Spark refuses to cancel my broadband!

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dafman

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#196847 15-Jun-2016 10:10

I haven't used Spark broadband since I switched to Vodafone in February.

Yet, despite formally advising two Spark customer representatives on separate occasions over the last three months to cancel my subscription, still the invoices keep coming.

The first rep advised she would cancel, but the invoices kept coming. I nearly fell over when the second rep told me some months later that the first rep wasn't authorised to take cancellation requests. I formally advised him to cancel, he said another division would have to call me. They never did, and a month later yet another invoice arrives. WTF?!

BTW, the reason my Spark contract was not cancelled initially way back in Feb was that Vodafone failed to advise Spark of the switch. When this became apparent, Vodafone readily agreed to credit my account for the value of the Spark account up until I contacted the first Spark rep.

Top service from Vodafone, but what's up with Spark's internal systems?

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Chorus

#1572385 15-Jun-2016 13:45

Can you please send me a private message with your Spark account number and/or the phone number your service is/was connected on? I will trace back to see if Chorus (and therefore Vodafone by proxy) ever sent us a Losing Service Provider notification.

Either way, upon confirming your service is no longer with us, I am more than happy to get the billing stopped and backdated to the date that Chorus confirms your service was moved away from Spark.

It is correct to say that Spark frontline team members are not allowed to alter billing arrangements - they can to a certain degree arrange disconnection of services, however in this case you say the service was already with Vodafone, so there was physically nothing to disconnect from Spark's perspective, and this was purely a billing issue. Billing problems are generally not handled by the frontline teams, but it's disappointing that you were told to expect a callback - which ultimately never came.

Anyway, I'm happy to fix it all up for you as soon as I have the details.

Thanks,

Simon

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

dafman

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#1574618 15-Jun-2016 18:44

Wheelbarrow01:
Can you please send me a private message with your Spark account number and/or the phone number your service is/was connected on? I will trace back to see if Chorus (and therefore Vodafone by proxy) ever sent us a Losing Service Provider notification.

Either way, upon confirming your service is no longer with us, I am more than happy to get the billing stopped and backdated to the date that Chorus confirms your service was moved away from Spark.

It is correct to say that Spark frontline team members are not allowed to alter billing arrangements - they can to a certain degree arrange disconnection of services, however in this case you say the service was already with Vodafone, so there was physically nothing to disconnect from Spark's perspective, and this was purely a billing issue. Billing problems are generally not handled by the frontline teams, but it's disappointing that you were told to expect a callback - which ultimately never came.

Anyway, I'm happy to fix it all up for you as soon as I have the details.

Thanks,

Simon

Thanks Simon. PM sent.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1574955 16-Jun-2016 11:44

Interestingly, my investigations have confirmed that Chorus never toook ANY action to move your services from Spark over to Vodafone. The Spark DSL ASID number is still very much connected at your address, and I see all your broadband usage up to today registering on the Spark usage system (Singl.eView). This would indicate that dispite commencing to charge you for their services, Vodafone never actually instructed Chorus to transition the service from Spark to them - or if they did, it just never happened.

I am 100% confident that the service you are currently receiving is being delivered over the Spark and Chorus networks - not Vodafone and Chorus.

If I cancel your Spark billing, I guarantee your DSL service will stop working immediately. My PM back to you details the action you may need to take to resolve this.

So while it may appear on the surface that Vodafone has delivered "top service", they have in fact delivered no service at all, and have been billing you for the pleasure.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

dan

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#1574977 16-Jun-2016 12:20

Wheelbarrow01:

So while it may appear on the surface that Vodafone has delivered "top service", they have in fact delivered no service at all, and have been billing you for the pleasure.

classic vodafone fixed line there

Benjip

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#1574982 16-Jun-2016 12:24

Wheelbarrow01:

So while it may appear on the surface that Vodafone has delivered "top service", they have in fact delivered no service at all, and have been billing you for the pleasure.

Hahaha I got a good laugh out of this one!

Zippity

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#1574992 16-Jun-2016 12:42

More Spark propaganda?

Wheelbarrow01

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#1574994 16-Jun-2016 12:45

Zippity:

More Spark propaganda?

Ahh no, I don't do propaganda. I do facts.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

andrew027

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#1574995 16-Jun-2016 12:48

Interesting thread, and kind of amusing (though dafman probably isn't finding it funny). But made me think... my phone can show whose network I'm on - can my router?

RunningMan

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#1575002 16-Jun-2016 13:03

andrew027:

[snip] But made me think... my phone can show whose network I'm on - can my router?

Should be able to tell by who your external IP is allocated to.

maxeon

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#1575007 16-Jun-2016 13:13

Maybe Voda is delivering through Sky Dish .. have you switched channels? ;)

rugrat

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#1575012 16-Jun-2016 13:19

RunningMan:
andrew027:

[snip] But made me think... my phone can show whose network I'm on - can my router?

Should be able to tell by who your external IP is allocated to.

http://whatismyipaddress.com/

Above link will tell you what isp you're connected to.

dafman

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#1575200 16-Jun-2016 18:11

We switched over to Vodafone cable in February which we have been using. I just checked on MySpark and we have not used any data since February - so I'm guessing the Spark copper connection has been live (but not used) alongside the Vodafone cable (which we used).

So it looks like: 1. Vodafone failed to get the Spark connection cancelled, but 2. Spark failed to disconnect per my request to do so some months back.

So a bit to unravel still.

And thanks to Simon from Spark for looking into.

nigelj

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#1575438 17-Jun-2016 02:57

dafman: We switched over to Vodafone cable in February which we have been using. I just checked on MySpark and we have not used any data since February - so I'm guessing the Spark copper connection has been live (but not used) alongside the Vodafone cable (which we used).

So it looks like: 1. Vodafone failed to get the Spark connection cancelled, but 2. Spark failed to disconnect per my request to do so some months back.

So a bit to unravel still.

And thanks to Simon from Spark for looking into.

That'll explain it.

Cable isn't a 'copper churn'. Vodafone assumes (and maybe should've told/reminded you to) that you'll cease billing arrangements (i.e. disconnection) with Spark yourself.

Churning copper is a process of one provider saying to your soon-to-be-previous provider via Chorus "This customer's services will be delivered by our network as of DD/MM/YYYY"

Vodafone don't say to Chorus when you switch to Cable "Oh hey, you know that landline/broadband line at X Road, Y Suburb, disconnect that because we just connected them to cable and we are sure they don't want copper now".