Unexpected Early Termination Charges

[Always Hopeful]

Hello Everyone

I hope someone can advise me about a contractual question.

I had been a Tiscali customer for many years until took over by TalkTalk in January 2010.

On 21st June 2010 I received a letter from Nigel Pearson, Senior Director, Customer Services, about an "Important Update from TalkTalk". It advised me that they were preparing to move me onto their new network. From 30th July 2010 my TalkTalk package would change and my rental would rise.

On the rear of the letter were some Q & A's.

One Question said: Will my contract dates change?
Answer: No, not if you stay on your current package. However if you choose to register for a new package you will be subject to a new contract which will start from the day your new package goes live.

I didn't do anything. I didn't sign or tick new terms and conditions, I decided to stay on my existing package although I had to accept their would be a price rise.

The Broadband service started to really deteriorate.

I decided to migrate to BT. However I have been trusting and left my D/Debit open until the rental and call charges had cleared. TalkTalk however have taken £304 + vat by D/Debit for early account closure.

I have sent a brief letter to Nigel Pearson by recorded delivery asking for my money to be returned.

My question to the forum is can you see whether TalkTalk have a contractual right on their side. I can post a copy of their letter of 21st June 2010 if you require.

My apologies for the length of the post.


Best Regards

Always Hopeful

[Caspar]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

From 30th July 2010 my TalkTalk package would change On the rear of the letter were some Q & A's.

One Question said: Will my contract dates change?
Answer: No, not if you stay on your current package.

It appears to me you were not given the option of staying on your current package as is clear from the two quotations above. You were notified that your package was going to change, so they could argue that you raised no objections to this, but did they anywhere give you the option of staying on your existing package.

This is obviously important as it would have a direct impact on the contract dates. There seem to be an awful lot of complaints about Talk Talk going around at the moment!

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Thank you for your reply Caspar.

The letter seemed more of a fait accompli, they told me they were preparing to move me onto a new package. The Q & A answer said the contract wouldn't change if I stayed on my current package. I assumed that if I didn't register for the new package then I would stay as I was.

Perhaps if I can post a copy of the letter it would be more helpful. I am still working my way around the site so please give me a little time to post it.

Regards

Always Hopeful

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Enclosed is a copy of the letter. I'm not sure whether they are attached, here goes.

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Enclosed is a copy of the letter.

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Sorry, the download doesn't appear to be working. It's a JPEG below 96kB so I can't see what's wrong at the moment.

[Tools]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

email it to admin@legalbeagles.info

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Thank you Tools

Emailed the JPEG images this morning. Let me know if they are good enough for the thread.

Regards

Always Hopeful

[Amethyst]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Nothing has come through yet Always x Do you want to try my personal email addressX sometimes admin gets clogged with spam.

[paulb2905]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Try speaking to Oftel the watchdog for the telecoms too.

We were on homechoice, that got bought by tiscali then Talk Talk - i dont believe that if you "do nothing" you are subject to the termination clauses from Talk Talk tbh. Your contractaul obligations should continue as if no break in service.

I suspect that a) they are "trying it on" and/or b) that it is an autogenerated termination fee from Talk Talk as they would have had to "migrate" your account into the Talk Talk billing system.

Should be "fairly" easy to get this back from them but would have been easier not to have paid it in the first place, guess lesson is learned about cancelling DDebits for the future.

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Good evening everyone

Thank you Amethyst, I have sent the letters to your email. Let me know if there is a problem.

Thank you for the reply Paul. Definately a hard lesson learned.

TalkTalk really suckered me, NO I really suckered myself. I received a letter from Zion Baui, TalkTalk customer services on 16th Sept 2010 telling me they understood my frustration and confirming my cancellation. It reminded me that the final rental balance still had to be paid which it was on the 20th Sept 2010. It also reminded me that unbilled call charges would still have to be paid and these would be generated on the October invoice. I thought, what a nice letter and left the DD in place. There wasn't any mention of early termination charge. On 20th October they hit with the charge; I just didn't see it coming. Normally I would cancel the DD and pay the final balance by cheque. I paid the price this time.

A point here worth mentioning, fairly recently TalkTalk changed their procedures and only give one or two days to view your bill online before they take the DD. If you don't keep your eye on the ball (I didn't) the money has gone before you take action.

I looked in on a Broadband Forum and noticed a post by someone who had also been caught by the same contractual problem. In this case, however, TalkTalk had pointed out he would have to pay £200.00 if he left them. He was more than angry.

I would welcome everyone's views regarding the letter. If there is reasonable doubt about what it says then I will feel more confident in pursuing the money.

Apologies again for the length (it's almost a blog).

Regards

Always Hopeful

[Caspar]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Taken from
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/help/furth...act-early.html
You can be charged an amount if you cancel your contract early.

The early termination charge is the amount you can be charged when you cancel your contract with TalkTalk, within the minimum period.


What is the Minimum Period?

The minimum period is the amount of time you have agreed to stay as a TalkTalk customer when you joined us. If you leave us before the end of this period you may need to pay an early termination fee.
You are made aware of how long this is when you join Talk Talk and it is included in your contract. It is usually either 18 or 24 months.


How much are the Early Termination Fees?

It depends upon how long you have left until the completion of the minimum period and what sort of TalkTalk customer you are.

If you are a TalkTalk phone only customer, it is £3 for every month remaining in your minimum period.

So if you have three months left on your minimum period, it is 3 multiplied by £3, equalling £9.

If you are a TalkTalk Broadband & Phone customer, unless you take TalkTalk Plus, it is £8 for every month remaining in your minimum period.

So if you have six months left on your minimum period, it is 6 multiplied by £8, equalling £48.

If you are a TalkTalk Broadband & Phone customer, who takes Plus, it is £13.50 for every month remaining in your minimum period.

So if you have six months left on your minimum period, it is 6 multiplied by £13.50, equalling £81.


How are TalkTalk Early Termination Fees calculated?

TalkTalk have a minimum period to ensure that we can recover the costs in acquiring, provisioning and servicing customers and return a profit. If a customer therefore leaves us before the end of the minimum period, we are entitled to recompense for the outlays.
However, when calculating these amounts we remove the various monthly costs we have would have incurred if we continued to service the customer. As a result the early termination charge is less than your total monthly charge, including line rental.


Who sets the Early Termination Fees?

These early termination charges have been agreed by both TalkTalk and OFCOM.



Reading these it is verye hard to see how they came up with the sum they have regardless of how long you had left even if you'd started a new contract with them when Tiscali were taken over by Talk Talk. Personally I don't thnk you should have been charged anything as I think your original contract should have stood, but that's just my opinion.

Whatever, I think there are some serious questions to be asked about their fees as they appear to bear no resemblance to what they say on their own website!

[Always Hopeful]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

Thank you for the reply Caspar.

My bill is for £304.23 cancellation charge - Broadband plus Anytime Talk
The cost of the calls was £0.3725

Total £304.60 + VAT = £357.91

Using the figures you've quoted, then it would be £13.50 for every month outstanding. The changeover occurred August 2010 and I migrated September 2010 which leaves 16 months left. 16 x £13.50 = £216.00???+VAT. Thats assuming they put me on a 18 month contract - I have no contract documentation at all.

They haven't broken down the figures so I don't know how they are made up.

Regards

Always Hopeful

[paulb2905]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

OFTEL - showing my age there its now OFCOM.

Talk Talk are part of the Alternative Dispute Remedy (ADR) group under

Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman - Home

Heres where your complaint should go after 8 weeks and before 9 months have passed

How to Complain You must contact the company that you're complaining about - your 'service provider', to let it know what has happened.

A good place to start is the general enquiries number that should be on your bill. Hopefully your service provider will be able to sort out the problem at this time, but if not you should try to escalate the complaint within the company.

To help you with this, your service provider will have a complaints handling Code of Practice which explains how it handles complaints about its service. This should be available on the service provider's website or as a leaflet which you can ask for. You should make every effort to follow its complaints procedure.
You can usually complain over the phone, by email or by letter.

Remember... before you complain:

• make sure that you know what you are unhappy about - is it that your bill is wrong? Is it that someone has been rude or unhelpful to you?
• stay calm. You are more likely to get a good result if you don't let your emotions get to you;
• be clear and concise. If you are ringing about your complaint, make a note about what you want to talk about before you make the call, so you don't forget anything. Also, have an idea of what the company could do to make things right for you. If you don't feel confident enough to speak to someone, try writing a letter or an email and;
• keep a record of what happens. Keep notes of any calls you make or any emails or letters you send. Also keep any correspondence you get back from your service provider.
• Don't give up. There are places that you can go to for help. Look for advice from your local Citizens Advice or Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

Need help with writing your letter of compliant?


You can download and print off our letter of complaint template, if you are having trouble getting details of your service providers complaints procedure - call our contact centre and we may be able to help.

Standard complaint letter template




Already complained ?

You might get a letter from the service provider which says that it will no longer be handling your complaint and this is its final position. We call this a 'deadlock letter' and you should let us know about it.

If eight weeks have passed and your service provider hasn't sorted out the problem to your satisfaction, then you should check to see if it is a member of Otelo. If it is, let us know.


Ofcom has produced a short guide on how to complain to your service provider, click here to dowload the leaflet "Ofcom - Having problems with your communications provider and want to make a complaint ?"

Heres the other ADR just in case CISAS

[Amethyst]

Re: Unexpected Early Termination Charges

iMAGES