www.iva.co.uk

I'm having all sorts of fun and games with Setanta.

I signed up in August to have Setanta on our Freeview box. I had all sorts of problems getting the box activated, but eventually (after spending ages on the phone) it was working. When I bought the box I had a deal that we would get free connection and one month free.

When Setanta eventually got around to taking the payment from my account (in October) they didn't just take £10.99 as I expected, they took £25.98 - £14.99 connection fee and £10.99 subscription. When I phoned up they told me that they had put me on a better deal and given me 3 months free, but charged me the connection fee.

That made sense at the time, until I realised that they had only given me two months free! I emailed Setanta on 14th October via the form on their website asking them to explain how they worked their billings out as I don't think I should have paid the monthly subscription until November. I never received a reply. I then sent a letter to their refund department, and again they didn't reply to me. I emailed the address on their website and again nothing. I've now managed to get their customer service email address and I'm waiting to see what happens.

I know I'm only talking about about £10.99, but a) I'm broke, and b) there's a principal involved! I hate bad customer service and as far as I'm concerned this is appalling. Even if I sent the letter to the wrong address surely it's only courtesy to reply to me telling me that?

If I don't receive a reply this time I'm not sure what else to do - I didn't phone them again as it took me so long to get through and they never sound as if they know what they're talking about!

Sorry for the long rant, but I'm thoroughly fed up. Once this is sorted out I'll be cancelling my subscription - the coverage is awful anyway!

Hey Skippy, that is bad service but I've never had good service from them! I dread having to phone them as I've waited 40 minutes at least before getting through, and sometimes I've just given up. Don't bother emailing them either, as they never reply. We have it for the NHL which is all hubby watches so I don't want to cancel it but it is a rip off! Hope you get it sorted. X

I'm glad it's not just me - I thought I attracted bad customer service what with Setanta and the holiday company!

I thought about claiming under the DD guarantee, but as they won't explain their billing system to me I don't know what the should have taken - grrrrr!

Glad I've not got them! I'll stick with Sky Sports I think.

BT keep trying to get me to have BT Vision, but as I have Sky,there's no point. Their selling point is Setanta, but as I don't watch any of the sports they show theres not much point!

My hubby has had Setanta half price for about a year.. everytime he phones to cancel they give him a half price deal!! Much to my annoyance!!

Sky did the same with me - I had the full package, so called them to get the movies and sports taken off coz I was trying to cut outgoings down to bare minimum, and they offered to let me have the full package for £30 for 6 months, which is only £8 per month more than the basic package. They said when this expires, to call them, and if I still want to reduce the package I can, or they will see if there any other offers I can take advantage of.

Hmmmm, Setanta won't even respond to me! I don't want to ring them as they are a nightmare to get through to, and the last time I spoke to someone there he had such a strong accent I could hardly understand him. They say they reply to emails in 5 working days, so if they don't reply by the end of the week I'll have to phone them - to cancel!

we have reduced sky also got to phone again this month.. skippy I'm sure the call centre is up here.. I could translate - like The big Word [:D]

Hi Skip, we have free sentanta sports with my virgin package but my son cannot get cable where he lives. He did sign up for sentanta sports and had nothing but trouble, I couldnt get through to sort it out and like you I couldnt understand a word when I eventually did. In the end I wrote and just cancelled it, it was a nightmare to be honest, I sent the letter by recorded delivery just to make sure.

Well,i'm going to have a rant about setanta on behalf of my oh who is at his wits end.He has setanta on subscription purely for the boxing as it's his favourite sport...So,in april this year there was a big fight on,& as it was such a big fight & also his birthday on the same night he invited some friends round to watch it.Halfway through the fight the screen just went blank & that was it-the boxing had just been cut off & everyone was really naffed off.So the next day he rang setanta,& after being on hold & passed from one person to another for nearly an hour,he was very rudely told that it wasn't them & that it must be our freeview box that was faulty,& one of the people he spoke to said "I don't know why you're making such a fuss,you can always just watch the repeat"!! Anyway,to cut a long story short it turned out that it wasn't our box because they'd recieved hundreds of other complaints about the same problem.So,after several more phonecalls & 2 letters of complaint,he finally recieved a written apology & was offered 2 months free subscription...Fast forward to the Joe calzaghe fight on sat.Once again he invited his dad,brother & some friends round to watch the fight.He even rang setanta on sat afternoon to make sure that there wouldn't be a repeat performance of last time,to which he was told it would definitely 100% be okay.Well,guess what? Yes it happened again.Halfway through the fight it cut off & they had to listen to the rest on the radio...So,needless to say there will be another letter winging it's way to setanta along with an instruction to cancel the subscription!!
And i agree,their customer service is without doubt appalling[:(!]
Hope you manage to get your problem sorted Skippy.It is very frustrating!!

That's awful Tori, I really hope your OH gets something from them.

We've only got it for the football, and to be honest the picture quality is awful anyway. We only watch a couple of matches a month, so it's not really worth £10.99 as far as I'm concerned.

I emailed their customer service address and got an automated reply saying they would contact me within 5 working days - they've got until the weekend before I ring up to cancel.

All I want is an explanation of why they took the amount they took, surely that's not too much to ask!

I probably shouldn't have written to the refund department at the beginning, but if a letter for another department lands on my desk at work I forward it on - it's not difficult!

The lack of communication is probably the most frustrating part,especially when they just don't bother to reply!! And i can definitely think of better ways to spend the £10 a month.So bye bye setanta!![:D]

I know - I'm only quibbling over a tenner, but I need that tenner, and there's now a principle involved!

Tori, that's terrible. Your poor OH and his family and friends must have been so disappointed. I'm mad for you.[:(!] Hope you get a year's free subs for that. X

Thanx viki[:)]He really was gutted,and moreso because he'd invited everyone round especially for the fight!! Anyway,i'll be interested to see what they try and fob us off with this time!! It really is poor service... Skippy-i hope you get your tenner back!! xx