Do I have to continue paying the bill if they cut me off?

Weby

In August 2009 I opened an account with a certain mobile company for Internet ( with a dongle). It was a two year contract. However at the end of 2009 I missed a bill payment ( due to unknowingly going over the data limit and being faced with a huge bill )and my connection was therefore cut off. I didn't bother to ring up and reconnect my Internet, as I made an agreement with my neighbours to use theirs ( at a much cheaper ageeed price). I believe the contract was for 2 years ( I will have to double check) and would hence end August 2011, however I hadn't been using it from the end of 2009. They have now, over two years later sent me a bill for an outstanding balance of £225.31, arrears of £34 and an early termination fee of £191.31.
As I had not been using the connection, do I still owe this amount of money? And why is there an early termination fee when the contract would of finished at least last year.
What are my rights in this situation?

Many thanks for your help.

Hintza

What do you think?

Of course you do and until you have checked your paperwork who knows what penalties you are liable for. What was your monthly payment and for what period, and how much did you use when you went over that will then determine how much you owe there.

Put it this way if I stopped paying for my broadband for over two years the bill would now be over £750!

fluffnutter

I assume there was a monthly charge for a period of 24 months. Simply stopping using this service is neither here nor there; they'll continue to charge the monthly rate unless you actually cancel. Cancelling might have been difficult within the 24 months.

But what really gets me is that you ran up a bill (albeit unknowingly exceeding your data limit) and then didn't pay it off! What did you think they were going to do? Did you think that them cutting you off somehow meant that they wrote off the bill too?

I might be doing you a disservice - you might have paid the huge bill at the end of 2009, cancelled your contract (and have paperwork to prove it) and they've since decided to bill you unfairly. I doubt it though.

However, in an attempt to be helpful I'd advise you to make sure you know exactly what the charges are for. I don't think it's right to charge you a monthly fee from early 2010 until Aug 2011 (as if the contract weren't cancelled) then also charge you an early termination fee (as if it were). You need to check carefully that the fees are correct. TBH, they probably are and you're going to need to cough up the whole amount.

halibut2209

They haven't charged the monthly fees AND an early termination fee. It's 34 pounds for the excess data, and 191 instead of the full whack they could easily chase for. The OP is fortunate.

fluffnutter

halibut2209 wrote: »

They haven't charged the monthly fees AND an early termination fee. It's 34 pounds for the excess data, and 191 instead of the full whack they could easily chase for. The OP is fortunate.

What's the £225.31 for? Personally I expect they've got the charges right, but a breakdown would be useful.

Edit: Doh! My mistake. The post was a little ambiguous. The 225.31 comprises the 34 and 191.31. I thought there were three charges. Ignore my comment then, OP. Just cough up!

DVardysShadow

fluffnutter wrote: »

I assume there was a monthly charge for a period of 24 months. Simply stopping using this service is neither here nor there; they'll continue to charge the monthly rate unless you actually cancel.

Th service was cut off. And as I see it, once they do that, charges would have to be capped at Early Termination plus charges outstanding to that point.

nellytheelephant

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Th service was cut off. And as I see it, once they do that, charges would have to be capped at Early Termination plus charges outstanding to that point.

Which it appears they have been.