Broadband Problem - Consumer Act?

[Mumofthreeboys]

We have had Telewest broadband since about 2002, but our computer kept going offline every 10 minutes or so. Resulting in a re-start to reinstate the internet connection.

The computer has been checked by an IT specialist, they have also given us a new modem, but the problem has not been solved.

We have since changed to BT and we are challenging their final bill because we didn't receive the appropriate service i.e broadband, under the terms of the Consumer Act(?).

I hope this is the correct Act and does anybody know the correct bit of the Act I should quote??

[dw190]

Originally Posted by Mumofthreeboys

We have had Telewest broadband since about 2002, but our computer kept going offline every 10 minutes or so. Resulting in a re-start to reinstate the internet connection.

The computer has been checked by an IT specialist, they have also given us a new modem, but the problem has not been solved.

We have since changed to BT and we are challenging their final bill because we didn't receive the appropriate service i.e broadband, under the terms of the Consumer Act(?).

I hope this is the correct Act and does anybody know the correct bit of the Act I should quote??

I think this would come under the terms of the "Sale of Goods & Services Act"

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Templehead]

i m having a similar problem with tiscali, i can never get online and i ve had my gear checked out and yet i m hardly ever on(i m amazed i m on now)

So i think sale of goods act is coming into play for this one

[Mumofthreeboys]

Oh bloody hell, I was going to go to Tiscali as well!!!

Let me know if you find the correct bit of the Act to quote.

Thanks dw190, will check it out.

[sequenci]

if you guys are looking for a good broadband firm than consider virgin, they don't sign you in to a 12 month term so the customer service is superb.

[Mumofthreeboys]

Thanks sequenci, how much do you pay a month and does this include any phone calls?

[sequenci]

Originally Posted by Mumofthreeboys

Thanks sequenci, how much do you pay a month and does this include any phone calls?

i used to pay £25 with them when i had broadband, i think it may be cheaper now. i've since moved house and have had to go with telewest. any broadband firm which doesn't tie you in should be good as they know you can leave at any time - so they should offer superior customer service!

[Mumofthreeboys]

Thanks for that.

I have supanet broadband for my Mac its £14.99 a month and its fab, no problems at all!

[NeilP]

I use Utility Warehouse Discount Club for all my utilities.

They have an offer on at the moment £19.95 for 512mb BB+ Unlimited Local and National Calls for the first 6 months.

I have not had any problems with the services - the odd bit of dodgy Customer Services, but nothing major.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/s...f?exref=971294

& Yes, before anyone else says anything, i am also a Distributor for them as i like their services, and i get money for reccomending their services to my friends and family. That said, i will not recommend anything that i don't like or agree with - hence the admission of a bit of dody CS!

[Mumofthreeboys]

Now had a bill from the bloodsuckers for £137.49 - for a service we never had!!!

I've fired off the following letter to them:-

'Thank you for your letter dated 17th May demanding £137.49. As has already been explained to various people at Telewest, the reason we have chosen to leave Telewest is due to the appalling service on our broadband.

You should have records of this, but I will explain again:-

Our broadband was constantly going off line. When I say constantly, the time that the broadband remained online was sometimes 2 minutes, or it could be as long as 10 minutes if you were really lucky! Broadband is supposed to be continuous. This has been happening since we moved into our property in November 2002.

We had our computer ‘repaired’, at our expense, as advised by your IT Department.

The engineer maintained, and still, maintains, the problem is not with our PC, but with YOU.

The Sale of Goods Act clearly states that the goods should be:

∙ of satisfactory quality - which means the product should be reasonably reliable.
∙ fit for purpose - which means it should perform the function you bought it to do.
∙ as described - means it should be exactly what the trader told you it was.

I think you will agree that your broadband service is none of the above, so, quite how you can demand £137.49 for a service that we haven’t received is beyond me.

We have been more than fair considering we have paid all previous bills even though we haven’t had a broadband service. If you refuse to offer a reasonable settlement figure I will add up the cost of the broadband, phone calls to your IT department, ‘repair’, administration, etc, etc since 2002 and claim for the full amount.

If you wish me to take you to Court, I am more than willing to do so. I will also be copying this letter to Trading Standards.

I look forward to you comments.

[Rich44]

I just want to add some tech stuff to this thread so please dont think im trying to baffle you etc I genuinely want to help.

When it comes to broadband its not as straight forward to get things done as there are 2 companies running the show

1. Your ISP they are billing you effectively for all the content you download

2. BT Wholesale - Responsible for the broadband side of your phone line they are paid out of the monthly charge you pay your ISP.

3. BT Retail - These are the guys you pay your calls and line rental too.

Cable is slightly different as you are not connected via a phone line at all but over the same cable that the TV works on.

Both technologies work by the modem/router syncing to the device either in the exchange for ADSL or in the street cabs for cable (TW or NTL).

There are many causes of problems either from the ISP or BT.

ADSL

There are 2 things you are looking for on your line these can be found in your router or device stats for USB devices

Attentuation - The higher this is the further from the exchange you are and as such the lower your maximum speed can be

SNR (Noise) - This figure needs to be as high as possible if it drops below 4dB your line will probably lose sync and drop your net connection.


Cable similar issues if the green light relating to sync goes out and then flashes then it has lost sync to the modem in the street.



If your line is unstable and you keep losing sync especially if it rains or when the street lights come on in the evenings then moving ISP will get you NOWHERE its part of the characteristics of your line and moving ISPs will change nothing.

There are many processes for fault finding you can do

1. Unplug every phone in the house and try the ADSL device on its own see if it improves
2. Try new filters - theyre not all the same
3. Buy a filtered face plate for the wall socket
4. Get rid of the USB modem these are crap and lose sync all the time the Belkin 7633 is a good router under £80 and will hold sync on noisy lines extremely well.


Cable users are pretty much in the hands of the cable co as there isnt a huge run to an exchange if there is constant lose of sync then it needs logging as a fault (easier said than done).

For more help and advice go to www.dslguide.org click message boards and find the board for your ISP and ask in there, failing that pop into the Bulldog forum, i'm in there (Rich44 there too) and i'll try to help as much as I can).

[Mumofthreeboys]

OMG - think I will have to print this off!!!! Thanks very much for the tips, excellent.

So you think that by switching to BT for the phone line won't change anything either??? Or do you mean by just switching ISP???

[Rich44]

Seeing as you were with Telewest and I assume you wont be wanting their services again?

The best way for you to go would be to take a BT line and sign up for ADSL on it.

Check out http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php stick your post code in there (and BT line if you have one) and see what it says you can have, also have a look to see if any of the LLU providers have installed their kit in the exchange it may be worth considering some of them as they can work out cheaper and faster than BT and another ISP.

I use Bulldog (who havent had a great rep historically but I havent had any problems with them) and am currently waiting on getting ADSL2+ which is up to 20Mb for £35 per mont including line rental to them.

Have a look at that link and see if anyone like Bulldog, UKOnline etc has a presence in the LLU section.

[StoneLaughter]

...there are other providers of lines compatible with ADSL internet apart from BT... we're with TalkTalk and their broadband is free with the phone line... yes FREE. And BT are not involved in any way.

Telewest is Cable Internet and as such is completely unrelated to 'phone lines in any way.

[sequenci]

Originally Posted by Rich44

2. BT Wholesale - Responsible for the broadband side of your phone line they are paid out of the monthly charge you pay your ISP.

3. BT Retail - These are the guys you pay your calls and line rental too.

I thought telewest have their own cabling independent of BT?!?!