Consumer Contracts Regs 2013: ISP wilfully violated right to cancel, imposed 27% price increase

JJ_Egan

Best is to carry on and just let us know how you get on with your legal challenges.

itcontracting

JJ_Egan said:

Best is to carry on and just let us know how you get on with your legal challenges.

I was still hoping to get somebody's insight into the application of exemplary damages in the context described.  The breach of contract is straight forward.  It's the application of exemplary damages which is really the important bit as it negates any financial upside from violating consumer protection law. If I merely get the contract voided, and compensatory damages paid, the ISP will be free to continue to screw their customers over and stick 2 fingers up to the law.  So please, if folks having any views on the application of exemplary damages- which is the real thrust of my original post, please let's hear them.  But yes JJ, will give feedback on what works and what doesn't after this has played-out through the court process.  Thanks!

neilmcl

itcontracting said:

JJ_Egan said:

Best is to carry on and just let us know how you get on with your legal challenges.

I was still hoping to get somebody's insight into the application of exemplary damages in the context described.  The breach of contract is straight forward.  It's the application of exemplary damages which is really the important bit as it negates any financial upside from violating consumer protection law. If I merely get the contract voided, and compensatory damages paid, the ISP will be free to continue to screw their customers over and stick 2 fingers up to the law.  So please, if folks having any views on the application of exemplary damages- which is the real thrust of my original post, please let's hear them.  But yes JJ, will give feedback on what works and what doesn't after this has played-out through the court process.  Thanks!

Yes, they're not applicable to breaches of contract - Addis v Gramophone Co. Ltd [1909] AC 488

itcontracting

neilmcl said:

itcontracting said:

JJ_Egan said:

Best is to carry on and just let us know how you get on with your legal challenges.

I was still hoping to get somebody's insight into the application of exemplary damages in the context described.  The breach of contract is straight forward.  It's the application of exemplary damages which is really the important bit as it negates any financial upside from violating consumer protection law. If I merely get the contract voided, and compensatory damages paid, the ISP will be free to continue to screw their customers over and stick 2 fingers up to the law.  So please, if folks having any views on the application of exemplary damages- which is the real thrust of my original post, please let's hear them.  But yes JJ, will give feedback on what works and what doesn't after this has played-out through the court process.  Thanks!

Yes, they're not applicable to breaches of contract - Addis v Gramophone Co. Ltd [1909] AC 488

I'm not pursuing the exemplary damages for breach of contract: I'm interested in pursuing the ISP for exemplary damages for violating CCR 2013. By wilfully, knowingly & calculatingly violating this law to vacate a less profitable contract for an outrageously profitable one.  But for the offending, I'd have been left in the original ADSL contract. Further, the new ADSL "contract" charging a 27% increase over the original one is no contract at all- it was unilaterally imposed on my by the ISP without my consent.  So I can't see how any "breach of contract" could even be pursued on the one I'm seeking to be set aside.  This new "contract" is a product of the ISP's wilful & calculating violation of CCR 2013 using your observation- that no exemplary damages could be pursued for a breach of contract, limiting any customer recoveries to merely compensatory damages.  And as you probably already know, the time & effort required to even recover compensatory damages through a court process against a huge, lawyered ISP will dissuade 99.9% of people even bothering to chase compensatory damages.  I even told the ISP I'd pursue them in Court if they proceeded after I withdrew consent (§32) and their response was essentially : go for it, we don't care. They know the legal deck is stacked against any of their customers recovering anything from them and therefore violate the CCR 2013 with a sense of impunity.  So it is this law I want to pursue them for in seeking exemplary damages.  If I succeed in winning exemplary damages against them, they can no longer profit from violating the law. And that is EXACTLY the point of exemplary damages!  Really, really appreciate your feedback @neilmcl !

born_again

itcontracting said:

born_again said:

Try posting @ think broadband. If it is such a big deal as the owners there are well know in this field.

Firstly, thanks so much for the tip! However, this is really about defending consumer rights being wilfully violated- broadband is incidental- it could be a distance contract for a bag of potatoes.

But as you said:
**This is an issue that could potentially affect thousands of Broadband users**

Then posting in a dedicated forum that is run by some of the most respected people who are often on radio/tv on these matters. Is the place to go.
Consumer rights or not.
Also naming the ISP would help others avoid them.

But it is your choice to keep the details secret and not help others, while asking for help from others.

itcontracting

born_again said:

itcontracting said:

born_again said:

Try posting @ think broadband. If it is such a big deal as the owners there are well know in this field.

Firstly, thanks so much for the tip! However, this is really about defending consumer rights being wilfully violated- broadband is incidental- it could be a distance contract for a bag of potatoes.

But as you said:
**This is an issue that could potentially affect thousands of Broadband users**

Then posting in a dedicated forum that is run by some of the most respected people who are often on radio/tv on these matters. Is the place to go.
Consumer rights or not.
Also naming the ISP would help others avoid them.

But it is your choice to keep the details secret and not help others, while asking for help from others.

Again, the question I posed is not about broadband per se- it's about violation of CCR 2013, more specifically, the application of exemplary damages to end such abuses as I described by large, lawyered-up ISPs.  Merely voiding the contract will solve the immediate problem I face, enabling me to move service to one of their competitors. However, without exemplary damages the door remains  wide open for this ISP- and other unethical ISPs- to profit from violating consumer protection law- with impunity. therefore I don't see how a forum dedicated to broadband would be more appropriate for a question about violations of CCR 2013 & exemplary damages to deter them.  In any event, I will post what works & what doesn't when I've completed the court process and of course name the ISP. 

In my initial post I merely wanted to confirm my understanding of being able to seek exemplary damages was valid before filing the claim against the ISP.  So far, only @neilmcl has given me the feedback on this narrow issue I was looking for; the rest of the detail I gave was necessary context.  Totally appreciate that this is a complicated issue, but as I now have no choice but to go to court to void the contract, I figured that I might as well use the opportunity to try to solve the problem with finality to ensure there is no financial upside for ISPs to violate consumer protection law in the future.