Yesterday I’ve received a letter from Barclays – Career Development Loan which I’m paying for the course I’ve taken 5 years ago and have been ripped off by the company called Top Choice – which suddenly, after 2 months I’ve started my course has dissapeared.
It was the Career Development Loan – Arrears Notice.
It did raise my temperature as I know I’m paying all my bills on time and as it’s a Standing Order there shouldn’t be any problems – I’ve checked my statement and all payments went on time.
The Arrears was for £1.40 – which was really strange, but I wanted to find out what do I owe this amount for – so I called their support team.
Below you can listen to my conversation over the phone with Tracy – who explains the reason behind it.
Did you experience something similar?
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Yesterday I had a phone call from the company called Unicom offering me their services by cutting down the cost of my telephone and internet bill.
I was trying to finish the conversation very quickly by saying that I’m happy with my current provider (BT) and that I’m not concerned about the cost of the service that much, as the most important thing for me is the quality of the service -- after my previous service provider (Tiscali) -- you can read the story in my other post.
However, the lady on the phone was pushing so much to arrange the meeting that I’ve finally said OK.
Today the representative of the Unicom has paid me a visit, during which he’s rather quickly introduced me to the Unicom by making it clear that they can save me money on the telephone bill and internet.
I would still have my lines maintained by BT etc., but I would call them with all queries and my phone call would be answered within the first three rings. Hmm -- sounds good -- doesn’t it?
He didn’t manage to answer my question as to the technical support -- this is when I told him that together with my broadband package from BT I have a free PC support for one computer -- when something goes wrong, BT engineer connects remotely and sorts the problem out. I had a chance to use it already and it really works that way -- problem has been solved within minutes.
The truth is that I’m using BT Business package -- which doesn’t come cheap (around £45.00 / month), but since my business cannot operate without the proper internet connection, I’m happy to pay it.
After realising that his magic tricks don’t work on me, he’s left, handing me the business card on the way out.
I’m sure there are many companies which really can help us to save the money by providing the quality service, and perhaps Unicom is one of them.
I simply don’t like people pushing me with any kind of decisions, and the “cold phone calls” are the things which put me off completely.
I also didn’t like the way the representative of the Unicom has introduced the business to me. He’s started with telling me how big they are, how many sales they’ve made over the last year etc. -- all these irrelevant things which I’m really not interested in. I had the impression as he was really in a rush to get out and go to visit another prospect.
One other thing which was quite interesting, was the fact that apparently I would need to sign the agreement with them for 3 years -- which means I have to use their service for 3 years -- otherwise I would have to pay some penalties etc. He’s also mentioned that if I was about to decide to go on, I would need to call Unicom AND the phone call would be recorded and keep as evidence. Hmm -- doesn’t that sound a little bit scary?
Anyway, after this very quick introduction to Unicom, I don’t think I’ll be changing my service provider -- or perhaps I should?
Let me know what you think and what your experience is with those unwanted “cold phone calls”.
