Shell Energy Broadband cancellation fee.

djmoffat

Today I tried to leave Shell Energy Broadband, as I am moving house.
I am at the end of my 1y contract with them and when I tried to cancel my service I was told that I still had to pay a compulsory cancellation charge, and in their terms and conditions all account changes and cancellations have a mandatory cancellation fee, regardless of if they are in our out of the contract term. The cancellation fee is £15, which is not a lot, but it's more the principle. If I had known this, I never would have opened the Shell Energy Broadband account in the first place.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Chino

djmoffat said:

Has anyone else experienced this?

Yes. Most recently, it's been discussed here and here.
Also BEWARE Shell Energy Broadband £15 Cost to leave.

mohammed1111

It's clear Shell are still trying it on with the cease charge, if you signed up via Money Saving Expert refer them to 

Broadband Promotional Terms and Conditions

Policy version: 5.1.16

Policy date: 16/09/2020

Where it states 

Customers signing up to Shell Energy Broadband (12 month) products through moneysavingexpect.com will not receive a Cease Charge as set out in our Terms and Conditions and Price List if they leave outside their minimum contract period.

mohammed1111

If that unethical practise isn't enough to avoid them, then read below:

It's clear Shell Energy Broadband are pretty incompetent given my experience of them for the past 5 months + Their service is pretty much "computer says no" or they won't reply at all. 
I have had issues with my broadband including packet loss >20%, ping spikes >8000ms, speed issues getting <0.5Mbps when  guaranteed range is 8-14Mbps, which apparently they can't see on their end despite having provided them with extensive proof it's still "computer says no" and they won't believe me!

Then there's the "cease" charge in their terms and conditions but they actually charge you it for switching supplier, abit confusing and certainly not industry practice. If they have to rip customers off why not just call it a "switching" charge so people know they will get charged it when they switch??

There's no forgotting their constant 30+ mins call hold times and 60+ people Infront of you on webchat! 

The final straw, Shell's network team found a sync issue on my line causing constant errors and THEY wanted to arrange an openreach engineer, having agreed to pay the charges if it's a fault within my property the appointment was booked. When the engineer arrived a week later he couldn't find a line fault so Shell have charged me for an engineer call out because Openreach couldn't find the fault Shell network team found a week earlier. Absolute scammers!

What are your experiences of sHell Energy Broadband??

gemando

mohammed1111 said:

It's clear Shell are still trying it on with the cease charge, if you signed up via Money Saving Expert refer them to 

Broadband Promotional Terms and Conditions

Policy version: 5.1.16

Policy date: 16/09/2020

Where it states 

Customers signing up to Shell Energy Broadband (12 month) products through moneysavingexpect.com will not receive a Cease Charge as set out in our Terms and Conditions and Price List if they leave outside their minimum contract period.

Does anyone know if this was the case, or would cover, a policy taken out in April 2020? I.e. is there an earlier version of this policy with this statement? Am sure I signed up via the MSE link since I'm getting a reduced cost per month which possibly had a no cease charge at the time but I can't remember or find any emails about it. 

My wifi intermittently drops connection, and I'm only getting download speeds in the 20mbps (their estimate is 30-38mbps). Appreciate its only an estimate, but have contacted them and they want to send an engineer out but won't until I accept openreach's charges if they can't find an issue. With it being a wifi issue, it is more likely to be router or range, and with it being slower speeds, well I'm not guaranteed those anyway. And since its intermittent, theres a potential they wont find the fault during the visit! I refuse to pay for a call out charge for something outside of my control, when it is Shell requesting the visit in the first place! Though currently at a stalemate on this basis - if anyone has successfully argued they shouldn't be charged do let me know. 

Neil_Jones

gemando said:

mohammed1111 said:

It's clear Shell are still trying it on with the cease charge, if you signed up via Money Saving Expert refer them to 

Broadband Promotional Terms and Conditions

Policy version: 5.1.16

Policy date: 16/09/2020

Where it states 

Customers signing up to Shell Energy Broadband (12 month) products through moneysavingexpect.com will not receive a Cease Charge as set out in our Terms and Conditions and Price List if they leave outside their minimum contract period.

Does anyone know if this was the case, or would cover, a policy taken out in April 2020? I.e. is there an earlier version of this policy with this statement? Am sure I signed up via the MSE link since I'm getting a reduced cost per month which possibly had a no cease charge at the time but I can't remember or find any emails about it. 

My wifi intermittently drops connection, and I'm only getting download speeds in the 20mbps (their estimate is 30-38mbps). Appreciate its only an estimate, but have contacted them and they want to send an engineer out but won't until I accept openreach's charges if they can't find an issue. With it being a wifi issue, it is more likely to be router or range, and with it being slower speeds, well I'm not guaranteed those anyway. And since its intermittent, theres a potential they wont find the fault during the visit! I refuse to pay for a call out charge for something outside of my control, when it is Shell requesting the visit in the first place! Though currently at a stalemate on this basis - if anyone has successfully argued they shouldn't be charged do let me know. 

You should do a download speed test via a wired connection only.  If you get what you're paying for wired its pointless going ahead with the call out since you know where the problem is.  No provider will guarantee wifi speeds or internet speeds over a wifi connection as there are too many factors that can interfere, but its the trade off you take  for the ability to use the laptop wherever you like.

gemando

Neil_Jones said:

You should do a download speed test via a wired connection only.  If you get what you're paying for wired its pointless going ahead with the call out since you know where the problem is.  No provider will guarantee wifi speeds or internet speeds over a wifi connection as there are too many factors that can interfere, but its the trade off you take  for the ability to use the laptop wherever you like.

Agreed, hence why I don't want to pay for a call out that they have decided to arrange (I didn't request a visit). They asked for a few wired speed tests which I did and off the back of those they have suggested an engineer call out. I gave them a detailed breakdown of which speed tests were undertaken on a wired or wireless connection and have explicitly stated the issue is with the wireless connection so they should be aware. Therefore they should be either telling me they cant do anything, or suggesting I get a wifi booster etc, not calling an engineer out for which they can charge me. I wonder if they have found a fault they can see their end (I have asked them), hence requesting a visit. My initial query to them was whether anything could be done about the lower speeds (which by their own admission were lower than they expected) and intermittent wireless connection dropping out which combined with a significant drop in speed to c.1-2mbps. I am fine with and understand speeds being lower for a wireless connection for the convenience if it is what it is, but they were only a few mbps lower than the wired connection so it seems odd that the connection is dropping completely up to a few times a day.  

EDIT: I should add, wired connection speeds were up to c.27mbps. Wireless was maybe c.24mbps. However on my account their estimate of the speeds I should be getting is 30-38mbps, so would expect my wired to be within that range, and wireless to be maybe high twentys/low 30s. I do appreciate they are only estimates however, and if its not possible to get that speed they should just be saying that!  

mohammed1111

gemando said:

mohammed1111 said:

It's clear Shell are still trying it on with the cease charge, if you signed up via Money Saving Expert refer them to 

Broadband Promotional Terms and Conditions

Policy version: 5.1.16

Policy date: 16/09/2020

Where it states 

Customers signing up to Shell Energy Broadband (12 month) products through moneysavingexpect.com will not receive a Cease Charge as set out in our Terms and Conditions and Price List if they leave outside their minimum contract period.

Does anyone know if this was the case, or would cover, a policy taken out in April 2020? I.e. is there an earlier version of this policy with this statement? Am sure I signed up via the MSE link since I'm getting a reduced cost per month which possibly had a no cease charge at the time but I can't remember or find any emails about it. 

My wifi intermittently drops connection, and I'm only getting download speeds in the 20mbps (their estimate is 30-38mbps). Appreciate its only an estimate, but have contacted them and they want to send an engineer out but won't until I accept openreach's charges if they can't find an issue. With it being a wifi issue, it is more likely to be router or range, and with it being slower speeds, well I'm not guaranteed those anyway. And since its intermittent, theres a potential they wont find the fault during the visit! I refuse to pay for a call out charge for something outside of my control, when it is Shell requesting the visit in the first place! Though currently at a stalemate on this basis - if anyone has successfully argued they shouldn't be charged do let me know. 

Is it a 12 months contract? 

mohammed1111

gemando said:

Neil_Jones said:

You should do a download speed test via a wired connection only.  If you get what you're paying for wired its pointless going ahead with the call out since you know where the problem is.  No provider will guarantee wifi speeds or internet speeds over a wifi connection as there are too many factors that can interfere, but its the trade off you take  for the ability to use the laptop wherever you like.

Agreed, hence why I don't want to pay for a call out that they have decided to arrange (I didn't request a visit). They asked for a few wired speed tests which I did and off the back of those they have suggested an engineer call out. I gave them a detailed breakdown of which speed tests were undertaken on a wired or wireless connection and have explicitly stated the issue is with the wireless connection so they should be aware. Therefore they should be either telling me they cant do anything, or suggesting I get a wifi booster etc, not calling an engineer out for which they can charge me. I wonder if they have found a fault they can see their end (I have asked them), hence requesting a visit. My initial query to them was whether anything could be done about the lower speeds (which by their own admission were lower than they expected) and intermittent wireless connection dropping out which combined with a significant drop in speed to c.1-2mbps. I am fine with and understand speeds being lower for a wireless connection for the convenience if it is what it is, but they were only a few mbps lower than the wired connection so it seems odd that the connection is dropping completely up to a few times a day.  

EDIT: I should add, wired connection speeds were up to c.27mbps. Wireless was maybe c.24mbps. However on my account their estimate of the speeds I should be getting is 30-38mbps, so would expect my wired to be within that range, and wireless to be maybe high twentys/low 30s. I do appreciate they are only estimates however, and if its not possible to get that speed they should just be saying that!  

Watch out in case they charge you on the sly, they done that to me even though it was their network team that found a sync issue causing line errors but they tried to pull a fast one 

gemando

mohammed1111 said:

Watch out in case they charge you on the sly, they done that to me even though it was their network team that found a sync issue causing line errors but they tried to pull a fast one 

I have explicitly told them I don't agree to the TCRs so they shouldn't do! If they do it is going to the ombudsman. They also haven't confirmed if they have found a fault...  They have agreed to escalate to openreach to see what they say without agreeing a visit at the moment at least. I would be intrigued to have the engineer out to see if there is an issue, but I suspect it is either a router/range issue over wifi (that they would then charge me for!), or to do with the old copper (?) cables in the street which I doubt have been upgraded since I don't live in a major city. 

I'm not actually sure on my contract length. I have "Superfast Fibre broadband (12)" according to my account, which would indicate a 12 month contract, but obviously they don't make that clear anywhere and I don't seem to have a confirmation email before the 'your account goes live tomorrow' one. 

mohammed1111

gemando said:

mohammed1111 said:

Watch out in case they charge you on the sly, they done that to me even though it was their network team that found a sync issue causing line errors but they tried to pull a fast one 

I have explicitly told them I don't agree to the TCRs so they shouldn't do! If they do it is going to the ombudsman. They also haven't confirmed if they have found a fault...  They have agreed to escalate to openreach to see what they say without agreeing a visit at the moment at least. I would be intrigued to have the engineer out to see if there is an issue, but I suspect it is either a router/range issue over wifi (that they would then charge me for!), or to do with the old copper (?) cables in the street which I doubt have been upgraded since I don't live in a major city. 

I'm not actually sure on my contract length. I have "Superfast Fibre broadband (12)" according to my account, which would indicate a 12 month contract, but obviously they don't make that clear anywhere and I don't seem to have a confirmation email before the 'your account goes live tomorrow' one. 

Did they give you the rubbish 2g router or the DWA0120?