ComplaintsforMitel Networks

• Initial Complaint

  31/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased my business last December. At the time, the current owners and myself were under the impression that the phone contract had ended in 2018 and it was now month to month. I contacted Mitel and changed ownership. I was never informed there was a contract, nor did I sign anything agreeing to take on or start a new contract. I went to close the account yesterday. I was unable to speak with someone on the phone as it gives you no option to do so. I submitted a case and started a chat. The chat was disconnected and I ended up speaking with 3 representatives in order to get the account closure going. I was told I needed to give 45 days though the original contract signed by the old owners (sent to me by Mitel) states 30 days notice. I wanted the account closed 10/20/23. I was given email confirmation of this but received another email later stating closure date of 11/30/23. I contacted the collection employees cc'd on the email but was told they could not help and I needed to contact support again. I was told terms of service changed and it is 45 days notice and they also don't close accounts until the end of the month. I have tried the chat feature again but the representative stopped responding. Now when I try the chat it goes to transfer me to a representative but then boots me out of the chat to a window that allows me to rate the chat. I have no idea how to get ahold of anyone at this point to get this account closure figured out. I don't know what else to do.

  Business response

  17/11/2023

  To Whom It May Concern,

  We have reviewed the customers account and documentation associated with such. Below are our findings with regards to the customers claims. 

  4/12/2023 – Customer reaches out through SFDC case ******** stating that they recently acquired the business, and did not know the company was in contract upon being purchased. They stated in this case that they did not want to auto renew, and wanted to get out of the contract.  The contract most recently renewed on 05/1/2021 for 36 months which is active through 4/30/2024 – when the customer inquired about cancelling, they were mid contract with a full year left on the term. The customer requested to cancel however they would not agree to paying the associated early termination fee. The customer was informed about the Mitel Global Terms of Service and their remaining contract liability; the customer disputed stating they want to cancel without the Early Term Fee therefore no formal request to cancel was made at this time.
  
  9/20/2023 – Customer opened several SFDC cases asking to close their account ********** ********* *********; senior support rep ******** ******** reached out to ******** ****** and reiterated the cancellation terms as outlined in our Mitel Global Terms of Service, including our cancellation policy.  The customer, completely educated on their contract terms and the ETF, submitted SFDC case ******** to close their account.   The customer opened several additional SFDC cases requesting the account be closed mid-month.  This is not our cancellation process, we have a 45 day cancellation policy and the account is scheduled to be canceled on 11/30/2023 and remaining contract liability will apply.
  
  It is our finding that this customer was acquired by an investor that did not realize they were in active contract with Mitel.  Despite acquiring the business, they felt that they should be released from contract without penalty. The terms of their contract was explained in April 2023, prior to their request to close the account, received September 2023.  They opened a case in September 2023 to request the account be closed, and stated that they had a new provider and wanted to be released from contract with Mitel.  They were informed about the associated early termination fee in April 2023 and were given all of the necessary information surrounding their agreement with Mitel.
  
  With this information, we find this customer is in current contract with Mitel and Mitel provided the terms of service in April 2023.  This customers account is set to terminate 11/30/2023 and the associated early termination penalty will apply.

  Customer response

  22/11/2023

  
  Complaint: 20672790
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The issue is that we were not informed of being in contract prior to or after purchasing the business. There is now a spot on the portal that shows how long you have remaining in contract that alerted me to this fact. This is not something that I have ever seen on the portal before. on 9/27/22 I contacted them to let them know that we were purchasing the business. The only thing we were told to do was to update the authorized contacts on the account. At that time I was not alerted to the fact that the current owners were in contract and the current owners did not know they were in contract. I was not given a terms of service until I disputed the contract many months later. I don't feel that we should be held responsible for the contract that we were never made aware of. I never signed anything saying that I was taking over a contract and I do not believe a general terms of service that I did not have should be considered sufficient for acknowledging/accepting a contract. When taking on something that has a significant amount of fees attached to it, we should have had to sign something. We are a completely different business (different tax ID, etc.) than the prior owners and we should have been made aware. The change of ownership ended up taking place 12/1/2022 at which time I reached out again to get the authorized contacts update. Again, I was not alerted to a contract being in place, not given a terms of service, or asked to acknowledge anything of the sort. The invoices do not alert you to being in contract either. The only place to know you are in contract is on the portal, which is something I had not noticed on there prior to reaching out on 3/8/2023 when I contacted them to inquire about the contract.

  I was practice manager for the prior owner. At that time we were aware we were in contract and wanted to see when it ended. I reached out to Mitel in December of 2018 to see how much longer until the contract ends. At that time I was told the contract would end 5/1/2018. I was not provided with a terms of service or told that the contract would auto renew. When I asked how much longer until our contract ended, it should have been disclosed that it would auto renew. I was also told that we did not have a lease. We discontinued the phone service for the second location we had at that time. If we had been properly informed at that time we could have avoided this whole problem.

  Ultimately, we did our part informing Mitel of the business changes and were not given the same respect. I believe they purposefully neglected to give us all of the information. We never signed anything or were given any opportunity to acknowledge the fact that we were under contract and taking that over. To my knowledge, we have not been provided a terms of service or been asked to acknowledge any update terms of service since the contract originated in May 2015. That contract was initiated by people who no longer own or are part of the business now and I was not a part of the business at the time the contract was initiated, having started 6/2015 and becoming practice manager 8/2017.

  I would like to see proof that I was aware of the contract, terms of service, or something that would have alerted me to the fact that the previous owner were in contract and that we would be taking it over. I would like proof showing that we were alerted to the terms of service since I called 12-2018 or that we were alerted to being in contract since it should have ended 5/2018.

  I cannot be held responsible for fulfilling a contract I was never made aware I was taking on. I need something showing I was aware and agreed to taking on the contract, prior to purchasing the business 12/2022, to be satisfied that I am being held rightfully responsible.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ******

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