Why 30 days notice at end of contract?

80howard · 18 July 2017 at 10:05AM

Hi,
My broadband contract with EE ends on 23rd August. I rang today to say I don't want it to continue past this date. I was informed I have to give 14 or 30 days notice so have to ring on one of these dates instead. Why is this? If it ends on a particular day and I want it ti finish, why can't I just inform them on any day? Just find it annoying. 23rd July is a Sunday and I'm usually pretty busy!
Can anyone shed any light on why this should be, are they allowed to stipulate such conditions in the contract?
Many Thanks

onomatopoeia99 · 18 July 2017 at 10:19AM

Your minimum term ends on 23rd August, not your contract. If you want to change supplier, set that in motion 14 days before and ask them for a start date of 23rd August or later.

If you want to cease completely and have no service on the line, give EE notice on 24th July. You may have to pay a cease fee in that case, which would be the wholesale fee passed on to you.

Samantha_EE · 18 July 2017 at 6:28PM

Hi 80howard,

I understand your queries. With all EE broadband accounts, as well as EE mobile we do require a cancelation notice period that can be found in the terms and conditions.

You can find more information on cancelling home broadband accounts on this link: http://ee.co.uk/help/accounts-billing-and-topping-up/sign-up-and-manage-your-account/home-phone-and-broadband/leaving-home-broadband-home-phone-ee-tv

Thanks Sam

iniltous · 18 July 2017 at 7:29PM

If you could give 'notice' at any time during the minimum term period and ask for it to 'noted' and held until the day at which ETC's would no longer apply, then what would stop someone signing with a company for a 12/18/24 month minimum term contract, and say by the way , I'm also giving you notice to quit in 12/18/24 months time.
I dare say you could have just quit today, if you didn't mind paying an ETC, or potentially losing service a little early ( calling approx 5 weeks before your minimum term expires) , or given notice and if that's 30 days , pay approx 1 week of ETC, seems sensible to wait a week and call back then.

Do you intend ceasing all service delivered over Openreach's local loop, or are wanting to migrate to someone else, if you are going to use another provider that also uses OR then it would be that company (acting on your behalf) that effectively gives notice not you, by quitting yourself and then getting someone else to provide a 'new' service over the same OR wires is a recipe for disaster

You can ring on Monday 24th, you don't have to ring exactly on he anniversary of taking their service, if you quit on the 24th you may find they bill you for 30 days, then refund you for 29 days , by waiting a day doesn't commit you to another month, it may just make your final bill a little more complicated

80howard · 23 July 2017 at 1:51PM

I was told I could cancel at 30 days or 14 days, is this correct?

[Deleted User] · 23 July 2017 at 2:54PM

80howard wrote: »

I was told I could cancel at 30 days or 14 days, is this correct?

Not really, older contracts were a minimum 14 day notice but I think they've now changed to minimum 30 days notice. Which yours is I don't know. Note that they are minimum terms. If you're changing to a different supplier you don't actually cancel but let the new supplier change over for you. Just make sure that the new supplier doesn't change over too soon or you'll end up with early termination fees and headaches.

boatman · 23 July 2017 at 6:35PM

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot give 35 days notice, it is perfectly acceptable. The problem is that it suits companies to say customers need to give 30 days notice in the hope that people are late giving the call. Its the same reason there is not a dedicated email address or number just for cancellations, they want to convince you to stay, hence why OFCOM have introduced rules where you only need to contact the new provided if you want to switch.

Under a 'gaining provider led process', your new provider will arrange the transfer for you.
You only need to contact the provider you wish to switch to, who will notify your old provider of the intended transfer - you do not need to cancel your contract with your old provider.
If you change your mind, you must contact your new provider to cancel your request to switch.
Once you have contacted your new provider to begin the switching process, both your new provider and the provider you're leaving must both send you a notification letter to inform you of the switch.
The letter from the provider you are leaving must include details of:

the services which are affected,
the services which are unaffected, and
any applicable early termination charges that relate to the services you currently take.

The letters from the provider you are leaving and your new provider must also give details of the switch, including a reasonable estimate of the date it will happen.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/switching/switching-broadband-provider

phillw · 25 July 2017 at 9:01AM

80howard wrote: »

Why is this? If it ends on a particular day and I want it ti finish, why can't I just inform them on any day? Just find it annoying. 23rd July is a Sunday and I'm usually pretty busy!

I think there is some confusion.

You'll have a contract end date, if you try to cancel before that date then you'll have a termination fee. However it's pretty common now to allow switches within a number of days before that without charging a fee, because the switch date isn't something you control and it would be unfair to keep you hanging round on an unfavourable tariff.

You also have to give them notice, so if you phone up today you may not be able to leave until 30 days from now.

There isn't any that means you have to phone up on a particular day, just that it's in your financial interest to phone on a particular day (avoid cancellation fees and avoiding going onto an unfavourable tariff).

If you're switching to another provider, you don't want them to actually cancel it or they'll charge you a cease fee and you'll lose your number. In that case you sign up to a new provider and call your old provider to let them know. Your new provider won't do anything for 14 days, because of the cooling off period. By the time the line switches it will have been around 30 days.

If your old provider says you only gave them 28 days & not 30 or some such nonsense and want to mess you around then complain and take it to the ombudsman if you don't get anywhere, they'll back down. Just say you would have thought it was reasonable that the switch date would be agreed between your old and new provider to make sure it had the right number of days notice.

boatman · 25 July 2017 at 3:56PM

I spoke to OFCOM with regard to giving more than 30 days notice, this is their response:

"Ofcom is aware that providers require a minimum notice period and would expect providers to allow customers to give a longer notice period where requested. Again, Ofcom would be concerned if there was evidence of providers not allowing customers to give more than the minimum notice period set out in their terms and conditions."

As can be seen from their response, you can give more than the required 30 days notice period. One of the problems is that the system the phone companies use is set up to automatically mark your account with 30 days notice when you call. At this this stage they will often automatically add an 'ETC'(early termination charge), because you have called within the contract period. What should happen is that in the last 30 days of a contract no termination charges are applied because you are 'giving notice' within the minimum term, you are not 'leaving' within the minimum term, sadly companies don't see the difference.

phillw · 30 July 2017 at 6:30PM

boatman wrote: »

At this this stage they will often automatically add an 'ETC'(early termination charge), because you have called within the contract period. What should happen is that in the last 30 days of a contract no termination charges are applied because you are 'giving notice' within the minimum term, you are not 'leaving' within the minimum term, sadly companies don't see the difference.

You could argue your way out of a charge in that situation. You should also have price protection once you have given notice, so that you don't leave yourself in a position of being hit with a charge if you leave too early or a punitive tariff for not switching away early enough.

Why 30 days notice at end of contract?

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