Ken Smith of Wheldrake receives apology from broadband supplier Tiscali (From York Press)

Ken Smith of Wheldrake receives apology from broadband supplier Tiscali

11:05am Tuesday 26th May 2009 in Sorted By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

A NORMANDY veteran who was wrongly threatened with legal action by a broadband supplier has hailed the power of The Press after receiving a fulsome apology.

Tiscali has written to Ken Smith, 84, of Wheldrake, to say he does not owe it any money and he will not receive any more letters threatening to take him to court.

Mr Smith thanked the newspaper for “waving a magic wand” to resolve a wrangle which had been going on for six months.

The Press previously reported how the saga started in November when Mr Smith decided to switch from Pipex to BT.

Pipex, which is owned by Tiscali, sent him a cheque for £18.76 but he later received a letter from a debt-collecting agency demanding the money back and warning he might face court fees of £30 and solicitors’ costs of £50 if he did not comply.

Mr Smith said he had never been in debt in his life, and the threat of legal action had been overshadowing his planned trip to Normandy to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day. His wife, Gloria, said she feared that her husband, who had angina and had twice been operated on for cancer, might suffer a heart attack because of the stress he was suffering.

Pipex told the newspaper then that it had not had a chance to get the full billing in order to find out if there was an error on either part but it had “resolved Mr Smith’s query,” and the account was now cancelled.

Now Mr Smith has received a letter from Rachel Kershaw, a “high-level complaints executive” at Tiscali, saying she was very sorry to hear of the problems he had encountered with the company recently.

“I understand the frustration this has caused you,” she wrote. “Please accept this letter as confirmation that your account is fully cancelled.

“You do not owe us any further monies on the account.”

She said that Mr Smith could cash the cheque for £18.76.

She added: “Again, sorry for the confusion in relation to the cheque.”

She said he had also contacted the debt collecting agency, which had removed the debt from his name and account. “You should not receive any further correspondence in relation to any outstanding monies on your account.”

Mr Smith said: “Many thanks for waving the ‘magic wand’ which has put me out of the clutches of Pipex – hopefully.”