9 Month Student Contracts

[davelewis]

Hello, and help!

There was a previous thread about a student who had a nine month contract with ntl and they did not disconnect him after this time. This has happened to me leaving me quite annoyed!

However, im in same house this year so dont really want to be discon. If i was discon then i would have to get a 12month contract and poss pay connection fees. My question is if i were not to tell ntl of this problem and they continued to bill me every month for fone+broadband, would i (in july 2005) be able to say "this contract was 9month finishin july 2004, but you have charged me a further 12months, give me all my money back"

Or will they discon me after 12months neway in october, leavin me able to claim back 3months they debited out of my account

Hope this makes sense as its a bit muddled in my head

thanks for any help!

dave x

[Nemesis]

I believe that if you continue to pay, the contract is still binding and "live"

[seaneeboy]

Welcome to the site!

The contract isn't a for-that-time-and-that's-it contract.

It's a 12 month* MINIMUM Contract. After those 12 months, you don't just get disconnecterd, you automatically move to a monthly rolling contract - so you only have to give 1 months notice to quite without penalty.

If you are still accessing the services you have to pay for them, I'm afraid. And if you aren't accessing the services it's still your responsibility to contact NTL and arrange disconnection.

*9 month minimum contracts can be arranged for students

[davelewis]

Alright, so if i were to ring them up now and ask for my money back i should get it? Ie money taken out of my account for july + aug. However, when gettin this money back should i just ask for a new nine month contract or will one of my housemates have to do it? also, will the charge a connection fee? obv dont want a modem as already got one

ta
dave x

[Stu038]

The point of the minimum contract is so that ntl can charge rental for the duration of the contracted period in case you decide to cancel early.

If at the end of that period (9 months in your case) you want to keep the service you do nothing, the service continues and ntl keep billing you. If you want to disconnect you give a months notice and they stop billing you from the date agreed.

The only way you would be able to claim back payments for July and August is if you can prove that you contacted customer services in May asked to disconnect at the end of June and that the disconnection wasn't carried out so that the July and August payments were taken in error.

As for getting one of your house-mates to take out a new contract, why bother? You appear to have a working service and ntl are billing you for it. Everyones happy :)

[bob_builder]

Also, you have to give the modem back when you cancel as you are only renting it as part of the broadband package.

By the sound of it you have already paid for 2 months on top of the 9 months initial period. If you did not ask to be disconected at the end of your 9 months you will not be able to get you money back. As you, also, have to give 1 months notice that you wish to disconnect you will also have to pay for another month. So, you might as well not bother disconnecting and just leaving it live for the start of the new year.