The CISAS is the Arbitration service that deals with complaints between individuals and their Internet Services Providers. They are intended to be a reliable, independent way of fairly resolving disputes - but a warning to all, this is far from the case in practice!
I brought my dispute with Orange to the CISAS and it was passed to the IDRS (Independent Dispute Resolution Service, http://www.idrs.ltd.uk/). However, from the moment I sent that first email, the IDRS proved to be quite simply the most inept organisation I have ever had the misfortune to deal with - and I say that as someone who has been a longtime customer of BT.
I frst got an inkling there was going to be a problem when, a few weeks after I handed over my case, I got an unexpected email from the IDRS telling me that they had closed it. When I asked why, they said they had been told by Orange that it had all been resolved and there was no case to answer. When I wrote to tell them that from my point of view it certainly had not, they emailed again to say that I was wrong, it was over, and when I disputed this again they told me that I could not question that decision and that was the end of it!
This wasn't quite what I was expecting from an arbitrartion service so I was then forced to make a formal complaint to them to get my complaint against Orange opened again, which they eventually did, admitting they were wrong to close it.
At this point they then appointed an Adjudicator and set a date for the case to be addressed. By now however I was unsure what evidence was going to be put before her as, apart from saying my case was solved, Orange had not put forward a defence to my case. So I wrote to the IDRS to check. No reply. I wrote again - what evidence was being put before the Adjudicator? No reply again. And no reply when I asked again.
And then I was sent the Arbitrator's decision. When I looked at it however I saw that she had not apparently not been sent any of the details of my original complaint against Orange, but instead had been sent just one of the emails I'd sent to complain that my case had been closed - and then based her decision on that!
I complained again - what was going on? I then received an email from the manager who was dealing with my case which she sent to the IDRS Managing Director, and which she appeared to have copied to me in error. It said "we have a problem with this. Mair has referred to an email I sent her as a Defence when it was not. I will come and explain it to you when you are in"
A problem indeed. However it then got worse. The Managing Director of IDRS took on my complaint. After due consideration he decided that, although the wrong evidence was sent to the Adjudicator and although I hadn't been told what evidence she was actually using in her decision, he was happy that everything was fair and above board and had been done according to the procedures.
It had now been around six months since I had brought this case to them. I decided to go to the last port of call - the Independent Reviewer who had recently been appointed to make judgements on IDRS's conduct. Two months later she decided; the Managing Director had been entirely wrong, my complaint was justified and he was told to apologise and send me a cheque in compensation.
And while this was very welcome, the rules of the arbitration scheme dictate that once a decision has been made in my case, it could not be re-addressed, leaving me nowhere to go in my case against Orange.
So a warning - if you have a dispute with your ISP and you are thinking of taking it to the CISAS/IDRS for arbitration, beware - they can be more than a little shambolic!
I can confirm a similar experience with CISAS/IDRS.
I received an adjudication result letter as follows :-
Quote:
Further to our recent correspondence we have received confirmation from the company that they are settling this claim in full. The adjudicator has no power to award any more thatn the customer claims on the application form. Accordingly, we are closing our file.
Because I had not received any communication from Orange, I asked CISAS by email :-
Quote:
I would be interested in knowing precisely the response of Orange Home UK plc to CISAS because I am puzzled by your statement
I have not had any response from CISAS. But as I have now moved from Orange to o2 (now Sky), I am not pursuing CISAS for an answer.
_________________ An ex-Orange guinea pig
"The first third of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second third by 0range then along comes 02 and you die happy."
Hi nhyder, sorry to hear you have also been a victim of CISAS/IDRS dribbling inadequacy - it seems that their way of dealing with these cases is by trying to sweep them away as quickly as possible!
Must make their life nice and easy but not exactly what Ofcom had in mind when they called on them to arbitrate these disputes I would guess.
Despite IDRS's incompetence, did you get any compensation out of Orange?
Oh dear. I'm in the later stages of my complaint, having commented on the defence put forward by Orange.
I was also a little alarmed by cisas at the begining, they sent back all my submitted papers saying that the dispute was longer than 9 months old and that was outside their remit. It was reinstaed after I phoned to question it!
I wonder what happens to all the people they deal with like this who then fail to question their wrong decisions.
The IDRS do seem to be quite extraordinarily useless at what they do. For info, the Managing Director is Allan Connarty though I should warn you that any reference to him is likely to be met with a similar level of disservice!
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