Contract with Dial up?

[Mauldor]

I wonder if someone could aid me here, my Sister moved house and was after Broadband, she rang Telewest, NTL and BT to find out who could offer the service. Telewest said they were not in here Area and could not supply Broadband but from the understanding she had, NTL could indeed do this. She lives Near Peterlee (Shotton Collery) and is out in the sticks, I was suprised that NTL wired to that location. As nothing came she gave up and went with BT in the end for ADSL.

Now soon NTl were writing her letters saying she owned at present £106, my only guess was she was sold the Unlimited dial up package with a fixed term 12 months contract type of thing (as we have on Cable Modem). As she has never used the Service ever, never recieved anything - how can they pursue such an action?

It has now gone over to a Debt collection agency who are not interested in the whys and where-for but just that they get this money Pronto. Now I did some sums here:

£13.49 x 12 = £161.88

Is there anything she can Legally do? She resents paying £106 for Nothing in effect and can never remember signing anything. She is not very computer Literate and she was def expecting Broadband and not dial up - if she wanted dial up she could have popped to Tesco's and picked up a CD.

ANy ideas?

[danielf]

Ask NTL for proof that she agreed to the contract (such as a signed contract)

You mention letters (plural). How many were there? Has she followed up on any of them?

If she hasn't signed anything I don't think she has a contract (seeing there was no install). But not answering demands for payment (presumably?) is generally not a good idea...

unfortunately it does sound like they signed up for an 'unlimited' dialup account - pay a fixed monthly fee and 'fill your boots' - at 56Kbs.

we transferred ours to a 'pay as you go' one, which kept the email address(s), but means you don't pay if you don't connect

[Mauldor]

I can see almost what happened basically, she called NTL to ask about broadband and they managed to sell her this Dial Up (Im guessing it that as she has no NTL Cable in that area and nothing turned up). I have emailed her to set about as above to get the proof that she signed something to bind her into a contract.

You can understand she is annoyed that she now somehow owes NTL £106 for something she both never knew she had (or wanted) or used - sort of like chucking it in the bin - safe effect really.

Do any other ISP follow this practice with Dial up? I can understand it with Broadband, Sky TV, Phone line, mobiles and so forth but you are giving a contract to Sign for starters and actually have something you can see.

Originally Posted by Mauldor

I can see almost what happened basically, she called NTL to ask about broadband and they managed to sell her this Dial Up (Im guessing it that as she has no NTL Cable in that area and nothing turned up). I have emailed her to set about as above to get the proof that she signed something to bind her into a contract.

You can understand she is annoyed that she now somehow owes NTL £106 for something she both never knew she had (or wanted) or used - sort of like chucking it in the bin - safe effect really.

Do any other ISP follow this practice with Dial up? I can understand it with Broadband, Sky TV, Phone line, mobiles and so forth but you are giving a contract to Sign for starters and actually have something you can see.

it is a hangover from the days when they used to say you had 'free' access to the internet, but paid a penny a minute for the call - the 'unlimited' option was meant to to take the call charge out of the equation.

Unfortunately if you pay for 'unlimited' access, but don't use it, you are still liable for the charge, sorry, - my opinion based on having to pay a couple of bills, myself

[danielf]

AFAIK

You do not have a contract unless:

a. You sign one
b. You allow a physical install to take place at your house

Since b didn't take place (presumably), NTL will have to proof a. If your sister hasn't signed anything, NTL don't have a leg to stand on.

I would imagine it will be very difficult to get NTL to call off the wolves though...

[Mauldor]

So if a person rang up NTL and wanted this Unlimited Dial up thing, what happens? Do they send you a CD + a Letter with account details on? Do they send a contract for you to sign (surely you have to sign a contract for it to be legally binding?).

[Angua]

Originally Posted by Mauldor

So if a person rang up NTL and wanted this Unlimited Dial up thing, what happens? Do they send you a CD + a Letter with account details on? Do they send a contract for you to sign (surely you have to sign a contract for it to be legally binding?).

We got a bright pink Disk with our Dial Up contract. So I would presume something similar would need to be sent out to anyone wanting Dial up. Unless you pick up one of those on display in various retailers.

Even so you would need some form of contract completed either by hand or via the net once you install the disk.