Quote:
Originally Posted by torque2me
Check the small print for clauses. If you have signed up to a fixed term usage then in contract law that is it. It is nice to be able to give advance warning that one is not going to renew but without looking at the small print it is hard to say why this company believes it can charge a user for keeping within the terms of the contract.
Could go on re this theme and I hope you don't get into the never able to cancel a direct debit saga. I had to change my account numbers to evade one persistent "robber".
Kev
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlan
You probably have to give them 30 days notice after the contract is up. As such you will be put on the elevated monthly charges. Happened to me, rip off batrsads !
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Not quite correct in both case. When a fixed period contract is coming to an end, Plusnet will have sent a reminder email, followed by another an possibly another. All with offers to renew at some price or not. This usually occurs starting about one month before fixed price contract expiry. If the subscriber takes no action to renew or leave, the service is moved to a monthly rolling contract, which itself may be subject to an early termination charge.
The service provider incurs an operational cost when moving a service between contracts and when a service is terminated. This being the case, it's not unreasonable to make a charge to cover this cost if the subscriber fails to act on the reminders issued prior to the initial fixed price contract end.
All this is quite standard across the industry and will be part of the T&C's of the initial contract. Subscribers sign-up to a fixed price for a fixed term contract, not a fixed-term contract, otherwise the service would be automatically terminated at the end of the contract. It's the same with fixed-price electricity or gas contracts.
Think about the alternatives when a subscribers fails to take action - there are only two other options. These being that the initial contract is renewed at some fixed price without the subscriber's express agreement or the service is just terminated. Neither of these would be acceptable to most subscribers.
Remember that Plusnet will also have taken out a contact with Openreach for the copper infrastructure and either another part of BT or a separate entity for the backbone/fibre network in order to provide the BB service for another month on a rolling basis.
So no, they are not being rip off batrsads. They are covering their costs when a subscriber fails to take action that should be taken in accordance with their contract.
PS I have no association with Plusnet. I just happen to have worked in the telecomms industry designing/building service networks infrastructure and operational systems for nearly 40 years and understand costs associated with the provision, operation and termination of telecomms services.