Hi folks,

Re: stay away from Supanet.

I too have problems. After being a so-called valued customer for over 5 years (never missing a single monthly payment), Supanet rang me to upgrade my dial-up to Broadband. To cut a very long story short, I spent weeks without use of the Internet due to the incompetences of Supanet, faulty CD's, modems, etc... Supanet were willing to leave me with no service for well over a month despite me being charged both Dial-up & Broadband for the same month. After the initial phone call to sell something Supanet will not call you again, they expect you to call them and pay a premium rate to do so, when the free number to India does not sort your problem. Eventually I cancelled my Supanet contract completely. The actual experience cost me a fortune and I suffered from stress. Supanet Customer services were very poor. Letters received from Supanet included poor spellings, errors and omissions in serious information. To compound the problem Supanet then sent a whopping bill for the remainder of the contract even though I had never been able to use Broadband through no fault of my own. After consulting a lawyer, I was advised Supanet had breached their contract on a number of issues, the service was not up and running in the 30 days (distance selling regulations). I was charged a pro-rata fee on top of my usual monthly rate when the contract specifically stated this is not applicable for customers upgrading, etc... The lawyer also believed the contract was seriously mis-sold. After visiting the County Court for advice I was instead (in the first instance) directed to Otelo. I telephoned Otelo. They were very friendly and I was advised they could help me with my case. I sent a Final letter to The Departmental Head of Supanet and registered my complaint with Otelo. I understand If I am not fully satisfied with their verdict I may still elect to go to court to settle the case.

For my own situation my solicitor advised that (generally in law it is accepted) as the debt is disputed it should not be sent to a debt collector. The dispute should be resolved first, otherwise Supanet may be acting contrary to Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 'in that they are intending to cause alarm and distress which can be reported to Trading Standards.

If you are having problems, follow the company complaints procedure keeping copies and logs of all calls, letters, etc... & contact Consumer Direct or Otelo for individual advice sooner rather than later.

Thanks Peachee for sharing your experience. Please let us know how you get on. Good Luck.