Telecom-Direct.com is the trading name of a telephony company that we, Base Camp Group, have had a diabolical experience with.
Telecom Trading Direct Ltd first started cold calling Base Camp during the 2007 summer asking to meet and put forward a proposal to enhance the telephony system we had in place. Base Camp is an SME in the travel industry, specialising in winter and adventure sport tours, with an office of 4-5 staff in West London.
Simon Richards, who I believe to be the head of the company, met with me and outlined his 3 page proposal that essentially would install, customise and manage the Samsung OfficeServe 7000IP Digital Telephone System. Simon Richards argued that this would cut our current monthly spend and personally assured me verbally that there were no additional costs that we would incur.
To my regret I then signed two agreements, one with a hire-purchase company called Shire Leasing to rent the equipment that was financed by ING Lease, and the other with a telephony provider called V Networks. Typically, these contracts had significant Telecoms-Direct.com branding and it was only later on that I fully appreciated the structure I had committed to.
The installation required a switch in telephony provider, from BT to V Networks in this case, and a certain type of broadband and telephone line to support the VOIP Samsung system. It also required the equipment to be installed by Shire Leasing and configured by Telecoms-Direct.com themselves.
At no point was I made aware I would be required to switch Telephony providers during the proposal process and I actually believe I was deliberately misled by Simon Richards who proactively hid these requirements as much as possible. I was also required to take out insurance for the Samsung system. This was hidden in the small print but contradicted Simon Richard's verbal statement and in effect his word.
The installation process was a complete disaster and resulted is us being without internet in our office for over 3 weeks, quite difficult if all your systems are internet based. When our broadband and telephony system was finally up and running it proved impossible to configure the system as Simon Richards had outlined in his original proposal.
The system was new to the market and it turned out that it was not compatible with certain broadband lines and telephony settings rendering services like direct dialling, individual voice mail boxes and auto attendants all dormant. In fact only 2 out of the 10 points Simon Richards outlined in his proposal were fulfilled.
What is more is that we had to pay extra for our particular broadband line, we had to request a back up line as the system was so faulty or temperamental, and we had to order 4 new SIP trunk lines to receive multiple incoming calls. With all these hidden costs it is easy to see that the new system turned out to be more expensive than what we were on before.
In trying to rectify this situation we considered several options. Our contracts with Shire Leasing and V Networks legally protected themselves from Telecom Trading Direct Ltd and on the whole these companies provided a good service. I just severely question their judgement as to who their business partners are.
What we discovered is that Telecoms-Direct.com is what is termed as a reseller. They are not accountable to any regulatory body such as Ofcom or Trading Standards and as a limited company have the capacity to declare themselves bankrupt, that as it happens they are in the process of doing.
As part of their liquidation they have the right to sell any value in the company onto a third party. This could for example include the revenue streams from a particular contract and exclude any liabilities.
See where I am going with this.. and guess what, the company that they sold these revenue streams to happens to be called Telecom - Direct.com Ltd. And guess what, this new company trades under Telecom-Direct.com, and has all the same staff and directors, including Simon Richards, as Telecom Trading Direct Ltd.
So the purpose for writing this blog? Well as I cannot pursue Simon Richards and Teleom-Direct.com legally, and as they refuse to return any calls we make regarding our account, I have opted for the use of free speech and the internet/media to try and exert any pressure I can on Telecom-Direct.com and their business partners/revenue streams. And if I am able to help prevent someone else experiencing what I have, it will be worth it.
FM
