ISP contract termination legal?

[Shepherd]

I switched Internet providers before my 12 month contract was up with tesco.net, they took £80 from my bank account, this pushed my overdraft over the limit for an extra £20 fine.. is all this kosha? :o

[Janet-M]

Hi and Welcome

You need to give more details .What question are you exactly asking ? is it if the ISP can hold you to your contract by claiming the money you agreed to or if the £20 charge was legal .

[Rich44]

The reason ISPs have 12 month contracts is not to be unfair etc but to cover their costs

 

The cost for adding ADSL to a phone line (activation) is around £50 plus VAT and on top of that many provide a free ADSL Router/modem.

 

It then takes 12 months to cover the cost of the activation and modem hence the lock in period, if you leave during this time then they take the full cost of both from you, this is rather unfair as it should really be the pro rata cost of the items as you will have already paid some of it off but in practise it never works that way.

 

It should have been clearly explained to you and explained when they would be taking this money, if they didnt do this then you could go down this route with them and see what they say but knowing what a bunch of swines Tesco are then I wouldnt hold your breath

[meagain]

In theory, you could argue that it's unfair for them to be asking you to pay for a continuation in service they've no intention of providing. I'm about to cancel with NTL, and I am going to be steadfast on this matter - there is absolutely no way I am going to pay them for a service I will not be receiving. If they refuse to accept this, I can always refuse to leave them a forwarding address.

[Rich44]

I can understand this if you are moving house but ultimately if you sign a 12 month contract and the other party hasnt breached the terms then I fail to see why you feel you shouldnt honour your side of it?

 

Unless NTL have provided a terrible service and thats the reason you are cancelling then the reason they tie you in for 12 months is to cover their install costs which they dont charge you for.

 

Your argument is similar to saying im not paying the rest of my 12 month mobile phone contract because I have lost the phone that wouldnt work in a court (unless im wrong of course, has been known)

 

Cant see where you're coming from on this one although I can understand it

[meagain]

I can understand this if you are moving house but ultimately if you sign a 12 month contract and the other party hasnt breached the terms then I fail to see why you feel you shouldnt honour your side of it?

 

It's called "unequal bargaining". That, and the fact that I was told explicitly, in no uncertain terms, but the agent that I would not be tied in for 12 months. I was told the standard procedure for students was that instead of a 12-month tie-in, a £25 deposit is payable to secure the deal, repayable as account credit on the first bill.

 

Unless NTL have provided a terrible service and thats the reason you are cancelling then the reason they tie you in for 12 months is to cover their install costs which they dont charge you for.

 

Sorry, I can't remotely begin to buy this. The cost of installation is:

1. Connection
   
2. Personnel
   
3. Equipment
   

 

As for connection, the cable has already been laid. Personnel costs extend to 15-20 minutes of a field engineer's time (£5 tops). Equipment is nil, since customers rent it, and are charged separately if they fail to return it at the end of the contract (since, unless it develops a fault, it can be reused). I refuse to believe that my £40 monthly bill somehow does not include use of the equipment.

[Rich44]

Do you honestly know how much these things cost

 

the cable is only laid to the edge of your property the cable still has to be laid across your garden, put through into the house.

 

As for your 15-20 mins of time being £5 well that might be the wages bill for that time but you have to factor in transport cost, materials, transport of the equipment to the engineer etc. Whenever I was sent to site my boss worked out that the true cost of a visit from me was around £300 all included

 

You are right that the student packages are supposed to be 9 months contracts rather than 12 (it may even be 6 now)

 

As for unequal bargaining I dont believe it is if you had paid for install (which is normally £50 I believe) then I could see it but the 12 month contract is not really any different to a mobile phone contract.

 

Anyway my other points are irrelevant if as you claim they never stated you were on a 12 month contract. NTL dont know their asses from their elbows I suspect you spoke to someone when you wanted to cancel that didnt know what they were talking about, put it back in writing to them and see what they say, send it registered delivery.

 

Believe me im not arguing against that you should get out of it and in light of the student deal you should be ok but going along the lines of unequal bargaining etc I dont think you have a realistic chance nor a leg to stand on, sorry just my opinion on it.

 

You could write to NTL and ask for a breakdown of their installation charges if they want to go down that route

 

Good Luck with it

[meagain]

the cable is only laid to the edge of your property the cable still has to be laid across your garden, put through into the house.

 

Maybe you missed the part where I said "The cable is already laid".

 

As for your 15-20 mins of time being £5 well that might be the wages bill for that time but you have to factor in transport cost, materials, transport of the equipment to the engineer etc. Whenever I was sent to site my boss worked out that the true cost of a visit from me was around £300 all included

 

That's their responsibility. All I'm responsible for is time on the job.

 

As for unequal bargaining I dont believe it is ...

 

I am a lone student. NTL is a multi-million pound company with 7-figure profits. QED.

[Rich44]

Ok no need to get stroppy over it im not here having a go at you, normally during installs the cable need to be renewed between the edge of the property and the junction box in front of the house if they didnt do that then fine but the standard install costs still stand for the company.

 

That's their responsibility. All I'm responsible for is time on the job.

No you are not responsible for "time on the job at all" if they incur costs as part of the install and their business plan works that the costs are recovered over the 12 months which is why the contract is that long then thats how it is i'm afraid

 

I don't know why you're being so precious about it to me I was agreeing with you that the student package is not a 12 month contract so go down that route with NTL as your other argument doesnt hold water im afraid.

 

I am a lone student. NTL is a multi-million pound company with 7-figure profits. QED.

Without meaning to be rude this is probably the most stupid argument ive ever heard and if you stood up in court and said that you would be laughed out of the county.

 

Approach NTL with the student contract/product argument and you will be ok but I would drop the shirty well im a poor hard done by student and NTL are the evil huge corporation bit it wont get you anywhere

 

As for NTLs profit being seven figure I think you will find their debt is 10 figure which makes even student debt look on the small side so go figure

 

I find it amazing that people are trying to shirk their responsibilities on their part of a contract, like I said if they have breeched their side of it by supplying an inferior service then fine but to take a service from them and agree to a 12 month contract (if you did indeed agree to one) then you should be paying your contract like I said you wouldnt think you could get out of a mobile phone contract just because you lost the phone

[meagain]

Without meaning to be rude this is probably the most stupid argument ive ever heard and if you stood up in court and said that you would be laughed out of the county.

 

How is it stupid? They have the right to set a minimum period of 12 months and evidently I am denied the right to alter this. You'd have to be applying some strange logic to not see that as unfair. Again, remind me where in the contract I agreed to pay for service I don't receive?