Broadband acting unlawfully?

markpz

Hi there, I've just noticed something with my Onestream broadband, I looked at my contract summary and it says:

"On 1st April each year your standard monthly fee will increase by an amount equal to the Retail Prices Index rate published by the Office for National Statistics in March plus up to 3.9%"

Note that they said March, now I've had an email saying:

"We want to let you know that from 1st April 2024 the price of your services will be increasing in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation published in January 2024 (4.9%), plus 3.9%, a total of 8.8%.  We invoice a month in advance, so this will take effect from your March invoice and direct debit date of 28th March 2024"

For a start the current RPI is at 4.5%, which would make it total of 8.4%, I also thought the the changes that were coming were meant to be April in the UK.

Surely this is unfair as they'll be making a fair amount of money out of everyone in the long run, obviously it doesn't make any difference individually but isn't this unlawful?

They've charged me some weird amounts in the past and then corrected it, but as I'm on a low income it's really not acceptable, they also put up the cost of my broadband by double as my "contract came to an end" even though I had another year left on it, I even have proof, but they put me on an expensive monthly tariff without even telling me, but anyway I stupidly payed two £48 charges and renewed a new contract as I have no television reception or mobile reception as I live in a basement so rely on it.

Anyway, sorry about my little rant, but I'm just wondering how they can get away with these things? Especially with regards to the RPI which will affect everyone, albeit on a miniscule scale.

Also I'd like to know if anyone else has had these problems?

Ayr_Rage

The RPI figure used in from January, as per the quote YOU included.

Everything you are ranting about (your description) is in the Ts and Cs you signed up to and if you do not like them you can vote with your feet and leave, however most of the grass is exactly the same colour on the other side of the fence.

Morale of the story is to put contract end dates in your diary and always check your online account at least monthly.

la531983

Ayr_Rage said:

The RPI figure used in from January, as per the quote YOU included.

Everything you are ranting about (your description) is in the Ts and Cs you signed up to and if you do not like them you can vote with your feet and leave, however most of the grass is exactly the same colour on the other side of the fence.

Morale of the story is to put contract end dates in your diary and always check your online account at least monthly.

Think you have misread the opening post. The contract says they will use the March percentage, hes now had an email saying they will use the January one. Makes you wonder would they have done this had RPI been going up? Doubtful.

Ayr_Rage

@la531983, not what they quoted !

"We want to let you know that from 1st April 2024 the price of your services will be increasing in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation published in January 2024 (4.9%), plus 3.9%, a total of 8.8%.  We invoice a month in advance, so this will take effect from your March invoice and direct debit date of 28th March 2024"

They use January figure, the price rise is from 1st April and as they bill in advance the new price appears in the March bill.

littleboo

I would think the next step would be to query it with Onestream, pointing out they seem to have made a mistake

la531983

Ayr_Rage said:

@la531983, not what they quoted !

"We want to let you know that from 1st April 2024 the price of your services will be increasing in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation published in January 2024 (4.9%), plus 3.9%, a total of 8.8%.  We invoice a month in advance, so this will take effect from your March invoice and direct debit date of 28th March 2024"

They use January figure, the price rise is from 1st April and as they bill in advance the new price appears in the March bill.

You missed the line in the opening post where he quotes from his actual contract? 

"On 1st April each year your standard monthly fee will increase by an amount equal to the Retail Prices Index rate published by the Office for National Statistics in March plus up to 3.9%"

Nothing there about them using January RPI figures, clearly suggests the March RPI figure is to be used.

flaneurs_lobster

la531983 said:

Ayr_Rage said:

@la531983, not what they quoted !

"We want to let you know that from 1st April 2024 the price of your services will be increasing in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation published in January 2024 (4.9%), plus 3.9%, a total of 8.8%.  We invoice a month in advance, so this will take effect from your March invoice and direct debit date of 28th March 2024"

They use January figure, the price rise is from 1st April and as they bill in advance the new price appears in the March bill.

You missed the line in the opening post where he quotes from his actual contract? 

"On 1st April each year your standard monthly fee will increase by an amount equal to the Retail Prices Index rate published by the Office for National Statistics in March plus up to 3.9%"

Nothing there about them using January RPI figures, clearly suggests the March RPI figure is to be used.

The RPI figure for January is published in March. Takes ONS a few weeks to juggle the numbers. Of course the January figure is used.

Ayr_Rage

To further complicate the issue, the uswitch site says Onestream use the February figures which ARE PUBLISHED in March.

March RPI is not even known yet and isn't published until mid April !

la531983

Sorry its still confusing, they said they are using the figure published in March and have now changed it to the figure published in January. 

Nowhere does it say its the "January figure" or the "March figure", just the month in which a figure is released.

Ayr_Rage

Their Ts and Cs are badly written, they DO use the January RPI and it should say the RPI FOR January

https://onestream.co.uk/documents/broadband-and-home-phone-terms-and-conditions.pdf

@flaneurs_lobster RPI figures are published one month in arrears, not two.

iniltous

BT ( and many  others ) use the CPI figure, and in January 2024 that was 4.0% , so with the 3.9% added the March increase is 7.9% , if your ISP states the use the RPI ( which is generally worse for the consumer ) plus 3.9% , it may well be the 8.8% in total they state  , if the RPI was 0.9% higher than the CPI figure, is correct, it’s semantics to ague about the way they apparently state which month the inflation figure is used , it’s not likely to be the month the increase takes place as that allows no time to actually implement the change .
 TBH that advise of these annual increases, use the inflation figure for the 12 months upto January , and then implement the raise in March , the ‘issue’ here I would argue is using RPI and not CPI , but if it’s in the T&C’s that’s not illegal, but something many wouldn’t necessarily appreciate the difference.