Post Office HomePhone > Reviews (11)

I'm not surprised to see all the negative comments here about the Post Office Homephone and Broadband, it has taken me three years to sort out the mess they created.

I wont go into a long story, but the crux was that they had messed up everything and especially the direct debit time and time again, the discounts were not applied (friends & family and for paying by direct debit), so ultimately I owed them money but they never took the payments and never sent a bill for 6 months, which when it arrived was completely wrong.

I exhausted their complaints procedure because they took an hour to answer the phone, didn't reply to recorded delivery letters etc etc, and eventually got OTELO on the case, the ombudsman.

OTELO demanded a response to my allegations from the Post Office within 28 days. They never responded. How bad is that?! They were given a further chance by the Ombudsman to reply, and they still ignored The Ombudsman. The Ombudsman ruled as follows:

YOUR COMPLAINT ABOUT POST OFFICE LTD T/A HOMEPHONE
Thank you for accepting the Provisional Conclusion in full and final settlement of your complaint against Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone.
Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone has not provided us with a response to the Provisional Conclusion within the stipulated time period of 28 days and an additional reminder period of seven days which means that the Provisional Conclusion will become the Ombudsman's Final Decision.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Ombudsman's Final Decision requires Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone to:
• send you a written apology for the inconvenience you have experienced due to this complaint and the customer service shortfall identified by the review;
• make a payment of £50 to you as a gesture of goodwill;
• maintain its offer to refund three months broadband rental to you;
• refund any discount you lost through the late provision of the plan between October 2007 and January 2008; and
• provide you with a full written breakdown of the account clearly showing all of the payments received and the bills that it has raised.
Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone must provide the award to you within 28 days from the date of this letter.
Yours sincerely
******* *************
Investigation Officer

Where did the Post Office go from here? Well this was back in July 2008 when Otelo sent me the above letter. In November 2009 I received a letter from Roxburghe Debt Collectors demanding £274 outstanding debt to Post Office Homephone! Straight back on to Otelo as still no correct and accurate bill, they had still failed to implement the Ombudsman's decision from over a year ago despite the requirement it should be completed within 28 days. In February 2010 I received a bill from Post Office for £0.00. No apology, no explanation. I phoned the debt collector who advised the debt had been sent back to Post Office Homephone and was not being pursued. Has this finally been laid to rest?

Save yourself the stress people, take heed and avoid Post Office Homephone and Broadband - if they ignore the regulator, what makes you feel special?