DFD you need to get a grip

[orchid5]

As most of you are aware i have had several problems with this company over the last few months, namely them not answering my concerns, fobbing me off and even questioning why i went ahead with a PPI claim which in turn realised over £8000 for my IVA pot!

I wrote to both the contact email that i have for DFD as well as my IP on 9/11/12, the reponse 2 days later was 'i'm in discussion with your IP regarding your concerns and will contact you shortly'. SILENCE!

Monday of this week i again emailed the same two individuals and got this reply 'i'm now in discussion with EIF and will contact you shortly'. No mention of my previous email or the outcome from the discussion with my IP. Needless to say they have now got a further email asking for this information, this is absolutely scandalous and very unprofessional, i should now be getting answers to when i should receive my completion certificate and also what is going to happen to the surplus of monies in the account once all the fees and creditors have been paid their 100p in the pound!.

I'm appalled at their lack of customer service, if i'd neglected to pay a payment on time they would've definately been in touch sooner!

Disgusted!

[lem]

When I worked for a global blue chip company before I went back into nursing, we were always reminded that good business acumen meant answering all customer calls and emails within 24hrs regardless, there were no allowances made, it's shoddy that so many companies continue to treat their customers with such contempt, I wouldn't be happy either

[orchid5]

I'm not Lem, like you i am also a nurse and know that we wouldn't dream of letting a complaint like this take so long to reply to, it's absolutely disgusting and really doesn't endear myself to ever recommending them either, other than for the worst IVA customer service i've ever had the misfortune to come across and that is saying it straight.

[Shining]

Hi, I'm sorry to read about the lack of customer care demonstrated by DFD, we are reading more and more about this type of thing on the forum and a courtesy email to keep you updated on any progress takes two mins and keeps the customer in the loop and everyone happy 'ish'.

I hope they reply and things move forward for you very soon. x

[orchid5]

Thanks Lesley, sadly i don't think this is going to improve and unfortunately for them i have kept a timeline of everything, emails etc so if i haven't got my answers by the end of the year, there will be one hugh complaint going in, not only to them but also their regulators too, dreadful service!

[Foggy]

We have to return telephone calls within 4 hours, we do have three days to respond to letters and emails (day 1 being the day it arrives and day three being the day you post the reply). And we are expected to address every point raised !

[Heretoday]

The problem is that as soon as we have signed up for the IVA, we lose the status of customer, we instead become an asset to be realised.

This is clearly not true of all companies but from what has been posted on this forum we should start a wall of shame with companies such as DFD, GT and OFC Cleardebt featuring up there with the worst of them!

[luluj]

Customer care should be a priority - just a update call or an email to say they working on this and that they need a couple more days would go along way rather than silence ! Silence tells a whole story....in my opinion and it is very unfair on those in IVAs as having to live through the IVA is enough, let alone getting the silent treatment from your IVA company.

[orchid5]

I so wish that DFD followed that same procedure but sadly they don't, it seems that it is permissable to write, 'i shall contact you shortly' and then nothing, do they really think that i'm going to go away and forget, i don't think so, fobbing off comes to mind!

[Foggy]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Heretoday

The problem is that as soon as we have signed up for the IVA, we lose the status of customer, we instead become an asset to be realised.

This is clearly not true of all companies.........

Completely agree Heretoday. Once we have been "accepted" we are trapped and they can treat us how they wish.

As I have said before, there ought to be a way of changing IP's, if necessary, then they would have to reconsider the ethos of "customer service".

I am increasingly of the opinion that many firms no longer see us as clients, once captured. The real client is the creditor, for whom they see fit to bleed us dry.

This is compounded by the fact that the creditors these days alter fee charging to a percentage, meaning any reduction in "collections" means less in the way of fees.

As a means of assisting those in finacial difficulty this percentage based fee should be outlawed as it clearly engenders a conflict of duty.

Thankfully some IP's still see the debtor as a person and client in need of assistance and, indeed, go above and beyond to help. But the big players ????? Don't think so.

[orchid5]

I couldn't agree more with above, i'm a professional in my own right, i'm not stupid, just made a mistake for which i have now sorted out, to be treated like i don't matter really annoys me and i do have to say i think this is all money driven, not caring about getting people out of debt etc. The Melanies, Michael's peoples and Sam Hawkins are very few in numbers sad to say, they haven't forgotten that we are still humans and deserve to be treated with equity and dignity too.

[lem]

I get really annoyed when someone says that they'll 'getback to me shortly' it's the shortly I have an issue with, shortly could mean in 5 minutes, or 5 months, it's far too vague and not good business at all, they should give an absolute timeframe when they are going to get back to you and follow it up, even if they don't have the answer in the time they expected, an update with a reason why is all that is needed

[12 months to go]

Hi orchid5 ,

I' so feel for you and the lack of both progress and customer service by DFD, not to mention their abject failure to realise how they are having a detrimental effect on people's lives.

Why don't you look up the CEO of Fairpoint PLC, DFD parent company and forward this posting and some of your previous ones and see how he or she chooses to progress

Interesteingly , one of the DFD managers whose name escapes me, when interviewed by Credit Today, menytioned the importance of good customer service; oh how I laughed , he is clearly oblivious to the way DfD have been doing business for the last 9 months

Good luck , stay determined and I suggest a complaint to Fairpoint PLC CEO may hopefully see you make progress

[MelanieGiles]

Do make sure you follow the internal complaints procedures for each respective firm, so they have the opportunity to address thus issues and find our what and why things have gone wrong. No IPs like to get complaints, and most will try to resolve them as quickly as possible. The IPs concerned may not always be aware of complaint which are being made to their staff, but I am sure that all of them will take matters very seriously and try to put things right. Please give them all the chance to do so properly.

[orchid5]

Sad to say Melanie, my IP has been copied into each and everyone of my emails and has only deemed to answer one of them so i think they have been given ample opportunity to rectify this sorry state of affairs. There complaints procedure i fear will be as their customer service is, shoddy!!!

Thanks 12 months to go, i know you had many problems too and i'm not the only one i'm sure but it is so frustrating when i have kept to my part of the agreement. I have found out who the CEO is of Fairpoint.co.uk so will be sending him a copy of my complaint, they have had ample time to sort out VAT, PPI etc and haven't done diddly!