BT's new broadband cancellation fee for all ISPs

consumerX

I have received an e-mail from my service provider Tiscali telling me that I will be charged when I decide to cancel my broadband connection. This is because BT has decided to charge people who decide not to transfer to a different service provider using the MAC.

I can't believe BT is doing this and I think it's totally unfair. The new Tiscali terms and conditions state the following:

Cessation Charge
12.13 If you end your contract for Broadband Services with us and do not request and use a MAC, you agree to pay us a cessation fee of £40. This fee is to cover the cancellation charge that we must pay BT and associated administration costs. The cessation charge will not be payable where you are moving home and either you have subscribed to our Broadband Services at your new address or we are unable to provide the Broadband Services at your new address.

The_Economist

I think you will find that if you cancel before your contract finishes then they have a right to charge a fee, but if you give them a reasonable amount of notice that you intend to cancel at the end of your contract i dont think they should be charging you.

MarkyMarkD

I think you're wrong, The_Economist.

All they are doing is passing on a BT fee for terminating the broadband service on that telephone line. It's nothing to do with whether you are within a tie-in period with your own ISP.

consumerX

That's correct MarkyMarkD.

This is nothing to do with contract periods. This is a new terms and conditions notice I've been given by my ISP that tells me I will be charged £40 if I cancel my broadband service. This cost has orginated from BT, Tiscali is passing the cost onto its customers.

JayTee99_2

That cessation charge will only be applied if you cancel your adsl on your line, i.e. have it removed completely

if you are migrating then there probably wont be any charge depending on who you move to

apparently that charge was brought in to make it comparable to the llu charges, or so they say.

some ISPs such as the enta resellers are absorbing the cessation charge i.e. theyre being charged but not passing it on.

MarkyMarkD

To be honest, this is a good thing - why should ISPs absorb the cost of people ceasing their broadband service when there is no such cost if people are simply transferring their broadband service to another ISP?

But, I don't believe that an ISP can introduce this sort of onerous term to an existing customer without (a) notice and (b) allowing them to terminate without penalty if they don't accept the change. And that "terminate without penalty" would include any terms for cancelling within a tie-in period.

ManAtHome

consumerX wrote: »

If you end your contract for Broadband Services with us and do not request and use a MAC

Errrm - isn't the use/non-use of a MAC the key issue here..?

Isn't this due to problems people have had getting a MAC - aren't BT now able to drop a tag without a MAC - presumably they have to do some checking (or have some indemnity insurance). so presumably charge.

Why would you want to migrate without even asking for a MAC..?

oldagetraveller

Would this be a nice convenient way to transfer from your current isp before the end of a contract period if you weren't happy with them. An addition or change to the original t & cs a customer agreed to will surely be a breach of that original contract?
Just a thought.

consumerX

Yes I believe it does breach my original contract and I will be following that route.

Concerning the MAC. What about the people who aren't able to easily transfer their broandband from one property to another? What if they have no need to transfer their broadband to another property?

normanmark

Well basically the reason why BT did it was to promote the use of migration codes (something which ofcom implemented on their General 22 policy in February). It's a good move & hopefully should see customers obtaining their macs without any hesitation now!

monkeymaster

But what about a couple moving in together - ie. no longer needing adsl at one address and getting charged £40 for the privilege- disgraceful if you ask me!