24/7 Freecall pledges refunds

24/7 Freecall has pledged to refund Net users who've been booted off the service even though they had paid for the service.

In yet another U-turn, Sal Abdin, the head of 24/7 Freecall, told The Register that all those affected would received a refund - even though the ISP originally said it would not reimburse people.

"They will be refunded," he said. "There's no argument."

"If people drop us an email - that would help speed up things for us," he added.

Sal Abdin's apparent change of heart is to be welcomed - not only for the poor sods who had £19.99 deducted from their bank accounts days before being kicked off the service. But spare a thought for those who had money deducted after they were kicked off.

Oh, and it will also be welcome news to Telia - the telco that supports 24/7 Freecall. It is already troubled by the bad smell of publicity that accompanied 24/7 Freecall's decision to pull the plug on a 1,000 users with just a few hours notice.

No doubt it will be vigilant and ensure 24/7 Freecall is true to its word about the refunds. Because The Register will also be keeping its eye on matter. Taking money out of people's accounts just before - and after - they've been booted into touch? Tsk tsk, that's not nice at all, is it?

Here's what some of you have to say. According to Dan (he only gave us his first name): "I read your article on 24-7 Freecall's cut off of thousands of users and like you, I was one of them... I did actually receive that email too. I was cut off on 13th December and I was very surprised to find that on the 14th (AFTER they had closed my account) that my account had been debited!"

And this from Bo (he only gave us his first name too): "I got disconnected from them as well. They just charged my card on Thursday. I had no warning or email and they say 'No refund'."

On Friday Register hack, Andrew Thomas was promised a refund after he complained to 24/7 Freecall. ®

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