O2 £50 termination fee

[beavis123]

My current contract with O2 ends in January but i have just ordered Sky tv with phone and broadband included so i phoned O2 and asked for a MAC. I was told that i would need to send the router back and that there would be a £50 cancellation charge. I said that as there was only 3 months left to run on the contract i would just pay 3 x my normal payment which is £22.50 but they were having none of it. They are insisting that i must pay the cancellation fee. Is this right? seems really unfair to me. Any help appreciated....

[robin9342]

What does your o2 contract say? Its normal for ISPs to charge an early cancellation fee and to expect the remaining months rental.

[beavis123]

It just says that there will be a cancellation fee of £50. I won't be expected to pay the remaining months rental.

I have since been on the phone to them and after an hour of trying to put my point across was finally put through to a senior manager to who i explained that i was willing to pay the remaining months rental and on that basis, didn't see why the cancellation fee would be necessary. Predictably he told me that he understood my argument but there was nothing that could be done to override the system in this eventuality. I will ring Oftel tomorrow to see what they say about it and if necessary i will complain about the fee directly to O2 by way of the Telecommunications Ombudsman Scheme.

Will report back with any progress...

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[daz1981]

Based on the info you've provided could you not just cancel the service and pay the £50 charge, then you wouldn't have to pay the 3 months contract and it'll cost you less? (3 x £22.50 is more than the £50 they are trying to charge you)

[beavis123]

My monthly cost is only £10 so would be £20 less than the £50 they are requesting.
I have since found out that Ofcom published a review of additional charges including non-direct debit charges and early termination charges on 28 February 2008. In the review they have stated that

Early termination charges should never be more than the remaining payments under the contract. A summary of the report can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/addcharges/pes/

Will be writing to O2 to see what they have to say about that...