The Phone Co-op

Following my request for service at my new house back in December it has been a constant battle against un-returned phone calls, un-replied to emails and a complete and utter lack of customer service. When you do finally get a phone call from them it is from someone who tells you they have only just started and don't know what they are doing! Nearly three months later I am still trying to resolve issues with my account. I joined the phone coop because of the supposed ethical stance but I am struggling to understand how charging for a service you have neither the intelligence or the integrity to provide is moral or ethical. As soon as my contract expires I will take my business elsewhere.

I am writing this review on behalf of my partner who, a week ago received an unsolicited phonecall from the Phone Co-op claiming she had run up a £90 data browsing bill on her mobile - originally she had bought a non-data package from them and at the point of sale was assured that browsing data could not be used - and the only solution was for her to sign up to an additional £8 per month data plan which would have "locked" her in to a lengthy contract. Obviously she was alarmed by this and queried the bill as she did not understand how the charges could have arisen as they seem to have coincided with her ordering a new SIM card as service here is very poor and it was hoped that it may improve it - it hasn't . At one point during the conversation she queried whether her SIM card could have been cloned. A short while later she received an email from the phone co-op rebuffing her concerns and, in the first paragraph lampooning her for asking whether her SIM had been cloned and telling her to ring Action Fraud (the Police Fraud reporting helpline). She wrote back explaining that she was unhappy with the way the matter was being dealt with by him, questioning some of the points he made in his email and asking for his line manager's details. He responded but still did not include his line manager's email. Today my partner received an email claiming that she has a bill for £120 from the Phone co-op which, when one considers that she signed up for a £7.99 per month package is not at all reasonable. She rang and complained again and was told that she could look at the bills online using her online account - an online account that has never been set up by the Phone co-op. My partner then insisted that a PDF copy of the bill was sent to her but, of course, it has not been received. Currently she is talking with Action Fraud the Police fraud reporting service (a course of action recommend by the person she first dealt with in his email first email) as within the terms of her contract it would not be possible for her to have used the data. This has to be the worst customer service experience my partner and I have ever come across. She has now left the Phone Co-op and I today placed my order with another supplier (which, incidentally, between the two of us are worth around £40 per month to The Phone Co-op in lost business - we have both been customers for around a decade).

To summarise the key points are: that the data was run up/allowed to be run up, without her knowledge, within the terms of a "no data" package which should not have been allowed data to be run up (so in contravention of the Sale of Goods Act in force at the time of purchase 8 years ago). The issue of another SIM card, if it allowed data was also in breach of the Consumer Sales Act 2015 (the current consumer legislation) as it was issued just over one month ago. The Phone Co-op has not actively engaged with this issue, with the preron she dealt with having been offhand and lampooning my partner in his initial email and failing to give escalation details for his line manager - it is a legal right that these details be supplied to the customer on request.

My partner has been reduced to tears by the Phone Co-op's offhand and unhelpful approach and, when one considers that she has been a loyal customer for almost a decade it is shocking to find that customer loyalty is not only disrespected, but seemingly viewed as a matter for ridicule.

As a side note when I called the Phone Co-op to leave them the person I spoke to was utterly disinterested and suggested I could have texted instead.

This has undoubtedly been the worst customer experience either my partner or I have ever experienced and the Phone Co-op should hang their heads in shame for the way we have been treated.

Been with them for YEARS for phone and broadband, and I've the marked them relatively generpusly as when there isn't any problem, they're fine.

But... in the summer they handled a situation abysmally - we had done nothing but another provider had taken over our line in error. They did make some errors but we just wanted it solved - it took too long and was like wading through treacle. Overlooked it in the end as we got line back after a few weeks and didn't want to keep going back over it fruitlessly.

Reported new line fault on March 7th which started March 6th. No fix, no resolution... Had to simply initiate switching providers in mid April. I like the idea of a cooperative and all the people are really nice, but nobody has taken real responsibility for getting it sorted and it's ended up with really significant extra spends on mobile Internet. I've now requested detail of action on the case (largely as we're switching so it'll be helpful for new provider to not start from scratch!) - hope to goodness they AT LEAST do that!!!

Be warned....disaster! If this 'outfit' were EVER an allegedly 'ethical' company (sole reason I signed up) those days are GONE. 'Customer service' a JOKE. Kids answering phone, not a clue, tell you anything to get you off it! Despite mob number provided (worrying situation) silence. SIXTEEN DAYS before full service restored. Initially (07/11/19) reason given, "engineering works in area, outtage on line, back on by midday" *22nd November 2019* before it was. Sly, devious too. What started off as "engineering works" etc, magically morphed into "internal equipment possibly at fault"; nice try; as both existing / NEW equipment eventually sent me, made no difference whatsoever, 'nice try' not 'nice' enough! Chaos start to finish. 'Clouseau Coop' more like.

I have just experienced yet another desperately bad experience with the Phone Co-op. I rang them to see if I was on the best deal with them and was told how a couple of pounds could be taken off "here and there". Suffice to say I have now received the bill and it is nearly £4 dearer rather than the £2 cheaper I was quoted. I rang to find out why only to discover that the full terms of the change and the billing period changes were not explained to me properly (their words not mine). I insisted on rolling back the contract, as per my legal right (I am in the "cooling off" period) and the Phone Co-op responded by being difficult and accusing me of being unreasonably dissatisfied with their miss-selling. Their solution was to refund a bit and change a bit etc. Not good enough I said and I insisted on my legal rights. But why should I have to do this? They should understand contract law, for goodness sake.

It is now (allegedly) all sorted, but we shall see at the next billing period. If it is wrong at that point I will take them to Ofcom to get it sorted.

As a footnote we also have broadband with them and experience frequent drop outs in service.

If you want a good service this is the wrong firm to deal with for phone and broadband absolute rubbish I switch to the phone co op from BT only to find myself with no internet I emailed them and heard nothing I phoned them after being past from one person to the next they said that the pone line was live by it has been dead since the switch they now tell me that they have called open reach to come to the house and there may be a £135 charge I can't wait to switch back to BT stay away from these rouges

There was a fault at the green cabinet.

The Phone Coop charged me £155 for the engineer call out.

I was a customer for 6 years.

NEVER AGAIN.

Slow broadband (I live in South Manchester).

Awful customer service.

For: co-operative ethos, transparent pricing, UK-based customer service.

Against: buying in services from Talk Talk.

I write this review reluctantly but, having endured 12 months of often dire Internet connectivity at home, feel the need to share.

We joined The Phone Co-op (TPC) last year, attracted by a fair price and the chance to support a co-operatively run provider. Before joining TPC we had been with Plusnet for years (long enough that we joined Force9 which later became part of Plusnet) and had no quibbles with the Plusnet service.

The changeover process from Plusnet was smooth, with good communications from TPC and initial performance was excellent. But then the issues started. At times the speed is great, the best we've ever had on our ADSL connection, but too often it can be dreadful. Dial-up/ISDN dreadful.

I won't bore you with the various attempts to resolve the problem. TPC's helpdesk have tried their best, but as far as I can see there's a limit to what they can do. It seems that TPC buy in Internet services from Talk Talk. If I'd known this to begin with then I wouldn't have touched TPC with a barge pole. I should have done my research before I signed up.

Having great customer service is one thing, but when you're buying in connectivity from one of the worst regarded providers in the country then I can't help but see a conflict.

Customer service good at answering questions no one has asked but not the questions I was asking. I was was charged £60 connection fee twice in error even though I was already connected. I was threatened with a £108 fine if I was not in when the Engineer arrived, no one ever came, the excuse was, I was already connected! But they refused to refund the £60 charged for connection. I told them their response was completely inadequate and requested instruction on how to cancel my order within 5 days of installation. Those instructions were never sent. When 10 months later I moved to a new address and Co-Op Phone could not offer me service there they charged me £97 termination fee. I move around the country a lot, I have never had these issues with other service providers. It worked out to be the most I have ever paid for a basic landline and 8Mb broadband service.