Been sold to another broadband supplier. What are my rights?

Grumpy_chap

twopenny said:

So was happily with the PO broadband for years.

They sold to Shell - not as bad as I thought, pretty ok.

They sold to Octopus - ok good reputation but still dealing with Shell.

They sold to Talk Talk.

I made a contract with Shell, special price because they had overcharged me the previous year.

The price with increased (inflation rate) within 1mt. Infuriating but being poorly let it ride.

TalkTalk have given little info and I have to sign into a new site tomorrow. The one thing they say is that there will be a price rise.

I'm on a small pension and in poor health at the moment, only use the net for fun and helping people on forums.

I've been made to use it for all my bills which now come through email.

The prices I've seen on line now are beyond my means for the usage I get. Once we're over £20+ a month it's going to have an impact. And no I'm not on pension credit or entitled to it.

Any idea if I'm entitled to leave the contract free of charge as it wasn't what I agreed to nor the company I made the contract with?

I have followed this path from PO Broadband to Talk Talk (though still branded as Shell Broadband).  It is a landline only contract with no internet service (despite the brand name).

Have you read the e-mails carefully?
Have you accepted the new contract / signed into the new portal?

It is just, the e-mails I receive say pretty much "Your current tariff is £xx.  Our best tariff is £YY.  If you would like to move to our best tariff, please follow through the links and new portal.  If you do nothing, you will stay on your current tariff."

My current tariff (£XX) is cheaper than the "best tariff" (£YY) so I did nothing and still seem to be on the current tariff (£XX).  Never clicked through and never signed into the new portal.

I assume, had I accepted the "best tariff" I would not be able to revert to my current tariff.

As an aside, the monthly fee has risen faster than inflation but I understand that is common across most providers as there is an absurd rule from the regulator to allow increases at inflation + 3.9%

twopenny

Just tried to sign in and it wouldn't acknowledge me.

Tried the Chat to Us as there is no other means of contact and it just keeps asking me to register.

The bill has come through at £25+ as it says there are charges left over.

That's up from £16 agreed in December.

I'll give it a go and try through their numbers and such on their website as otherwise it want's me to download an app and I don't have a smart phone or landline telephone.

I had agreed paper correspondence with PO. Shell gave that up saying they didn't have to notify me.

I haven't understood for a long time how you can make a contract for 24mts at an agreed price and that is allowed to be changed on their part but a penalty on yours. It doesn't happen anywhere else. 

Frankly it's making me feel sick and out of control atm.

twopenny

OK so to update. It's taken half an hour because the Register didn't recognise my details.

I phoned and was helped in a fairly decent time compared to how TT has been in the past.

But it still kept not recognising and by the time we had sent one time passwords through email the Register in had timed me out then the email timed me out.

It's obviously geared for the updated gear and nimble. It's still a lot more effort than other sites I have to register with. Not the best format or most clear.

For the moment the original cost is the same (but they are putting it up again - after shell did the 'cost of living' in Jan or Feb) and the T&Cs remain.

So far dealt with for now. The future will be another problem.

EE are offering to pay all costs of moving and install fibre and router for people if anyone's interested. It's too much of a cost for me atm but better than some.

I'll get on to aquantainces and see what they are using as I know some are the smaller companies at lower cost.

Thank you all for the ideas, help and support.