MSE News: Shell Energy to axe £15 broadband switching 'cease fee'

QrizB

Bumping this thread, I'm switching away from Shell Broadband in a week or so and I've just received the same email with a £12 "cease charge".

I've emailed to ask them to remove it but it seems they still haven't sorted this out!

Salamat

I find you get the best(?) /speediest response is by sending a message on Messenger. For instance, on the termination charge, I got this response:
"I apologise that you have received this E-Mail. I can confirm that this charge has not and will not be applied to your Broadband account, it appears to be an error in communications - Matty"

Since then, I am now getting hassled about the return of the router, which I did, and after a chase up email threatening a £35 charge I complained via Messenger, and was told this:
"Hi David, thank you for getting in touch and letting us know. I do apologise about this and can confirm no charge shall be applied to you as you have confirmed this has been returned. If you have any problems then simply let us know. - Pooja"

I've since had another threatening email and again complained, to be told:
"We have had a widespread issue where a high number of customers have received the same E-Mail / charge, this is an automatic E-Mail / charge, I sincerely apologise you have had to contact us regarding this. We have waived the charge so there would be no charge regarding this."

I've told them, if I get any more emails, I'm going to OFCOM, or wherever!

s_b

i joined shell via this site over 2 years ago and because of the pandemic carried on with them for the last 6 months,when i joined it wasnt made clear the charges were plus vat until i was already using them and thus already paying more than £4 per month over other providors,this week i left and went back to vodaphone ,however shell tell me i must pay £15 as a leaving fee and also i must return their router or pay another £35 ,ive returned their router as requested and today had another email to say they want the router and anything else they provided at inception,is this another trick to say i owe the £35?,ive never said this before but i advise anybody thinking of joining shell to think very carefully,im just afraid they are also going to take over igloo in the gas/electric market as this was another excellent site i used via moneysavingsupermarket

Salamat

I never had an issue with VAT being extra and did get the MSE price, however, I have never come across such confusing billing!!!

liz3chickens

I just switched away from Shell broadband and received an email saying I would be charged a £12 cease fee. So I emailed them quoting the article on Moneysaving.com from March this year and including Ofcom quotes, and received a phone call today saying I had been sent an automated email and the cease fee would not be charged.  I’ll await my final bill before cheering!!

Salamat

liz3chickens said:

I just switched away from Shell broadband and received an email saying I would be charged a £12 cease fee. So I emailed them quoting the article on Moneysaving.com from March this year and including Ofcom quotes, and received a phone call today saying I had been sent an automated email and the cease fee would not be charged.  I’ll await my final bill before cheering!!

........and you can probably also look forward to the threats to charge you £35 for the router, even if you returned it!   :-) (also 'automated' emails, sent in 'error'!)

phillw

liz3chickens said:

I’ll await my final bill before cheering!!

I'd probably wait anyway, correcting their mistake before they make it is just creating extra work for yourself and denying you the chance of compensation.

dillydilly1

switched today, received email saying "return the router or be charged £35" - WHAT? no other provider has ever said that (as the bag full of routers in the cupboard will attest). The sales pitch on their website says "All our products include the cost of your line rental and a wifi router at no extra cost", with buried in the T&Cs "we may ask you to return your router at the end of the agreement". I suspect their business model is based on "charge the cessation and router fees by default, a high % of people don't bother looking at the final statement", why wouldn't you ? No consequence for 'accidentally' making these charges is there ? Incidentally I printed off the freepost label included in the email, too the package to the Post Office, to be told as from today (4Oct) such labels without a barcode are no longer valid. Shell Chat very good about it, sending a pre-labelled bag (hope it has a barcode on it...)

pallyman

dillydilly1 said:

switched today, received email saying "return the router or be charged £35" - WHAT? no other provider has ever said that (as the bag full of routers in the cupboard will attest). The sales pitch on their website says "All our products include the cost of your line rental and a wifi router at no extra cost", with buried in the T&Cs "we may ask you to return your router at the end of the agreement". I suspect their business model is based on "charge the cessation and router fees by default, a high % of people don't bother looking at the final statement", why wouldn't you ? No consequence for 'accidentally' making these charges is there ? Incidentally I printed off the freepost label included in the email, too the package to the Post Office, to be told as from today (4Oct) such labels without a barcode are no longer valid. Shell Chat very good about it, sending a pre-labelled bag (hope it has a barcode on it...)

BT now ask for them back.

liz3chickens

dillydilly1 said:

switched today, received email saying "return the router or be charged £35" - WHAT? no other provider has ever said that (as the bag full of routers in the cupboard will attest). The sales pitch on their website says "All our products include the cost of your line rental and a wifi router at no extra cost", with buried in the T&Cs "we may ask you to return your router at the end of the agreement". I suspect their business model is based on "charge the cessation and router fees by default, a high % of people don't bother looking at the final statement", why wouldn't you ? No consequence for 'accidentally' making these charges is there ? Incidentally I printed off the freepost label included in the email, too the package to the Post Office, to be told as from today (4Oct) such labels without a barcode are no longer valid. Shell Chat very good about it, sending a pre-labelled bag (hope it has a barcode on it...)

Another thing to look out for in my final bill.  No mention of the router in the email I received just the ‘cease fee’.