Cancelling broadband contract - fees

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

So how do you know they want to charge you an ETC?

Regardless, you aren't going to change anything by posting here...

Because i was able to cancel it via the 'new sign ups' phone line that i phoned when they wouldnt answer tech or customer services.
*and yes i also asked about the 24 hour test results, they told me to phone tech :rotfl:

Im not asking to change anything, im asking about the fee they are trying to take. :T

GlobalSquare

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

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

... thats why i am asking ...

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?

DoaM

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

A "mute" point?

GlobalSquare wrote: »

a mute point because

The word is moot. Mute has an entirely different meaning.

(You're not the only one to make this error).

Fosterdog

Your 14 days to change your mind and cancel was in the period between sign up and the service going live. In fact had you wanted installation sooner they would have had to make it clear that you were terminating your right to a cooling off period in order to start it early. That gave you 14 days to do some research and read up on other people reviews and experiences before being tied to the contract. You not only chose to not do the research before signing up but also failed to do it during your cooling off period.

As for the broadband not working properly, what speeds did they advertise for your area and what speeds are you actually getting? Have you tried any devices other than the TV and how well did they work?

Every provider I've ever had always states that the quality of service will fluctuate greatly for the first week as they see what the line can handle, it takes several days to settle down. You haven't given yours anywhere near enough time to know that there is an actual fault and then you chose to cancel after only giving them 24 hours to rectify the problem if there even is one so you will be liable for the full costs of the contract.

By all means take them to court to try to get your money but if they can show they were trying to rectify the issue and that you were demanding unreasonable timescales then you won't get very far.

GlobalSquare

Thanks for taking the time to reply Foster!

That's awful that the 14 days doesn't include when you actually try and get the product - I had researched (I thought), I came to mse and read the provider guide before signing up which I thought meant it would be a reliable company. I should have actually read the forum instead and not listen to mse

I don't know what the speeds I was getting are as they wouldn't answer the phone (which was the part of the reason I cancelled) again unless i phoned the new customers line.

It's my first time trying to sort out internet so I wasn't aware of fluctuations of speed at the start if that's a thing and I do not recall them mentioning that or I would have waited another week because as far as I was aware I'd only used 3 days of the 14 days (though if what you say is right that was long gone).

I waited well over the 24 hours, the testing wasn't the final deciding factor in cancelling but the customer service which appears to have not changed/ improved (and they've had every chance to do that). They couldn't tell me the results!

Again thank you for taking the time to reply. I'm guessing they will say something similar but with the proof I've now found over the Internet of no improvement to there customer service I'm feeling more confident this morning

Fosterdog

You don't really need them to test your speeds, they can't check completely for accuracy anyway when they run checks from their end, they do get results but it could be different to what you actually receive.

Go to Speedtest.net it is a free online tool to test internet speeds and you can get the app for mobile devices and even on some smart TVs.

Again have you tried other devices to see if they work?

Try running the test in different parts of your home, start right next to the router and then move further away and compare the results. If this is your first time having internet in your home there could be any number of reasons for poor or no decent speeds, and as you would then have nothing to compare it to from previous providers it will be harder to find the problem.

GlobalSquare

Unfortunately it's to late for all that - noted for next time though, thank you!

When I gave up listening to the hold music again and phoned the new customer line I cancelled the contract (I've spent an hour listening to their hold music over the last three days).

This is the first time I've organised getting Internet into my own place and the first time this flat has had Internet.

unholyangel

GlobalSquare wrote: »

Unfortunately it's to late for all that - noted for next time though, thank you!

When I gave up listening to the hold music again and phoned the new customer line I cancelled the contract (I've spent an hour listening to their hold music over the last three days).

This is the first time I've organised getting Internet into my own place and the first time this flat has had Internet.

If the service is still active, then its not too late. Yes you've already cancelled but if you're trying to reclaim the early termination fee, you're going to need to evidence that they were in breach of contract and that it was serious enough to justify you terminating the contract with immediate effect.

If the service is still active, do as fosterdog advises above, with multiple devices. And also test the wired connection as well as the wireless.

takman

GlobalSquare wrote: »

Unfortunately it's to late for all that - noted for next time though, thank you!

When I gave up listening to the hold music again and phoned the new customer line I cancelled the contract (I've spent an hour listening to their hold music over the last three days).

This is the first time I've organised getting Internet into my own place and the first time this flat has had Internet.

Like other have said i think you have definetly jumped the gun and cancelled it way too early. If your going to loose money by cancelling then you should reactivate the service and try again.


If this is the first time you have had broadband then you to plug it all in and it will take about 2 weeks for it to reach its ideal speed. In this time you shouldn't unplug the router or turn it on and off because the system will think the connection is unstable and reduce the speed (you should never unplug a router anyway during normal use).


Also have you plugged it all in correctly?. I went round a friends house who wasn't very technically minded and they had extremely slow internet. When i looked at how they had connected it they had used two microfilters and plugged them into each other (one in the telephone socket) which effectively filtered out the broadband. When i connected it correctly the internet speed became almost 80 times faster in a few hours.


Again as others have said you should have tested the speed yourself to see how fast it was. They won't be able to get anywhere as near as accurate results compared to you doing it yourself.

GlobalSquare

Thanks you two!

Realised there's nothing to lose at this point giving it another two weeks so phoned up the new customer line and checked to see if it had been cancelled.
They hadn't done it yet so will give it another 2 weeks to settle down and take it from there.
Also asked the new customer line to get tech support to email me so maybe found a work around to their not answering the other phone lines.