I Just Put A Cat Amongst The Canaries or Here I come Gotalk

[echnidna]

Hi guys, haven't been here for a while, been playing with hotrods instead of woodwork.

I detest arguing and hassles but some people ..............
I had home and mobile phone accounts with Gotalk and canceled them but they keep sending me more invoices, so I just sent them this email:

To Gotalk,
This is a copy of an email sent to the T.I.O. and forms part of a legitimate complaint and grievances about your conduct and actions. I suggest you attend to it or face the consequences.

I canceled my home phone and my mobile phone accounts with Gotalk on 1 July 2010 by email while requesting a final account so I could pay all outstanding monies to Gotalk.


Gotalk has never sent me a final account and despite my canceling both of my phone services continues to issue invoices for services they are not providing. I believe this constitutes Criminal Fraud.


Gotalk issued a Final Notice on 26 July 2010 demanding payment of the overdue amount of $259.05 which was not identified as being the full and final payment. In fact their final notice was accompanied by an invoice for an additional $62.30 thus proving Gotalk had no intention of allowing me to cancel or terminate my accounts. Gotalk has issued monthly invoices thereafter.


The final notice clearly states the services will be suspended/terminated if the account is not paid before 5 August. Gotalk then contradicts its own final notice by continuing to issue invoices for services that were canceled and unused since cancellation.


The final notice contained threats to blacklist me with a credit agency.
On 29 July 2010 I replied by registered mail to Gotalk PO Box 452 Robina Queensland 4226 stating I would sue them for defamation if they harmed my credit status and enclosed a copy of the email I had previously sent to them canceling the account.


The stress and anxiety created by Gotalk continuing to invoice me precipitated and/or aggravated angina attacks culminating in triple bypass surgery. As the angina attacks continued after the surgery another angioplasty was performed. I still suffer significant pain on a daily basis.


For your further information I can supply proof of;
A screenshot of my email of 1 July 2010 which clearly shows the time and date of sending.
A PDF file of the letter dated 29 July 2010 sent by registered mail to Gotalks office.
Please provide an email address so I can send you this proof

I wish to pay the account in full which I believe is $259.05 and not receive any further bills.

Regards
Bob Thomas
6 December 2010


Any tactics or suggestions from forum members welcomed

[artme]

Good upon you Bob!!

All of these companies - the lesser known ones - Seem to be alike. Take no notice of you then threaten loss of everything.

I know a character that is STILL being persued by OneTel ( remember them? ) for service he didn't receive!! When a debt collector turned up he was told where to go and what would happen to subsequent visitors. Seems to have worked!!

[A Duke]

They are only trying to keep up with the one and only original Telstra. The wife was trying to settle her late fathers accounts with them and they got the address wrong and our neighbour had never heard of him and kept sending it back for 3 bills before we accidentally found out, 3 more lots of rental added so she went to the Telstra shop and they thought they had it sorted but no next time another bill, another visit to the shop after waiting ages on hold, they had another go and phoned us a few days later to say it was all sorted and the final bill was $3.50 credit and that would come off our account as they can't pay cash. In due course we got the bill for $3.50 credit and thought that was the end of it but no next time we got a bill for $15.00 late payment less the $3.50 credit. How the Hell can you be charged for being late paying a credit. I think it finally got sorted as we haven't been arrested yet.
The reason the call centre couldn't help, there was no phone number as it had been disconnected at the start of the fiasco.

[munruben]

Some of these companies resort to such low life tricks. It makes you wonder how substantial the company is when they have to stoop so low and use these dirty tactics all in the name of making money. Sorry to hear about your health problems Bob hope you can sort this carp out real soon and get some peace of mind, you don't need this kind of thing. Good luck with your health.

[Sturdee]

Any tactics or suggestions from forum members welcomed

Some simple questions Bob.

1. Is the contract you entered into with them for a minimum fixed term and if so are you trying to cancel early. Most phone contracts are that way that you cannot cancel before the expiry date.

2. In the contract are there specific conditions about the manner of cancelling, often there is no provision for email cancellation, hence that was not valid. Whilst emails are nice and handy, they can be created and doctored after the event quite easily hence often not acceptable in a dispute.Like wise screen shots.

Without knowing all the details, it appears from their actions that you may have failed to comply with the details of your contract and so they may be able to claim the moneys that they are asking for.

So a very careful reading of your contracts might be necessary.

Peter.

[echnidna]

Thank you for some excellent questions Peter, your advice is greatly appreciated.

I do not have a copy of contract and have never had one.
But I have been with them for years so I expect it should have expired by now.

I thoroughly searched their entire website and could not find any information about terminating my services except I found the email address [email protected] (or thereabouts) plus a copy was also sent by registered mail to them.

As I requested a final account (which would obviously take into account expiry dates and times and notice required and miscellaneous charges etc) it became their reasonable ethical responsibility to tell me the total amount necessary to cancel the account/s.

[Groggy]

Bob,

you may have seen these in your searches but here goes anyway:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1044050

http://www.gotalk.com.au/SiteCollect...ncellation.pdf

[Sturdee]

I do not have a copy of contract and have never had one.
But I have been with them for years so I expect it should have expired by now.

Not necessarily Bob.

I asked that because I'm on a contract with Optus. The contract is for 12 months at a time. Upon expiry, unless they are told otherwise, they will renew my service at the contract price for another fixed term of 12 months.

However Optus, being an ethical company, write to me at the renewal time to let me decide.

Peter.

[echnidna]

............. the missus just happened to find the contracts for Gotalk.


Well I contacted the ombudsman.... another uninspiring life's experience dealing with bureaucracy.

Then I rang Gotalk who cleared the sums outstanding and canceled the accounts.

He nearly fell off his chair when I told him I was going to sue them for $10 million, anyway he said their lawyers would contact me to discuss the matter. So I suppose it's now time to find a lawyer for myself to negotiate on my behalf (and to wave a very big stick)

.............................

the stress went immediately Gotalk canceled the accounts.
If they had acted on 1 July when I first asked them to cancel the accounts it would have all been over easily.

Now I'll give the compensation negotiations (and the future stress) to a lawyer who will get a good % share of the compo.

Of course if Gotalk is very smart they will promptly indulge in meaningful talks about a suitable ex-gratia payment.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Good on ya, Bob!

It's not how I'd respond, but I gotta admire someone who sticks to their guns against bureaucratic bullying. I wish you all the luck in the world with this.

[Enfield Guy]

I had an experience recently with my late fathers gas and electricity accounts. They had sent a letter saying that dad was eligible for a couple of credits against his accounts. Next account arrived, no credits. Sold house and requested final bills. Final bills arrive, no credits and they charged a $50.00 termination fee against each of the accounts. Another phone call, another 25 min before I could actually speak to someone. Finally got them to apply the credits to his accounts and remove the termination fee.

I don't think they are entitled to charge the termination fee when the customer dies. Further more, in the contract wording that I found among dads papers there was no mention of the termination fee.

The question is, how often do companies do that sort of thing and get away with it? Sad really. There are other horrible stories of this nature that I could tell, but I shan't. All I can say is " Don't put up with it and check your bills"

Cheers

[Sebastiaan56]

While I agree that there are contractual niceties that always need to be observed Telecommunications companies have raised obfustication to an art form (oh the irony....) and are generally impervious to bad press. They are the most complained about type of company in Australia. Even more than the banks!

If you cant get a settlement you are happy with try the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. TIO - Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman home page

Please keep us appraised of your progress, these mofo's give me the toots as well.

[echnidna]

This is starting to get interesting, I've become aware of another bloke who had a heart attack because of Gotalk's attitudes. and theres a lot of people very unhappy with them, we might see a class action occurr