Meteor kept money they owed to me

I terminated my bill-pay account with Meteor last April.

It has come to my attention that my account was €20 in credit. Presumably they took money by direct debit in advance or something.

Anyway, they are sending the money to me now that I rang them about it.

The first time I rang I gave my account and after checking it the person said he did not deal with billpay and that he would transfer me. I was put on hold for a long time. I eventually hung up.

I rang back (the same number) and asked did the person deal with billpay accounts before giving my details. The (different) guy said he did. He took my a/c number. He agreed I was in credit and said they could transfer the money to the bank account details Meteor held for me.

I asked why the money had not been returned to me previously. He said he did not know why but that when people rang in they organised the money to be returned.

I would also comment that the bills metor sent me said I had to make a payment to hem but the figure had a "CR" beside it so I could deduce it was a credit. I am not sure if less experienced consumers would have noticed that.

Can anybody tell me what Meteor's obligations are to me as a consumer?

Also, has anybody else come across this behaviour?

Meteor previously screwed me with a €1 per MB data charge in Ireland on my phone some years ago (I did not know I had internet on my phone and played with it for a few minutes when I saw I did) so I don't have a very high opinion of them anyway.

Hi, I had the exact same issue back in 2011. It took months to get the 13 euro off them, but I persisted!

I had the same problem cancelling contracts with both meteor and O2. Definitely something the consumer assoc of Ireland or some other quango should be looking into.

They seem to be tying people down to a yearly contract, so if you break the contract before the year is up they are entitled to fulfill the contract.

It’s sneaky, why do they need a yearly contract unless they have supplied you with something materially like a modem.?

In my case I supplied my own modem and on the 2nd year they got me into another contract by knocking €5 a month off my standing charge

I am not surprised that I am not the only one this happened to.

The fact that I was put on hold for 5 minutes was what made me suspicious. It reminded me of the complaints processes operated by others to frustrate you and tire you out.

The appropriate regulator should make the mobile phone companies declare how much of customers money they have been holding. I might do a bit of research on this when I get a chance.

roker said:

They seem to be tying people down to a yearly contract, so if you break the contract before the year is up they are entitled to fulfil the contract. It’s sneaky, why do they need a yearly contract unless they have supplied you with something materially like a modem.?
In my case I supplied my own modem and on the 2nd year they got me into another contract by knocking €5 a month off my standing charge

Click to expand...

The thing was, I wasn't tied into any contract. On both occasions I had been with the company for much longer than my original contract stipulated. I was paying a monthly charge on a rolling basis and could cancel with a 30 days notice. On doing so I had to go looking for my remaining credit balances to be returned to me.

Same here jaykayphd. The minimum term of the contract was well exceeded by the time I terminated the contract.

I contacted ComReg. They said they could only deal with it as a complaint about customer services. That is not my complaint. My complaint was they may be keeping people's money across the board. Comreg said they could not ask Meteor to tell them how many customer client balances they held.

I then contacted the National Consumer Agency. they said that I should check the terms and conditions of the agreement with Meteor. I asked if I had any rights as a consumer to have the money returned to me in a timely manner notwithstanding the provisions of the contract. They said no I didn't. Therefore, it seems all I can do is check the contract and if they were in breach to sure them for the lost interest on €20 for 8 months!

It appears that crime pays!

I might have one last look at whether the Central Bank/Financial Regulator has any authority over them on the basis that they Meteor are effectively holding deposits if they hold these funds until requested across the board. That would put a fire-cracker up their ****

Also had trouble getting less than €20 from Meteor.

I never actually took up service, cancelling and not accecpting the SIM card. They promised the refund, at least 3 times on email. I finally gave them 10 days to refund it or I was going to contact comreg. I had it in my account in 3 days.

Meteor

I had a similar issue. I left them over a year ago with 9.93 credit on my account, since then I kept geting bills saying I was in credit. In July I contacted them to try and get the money back, and instead of refunding me the money they then took that sum from my account.

Three months on I was still trying to get the money back and at this stage comreg was the case. I was told by meteor reps on five separate occasions that the money was oing back into my account and it never did. Eventually it got escalated to the complaints department who refused to answer my emails.

It was only because of ComReg that I got the money back SIX MONTHS after I had asked for it (and 5 phone calls and over 20 emails later).

TLR - Just be sure to cancel your direct debit with them on your end when the contract is finished.

Had a similar problem with Bord Gais. Moved suppliers and had a credit final bill for around €40. Took 3 months and a threat of small claims court to get a refund.

This issue is more widespread and common than one would first think.