An open letter to Demon Internet.

16th September 2004

Dear Sir,

I feel a strong moral obligation to chronicle my issues surrounding
the closure of a broadband account with Demon Internet, in the hope
that I can prevent unsuspecting internet users from a similar fate.

At the end of June I decided to move house, and subsequently issued
Demon Internet with a month's notice of cancellation. I had already
long-since fulfilled my year minimum period, and the end of our
contractual obligations was mutually agreed to be the 14th August
2004. This would provide sufficient overlap with the beginning of an
alternative and, in my opinion, a considerably more professional DSL
service provider at the new property.

When examining my bank account I noted that Demon Internet had debited
an extra month from my card on the 18th August 2004 without my express
authorisation. This was corroborated by an invoice from Demon
Internet, which detailed the payment taken for the service period 13th
August to the 13th September inclusive. As this was four clear days
beyond the mutually agreed end of contract, I contacted Demon Internet
to alert them as to their administrative error. A customer services
representative informed me that Demon Internet were "having a backlog
in cancellations" and that the unauthorised transaction could not be
immediately returned to my card, and furthermore she could not predict
when the account closure would be actioned. In turn, she could not
offer a guarantee that no further unauthorised payments would be
illegally taken from my card.

Following a lengthy conversation regarding the legality of their
unauthorised debit of my card with Demon Internet, I spent a
considerable time on the phone to my bank to discuss withdrawing the
payment. I was informed that it would not be possible, and was left
with no option other than to instruct my bank to issue a formal
warning to Demon Internet and to stress that no further requests for
payment would be authorised. In order to stop the authorised
transactions on my debit card I was advised to cancel my debit card,
which I duly did. The ensuing week granted me no access to my bank
account as the cards were re-issued.

On Thursday the 9th of September I received an email confirmation that
my account closure would be actioned on the 14th of September, over a
month beyond the mutually agreed end of contract. I telephoned Demon
Internet on Friday 10th September, to ensure that the August payment
would be refunded. Another customer services representative
reiterated acknowledgement of the end of contact being the 14th August
and suggested that a refund had been applied to the account and would
be actioned shortly. I alerted her to the fact that the card was
cancelled as a direct result of their unauthorised transactions on my
credit card and that, furthermore, the address details that Demon
Internet held were no longer current. I was assured that a cheque
would be posted to my new address, and that she would telephone me
regarding compensation for the lengthy telephone conversations. As
and as of the time of writing I have not received word from Demon
Internet as to how they intend to resolve my concerns, nor have I
received the monies owed.

I was left to wonder at what stage Demon would attempt to contact me
regarding the refund had I not made the effort to approach them,
despite having current mobile telephone and email address details.
Whilst I appreciate that Demon have a vast customer-base, I would
expect them to take the complaint seriously when they were quite
clearly operating outside the jurisdiction of a contract and the
subsequent protection afforded them in British Law.

I have spent a cumulative total of around two hours discussing these
issues with Demon Internet and a further two hours discussing the
legality with my bank. I feel that this has been drastically
mismanaged and Demon Internet do not seem to have an interest in
expediting my refund.

My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
by Demon in this manner, and does anyone have the details of the
registered office for Demon, and / or details of their Managing
Director or Financial Controller?

Yours with deep disappointment,
Chris B.

In message <(E-Mail Removed) >, Chris
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
>by Demon in this manner,
Not so far....
> and does anyone have the details of the
>registered office for Demon, and / or details of their Managing
>Director or Financial Controller?
No, but it should be on the invoices, if not, you could search companies
house on the web.

>
>Yours with deep disappointment,
>Chris B.
Sorry to hear that, apart from a minor hiccup every time I get issued a
new card, I've had no problems....
--
Clint Sharp

Chris wrote:
>
> My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
> by Demon in this manner, and does anyone have the details of the
> registered office for Demon, and / or details of their Managing
> Director or Financial Controller?
>

Demon,
Gateway House,
322 Regents Park Road,
Finchley,
London,
N3 2QQ

Phone 020 8371 1000 or 0845 272 0666
Fax 020 8371 1150

Managing Director Bill Allan
Finance Director John Maguire
Parent Company Scottish Power Plc
--
Chris

"Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> 16th September 2004
>
> Dear Sir,
>
> I feel a strong moral obligation to chronicle my issues surrounding
> the closure of a broadband account with Demon Internet, in the hope
> that I can prevent unsuspecting internet users from a similar fate.
>
> At the end of June I decided to move house, and subsequently issued
> Demon Internet with a month's notice of cancellation. I had already
> long-since fulfilled my year minimum period, and the end of our
> contractual obligations was mutually agreed to be the 14th August
> 2004. This would provide sufficient overlap with the beginning of an
> alternative and, in my opinion, a considerably more professional DSL
> service provider at the new property.
>
> When examining my bank account I noted that Demon Internet had debited
> an extra month from my card on the 18th August 2004 without my express
> authorisation. This was corroborated by an invoice from Demon
> Internet, which detailed the payment taken for the service period 13th
> August to the 13th September inclusive. As this was four clear days
> beyond the mutually agreed end of contract, I contacted Demon Internet
> to alert them as to their administrative error. A customer services
> representative informed me that Demon Internet were "having a backlog
> in cancellations" and that the unauthorised transaction could not be
> immediately returned to my card, and furthermore she could not predict
> when the account closure would be actioned. In turn, she could not
> offer a guarantee that no further unauthorised payments would be
> illegally taken from my card.
>
> Following a lengthy conversation regarding the legality of their
> unauthorised debit of my card with Demon Internet, I spent a
> considerable time on the phone to my bank to discuss withdrawing the
> payment. I was informed that it would not be possible, and was left
> with no option other than to instruct my bank to issue a formal
> warning to Demon Internet and to stress that no further requests for
> payment would be authorised. In order to stop the authorised
> transactions on my debit card I was advised to cancel my debit card,
> which I duly did. The ensuing week granted me no access to my bank
> account as the cards were re-issued.
>
> On Thursday the 9th of September I received an email confirmation that
> my account closure would be actioned on the 14th of September, over a
> month beyond the mutually agreed end of contract. I telephoned Demon
> Internet on Friday 10th September, to ensure that the August payment
> would be refunded. Another customer services representative
> reiterated acknowledgement of the end of contact being the 14th August
> and suggested that a refund had been applied to the account and would
> be actioned shortly. I alerted her to the fact that the card was
> cancelled as a direct result of their unauthorised transactions on my
> credit card and that, furthermore, the address details that Demon
> Internet held were no longer current. I was assured that a cheque
> would be posted to my new address, and that she would telephone me
> regarding compensation for the lengthy telephone conversations. As
> and as of the time of writing I have not received word from Demon
> Internet as to how they intend to resolve my concerns, nor have I
> received the monies owed.
>
> I was left to wonder at what stage Demon would attempt to contact me
> regarding the refund had I not made the effort to approach them,
> despite having current mobile telephone and email address details.
> Whilst I appreciate that Demon have a vast customer-base, I would
> expect them to take the complaint seriously when they were quite
> clearly operating outside the jurisdiction of a contract and the
> subsequent protection afforded them in British Law.
>
> I have spent a cumulative total of around two hours discussing these
> issues with Demon Internet and a further two hours discussing the
> legality with my bank. I feel that this has been drastically
> mismanaged and Demon Internet do not seem to have an interest in
> expediting my refund.
>
> My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
> by Demon in this manner, and does anyone have the details of the
> registered office for Demon, and / or details of their Managing
> Director or Financial Controller?
>
> Yours with deep disappointment,
> Chris B.

I work for a smallish company with 60 employees and I look after all the IT
needs of the company, I also had loads of billing problems with Demon, which
amounted to over 300 quid

In time they sorted it out, but there acounts dept are terrible.

On a lighter note Demon have provided an excellent 2mb adsl connection,
which has gone down 3 times this year for less then 1 hour per time, They
are an excellent ISP, but there accounts dept needs work

Ronny

On 28 Sep 2004 13:42:19 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Chris)
wrote:

>My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
>by Demon in this manner

I think you'd find that by using groups.google.com and google.com that
this sort of behaviour by Demon is not unknown

If it was me I'd simply issue a County Court Summons - you should
seriously consider doing this at
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp but obviously that's
your decision.
--
John Naismith

On 28 Sep 2004 13:42:19 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Chris)
wrote:

>16th September 2004
>
>Dear Sir,
>
> {snip}
>
>Yours with deep disappointment,
>Chris B.

I have not (yet) cancelled my account with them but I do seem to
recall that it took ages for them to START billing me(!).

On the other hand I have found the quality of their service to be
excellent. My only disappointment lies in the fact that they do not
have a residential 1mb service.

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 23:17:45 +0100, Chris Lawson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Chris wrote:
>>
>> My question to the newsgroup is two-fold; has anyone else been mauled
>> by Demon in this manner, and does anyone have the details of the
>> registered office for Demon, and / or details of their Managing
>> Director or Financial Controller?

For the record ...

>Demon,
>Gateway House,
>322 Regents Park Road,
>Finchley,
>London,
>N3 2QQ

This is the correct address matters relating to Demon branded products.
It is not the registered address of the Company.

>Phone 020 8371 1000 or 0845 272 0666
>Fax 020 8371 1150
>
>Managing Director Bill Allan

Bill Allen is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

>Finance Director John Maguire

John Maguire is Chief Financial Officer.

>Parent Company Scottish Power Plc

There is no parent company. Demon is a brand name of THUS plc.

Registered office:

THUS plc.
1/2 Berkeley Square
99 Berkeley Street
Glasgow
G3 7HR

tel: 0141 567 1234
fax: 0141 566 3035

[email followup sent to original poster]

--
Malcolm S. Muir D e m o n
Sunderland 322 Regents Park Road
England London N3 2QQ

"Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I was advised to cancel my debit card, which I duly did. The ensuing
> week granted me no access to my bank account as the cards were re-issued.

> I have spent a cumulative total of around two hours discussing these
> issues with Demon Internet and a further two hours discussing the
> legality with my bank. I feel that this has been drastically
> mismanaged and Demon Internet do not seem to have an interest in
> expediting my refund.

I obviously don't know your personal circumstances, but how much money are
we talking about here? Cancelling your debit card was a bit extreme, as was
spending 4 hrs on the phone.
Sweeping generalisation: Customer service from most of these utilities is
crap at the best of times, and when you're leaving you're going to get the
worst of it. But it gets sorted out in the end - it's only a worry if it's
a lot of money and the company might go belly-up.

Malcolm Muir wrote:
>
> There is no parent company. Demon is a brand name of THUS plc.
>

I stand corrected.

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 12:55:36 +0100, Chris Lawson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Malcolm Muir wrote:
>>
>> There is no parent company. Demon is a brand name of THUS plc.
>>
>
>I stand corrected.

Not a problem - Just making sure the right details were available to
anyone that feels a need to make 'formal' contact.

I doubt Scottish Power would take kindly to getting a complaint about
Demon

--
Malcolm S. Muir D e m o n
Sunderland 322 Regents Park Road
England London N3 2QQ