Cancelling broadband contract - fees

GlobalSquare

The shortish version
- signed up to Origin broadband after reading the article on this site .. huge mistake!

Phoned up and set it up on 4/3/17
Paid 1 year in advance + installation fee.
- told 2 weeks, actually took 3 to install
- Also told during sign up the 2 weeks did not count as me having internet so the 12 month internet would start from when i had the net (i asked that as i was worried i was paying for 2 weeks of no net).
- Finally get internet 24/3/17 but dont really get to test in until the evening of 25/3/17
- Its unusable. 30-45 minutes of trying. We then use a mobile phone to make the tv work.
-26/3/17 contact them about it not working (massive hassle, they only answer 'new sign ups' basically).
- Result is they need to do a 24 hour test.
-27/3/17 phone up to find out results, again no answer to tech or customer support ... but new sign ups still answered within 10 seconds every time.
- tell them i wish to cancel


They are now trying to charge me an early leaving fee.

Is this allowed?


Ive only had it for 3 days (which it hasnt worked).
Ive tried to get them to fix it but they didnt email me the results and wont even answer the non new sign up lines again to give me the results

- ive told them to cancel the contract and refund the rest of my money and i can go to small claims over the early leaving fee.
Finance team should be eamiling me at some point and ive sent an email complaint in just

*i made a post in the phones/tv section and it got shoved into an ongoing thread where all the posts seem to say the company is basically bordering on rouge and the above is pretty normal

[Deleted User]

Early Termination of Contract (ETC) fees are indeed allowed, but you haven't given them nearly enough time to fix the issues you allege..

wealdroam

GlobalSquare wrote: »

...the company is basically bordering on rouge...

Perhaps it's their embarrassment that is causing the red faces.

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Early Termination of Contract (ETC) fees are indeed allowed, but you haven't given them nearly enough time to fix the issues you allege..

I allege?! Plenty of others saying the exact same thing on this forum but its a mute point anyway as there were witnesses etc and im sure they must have records.

Totally get early termination fees are allowed in general but theres a 14 day distance buying regulation for a reason. Should it apply?
They asked for 24 hours to fix it but were uncontactable (again) even though answering other lines
(i actually gave them 28 hours and they hadnt bothered to email me anything about the results)


So a totally new question have they mis sold me?
I paid for a 12 month contract, if it doesnt start until the internet goes live does that mean its actual a 12 month and 2 weeks (well 3 weeks in my case) contract that they did not tell me about?


thanks for the reply though!

[Deleted User]

Just request that they refund or credit any subscription fee for the downtime.

A "mute" point?

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Just request that they refund or credit any subscription fee for the downtime.

A "mute" point?

a mute point because you said i 'allege' when i have people that were there at the time that can vouch if Origin have no idea what my speed is/was.

I would have been happy with out a refund and stayed with the service if they could have told me what the issue was ... but they dont answer the phones to even get to that point.
Ive spent well over an hour with out hearing a human voice in the que for tech/consumer ... unless you phone the new sign ups which they answer every time in under 10 seconds you dont get to speak to anyone.

[Deleted User]

I don't agree it's a moot point. This thread is about your experience, not other's.

Can't see any evidence of mis-selling..

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I don't agree it's a moot point. This thread is about your experience, not other's.

Can't see any evidence of mis-selling..

and my experience was me being in a room full of people expecting to use my smart tv after work ... for us to spend close to 3/4 hour trying all sorts pages and links for them all to buffer .. we ended up running a smart tv off a mobile phone and that was faster (though still buffered).
Thats my experience of the slow internet (it was worse than dial up!) with witnesses ... that i ''allege''.
As we gave up and switched the box off and watched via the mobile data that should show some physical proof if Origin do not keep records of speeds.
-My experience is they dont answer the phone, unless youre phoning to sign up, my phone records back this up and Origin probably has a call log to back that up to.

Okay so no evidence of mis selling, so what length is my contract?
12 months or 12 months 3 weeks?
and i double checked to make sure i wasnt being charged for 2 (3) weeks before internet arrived.

also as your answering, distance buying regulations, not applicable at all to internernet providers? Did i miss the cut off date in those 2(3) weeks?

[Deleted User]

Just request or demand that they refund or credit any subscription fee for the downtime.

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Just request or demand that they refund or credit any subscription fee for the downtime.

again ... i cant get through to customer services.
Over an hour was spent trying .. they only seem to answer 'new sign ups'
*and as said, ive cancelled the service (via the new sign ups phone line) so thats not an option .. im asking what legal rights i have now regarding the fee

Okay so no evidence of mis selling, so what length is my contract?
12 months or 12 months 3 weeks?
and i double checked to make sure i wasnt being charged for 2 (3) weeks before internet arrived.

also as your answering, distance buying regulations, not applicable at all to internernet providers? Did i miss the cut off date in those 2(3) weeks?

[Deleted User]

GlobalSquare wrote: »

i cant get through to customer services.
'

I guess you'll have to take them to court..