broadband cooling off period

andygodwin

hi all
two broadband companies have told me that the 14day cooling off period starts on the day you sign up and not when your service goes live..

 given that it takes 2 weeks (at least) for the kit to arrive and get started, this gives you no time to see if the service you have committed to works or is right for you..

surely this is some kind of legal oversight because the cooling off period in reality doesnt exist..

A

[Deleted User]

If the service doesn't work, you'd be able to withdraw from the contract, regardless of the cooling off period.

QrizB

andygodwin said:

hi all
two broadband companies have told me that the 14day cooling off period starts on the day you sign up and not when your service goes live..
 given that it takes 2 weeks (at least) for the kit to arrive and get started, this gives you no time to see if the service you have committed to works or is right for you..
surely this is some kind of legal oversight because the cooling off period in reality doesnt exist..

It's a cooling-off period, not a trial period. It's to let you change your mind about a contract in case you have second thoughts.

See also this recent thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6369603/how-is-it-fair-to-have-a-14-day-cooling-off-period-when-it-takes-14-days-to-be-connected

iniltous

As already stated , a cooling off period isn’t try before you buy , it’s in case someone felt pressure to sign a deal , then subsequently decided that they didn’t want it,  so they could get out of the deal , the supplier not really having had any set up costs, so can’t complain that you changing your mind has cost them money.
With broadband , you should be provided with a personal estimate of speed etc , if the service fails to deliver that speed , you can leave penalty free , but only after a period where the ISP attempts to provide what they promised , if they cannot deliver that , they agree to waive any penalty payment and you use someone else, if they do deliver what they promised then obviously if you want to leave there is ETC to pay.
The ISP has costs , the router , getting you connected , admin etc, if they said the first 14 days of service were effectively free while you decide if it’s what you want , and you get to simply cancel or move to someone else with no reason other than ,’ it’s within the 14 days and it’s my choice’  , isn’t fair on the ISP, someone could simply sign up with no intention of honouring the deal, get free broadband for a period, cancel , and do the same again with the next company , if someone was never going to try this underhand behaviour, then what have they lost under this system ?