Billing Dispute – Incorrect Charge

A customer called the PSP to cancel his internet service. The PSP offered to reduce the customer’s monthly fee by $10/month for one year if the customer decided to stay with the PSP. The customer accepted the retention offer. Two months later the customer noticed that the $10 discount had been removed from his invoice. When he called the PSP to report the problem, he was told that he was not eligible to receive the discount in the first place because it was reserved for new customers only. The customer argued that PSP’s retention offer was the only reason they did not cancel their service and switch to a new provider as they originally intended to do.

What did the PSP include in its response? The PSP confirmed the details of the offered described by the customer. The PSP said that it removed the discount after an internal audit identified that the discount was a promotion normally reserved for new customers only. The PSP argued that it was allowed to remove the discount without warning and provided a copy of its service terms to support its position.

Was the response complete? No. The information provided by the PSP is relevant, but does not show us the whole picture. In order to complete our investigation, the PSP will need to provide us with the call recording and all account records associated with that call, and any subsequent records related to the original contact and leading up to the complaint.

Key Message

Our objective when we investigate a complaint like this is to make sure that the customer receives what the customer was promised. To do this, we need to find out what the customer agreed to, including what they were told regarding the terms associated with that offer. We will also consider what is fair and reasonable in the circumstances; e.g. Based on the information disclosed to the customer during the call, was it reasonable for the customer to expect that they may lose the discount before the end of the 12-month period? Were the PSP’s actions of retaining the customer using an ineligible offer, and then removing the discount without notice, fair and reasonable?