it". No refund as yet.

I logged this complaint a month ago.
 
After Gcebile Rakharebe confirmed on 28/05/2010 that the refund will be in my account the same day, nothing in my account (01/06/2010).

I've emailed Gcebile twice since the fateful day :), and as expected, no response.

After more than a month of promises, and no action, I've decided to report iBurst to the Consumer Affairs Directorate.
 
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