Internet Cancelled on me where do I stand?

Rose2White_2

I phoned my ISP for a MAC number and the operator who said he had to transfer it to another department and that they would be in contact in 1-5 working days, then personnaly issued my MAC number and proceeded to close my account.

My son has an XBox live membership at a cost of 11p a day which he uses all the time and was upset at losing over a months worth of membership as it had been a present from his sister for his last birthday.

My daughter went to visit a university for an open day in the bad snow not knowing it had been cancelled 2 days before due to the weather, she never recieved the e-mail that was sent.

I have had to borrow internet services from friends to do some of my banking and bill payments, as well as extra 084/087 phone calls to pay bills over two month ends.

Legally where do I stand can a company just cut me off when I have paid for a service, never defaulted and have been overcharged by the looks of things for many years?

Crazy_Jamie

Presumably you asked for the MAC code because you wanted to change service providers. Did you specifically say in the phonecall that you wanted your account to be closed? If so, was any time frame put on that? Were you subject to a minimum contract term at the time or was this a rolling contract? What makes you think that you've been overcharged for many years?

Even if there is some kind of action here (which there may not be), I must admit that your losses (and therefore the amount that you could recover) are absolutely minimal. £3 for the loss of use of Xbox Live and whatever the petrol cost for the car for the open day is more or less the very best that you expect, which I would imagine isn't worth it.

The issue of overcharging you is a different one, though the obvious question is what the nature of the overcharging is and why you are only bringing this to light now after it has been going on for years.

Mark_Hewitt

Is it me or does the post not make much sense. The MAC number is just an address that allows DHCP amongst other things to map to IP addresses. Normally gotten by typing ifconfig (if you're using a posix compliant system).

So, what's the question?

posted_2

Migration access code, different thing to media access control

Crazy_Jamie

He's talking about a Migration Authorisation Code. Used to change broadband service providers. I don't know about the specifics technically, but you need to get a MAC code from your service provider in order to change your provider without disconnecting your broadband line entirely and reconnecting it.

Rose2White_2

Thank you for your replies

When I asked for my MAC (Migrate Away Code) number so I could change ISP I never said I wanted my account closed at that time and no time frame for closing the account was mentioned. There was no long term contract in place at the time as I had been with them for so many years, so I presume I was on a 30 day rolling contract, but nothing was said about it.

The e-mail I received at 8am the following morning said that if I decided to stay with them then I was not to pass the MAC number on and that it was only valid for 30 days. I still have this e-mail

As for the over charging, I have had problems with my ISP restricting my broadband speed to 512mb for years, well after months of trying to sort it out and not getting very far they did change my package & the last two months I was charge less before tax than I had been before.

I found this out when I asked them to post me paper copies of my last bills because I had no access to them (due to my account being closed with no notice).

As for the costs we have incurred, the train & bus tickets to the Uni come to £29.65 plus £3.96 for lost time on the Xbox live & cost of calls to my previous ISP and other companies where I would usually pay bills over the Internet for free. Also what about the inconvenience of it all as I am disabled and rely on my internet at times?

My biggest concern is; what rights do I have, can a company just cut you off with no notice?

Drunkstar

What ISP was it? I know a few consider (and it is in their T&Cs) a request for a MAC to be a 30 day notice to leave.

Rose2White_2

It was Tiscali & I wouldn't mind a 30 day notice to leave but less than 16 hours from Mac request to cancelled account was a bit much for me.

Also if the Mac request had been seen as a notice to leave then why would they put in the MAC e-mail

(quote)

'You may use this MAC code to switch from Tiscali to other service providers who support MAC migrations.
Your MAC code will remain valid for 30 days and expire on 28/02/2009. Tiscali will not cancel your account until you have given your MAC code to another service provider and they have successfully migrated your service.
Please remember, your invoices are in arrears and you are liable to pay for the remainder of your service with Tiscali. Once your final balance has been collected we will automatically stop collecting payment via direct debit/credit card - please do not cancel your payment method with your bank.
Before you switch providers we recommend you go to the Tiscali My Account area to check the new, great value packages available to you. You can change your price and speed at any time. If you change your mind and decide to remain with Tiscali, simply do not use your MAC code.
Kind regards, Tiscali Broadband Team.'

My account was close within 5 minutes of this e-mail being sent as recorded on my Tiscali account.

Art_2

You get a MAC from one ISP and pass it to your new one who should then do all the work.
Why this didn't happen is odd. Which company did you pass it to?

I don't think you have any chance of getting the travel costs you mention from anyone. A simple phone call could have told you the situation.

Regards,
Art.

Rose2White_2

Hi Art

Tiscali sent my MAC code then cancelled my account without me even passing on the MAC code; this is what caused all my problems.

As for the Uni trip on the 4th of Feb, here in East Anglia we had no snow at the time yet at Epsom they still had 4 inchs of ice on footpaths and even more laying around, we didn't know it was this bad as we had no snow for nearly a week and didn't realise it was still so bad elsewhere. There had been no news reports for a few days on the degree of snow as it had been about for a while by then. Usually it is here and gone in a day or two with no lasting affects.

There was an e-mail sent to daughters Tiscali e-mail account but this was never received due to the account being cancelled.

Can a company send out a mail saying your account will not be closed then close your account 5 minutes later with no notice or warning?

Art_2

How long did it take you to get an account working with another ISP?

Regards,
Art.