Hamper King still a dodgy company with poor service

I'm just posting my story after someone else I know also had a bad experience with them recently. DO yourself a favour and stay clear of this company.



I quit with hamper king ages ago because of their service and if you haven't done so already I suggest you close your bank account an open a new one. Not only I'd hamper king fail to deliver on time, what they did deliver had been defrosted... and then refrozen. We then cancelled an order we had for the next year due to the fact they couldn't deliver on time or to standard.



Two years later, hamper king decided to take money from my sister's bank account and she didn't know until she got a bank statement a few days later. We called hamper king to find out why they took the money, they said they called her and ...she asked them to reinstate payments for a hamper. That phone call NEVER took place. We then had them check if they had taken money from my account because I knew I had no money in there an if they'd taken money then I would be charged by the bank to which they said no. But I got a letter from my bank saying my account was overdrawn. It was overdrawn because hamper king had taken money when they shouldn't have. I now had a $30 bank gee for being overdrawn. A phone call to Hamper king again and they say I agree to it same as my sister. Then, Chrisco tried to take money for an order which I had left money in my account for which meant my account was further overdrawn and another $30 fee was added on for it. And they had taken the money before we called for my sister so the guy I spoke to lied about money not being taken from my account. I wrote hen a letter demanding they return the money they took frm both my sisters account and mine, and I also demanded they pay my bank fees as it was due to their wrong actions that I had those fees. They did pay it all but that's beside the point. If they're in the habit of taking money years down the track then you should close that account now and get a new one to stop them doing it to you later.



Btw, when it happened I spoke to a lawyer and they say a company has every right to take money from your bank account if you sign a direct debit request. Even if you tell them to stop they don't have to so legally they dint have to pay me back. That's also why I say to close your bank account. Any company can so it.



I also dint have any direct debits now. There is to be no direct debits on my account. Some companies are good but I wouldn't trut anyone with having that kind of access to my account now.



Here's a review I wrote a while ago that was removed from the website, funny that.



13th March 2009 11:45 am

This was a very bad experience.

Couldn't deliver the product on the delivery date, frozen foods had been defrosted and then refrozen. We cancelled our order for the next year and after a year, Hamper King decided they could just start taking money from my bank account without my permission. I've now been charged bank fees due to the money not being in my account. Of course the money wasn't there, because the money was taken illegally.



Even worse, they also took money out of my sister's bank account without permission the day after they did it to me, but we had no idea they had taken any money until my sister got a bank statement and saw a transaction that shouldn't have been there. After talking to the bank, she contacted Hamper King. We had them check my account to make sure no money had been taken from me and they lied about it, saying they hadn't taken any money. When I went to withdraw my pay from the bank, I found well over $100 was missing. I called the bank and they told me Hamper King had debited money. This was more than a year after we cancelled our order.

My advice is to stay well clear of this company because they will try to steal your money at a later date.



AND, here's a copy of the letter I wrote to hamper king which they never replied to.



Ronda Harman

Removed

Removed

WA 6101

Removed



13th March 2009



General Manager

Hamper King

Reply Paid 493

Sydney

NSW 2001



To the General Manager;



I am writing to make a complaint about Hamper King taking money from my bank account without my permission. In the past, I ordered with Hamper King but my hampers were not delivered on time, they arrived a few weeks later, after frozen food had been defrosted and then refrozen. Due to the poor service Hamper King provided, my sister and I decided to cancel our orders for the following year. That was well over a year ago. Now for some reason, Hamper King has decided to take money ($70) from my account on February 25, 2009. The following day, money ($30) was also taken from my sister's bank account. Further to this, when it was discovered money had be taken from my sister's account, Hamper King were asked if any money had been taken from my account and we were told that no money had been taken from me. Neither of us gave permission for this and we would like explanations as to why it happened.



Due to the fact that I was not expecting money to be taken from my bank account, there were no available funds and I have now been charged dishonour fees by the bank. I was not just charged one dishonour fee, either, because after your company took the money that was in there and incurred one charge for there not being enough funds, then the companies who were rightfully due to debit money did so, and I was charged again. There was only money in my bank account for two companies - Hamper King was not one of those companies. Hamper King claims we gave permission via a phone call that we never received.



I want all monies that Hamper King took refunded. Plus I want both dishonour fees that I was charged by my bank paid for by Hamper King. For this, I am enclosing a copy of a bank statement showing the fees I was charged as proof. That totals $130 - $70 plus two dishonour fees of $30. It is not fair that I should be out of pocket because your company unethically took money from my account. Also, I want a copy of the phone call that was supposedly made to my phone (08) REMOVED on February 10, 2009 between 10 AM and 10:15 AM where your company claims I gave permission for funds to be debited from my account.



You have seven days to respond to this letter, otherwise I will be contacting Consumer Protection and the Department of Commerce. I look forward to you prompt reply.



Yours sincerely,



Ronda Harman

Encl



my advice is to stay well clear of Hamper King. The only reason why I'm posting this is because Hamper King had the nerve to tell my friend to shut up about it and stop contacting people. The funny thing is, Hamper King have constantly contacted me ever since I had the above problem, still sending catalogues, emails and even phone calls. They were told we wanted no further business with them but they never stopped contacting us so I don't know why they're phoning my friend telling her to shut up.


*Now, they've called me but my mother took the call and told them I didn't want to speak to them as I've told them countless times to stop contacting me. The woman said she had to speak to me before the comment could be removed. My mother started to hand the phone over but instead of taking it, I simply pressed the button and hung it up while the woman was talking. When I checked the hamper king page, the comment had been removed already. Very doubtful she waited to speak to me and you have to wonder why the company are removing complaints from their page. Why do they only allow positive comments? They're proving they're a dodgy company so people, stop ordering through them.