Additional Broadband charges

[leffeman101]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice on an issue that has come about from my broadband provider. I first used the provider when I worked for a company as it was the provider they used for all employees working remotely.....upon leaving the company I worked for I cancelled with the provider and moved to another one as the company I was working for obviously ceased there contract with them.

I went back to the original provider soon after as I had issues with the new provider I moved to. I was under the impression it was unlimited usage and set up a standing order and have been paying them for the past couple of years now. Today I receive an email to say I have exceeded the broadband usage limit and the incurred charges are being passed on to me. It's a large amount too!! I received no warning that I was close to a limit or that I exceeded it.

As I say, I have been using the provider for a couple of years and have never signed a contract or had any terms and conditions of the package sent to me.....I also cannot find any info on their website. Can anyone help with how to deal with how I should respond to the company, because as far as I'm concerned the demands are totally unreasonable given that they have never outlined terms of business with me?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[stevemLS]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

Most providers have a "Fair Usage" limit even on their "unlimited" packages.

Is this a domestic contract or a business arrangement?

How much are they saying you went over the limit and how much are the additional charges/monthly payment?

I find it difficult to believe that they did not make reference to T&C's at least when you went back to them? How did that happen?

Who is the provider?

[leffeman101]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

Hi, thanks for the reply. It's a domestic arrangement now apparently my cap is 10GB and I've gone about 100GB over. But being under the impression it was unlimited I have never given it a thought.

In terms of T&C's, it was never discussed apart from the amount payable.....which was the same as what I was paying when I originally used them via my old company (I never had visibility of the T&C's then either as it was part of a corporate deal via their I.T dept). I know it may seem difficult to believe but that is the truth, I have checked back over all the emails I have had from them, checked invoices and I cannot find any terms and conditions at all......this is over a total period of five years.

Monthly cost is £25.00 and they are trying to charge me an additional £110 due to exceeding the apparent limit. I don't want to put their name on here but can PM you it it's important.......they aren't a main stream provider such as BT for example, so it was quite a casual arrangement when I re-set up the supply with them. I have no contract in place with them and have never signed anything either.

As far as I'm concerned they haven't made it clear at any point to me and I see the charges as totally unreasonable, especially considering they didn't make me aware until it's come to the end of a month.

Hope that helps to explain the situation.

[meellis]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

I have to say broadband charging is a minefield. Used to have mobile BB and was forever going over limits and receiving excessive charges even though my usage hadn't really changed. The excuses were always based around what was going on in the background of the computer which you don't always have control of. The part that always annoyed me though was you couldn't ever find a program that could give you an accurate indication of your usage so you are always at the providers beck and call about what they say you have used.

[stevemLS]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

Thanks leffeman

And wow, that is a lot of data - do you stream a lot of video or something?

I only wanted their name so I could have a look at their fair usage policy, if indeed they have one. So, up to you whether you wish to send it to me.

Based on what you have said here, I would argue to them that they have never made any limit on usage apparent to you, that it's description as unlimited induced you to enter into the arrangement and that to seek to impose these new terms is likely to be contrary to The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 generally and in particular Paragraph 1(i) of Schedule 2 of those Regulations.

Ask that the confirm cancellation of the additional charges forthwith.

You can probably only use this argument once.

Let us know how you go on.

[leffeman101]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

Thanks Steve and Meellis for your input.

Steve- I have probably never used as much over a month, trouble is new Xbox games are download.......some are huge which I didn't give a thought to when we bought the thing! So the usage is really out of the ordinary for us.

Thanks for the advice, I have PM'd you the name of the company and I have also taken screenshots of all the pages to ensure they don't sneakily change anything online and try to make out it was always there! (I like to make sure of these things).

I'll keep you updated, but there is no way I'm paying them the extra

[stevemLS]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

Thanks.

This is a bit strange, as far as I can see they appear not to be an ISP so not quite sure on what basis they are supplying the service.

Are you sure they haven't "introduced" you to some third party supplier?

They also appear only to deal with business customers - if that is the case then the Regulations I quoted will be useless - could they reasonably believe that you are dealing with them in the course of a business? Do you work as an IT contractor or something?

[leffeman101]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

I only use the broadband for domestic use on the whole, but do a bit of admin for work obviously emails etc from home.

In terms of a third party, I'm not sure as again they never mentioned anything about that. I think they owned a certain amount of business lines which are apparently more reliable in connection etc, so when I moved away from them to another provider and my connection kept dropping, that's why I went back to them as always had a reliable connection before.

I guess my main issue is the lack of communication on it being capped at 10gb but also the complete lack of visibility of t&c's. I'll see what they come back with today, I've asked for the t&c's and a copy of what I signed up to......as I know they didn't send anything at the time.

[stevemLS]

Re: Additional Broadband charges

OK - let us know when you hear from them.

I think the key to whether you have consumer protection is what was said at the time you went back to them. I don't think doing work emails from home is sufficient to make it a non-retail arrangement, but if the previous arrangement was a business contract and you simply went back on the same terms, albeit funded differently, that might complicate matters.