Shell "Cease" charge for "Switching" supplier

mohammed1111

In the Shell Broadband terms and conditions they have buried away a "cease" charge which quite reasonably you'd expect to pay if you are "ceasing" your line  not pay for when "switching supplier". Whilst this has been waived for customers that signed up to a MSE offer. It's pretty misleading, surely it's not legal to incorrectly describe the charge (deliberately or otherwise)?

Supatramp

There's already a thread dealing with this matter, if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

mohammed1111

Supatramp said:

There's already a thread dealing with this matter, if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

Those threads are regarding the charge itself not the incorrectly worded terms and conditions! 

I very much doubt it's legal to mislead a customer by referring to something incorrectly. Switching supplier and a cease a cease are two very different things!  A cease is where the line is disconnected / stopped where as switching supplier just moved the line to another supplier. Not the same as all

mohammed1111

Supatramp said:

There's already a thread dealing with this matter, if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

David, just so you know it's not as simple as "if it's in the t & cs, it's legal", there is such a thing as "unfair contract terms" legislation so by just putting something illegal "in the T&Cs" doesn't actually make it legal!

cisko65

mohammed1111 said:

In the Shell Broadband terms and conditions they have buried away a "cease" charge which quite reasonably you'd expect to pay if you are "ceasing" your line  not pay for when "switching supplier". Whilst this has been waived for customers that signed up to a MSE offer. It's pretty misleading, surely it's not legal to incorrectly describe the charge (deliberately or otherwise)?

I switched to Shell broadband through MSE. I cancelled in October, after 12 months, and today I received my last bill: there is a £12.50 cease charge. I called Shell but they do not have this deal info. How can I prove that I signed up to the MSE offer for which Shell waived the cease charge? Thanks

Chino

Supatramp said:

if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

Oh no it's not.

Shell Energy makes no mention of its imposition of a "Cease Charge" in its advertising, instead only mentioning its monthly subscriptions and hiding the imposition of a Cease Charge in its terms and conditions.

ISP subscribers do not expect to pay a fee for terminating their contracts once the minimum term of the contract has expired.

Therefore, Shell Energy's commercial practice of not mentioning its "Cease Charge" in its advertising is an offence under regulation 10 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which states:

A trader is guilty of an offence if he engages in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission under regulation 6.

and regulation 6 states:

1) A commercial practice is a misleading omission if, in its factual context, taking account of the matters in paragraph (2)—
(a)the commercial practice omits material information,
(b)the commercial practice hides material information,
(c)the commercial practice provides material information in a manner which is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or
(d)the commercial practice fails to identify its commercial intent, unless this is already apparent from the context,
and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

gritpype

19/11/2020  (12:10): Trying to access the Shell Energy Broadband offers (£17.50 + £20pcm) via the MSE link but after filling in the details of my address and landline I am give no choices just this: Fast Broadband is the one for you. Unfortunately your telephone line cannot support the product you have selected. We can offer you these great value plans instead. Standard Broadband Your  Estimated standard download speed range is 3 - 5 Mbps. Fast Broadband Estimated max speed 5 Mbps £19.99 per month £23.99 per month Includes £30 bill credit. 12 month minimum term. Line rental included. No connection fee. Unlimited downloads.Exclusive rewards.Massive difference to the offer as stated by MSE. Bypassing the MSE link to visit Shell does not improve matters.  Where are the download speeds of 63 and 38Mbps? I've had fibre before (with Now TV) and am currently with Virgin Media (last year's fantastic M50 Fibre offer, which was upgraded to M100 (for free!) is coming to an end). A download test [Internetspeedtest.co.uk] showed my download speed was currently 111Mbps but directed me to Vodaphone for a better deal. Granted Virgin have their own special line but as a Manchester resident (4-5 miles from City Centre) surely my Standard download speed should be more than 3 - 5Mbps? Confused.

JJ_Egan

( Manchester resident (4-5 miles from City Centre) surely my Standard download speed should be more than 3 - 5Mbps? Confused.)

Should be no , Manchester city has no special speeds .

Speed at the property depends upon distance from local street cabinet and quality of the line . further away the lower the speed .

What speeds did you have with Now Tv fibre  , in the same property .

mohammed1111

cisko65 said:

mohammed1111 said:

In the Shell Broadband terms and conditions they have buried away a "cease" charge which quite reasonably you'd expect to pay if you are "ceasing" your line  not pay for when "switching supplier". Whilst this has been waived for customers that signed up to a MSE offer. It's pretty misleading, surely it's not legal to incorrectly describe the charge (deliberately or otherwise)?

I switched to Shell broadband through MSE. I cancelled in October, after 12 months, and today I received my last bill: there is a £12.50 cease charge. I called Shell but they do not have this deal info. How can I prove that I signed up to the MSE offer for which Shell waived the cease charge? Thanks

You would have been on a 12 months contract and the MSE credit on one of your bills, usually the 3rd bill 

superM

Chino said:

Supatramp said:

if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

Oh no it's not.

Shell Energy makes no mention of its imposition of a "Cease Charge" in its advertising, instead only mentioning its monthly subscriptions and hiding the imposition of a Cease Charge in its terms and conditions.

ISP subscribers do not expect to pay a fee for terminating their contracts once the minimum term of the contract has expired.

Therefore, Shell Energy's commercial practice of not mentioning its "Cease Charge" in its advertising is an offence under regulation 10 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which states:

A trader is guilty of an offence if he engages in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission under regulation 6.

and regulation 6 states:

1) A commercial practice is a misleading omission if, in its factual context, taking account of the matters in paragraph (2)—
(a)the commercial practice omits material information,
(b)the commercial practice hides material information,
(c)the commercial practice provides material information in a manner which is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or
(d)the commercial practice fails to identify its commercial intent, unless this is already apparent from the context,
and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

That is interesting what you have just mentioned. I just started my switch and received an email from shell which states about the £15 charge.
Question not relating to BB about similar thing happened to me on boiler cover.  The website no where states if engineer visits and finds no fault there will be a charge. Howevr it is covered in the terms and conditions. Unfortunately I had to pay the charger but wondering if anyhing can be done now.
It is exactly same as shell. 

mohammed1111

superM said:

Chino said:

Supatramp said:

if it's in the t & cs, it's legal.

Oh no it's not.

Shell Energy makes no mention of its imposition of a "Cease Charge" in its advertising, instead only mentioning its monthly subscriptions and hiding the imposition of a Cease Charge in its terms and conditions.

ISP subscribers do not expect to pay a fee for terminating their contracts once the minimum term of the contract has expired.

Therefore, Shell Energy's commercial practice of not mentioning its "Cease Charge" in its advertising is an offence under regulation 10 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which states:

A trader is guilty of an offence if he engages in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission under regulation 6.

and regulation 6 states:

1) A commercial practice is a misleading omission if, in its factual context, taking account of the matters in paragraph (2)—
(a)the commercial practice omits material information,
(b)the commercial practice hides material information,
(c)the commercial practice provides material information in a manner which is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or
(d)the commercial practice fails to identify its commercial intent, unless this is already apparent from the context,
and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

That is interesting what you have just mentioned. I just started my switch and received an email from shell which states about the £15 charge.
Question not relating to BB about similar thing happened to me on boiler cover.  The website no where states if engineer visits and finds no fault there will be a charge. Howevr it is covered in the terms and conditions. Unfortunately I had to pay the charger but wondering if anyhing can be done now.
It is exactly same as shell. 

If you can demonstrate the fault you have an argument, just because the engineer doesn't find it doesn't mean there isn't one. Shell did the same with me and what's funny it was actually their broadband team that said my line was showing constant errors and to ask me to check it's not my equipment, when the engineer came he didn't find anything wrong with the line so Shell thought they could charge me