removing phone line from contract

danco

I have FTTP from Hyperoptic plus a phone service from them.

I enquired about moving the phone service from them, and was told in chat that this could be done with no fee to me, and in fact a reduction in cost of £4 a month (I am still trying to get a copy of that chat, which is taking longer than I would expect).

But when I started the switch of phone number I got an email indicating that I would have to pay a large early termination charge.

As a result, I cancelled the switch and am still trying to get some clear statement from Hyperoptic as to whether this change does lead to an early termination fee or not.

So far, after more than a week and many emails I have still not got a reply. Their answers just do not relate to my questions.

I am rather surprised that they don't have a definite policy on this matter, and are not able to answer my question about whether there is an early termination charge with a simple "Yes, you would be charged as it amounts to a new contract" or "No, you won't be charged as your broadband is not being changed".

With luck I might get a transcript of the original chat in a day or so and might then be able to try the port again. It is always possible that the email referring to the termination charge was automated and not accurate. It was actually confusing as I had never even completed a porting request, just made enquiries. Just to make things worse, I keep getting text messages saying that I could still cancel the switch, which makes no sense as I had never actuallyy started it. But here Hyperoptic have confirmed that this is an automated message and that no switch is in process.

dnpark38

Are you just cancelling the extra of phone calls and keeping their BB in the call to them but then you tried to switch provider of both BB and phone?

danco

Yes, I am keeping broadband and only (if I can without penalty) moving the phone line to another provider.

This is confirmed in their cancellation letter, but they still make a claim for early termination charge. Could easily be just an error in an automated email, but I am finding it harder than I expected to find out if that is what was happening.

Ayr_Rage

Which VoIP company are you planning to port the number to?

As broadband and phone are usually tied together then until you are out of contract a charge is likely.

danco

As I said, my broadband is FTTP. Which means that it is not tied to a phone line, it is technically easy to turn off the phone. Or, if it were time to renew the contract, I could get it without a phone line.

The issue is confusing information from Hyperoptic, with my being told by one person that I can move the phone line without penalty, and then being told that there will be a large charge if I do move it.

Just give me a clear statement and I can work with it, but don't have two agents give me totally conflicting information

Ayr_Rage

I didn't mean that the line was tied to FTTP, just that the contract is, you are paying for broadband and phone with concurrent terms.

Therefore trying to split them may result in an early termination charge and you taking a new standalone broadband contract.

iniltous

As stated , if you took a broadband and telephone service from Hyperoptic together and are still inside a minimum term then it’s highly likely that early termination charges will apply , how they will calculate that is anyone’s guess , does your invoice show telephone as a separate item with its own fee in addition to the broadband fee or is the charge a single combined fee for both services , if it’s a combination of the two services as a single fee , chances are the ETC will be for the early termination of broadband and telephone not just the telephone, even if your broadband is immediately reinstated as a standalone broadband service .

I don’t know why you didn’t answer the question about who you would like to port the number to ( presumably a standard VoIP provider) but you wanting to move or remove the telephone service reduces the expected income of Hyperoptic , and they have work to do if you move or remove the phone service (albeit a small amount of work ) so you should expect a penalty charge for not fulfilling your end of the deal, if you wanted a separate VoIP provider not tied to your broadband, why did you take Hyperoptic telephony in the first place ?

If you accept ETC will apply as the most likely outcome and it’s only the contradictory nature of the communications so far , the chat saying one thing and an email another , then you ought to err on the side of caution and assume the worst case scenario (from your point of view ) and ETC will be applicable as the cost of variance of your contract while inside the minimum term , even if you could get a copy of the chat , apart from an apology for the error , it’s not clear what else you would expect .

danco

I don't see that it matters who I want to port to (it's Andrews and Arnold). I originally took the contract with Hyperoptic because they were the only providers to my block of flats (an Openreach connection was made several years later) and I just kept on with them. It's only recently that I felt that moving my number was a good idea.

The email from them regarding the change says

Service being transferred: Phone

You'll still have the following Hyperoptic services: Broadband

So that suggests that I am NOT terminating broadband and then reinstating it, even though they have quoted an early termination charge as if I were.

What I want is a clear statement with no contradiction. If they insist that a large ETC will apply, I can understand and accept it. If they tell me that I can change with no issues, then I expect them to keep to that agreement. But I do not want to be told one thing and when I follow what I am told to be suddenly faced with a different decision.

iniltous

The reason to ask who you would prefer as a VoIP provider is to see how the call charges they offer compare to HO (not that I’m going to do that ) and see if it’s actually worth the grief of changing inside the minimum term if the savings are minuscule, once you add in the transfer fee etc with A&A , and potentially (depending on how HO supply their telephone service )the purchase of extra equipment.

FWIW , the T&C’s show the way cancellation fees are calculated, and it’s basically broadband and broadband and phone , you took broadband and phone , the fact you are willing to keep the broadband seems to me an irrelevance, I’d wager you can’t just chop the phone service off , you need a new broadband only ‘contract’ , but clearly that’s nothing more than an opinion, presumably you will need to seek guidance from a HO employee with sufficient knowledge on how this would be treated , perhaps by contacting their senior management

danco

Now that is helpful. I was thinking of trying customer retentions. Do you have a more precise idea on how to contact someone in senior management?

I have checked the mechanics of transfer and the cost (excluding any ETC) and reckon it would be worthwhile for me.

I started off, after an initial look at what A&A offer, by asking Hyperoptic via chat if I could make the transfer without incurring a charge or not. I would have accepted it if I had been told I couldn't, but once I was told I could I wanted to proceed. It is still possible that the email listing the charge is an error in their automated system, I know I have received other automated errors.

I looked at the T&Cs and couldn't find any specific mention of this issue. Maybe I am missing something

Ayr_Rage

It should be quite simple, if you have separate contracts for phone and broadband then Hyperoptic should be charging you for those two contracts.