Hi guys, I'm not an electrician myself but I own a small maintenance company and have fully qualified electrician working with me. I've made the mistake to sign up for Myhammer 3 months trial period and after couple of month fruitless attempt to win a job my mate sparky and I have gIven up. You all know the story: impossible quotes, everyone can see your quote and bit below, my add appear 3655 miles away from the job, etc.. When I signed up there was only 09...customer service number charging £1.5 a minute so I never bother to call. Have tried to email customer service but it hasn't made any difference. The problem was that, like some of you I was confused by the information on MyHammer home page that I'll pay £60 one off payment and after three months my account will be cancelled automatically if I don't pay further. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and on the end of the third month I got an invoice from MyHammer saying I've been charged £71 and my membership was extended for another year. I've cancelled the direct debit immediately and ask my membership to be terminated. MyHammer refused and insist I should pay till the rest of the year although I'm not using their service any longer.
Since then I've tried to solve the dispute via customer service call centre, emails and even called Fair Trading Association with no result whatsoever. Today I found in MyHammer terms and conditions that they must comply with Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. In this document says that all information regarding payments and contract cancellation must be clearly stated which in our case was not. But more interesting was the following paragraph:
3.10 If you provide pre-contractual information in a form that does not
allow it to be stored or reproduced by the consumer, such as during a
phone call or on a website, then you must confirm in writing, or in
another durable medium available and accessible to the consumer,
the information given at paragraph 3.1(i) to (viii).
Durable medium is not defined in the DSRs. Our view is that it
means a form in which information can be retained and reproduced
but cannot be edited, such as an email that can be printed or a letter,
fax or brochure that can be kept for future reference. We do not
consider that information on a website is durable as it can be changed
at any time after the consumer has accessed it. Technological
advances may change what we regard as durable in the future.
I haven't received any "Durable medium" regarding the trial period cancellation rules, has any of you?
At present I have a dispute with MyHammer over my refusal to pay another year for such a poor service. They threaten me with Debt Collectors Agency. I don't know how is that works for them as they are registered outside UK but any help from you guys will be appreciated.
I hope I've been helpful with the information above.
