Who should pay the cancellation fee?

The_Fat_Controller

Ultimately the new tenant can select any ISP regardless of what the OP's son has done, once they moved in the line becomes theirs as do all the other utilities.

Unless they were informed of the situation, which I guess they were not according to the OP, getting online would have been a priority so they ordered their own choice for internet services.

@victor2 no consent was needed as the line into the property was no longer owned by the OP's son once they moved out, they were responsible for the outstanding contract and the options were cancel, transfer the contract to a new address or have the owner/new tenants take over the contract for the remaining term.

iniltous

Unfortunately it was always a bad plan, from the viewpoint of the person moving in, why should they be denied service because the previous occupant hasn’t told their provider that they have moved out , or they are trying to tie up the ‘line’ for many more months , so they can ‘save’ paying ETC.
Wanting to keep paying monthly for a service they cannot use to avoid early termination charges isn’t allowed if the new occupant wants service, VF should never have agreed to your son even trying to do this, and if £380 was too much to find in one go, offered payment terms.

The correct system  ‘messages’ are , new occupant moves into the address, wants service , so contacts a provider ( it could even be the same provider that the previous occupant used ) the ‘new’ provider starts the takeover process , and a letter is sent to the address ( in this case in the name of your son ) the letter says if this takeover is a mistake to get in touch within ten days, obviously because your son doesn’t live there anymore, the letter goes unanswered , so 10 days later the new occupants service starts , which  automatically ‘ceases’ the old service , and if that old service was still inside a minimum term, the old provider raises early termination charges.

Although it’s being wise after the event, it was never going to work out unless the flat remained unoccupied for the number of months left on the contract, and as far as who should pay, that would be whoever name the VF contract was in…..the ETC is no doubt similar to what the monthly fee x the number of months left would be , so your son may be able to agree terms with VF to pay the debt off gradually , possibly by paying £30  per month over the same amount of months ( 12 to 13 ) as what was left on the VF contract, that way the £380 is paid off in the same time frame, if VF don’t agree and want the £380 in one lump sum that’s harsh ,
BT have nothing to do with this…it’s between your son and VF how the debt is paid

[Deleted User]

I think the OP's son has had a lucky escape really. Think of the consequences of paying for somebody else to use the broadband in a property they don't own.

Imagine if the new tenants had a technical problem with the broadband, they cannot contact Vodafone because they are not the account holder so your son would have to deal with any technical support calls for the remainder of the contract.

What if the new tenants use that broadband for nefarious purposes, again your son could be in the firing line as the account holder.

And if I was the new tenant, I'd be really uncomfortable with the fact that somebody else had the power to terminate my broadband connect at will at any time without giving me notice. Not to mention taking away their choice of speed / service provider.

All round I think this was the best outcome anyway.

The_Fat_Controller

@[Deleted User] and if the line wasn't full fibre, the new tenants could have made chargeable calls for which the OP's son would have had to pay for.

The plan to pay Vodafone without any reference to anyone else has to be the daftest plan on the planet.

PS. Hope they have have taken final readings and closed their other utility accounts in the normal way otherwise we'll be seeing them on the Water or Energy boards.

cx6

It may not make financial sense to do it this way anyway, as the maximum termination fee that could be charged is the remainder of the payments, and often they will discount this a bit.

The_Fat_Controller

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/document/vfcon110614.pdf

southsidergs

AG97 said:

victor2 said:

AG97 said:

Naive perhaps but calling someone incredibly stupid is insulting.  I assumed this site was for sound advice rather than a personal attack.  He did in fact contact Vodafone to say he was doing this.

Has he contacted Vodafone to ask why it was terminated without his consent, as he is the account holder?

Maybe they'll say the new tenant had the right to cancel the service, but worth asking what attempts were made to contact the account holder before taking the payment.

Thank you Victor2. He has and they’ve denied any responsibility and said BT should have notified them., so we’re going around in circles. I guess one to put down to experience.

That is absolute rubbish btw. If someone places a takeover on the line they should be informing the account holder. Sounds like they're trying to shift the blame

Money_Grabber13579

southsidergs said:

AG97 said:

victor2 said:

AG97 said:

Naive perhaps but calling someone incredibly stupid is insulting.  I assumed this site was for sound advice rather than a personal attack.  He did in fact contact Vodafone to say he was doing this.

Has he contacted Vodafone to ask why it was terminated without his consent, as he is the account holder?

Maybe they'll say the new tenant had the right to cancel the service, but worth asking what attempts were made to contact the account holder before taking the payment.

Thank you Victor2. He has and they’ve denied any responsibility and said BT should have notified them., so we’re going around in circles. I guess one to put down to experience.

That is absolute rubbish btw. If someone places a takeover on the line they should be informing the account holder. Sounds like they're trying to shift the blame

But if the OP hadn’t changed the address in the contract, any notification would have gone to the address which the new tenant is now in. So Vodafone may have contacted the account holder but they are no longer at the address which Vodafone have on file - that isn’t Vodafone’s fault.

Marvel1

Your son - he was the one who ended the lease on the property early.

Why would you think the landlord or more shocking the new tenent?