A recent customer told me we had taken money from his account and he wanted to know what it was. He was quite upset that a payment had been taken, however, he had no account with us and was not paying us for anything.
‘But I called the bank and they told me that … had taken a payment!’
‘We are not …’ I advised him. ‘It would be better for you to call them.’
‘I don’t know how to call them. You sort it!’
‘We are not … We do not work with them.’
‘How am I going to contact them? You sort it!’
‘It’s against the law for a company to give details to a third-party, so they will not give me information. If the bank have told you that … have taken a payment then you need to ring …’
‘I don’t have their number. You sort it!’ He was really getting angry at this point.
‘You can get their number from Directory Enquiries or from a phone book.’
‘I can’t do this. You must sort this out for me.’
‘This is … We have not taken payment from you. If … have taken payment then you need to call them. I can’t do it for you. You need to find the number and call them!’
This conversation went on for about 15 minutes. Eventually he got the message and went. I don’t understand why he called us in the first place. We have nothing to do with the company in question. It could be because we are a freephone number so he may have thought that I would put him through to them. Not a chance.