The applicant, Gouranga Dhanagare, has been waiting since mid April for a refund, after contacting iPrimus on five separate occasions.
"I was getting the same response every time, which was 'give me your details and we'll reverse it'. When I heard it for the fifth time I lost my head," he told ZDNet Australia
Dhanagare had the amount deducted from his card after he applied for an ADSL connection. He filled out a no-obligation form and faxed it through to the company. After three weeks he had heard nothing. He called, and was asked to fax through the form again. After there was still no response, he called iPrimus and spoke to a representative who took down his details--the same details that were on the form that had been faxed to the company twice.
In the end, it was all for nothing--Dhanagare could not get ADSL because his phone line wouldn't support it. But that didn't stop the company from slugging him with a $300 set up fee.
A spokesman for iPrimus said the initial charge was caused by some administrative confusion.
"There was some confusion surrounding whether or not his line was suitable for the ADSL. Initially it was understood that it was. Upon further checking it was found that it couldn't be conditioned," he said.
The spokesman could offer no explanation as to why Dhanagare has been waiting for nearly seven weeks to get a refund for a transaction that should never have gone through in the first place.
"It's regrettable and we would offer an apology to him for that delay," he said, attributing the problem with the refund to "an administrative bottleneck".
Next time he gives his credit card number on a no-obligation form, Dhanagare says he'll be more careful.
"I gave it in good faith ... the next time I give out my card number I'll be more mindful of what I'm getting into," he said.
There's no sour grapes with Dhanagare--he just wants his money back.
"The funny thing is I still have my dial-up Internet account with iPrimus," he said, adding that he had no plans to cancel it--he's happy with the service he gets.
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman John Pinnock says although the situation is less than ideal, it's not indicative of systemic problems with iPrimus.
"I would hazard a suggestion that it's the classic horror story and not representative of the normal situation," he told ZDNet Australia. "If it's an issue it hasn't come to the TIO".
Pinnock says Dhanagare's nightmare experience "would appear to be a one-off type of thing".
As for his money, the company says Dhanagare is entitled to a full refund, and iPrimus making arrangements.
Is this an isolated incident? Tell us about your ISP's customer service.
Hmmph! They shouldn't just simply apologise to Mr. Dhanagare. What about the costs in all the phone calls and time the customer spent in this farce? If they valued their customer goodwill, they should compensate with some (courtesy) gesture, especially considering that Mr. Dhanagare is already an existing customer. If I ever decide to check out iPrimus's broadband service, they won't get my credit card number! (Or use Amex with fraud protection!)