asking for supanet mac code problem

timthumb

hi just asked for my mac code with supanet as im thinking of moving to sky....when i spoke to the guy he said if you want to leave we will charge you for the extra internet usage you have used in the last 6 months over your limit

when i checked my usage i was shocked to see 15 gb a month on average my supanet package is 2gb capped

i couldn't see why my usage has gone up 5x since feb but realised that it was when i brought an internet radio that i leave on for my dad who is ill and in his bedroom all the time.........that explains the jump in usage

would they be right in demanding that internet usage as they havent charged for it in the past ?

as i have been with them maybe around 8 years and my usage was half my limit for 7 of those years maybe they should offset it against that

any thoughts would be most helpful

thanks
tim

macman

What do their T&C's say about charging excess data usage retrospectively?
Sounds like the sharpest practice imaginable if they resort to that to keep customers!

timthumb

it does say they can charge 99p /gb for data used over the limit but it does not say they can go back to it after the bill has been made up.

to be fair i probably have used that amount with the internet radio .its a poor excuse in some ways on my part i didn't realise its usage ..but i didn't

looking back at my emails i have not been warned about my usage just the normal bill..when i see it as the usual amount i havent felt the need to check my usage as i assumed i was within my limits

i suppose at worst i shall have to pay for what i have used around £60 but i expect i will query it first...they haven't got back to me yet so i shall see how it goes

jellymid

They have just contacted us and threatened to retrospectively charge for overusage over the last two years unless we take up a new 18 month contact with them for two quid a month more. Looking for a new isp now.

macman

Correct. Any company that tries that on does not deserve your business.

jellymid

Let me know how you get on, Tim.

aerostar

Whie I sympathise with timthumb, a £5 radio would have been good enough for his dad !, and with minimal running costs. People forget Internet radios use a lot of bandwidth if left on, total waste of money.

timthumb

hi aerostar

the program that my father listens to used to be on sky but i had to leave them due to a cost issue.... the station broadcasts from usa and cannot to my knowledge be picked up on an ordinary radio....... i wouldnt say i forgot internet radios use a lot of bandwith.i naively didnt know

the issue is whether supanet should be so rude on the phone re my leavng them .if they have a legitimate charge then they could say so not threaten me with extra cost just because i wanted to leave

i asked for my mac code thurs again and the guy said it would be with me in 5 days not here yet
jellymid i will let you know how i get on as i have raised this with trading standards and otelo......give them a ring and log the complaint

mccs

I've just had the sales call telling me that if I upgrade to their £19.99 pm broadband then they will "void all excess charges" amounting to £160.33 for the last year. I too was totally unaware I was exceeding any allowance as they have never mentioned it in any of the monthly bilings in the 10 years I have been a customer! I can move to another provider but then I would be charged a cancellation fee of - yep - 160.33. I would also be tied into the new deal for 18 months!! I was outraged at being held to what was a ransom cynically packaged as a great deal for a loyal customer! Their staff are off hand and even got my name wrong despite it being in front of them. I've been aware that it was poor value for some time but never wanted the hassle of changing. The fact that I have been paying 17.99 for 3 GB when they are offering 20 GB for 19.99 only empathises how much they've been overcharging.

When I protested that this was unfair as I had never received any warning in 5 years (when I signed up to the BB deal) (well hardly signing up when it's a new version of what I'd been getting at same price) they said it was in the Terms and Conditions that I have to check my monthly usage myself and it was “not company policy” to inform customers when they exceeded their allowance.

On line I have found other disgruntled customers who were informed –so that’s not true. And in the small print of the Terms and Conditions, it says that that if I go over my allowance they will charge me. I have never signed up for any term contract, my bill is monthly so I interpret that as a charge each month not something that can be accrued and backdated. They have failed to do so.

I have spoken to Consumer Direct who suggest I write to Supanet quoting the Supply of goods and services Act 1982 as they have failed to use reasonable care and skill in supplying my service. I plan to cancel the contract without any penalties and without paying any backdated excess charges. CD say to keep them informed. I will write to OTELO too.

I cannot believe Supanet treat their (few remaining?!) loyal customers with so much contempt. Good luck to anyone else who's had a similar call.

timthumb

owwwww just lost my post........anyhow mccs i will be watching this thread with interest...very similar story and will be telling them similar

tim

tomowen5

I received a phone call from Supanet this morning, stating how I have been exceeding the bandwidth limit, and that I will be charged for the past month if I don't agree to sign up to an upgrade packaged for an extra £5 a month, bring my monthly charge to £27.99.

Annoyed by this, I checked other ISP's to see if I could get a better deal, and when I contacted supanet for my MAC code, they told me they would charge me for the past 12 months of over-use, coming to a staggering £564!!! They would not release the code, unless I pay this fee!

Again, I have been a loyal Supanet customer for the past 6+ years! I received occasional e-mails a couple of years ago stating that a speed regulator would be put on my account if I was close to my limit, but those emails stopped appearing, so I naively thought I always acted within my limit. This contact today was the first I had heard about over-use, and I had never known that they would charge for over-use. As said in the original post, for them to threateningly charge this retrospectively is completely out of order. If this was a genuine cost to the firm, and a troubling issue, then surely why have they not contacted me each time to let me know that charges were being incurred. It seems now that I want to leave their service, that they are using these charges against me in order to make me sign a new 18 month contract.

I would be grateful if anyone had any updates as to this practice, and whether any one has been successful in leaving without paying these incredible fees, which they have not brought to my attention.

I feel this is completely scandalous, and that I am being held to ransom to stay with them.

Any advice or help would be very much appreciated!!

Tom