Onestream broadband warning

Pravseb

Like many people, I lead a busy life and had forgotten my renewal date. When I logged in, I discovered that my payments had doubled after the first year. Since I pay by direct debit, I hadn't noticed the price increase. They lure you in with an attractive initial price, but I never received any communication from them about the end of the first-year contract or the price doubling. Had I known, I would have looked for a better deal. This is a warning to be very careful: they entice you with a deal and don't inform you when the one-year period is about to end. They might claim this is standard practice, but that doesn't make it right. Poor customer service. Lesson learned.

Log into your account regularly and also make sure you have a way of reminding yourself when the contract end date, they won't do it.

flaneurs_lobster

One can find an electronic calendar on your PC or phone, very useful for setting up reminders for when stuff is going to happen in the future.

jbrassy

I'm with Onestream and this was pretty clear when I signed up. Like the previous poster said, set a reminder on your phone to reassess your broadband a month before the 12 month contract comes to an end. 

In any case, can't you cancel now and sign up with a new provider?

iniltous

I’m fairly certain that Ofcom requires ISP’s  to advise their customers as they approach the end of a minimum term/discount period so that the punter doesn’t inadvertently move to a much higher price without being promoted to negotiate/ recontract or switch , obviously if they still do nothing that’s their choice , but they should be advised, in fact Plusnet /EE were fined recently by Ofcom , ( the fine was lumped onto BT as the group owner ) for not including this information on a small number of EE/PN customers contract summary information .

flaneurs_lobster

iniltous said:

I’m fairly certain that Ofcom requires ISP’s  to advise their customers as they approach the end of a minimum term/discount period so that the punter doesn’t inadvertently move to a much higher price without being promoted to negotiate/ recontract or switch , obviously if they still do nothing that’s their choice , but they should be advised, in fact Plusnet /EE were fined recently by Ofcom , ( the fine was lumped onto BT as the group owner ) for not including this information on a small number of EE/PN customers contract summary information .

Think those Ofcom rules require advice to be provided when a minimum term is ending, can't find similar when a discount period is ending. I'm sure that this is just an oversight by Onestream, but in any case isn't their minimum term 24 months?

iniltous

TBH , it’s not clear if the OP ‘deal’ was a 24 month minimum with a 12 month 50% reduction in price, in which case there really isn’t anything untoward, if the deal was for the entire minimum term and that was 12 months , hence the doubling in price , then the ISP are duty bound to advise the customer of that expiration of the minimum term

AvoidOnestreamBroadband

I'm with OneStream as well and currently in the process of leaving.  I'd advise very strongly against taking it a contract with them: 

- add-on charges that you can't remove during the order process, one of them is a charge to ensure an engineer comes out if there's a problem! 
- 8% charge increase during the 12-month fix 
- out-of contract monthly price is more than twice the initially advertised price
- cancellations aren't accepted unless sent in a two-week window
- router needs to be returned at costumer's cost (advertised prices are misleading as this cannot be avoided) 
- customer service can only be called during working hours, which is unsuitable to people with a job to go to themselves

I've never known a broadband company to go out of their way to catch you out and get one over you to the extent that OneStream seem to base their whole business model on tricking people into hidden charges. 

iniltous

there have been quite a few posts about Onestream recently, and nearly all ( if not all ) are pretty negative, in my opinion they would seem to be an ISP  to avoid at all costs .

400ixl

Pretty much all of the complaints have been by people who clearly did not read any part of the contract or T&C's that they signed up to. Or understand the difference between a contract with a price and a discounted minimum term vs a fixed term contract.

The OP here is complaining about them, but the same would be the case with any ISP who does discounted minimum periods. Which is probably 80%+, so do we discount 80% of the market.

The follow up post is clearly a didn't read the T&C's.

Can't recall much in the way of complaints about the actual broadband performance or service.

Agree that they are one to be cautious of and to actually make sure you read what you are getting into. They have some add-ons that you have to actually cancel in the 1 month free period which is a bit sneaky in hoping people forget, but it doesn't appear to be hard to cancel them.

Rob5342

Looking on their website they do seem to be a bit sneaky. I looked for a broadband service and they mention a mcafee subscription and a onestream assured subscription they sign you up to, but this appears at the side well away from a continue button. Having said that, it's very common for things to increase in price after the first year, and everyone should keep on top of things to ensure they have the best deal.

I don't see how paying by direct debit meant you didn't notice the increase, as soon as they took an increased payment you'd have seen it.

wild666

Pravseb said:

Like many people, I lead a busy life and had forgotten my renewal date. When I logged in, I discovered that my payments had doubled after the first year. Since I pay by direct debit, I hadn't noticed the price increase. They lure you in with an attractive initial price, but I never received any communication from them about the end of the first-year contract or the price doubling. Had I known, I would have looked for a better deal. This is a warning to be very careful: they entice you with a deal and don't inform you when the one-year period is about to end. They might claim this is standard practice, but that doesn't make it right. Poor customer service. Lesson learned.

Log into your account regularly and also make sure you have a way of reminding yourself when the contract end date, they won't do it.

The contract must have being a 12 month contract or 12 months at a lower price with it increasing for the next 12 months to more than double the price. Their site says up to 62 Mb  for £20 per month but the regular price is £40.95. The increase in price after 12 months should be clearly stated and if it's not then they could be in trouble as some people could want to move but will be hit with a £240 charge if they want to move.