Cancelling a Maintenance Agreement

davied13

First of all apologies if this is in the wrong section this is my first ever thread and I am looking for advice.

My Mother in law had an alarm maintenance agreement (since 1994) which states that all call outs 24hrs a day are at no further cost to the customer. In February of this year the alarm battery needed replacing in the middle of the night. She called the company who sent an engineer who replaced the battery.

My mother in law fully expected to pay for the battery but was shocked to then be sent a bill for £306 - this was broken down into a charge for service labour (£80), out of hours service labour (£80), Battery (£35) and travel costs (£40). (he was there 15 minutes changing the battery)

On telephoning the company they admitted that the IPAQ (engineers machine which logs the time taken on the call out) was faulty and the cost should in fact be £186.00. My mother in law was upset but seeing no alternative paid this bill but advised she would not want to renew the following July.

Anyway renewal reminders came through (for £118) and she rang to cancel but the phone was but down on her. After further renewal notices she rang again and was told she needed to write in which she did. The latest correspondence from them is that as she did not provide 90 notice of cancellation prior to renewal she is liable for the full renewal cost! My MIL wants nothing more to do with this company and has found alternative arrangements. She cannot sleep at for the stress of them hounding her for renewal.

I have searched for cancellation law/cancellation rights but cannot find anything I can directly quote to this company. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Dot x

amersall

Hi, post your question here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=173
They can help you more with this.

[Deleted User]

Unfortunately, I suspect the company is working to the letter of the contract. Written notice tends to be needed for such contracts, and with a defined notice period.

She would be relying on their goodwill for them to release her from the contract. It may be that she will need to see the next year out and give notice for the following year.

Buzby

She did not need her battery changed in the night. It would have been replaced at the standard cost as part of her Maintenance Package, the wriggle room is how long was it since the last system check?

If less than a year, they should have done a battery load test and if on its last legs, fitted a replacement there and then. If they did not, she can say they skipped this important test and should not have to pay for the out-oh-hours call out.

Her contract will be annual, and she can only terminate during the last quarter - which is where the 90 days comes in. They appear to be sticking to this, so she'll need to diarise the earliest date she can terminate and write to them in good time, phoning for confirmation if not acknowledged.

Also, if she receives a house contents discount t because of the maintained alarm system, she'll need to remove this and let the insurer know.