Early Termination Fee

mobilejunkie

Why would they need to "forget" an ETF. They are "getting away" with nothing. It's part of the contract.

As for my example: no, nothing to do with moving house or anything else.

boatman

An ETF should cover the line rental lost after the PAC is used(max 30 days if PAC used on first day). And then only if you have not already paid line rental.

You should not be charged line rental AND an ETF, it's either/or. This is what mobile companies do, you are probably right, they dont 'forget' to remove the ETF, they add it deliberately and hope they get away with it. Only when you phone up, they might, just might, remove it. This is a policy, it's not a one off, it's their very deliberate plan.

It should not be applied if you give 30 days notice, 30 days before the end of the contract. If they do, it should reduce every day til it gets to zero on the last day of the contract.
What I think happens is they charge 30 days ETF, when you give 30 days notice before the end date, but it does not reduce to zero over the 30 days like it should, it stays at the equivalent of 30 days line rental, meaning that you pay 30 days line rental AND 30days ETF, and this is against the guidelines
To quote, from OFCOM.
If a consumer gives 30 days’ notice of their intention to cancel an account, we would expect the account to close 30 days later. If this meant that the minimum contract term had elapsed, then there should be no ETC. If a provider is duplicating charges on bills, it would be in contravention of our guidelines