4Com - Stealth Pricing

LOPC

4Com purchased the provider we were with about a 3 weeks after we had agreed a new 6 year contract.  Almost immediately they started charging us for their HiHi services, which I fought as we do not have this phone system.  After a couple of months of communication the extra fee was eventually credited back.  This month (Dec24) 4Com have increased fees for broadband on the premise that BT are increasing their fees for legacy systems (PSTN and ISDN) that is due to be switched off in January 2027 - 2 years time! 
1) 4Com service has been poor to date for a small business and I have zero trust in them, but 
    can't seem to get out of the contract, even though it wasn't agreed with 4Com... there was a
    clause that allowed for the transfer of the business..... is there a way around this?
2) I can understand that if BT are switching off older legacy systems then they need to encourage
    & support customers to move to an alternative solution, but:
         a) do you know, are BT actually increasing fees for operating the older legacy lines? 
         b) if so when?... are 4Com using this as a rational to extort more money out of customers...
             they've just put our bill up by 66% 
         c) When tied into a contract with a provider, 'IF' BT are turning off the legacy systems then
             it feels like we are trapped into going with whatever 4Com want to charge... are there
             other options or are we forced to stay with them?
The reality is that there will be many people who will be cut off when this date arrives as there are still a high number of people (particularly vulnerable elderly people) who don't have broadband and still use old phonelines.  

Ayr_Rage

LOPC said:

The reality is that there will be many people who will be cut off when this date arrives as there are still a high number of people (particularly vulnerable elderly people) who don't have broadband and still use old phonelines.  

Incorrect, people will not just be cut off, they will be transferred to a VoIP service.

iniltous

TBH , your suppliers  relationship with their supplier is of no interest to you and should only affect you at the margins ( like if your provider stopped paying BT Wholesale, and BTw cut off your supplier for non payment , then by default , you would lose your service )  , but ultimately your contract isn’t with BT and isn’t matched or directly linked to what 4Com pay BTw , so it’s irrelevant if BT put their prices up to your supplier, in the same way if BT reduced prices to your supplier 4Com  are under no obligation to reduce the price you  price , unless that is specifically written into the agreement you have with your supplier, and that’s extremely unlikely that the company that offers you service wants you to know what the margin is between what they buy the service in for , and what they retail it to you at.

If you bought a piece of machinery for an agreed ( contractual ) price and when you went to pick it up , the supplier said , ‘sorry we want more ££ because the supplier put the price up to us ‘ you would point to your contract and say ‘sorry that’s your problem, we have a contract and I’m paying what we agreed’, if prices were simply what BT charge plus a bit added on for 4Com , why use a reseller at all , you may as well deal with ‘BT’ directly and be a customer of BT Business not 4Com, but it doesn’t work like that at all .

Asking can if you get out of your deal with 4com ( considering your contract wasn’t with this company originally but another company ) is not going to get a worthwhile ‘legal’  answer from any of  the contributors here , you need a proper legal professional opinion, even if that will cost you money , the consumer based protection that would have allowed you to leave a residential provider that ‘sold’ its customer base to another provider doesn’t apply to your  grade contract, you aren’t a consumer in that respect.

BT Wholesale have confidential relationships with resellers , but any wholesale products that they sell are regulated by Ofcom so any increases have to be cost/margin based , BT Wholesale can’t simply whack up prices on a whim ,and put prices up for some and discounts for others , they basically have to provide a level playing field , otherwise they would make BT Business unbeatable and others would go out if business, so basically if have prices gone up ,they are  probably inline with inflation, because the regulator Ofcom allow this , so I recon your provider is  bullsh*tying you about their increased costs ( or the level of them )  , and they aren’t your problem anyway , unless the contract allows any increase the provider sees fit to apply , they are just hoping they can deflect your anger somewhere else .

TBH , you referring to BT in this respect is misleading, most will regard BT as BT Consumer, the residential provider , 4Com don’t ‘buy’ services from BT Consumer , they buy wholesale from the same entity that BT Consumer buy products from , just because BT Wholesale they are also a part of BT Group doesn’t matter , BT Wholesale ( or whatever their current name is ) are a tightly regulated company .

As you are  (presumably)  a business customer rather than residential customer , your terrible experience with your business supplier isn’t comparable to a residential customer with a residential ISP , as you are finding , business have to ‘read the contract small print ‘ before signing up , generally residential customers don’t have to employ lawyers to read their residential contract first , because law makers understand that would unfair , so residential contracts have to be ‘fair’ to both parties from the outset , business contracts don’t have the same restrictions, consumer law doesn’t apply to business.