Unhappy with Orcon refund policies

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Unhappy with Orcon refund policies

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Tcam478

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#1377252 31-Aug-2015 17:33

Some of the worst customer service I have ever received was from Orcon...

mattwnz

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#1377255 31-Aug-2015 17:40

garbonzai: I was with Orcon 5, 6 or 7 years ago and cancelled my internet and was in credit in my account as I could still log in via my "free" email account and though I would just leave it in credit as when I moved I could rejoin, but within months the credit was gone, I never had any email/letter about it, so I couldn't be bothered chasing it up, just will never rejoin with them.

Looks like this has been going on for some time.

PS, I just logged in to my Orcon account after "who knows how long" and it all works with a 0.00 balance.

Don't know about orcon. However with some companies, credit you may have may expire after a year. The same applies with gift vouchers, you pay cash for them, but they may only last a year before the expire. Although the best companies will honour gift vouchers for years.

You should phone them to find out what happned, because maybe they wrote off your credit on their online system, but it is still showing in the books. Usually companies will contact you to refund credit if it isn't used.

MrTomato

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#1377290 31-Aug-2015 18:55

mattwnz:
garbonzai: I was with Orcon 5, 6 or 7 years ago and cancelled my internet and was in credit in my account as I could still log in via my "free" email account and though I would just leave it in credit as when I moved I could rejoin, but within months the credit was gone, I never had any email/letter about it, so I couldn't be bothered chasing it up, just will never rejoin with them.

Looks like this has been going on for some time.

You should phone them to find out what happned, because maybe they wrote off your credit on their online system, but it is still showing in the books. Usually companies will contact you to refund credit if it isn't used.

garbonzai, please call them and chase this up, despite how long ago it was. There is nothing in their terms and conditions saying that they can take your money if your account is in credit.

It's your money and wasn't theirs to take.

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freitasm

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#1377302 31-Aug-2015 19:13

Come on folks, I think Hanlon's razor apply here: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

MrTomato: He could have replied with a straightforward acknowledgement of the problem, a promise to get it resolved for all concerned, and, optionally, an apology. No problem. Mistakes and accidental oversights happen, and everyone understands that. A promise from Orcon to spring into action would have reflected very well on them.

But that's not what we got. Cam's response consisted of newspeak, weasel words and excuses.

That's exactly what we got. Cam's response was an apology, an explanation and an offer to remedy.

Let's keep this civil, please. I have already changed one post above with comments on "PR". Also changed the subject to something more descriptive.

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OldGeek

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#1377384 31-Aug-2015 21:13

My experience with Telecom and its predecessors was that if you terminated your phone line account (charged in advance in a similar fashion to Orcon and most other ISPs) any credit balance was routinely refunded in the form of a cheque with the final statement. It seems strange that Orcon don't do the same/equivalent if customers are required to initiate a refund of a credit balance.

MrTomato

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#1377425 31-Aug-2015 21:49

Hi Mauricio -

freitasm: Let's keep this civil, please. I have already changed one post above with comments on "PR".

Apologies if you feel the PR comment was uncivil. It wasn't intended to be, but I bow to your better judgement as head honcho.

freitasm:
MrTomato: But that's not what we got. Cam's response consisted of newspeak, weasel words and excuses.

That's exactly what we got. Cam's response was an apology, an explanation and an offer to remedy.

Sorry to contradict you, but with genuine respect that wasn't what we got at all.

The only concrete thing we got from Orcon was that the issue of rewording the final invoice would be raised with the team to discuss its feasibility. That is woolly-worded, would not be a major undertaking in any case, and does not qualify as an offer to remedy. It's an offer to suggest the possibility of a partial remedy.

The comment that Orcon doesn't have the ability to process refunds automatically is an explanation, but it's inadequate. According to others in this thread the inability to automatically process refunds has been a problem for many years. How about an explanation for why an adequate system is still not in place after so much time?

As for an apology, I received one on the phone this morning and don't need another. The people who need an apology are the former customers who have not been provided with a refund. Sorry to be a cynic, but I would hazard a guess that the laser printers at Orcon HQ aren't exactly being overtaxed this evening with the sheer volume of apology letters being churned out.

Orcon's comments - made by Cam in an official capacity, let's not forget - boil down to a government-style assurance that 'lessons will be learned'. I think it would be fair to assume that everyone reading this is an intelligent, savvy consumer and can identify empty rhetoric when they see it.

If lessons are genuinely learned, that would be wonderful and I would be the first to praise Orcon. I would suggest that they start by using their eyes and ears to learn, and their hands to write cheques.

freitasm: Also changed the subject to something more descriptive.

Since the title has been changed to "Unhappy with Orcon refund policies", I'd like to stress again that although I described my experience, this isn't about me. I'm quite certain I'll get my refund over the next few days, and when I receive it I'll be square with Orcon.

This is about basic consumer rights. We have learned that:

Refunds are due frequently when an Orcon customer stops receiving Orcon services.
Orcon have admitted to not refunding customers automatically, and only do so when they're specifically approached for a refund.
Orcon neither give any indication that customers should approach them for a refund, nor do they inform them of how they should go about it.
An observation has been made that if no refund is requested, any money left on an Orcon account may be taken without notification or the backing of Orcon's terms and conditions agreed upon by the customer.
This failure to exhibit reasonable and fair behaviour in relation to refunds has gone on for many years without being remedied.

There has yet to be any undertaking from Orcon that they will:

Commit to prevent this behaviour from occurring in the future.
Commit to identify former customers who have not received refunds, contact them, and offer them the refunds due.

freitasm: Come on folks, I think Hanlon's razor apply here: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Orcon need to stand on their hind legs and be open, straightforward and honest about how they're going to fix this. However Orcon got themselves into this mess - one assumes through stupidity rather than malice, as you so rightly pointed out - it's a scandal.

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surfisup1000

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#1377434 31-Aug-2015 22:23

Perhaps you are too involved to see it objectively perhaps. Been there myself where the more I think about something the more conspiracy I see ha ha.

I work in the area of billing systems and the like (not in New zealand though). This is just one of those things where they have not perhaps had the resources to perfect their processes yet . Maybe so few people complain that it is usually resolved by frond-end support - who may not even communicate the issue to the applications support . And, when the odd case does come through does the application team fix the problem affecting 20,000 people or the one affecting 10 people.From experience, the problem affecting fewer people may be at the bottom of the to-do list for a very long time.

So I think you are a more a victim of IT under-resourcing than any particular agenda to make refunds difficult

They are very much constrained by their billing and provisioning systems -- I have no idea what they use but maybe refunds are a little more difficult in their system.

andrew027

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#1377549 1-Sep-2015 09:45

I have never used Orcon so have no first hand knowledge of their service, but while fraudulent individuals and companies obviously do exist, it is a bit of a stretch to assume that because you have had a bad customer service experience Orcon must have a company policy that (a) hopes customers forget they are owed money and (b) makes it difficult for customers to recover any money they are owed. To then come onto a public internet forum and discuss this perceived dishonesty as fact seems vindictive. In my experience you are far more likely to uncover a poorly designed or written refund process, or one lazy or incompetent individual, than a company-wide conspiracy.

When I've had problems with Spark/Telecom my first option is always to approach them in a pleasant non-adversarial manner, and I have always had my issued resolved quickly, sometimes with a little bonus or freebie thrown in as an apology.

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