Pop Telecom Internet Contract do I have a case ?

solardurfer

I started a new contract with Pop telecom 4 months ago. The first invoice they sent me had about £12 of extras included which I did not ask for, which they took off once I rang them.

They sent me an invoice the other day, asking to increase their bill by 15.5% in April this year (Today). I assumed I would be paying the same amount £20.50 a month for 18 months, otherwise why start a contract? They say this was stated on my previous bill, but this states only 7.5%. (The usual thing these companies do) I did not sign or agree to any contract that let them increase the bill for the period of 18 months, and they have failed to supply me with one I accepted too.

So, I presume they have broken the contract, so I can cancel ?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Solar

Neil_Jones

https://www.poptelecom.co.uk/terms-conditions - "

9.     Changing Our Charges

Each year we will adjust the amount customers pay per month for their plans according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus an additional 3.9%. The CPI rate is the January figure announced in February each year and we will adjust a customer's bill by this amount plus an additional 3.9% from 1 April of the same year. "

Pretty standard clause.

And you don't need to physical sign anything.

km1500

was the cpi +3.9 equal to 15.5?

iniltous

You will need to be more specific, old price on the bill ( and what the invoice is for ) and the after increase new price , and  and how it breaks down , obviously CPI +3.9% should be around a 7.9% increase but without details it’s impossible to know .

solardurfer

Well its obvious that the above people are trying to muddle up a problem by asking stupid questions to cloud the problem.

Even if it's legal to charge 7.9% price increase midway through an agreed price for a service for a predetermined amount of time, it is not right to advertise a 7.9% increase and ACTUALLY charge 15.5% charge !

I think I have explained that so everyone can understand.

I dispute a seller of an agreement who supplies a service,  not to point out to every buyer, expected price increases during the agreed time period of supply, otherwise there is no reason to buy from a supplier a service for a set time period !

solardurfer

I also dispute any supplier, that inforces a simple online agreement, "you agree to our online agreement" as being enforceable in law!

My question would be "Which version of your online agreement do you want me to be forced by", and "show me the one I agreed to" and "prove this is the one I signed up for" ? Come one..... anyone could change an online agreement to say anything after the fact !!!! ala, did you realise you signed up to give me your spleen when you died ?

Neil_Jones

Do you want any help or not?

With all due respect you're going the right way about not getting any.

You say you were charged £20.50 a month.  What are you paying now?  If it's CPI+3.9% it should be around £22.12.

If its 15.5% it should be closer to £23.68.

As for the online agreements, you might want to look at section 48 that I linked to - "We may change these Conditions at any time for legal, regulatory or commercial reasons. We will notify you of all such changes in writing and/or by publishing them on our Website."  So in other words the online one replaces all previous copies.

ladruid

OFCOM Contractual Changes:

Changes to terms and conditions

Phone and broadband providers can change the terms of a contract but they must give you at least one month's notice and a right to exit the contract without penalty if the change does not benefit you. However, you won’t have the right to exit the contract if the change being made is:

1. exclusively to your benefit, for example a speed upgrade;
2. purely administrative and has no negative effect on you, for example a change in the address or bank details of your provider; or
3. directly imposed by law, for example, a change in the rate of VAT.

Some providers have contracts which set out that the monthly prices you pay will increase at certain times during the contract, for example increasing by inflation each year. This should be made clear to you when you sign the contract so you know what you will have to pay at different points in the contract. If this was made clear at the point you entered the contract, you won’t have the right to exit without penalty when the increase takes place.

They can not change a contract if it is to your detriment without giving 1 month notice and a chance to leave. They can not state CPI + 3.9% when you signed up then notify you they are charging more as this is a change to your detriment. Now the waters get muddy if they state they changed it on the website and you were informed (via email)... they could argue that you had notice and did not cancel so defato accepted the changes.

This is where dodgy companies will change T&C's then 'email' you to inform you of your right to cancel, then the email mysteriously gets lost or spam filtered... the modern equivalent of 'in the mail' I guess. If it went to ADR, I would surmise ADR would deem a 15.5% increase to be an unfair contractual change, especially if they did not formally write a letter to you informing you of the fact, and advise the company cancel the contract anyways.

If you believe they have acted outside of this you need to raise a complaint with OFCOM through an ADR.
Here's a link for your convenience :- 
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/adr-schemes

Giammy85

With me POP Telecom want to calculate the 7.9% increase only on the base package and not the discount. I have paid £15.99 per month, so they are trying to apply a 14.8% price increase to the amount I pay as a customer.

I have asked them to reconsider their position. Otherwise, to issue a final response so that the ADR CISAS can arbitrate on this matter.

JSmithy45AD

Neil_Jones said:

Do you want any help or not?

With all due respect you're going the right way about not getting any.

You say you were charged £20.50 a month.  What are you paying now?  If it's CPI+3.9% it should be around £22.12.

If its 15.5% it should be closer to £23.68.

As for the online agreements, you might want to look at section 48 that I linked to - "We may change these Conditions at any time for legal, regulatory or commercial reasons. We will notify you of all such changes in writing and/or by publishing them on our Website."  So in other words the online one replaces all previous copies.

Why would they need any help? It appears they already know better than anybody else.


Or not...

400ixl

Giammy85 said:

With me POP Telecom want to calculate the 7.9% increase only on the base package and not the discount. I have paid £15.99 per month, so they are trying to apply a 14.8% price increase to the amount I pay as a customer.

I have asked them to reconsider their position. Otherwise, to issue a final response so that the ADR CISAS can arbitrate on this matter.

They have applied the contract YOU signed. Their T&C's state they apply it to the PLAN rate, which is not the discounted rate. Did you read the T&C's before you signed up?

It is not that they have a rate and then it increases when the minimum term is up. They have a plan rate which they give you a discount against for a minimum commitment.