Unfair cancellation fees

iniltous

Thanks for the clarification ,
to torture your analogy further , when you renewed your contract , you say were guaranteed a minimum of 10 oranges ( even though in the preceding contract period they had not consistently delivered 10 oranges , but only 7 , and given the way minimum orange guarantees work they base the new prediction on what was actually delivered minus 10% , so if they delivered 7 oranges ,the guarantee would be 6.3 oranges not 10 ) so why would they guarantee a level of delivery they hadn’t previously achieved, anyway you accept a new delivery contract (we still don’t know what the minimum was )  ,  but on the available information it seems unlikely to be 10 oranges , but it is stated on your contract offer you obviously can look this up .

You complain to PN about poor delivery and Plusnet tweak something (even though this is something outside their control , Openorange deliver the oranges , and the number they deliver is based on physical limitations , how big the bag is ) , so it’s unclear how PN can affect this physical limit ,however  your orange delivery returns to an acceptable level ….so your complaint is apparently resolved the  supposed minimum is achieved.

You then have available a different orange delivery method so tell PN to stop delivering oranges even though they are now delivering the required amount.

If you had a guarantee of 10 orange being delivered ( this is shown on your contact offer  ) and  your orange delivery was consistently below this level and you advised them, and they somehow got your delivery to 10 , you have no case , they fixed the delivery problem, if they still delivered less than 10 oranges after you  advised them of their deficit and they never delivered 10 oranges, you have a case , but you said they fixed the delivery problem and started to deliver the guaranteed number so it’s difficult to see how you have a case , if they never delivered the guaranteed number after complaining that’s one thing , fixing the issue is another …that’s the basis of the guarantee, if your complaint is that for a long time after complaining that’s 10 oranges were not being delivered, then that the point you exercise your right to leave the contract, not renew then complain, and as stated why would they offer to renew on terms they know are unrealistic 

Don't misinterpret my contribution, I hope you can get a penalty free release, it’s just not clear you qualify for one , first and foremost your last contract offer stated the minimum…..if they (after complaining the minimum wasn’t being achieved) they failed to address the problem, you have a case , if they fix the problem, and it returns later …that unfortunately doesn’t mean you have a case unless they never fixed it again .

saajan_12

ebaydoubter said:

PN has provided me with 7 oranges.  I have reminded them on 17 occasions that they have promised a minimum of 10 oranges and each time they have either come up with the goods (achieved minimum speed or very slightly better)  or been unable to achieve it and made threatening noises about how they are perfectly prepared to cut me off and leave me without service.

Two weeks ago I decided enough was enough.  This was before I new about mobile wifi and 4G, I was thinking about the remote homeowners grant to get a dish put on the side of the house

So I rang PN to tell them that I no longer want their oranges.  They said lets have a fiddle with the line and hey presto 20 oranges.

So in the past they have done something to get it up to the minimum 10 oranges and then its dropped back down to 7 hence the repeated complaints? If so, maybe wait it out a while, they'll probably drop back down from 20 oranges to lower again. If it doesn't drop again then happy days! 

ebaydoubter said:

Now as the provision of oranges has been substandard, and the number of complaints numerous I think that it would be beneficial to all if we both cut our losses and agreed to separate amicably.

The £130 termination fee seems unnecessary

Thats your opinion but doesn't make it a legal one. Its not necessary to charge anything, but within their rights. 

eschaton

I could see the point complaining about the number of oranges if it was your first contract.

If you’ve never had enough oranges and it was a problem, why on earth did you renew?

That’s on you for your decision. As said, if the £130 is less than the contracted amount then I would accept. 

ebaydoubter

Hi.  Thanks for your reply.  

You are right, and I did not want to renew.  The line speed was always slow

My decision was based on what I knew was available, and my perception of the lack of choice

As mentioned above we are quite remote and therefore have only limited choices

...or so I thought

I had heard of mobile wifi delivered through a dongle

To find out more about mobile wifi we visited the mobile shops in Aberdeen

At the Vodafone shop they were very pleasant but they were not knowledgable about mobile wifi and were unable to assist in making my decision

Mobile reception is very variable and dependent on many factors that cause reduction to reception

They couldn't advised on speed because of this and I did not want to commit to another contract that may or may not improve our situation

At O2 and EE shops again they were helpful, the cost was £45/month with no guarantee of improvement to our service

So without trying the service we wouldn't know if our speed would be improved, and there is no way to try before committing.

So renewal seemed our best option of a limited choice.

Going back to Plusnet.  I am not saying that they are a bad company

As decribed above they use the infrastructure provided by Openreach

However my contract with them was based on them providing a certain level of service

Due to problems on the line and at the exchange, through no fault of theirs or mine they were mostly unable to deliver the service that I signed up to

It is this point that I feel that the termination fees seem unreasonable

 

iniltous

If the speed you are told to expect (and companies are required to give you an estimate) are not achieved, you  advise the ISP and they continue to fail to deliver that guaranteed speed after making attempts to ‘fix’ the issue , they you can leave penalty free , what’s never been established here , is what the guarantee speed was (or is ) what speed you are getting , when you advised Plusnet of the poor speed , and what PN’s response (and subsequent actions ) were to remedy the supposed problem…..what you can’t do is unilaterally stop paying , stating in your opinion the service is unacceptably poor and you invoke the ‘right to leave’ yourself, it doesn’t work like that , you get an offer to leave if PN can’t restore the minimum speed , it’s PN that make the offer not you that decides .

If you have renewed and your  line has been underperforming before renewal , the new guarantee speed will be based on that poor performance giving you even less opportunity to leave penalty free , but if a detectable fault is present, irrespective of the guarantee speed , you report it to Plusnet , it costs Plusnet nothing to involve Openreach , to fix whatever defect is present on the line …however if you are getting the speed you were told to expect, even if you don’t think it’s good , then you have nothing to complain about.