At last! An outlet for the pent up Telefonica-induced steam. It is good to know that I am not the only one. We have lived in Spain since August 2003 and took over the existing phone line, but had no internet provider and Tarifa Plana seemed a good deal at 22 euros for 24 hour access and free local calls. Everything was absolutely fine until November 2005 when for some reason we were being charged for phone access to the Internet and with three teenagers in the house, the bills were suddenly astronomical. I contacted Telefonica and they refunded the money. The next bill that came in was also wrong so I phoned them again and again they refunded the money.
The next bill was also uncharacteristically high, but this time, we were being charged for Duo Internet (the Telefonica ADSL package) on the phone bill. All through this period, we have been paying Tarifa Plana 24 charges which are billed separately. I phoned Telephonica again and this time I was told that we had not had Tarifa Plana until February this year! I explained that we had been registered with Tarifa Plana for the previous two years, but the operator was adamant that although I might have been registered with Tarifa Plana it was not through Telefonica. This developed into a "Yes, I have" "No, you have not" type of heated argument which ended in my telling the operator that I could give her the original bill reference from Octobder 2003 and her cutting me off. A subsequent call to another operator resulted in a refund of the Duo Internet
Since then we have again been charged for Tarifa Plana _and_ Duo Internet and again I rang Telefonica this time to be told that a phone call from this house in February had requested ADSL and that was why we were being charged for ADSL Duo Internet. I told them that no such phone call had been made and that we do not have ADSL, only to be told that it is on the computer that we have asked for it and therefore it must be true! When I asked for a refund on the Duo Internet charge I was told that this was not possible. I pointed out that refunds had been given in the past only to be told that this was not possible on this occasion as we had asked for Duo Internet and therefore it was our own fault that this charge had been made and therefore was not refundable. Coincidentally, in February a Telefonica representative phoned our number to ask whether we wanted ADSL to be connected as it was now available in our area, but we asked for additional information about costs to be sent to us so that we could make a comparison with other providers but heard nothing more. It could be that during this promotion, sales callers signed us up without our consent in order to get commission and it would not be beyond Telefonica's inefficiency to operate a system which allows this anomaly.
This whole process is becoming quite surreal and it seems we are caught in a strange loop where we are paying for a service we have not asked for and have no equipment with which to receive it. We cannot discontinue the Tarifa Plana 24 payments because we need the internet provider, so it seems that the only solution is to have ADSL connected. It will be interesting to see what happens when I request it because we will be shown as an existing customer so it is probably going to lead to more confusion. Whatever the outcome, the chances are that Telefonica will deny all responsibility and put the blame firmly on us.
Perhaps other people have had this problem - if so how have they solved it?
Regards
Jacky Summers
Jun 23, 2006 · The Editor
Hey Jacky,
Yeah, at last a place for all us foolish enough to cross paths with Telefonica! Jeez it sounds like you've had a hell of a time with them. So you're saying that they actually signed you up for these ADSL plans and you didn't even have the equipment for it? It sounds like that one chica you talked to purposely put you on a plan that would cause you to have to pay extra and call in again. Whatever though, it's kind of like whoever said not to piss off your waiter too badly, he might just spit in your soup. Same deal I'd say. Not fun. I love their selectively chosen call documentation though!
I have a secret to admit though. I just ordered Telefonica. Indeed, for the sake of all of our readers I've gone ahead and ordered it. Perhaps I should be documenting this experience on the forums here, what do you think?
Ciao!
Yeah, at last a place for all us foolish enough to cross paths with Telefonica! Jeez it sounds like you've had a hell of a time with them. So you're saying that they actually signed you up for these ADSL plans and you didn't even have the equipment for it? It sounds like that one chica you talked to purposely put you on a plan that would cause you to have to pay extra and call in again. Whatever though, it's kind of like whoever said not to piss off your waiter too badly, he might just spit in your soup. Same deal I'd say. Not fun. I love their selectively chosen call documentation though!
I have a secret to admit though. I just ordered Telefonica. Indeed, for the sake of all of our readers I've gone ahead and ordered it. Perhaps I should be documenting this experience on the forums here, what do you think?
Ciao!