Broadband Contract Hell

[nickyb2010]

Hi there I am just writing this account about my current contract and service with my broadband supplier I have been with pipex homecall for over a year and had no problems, then in December I decided to upgrade to the 8mb max service the initial upgrade took over a month and instead of and increase my broadband speed decreased I contacted them and apparently nothing was wrong after numwerous calls charged at national rates i spoke to someone who stated there was an error on the system so my line had to be rebuilt this meant bad speed on my broadband for another two weeks or so

Since the service has been running much better I have been put onto there FUP about 4 times to my knowledge ,I say to my knowledge because no emails or letters are ever sent to state I am nearing the FUP limit and I also have never received any notification I have been placed on a FUP, after reading there T&C it states that a user cannot Download more than 1GB per week in-between the hours of 6pm - 11pm weekdays and 12pm - 4pm weekend this equates to around 140 mob per day in peek hours which is really not much at all your standard audio CD can hold 700 Mb

I also use online gaming so this is another activity I cannot benefit from during the peek hours and I work through the day, so I cant use it before this time, when a user is placed on the FUP then the speeds really are atrocious equating to what can only be described as dial up speeds I have some speed check references to show this,

Tuesday 20feb 17.00 Running at ( 74 Kbps) ref number 74-7153583 using DSLConnect UK - Speedtest This site is the recommended site from homecall as they are tiscali resellers this should give the fastest speed results available because it is taken before the packets are sent through the internet it’s the last hop on the tiscali server so should give the fastest speeds available on my connection

Once I rang to complain about the service a customer service advisor pressured me into taking my line rental and my call to them and this would work out cheaper and that my problem would be resolved,= lie, however what I didn’t know is that I would be tied into a contract for 12 months for my line and calls as well as my broadband this was not stated to me on the phone nor through letters, I enquired to see if I could get a MAC code to transfer just my broadband and leave the calls where they were and I can have a MAC code at the Price of £225 to pay up the charges of my calls and broadband package for the rest of the year. when I first got broadband no FUP was in place and it wasnt that cheap but it was unltd usage so i didnt mind now it has become much cheaper and there are no options to upgrade the BB to a bigger usage, when I upgraded to 8mb I was not informed of the FUP, the company states that


7. AMENDMENT OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We reserve the right to add to and/or amend the Terms and Conditions at any time. Such changes shall be notified to You by posting on Our website.

Homecall Broadband terms and conditions

Changes in this manner shall be deemed to have been accepted if You continue to use the Broadband Service after a period of two weeks from the date of posting on the website.


how many customers will regularly visit this website and check if the T&C’s have changed to know if they are getting the service they originally agreed to, all I want is to leave homecall for my broadband service and not have to pay the extortionate amount of £225 for a service I clearly wont or cant use, I suggested a more reasonable fee of £58.5 which is £6.50 x 8 the amount stated on the website as the broadband price for the rest of my contract i knows 6.50 is cheap but 25 pound for unltd local and national calls and broadband isnt that cheap because we dont use the call at all we have mobiles i have had simply no reply from many letter to them


i have writen to otello who told me i must write formal complaint then wait 28 days to see if the matter is resolved if not they may consider the case but it is unlikley because its pretty much tuff, $HLT if anyone has any advice on the matter please respond i would really apperciate it

Regards Nick

[davethorp]

Re getting your MAC code it may be worth a look at http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-code-new.html

[nickyb2010]

thanks dave always good to know the rules but they sed mac code would be free they want £225 for the broadband for the rest of the year tho

[nickyb2010]

bump

[wemfish]

I have had problems with my old ISP – ‘Supanet’, they want the rest of the money for the contracted term. I have told them to get lost, and I will not pay because they failed to provide the service for which I was paying them for and so in my opinion they have broken the contract. Therefore any remaining time and payments are forfeited by them. They are going to send me a bill for the rest of the year, I told them not to bother as I won’t pay it and to take me to court if they want. Having been to court before on other issues I have found that the judges tend to take the view of the little people over that of corporations so I am sure I would win

I am fairly sure that you are in a similar position so if I were you I would just change ISP and let them waste their time trying to get the rest of the money from you. A few letters adapted from the Debt Action Group on here should frighten them off if they try to get heavy with you.

[nickyb2010]

Thanks Wem im gonna try and complain to everyone who i can (ottelo)
ofcom, watchdog, then try what you said and just move providers and tell them to get lost hopefully i can wurm my way out of it lol :o

[iowemoney]

i have a similar problem with Virgin, this might help though, an email i received from Consumer Direct

Consumer Direct

Thank you for providing the additional information, under the Supply of
Goods and Services Act 1982 as amended and Common Law in Scotland and
goods should be of a satisfactory quality and a service carried out with
reasonable skill and care.

To enable a cancellation of the contract with no penalty you will need
to show the trader is in breach of the above.

A recorded delivery letter should be sent stating the above and seeking
response within 14 days.

If there is no satisfactory response please contact Consumer Direct and
the details will be referred to Trading Standards.