Moving out of area - contract?

[BlueMeany]

I've asked something similar to this before, but after the nightmare I had on the telephone yesterday I was curious as to where I stand.

I've moved to an area where cable isn't supported. I was on 1.5Mb broadband previously (had upgraded to SACM about June-ish, before that was STB).

When I telephoned and got through to house moves, they put me through to cancellations. However, this became an engaged tone and I had to hangup and redial.

Then customer services gave me a direct dial number of 0800 052 0243 - they seemed quite suprised! The woman at the end said that because I was still under contract I'd want to get Freedom, and shoved me through to another queue for Freedom sales. At this point I hung up.

Question is... the freedom services are vastly inferior to SACM (from what I can see the best speed they do is 512k and this costs £29.99 to be able to download a half decent amount ie. more than 5gb)

Is not them offering a vastly inferior product an opportunity for me to cancel services? Incidentally, after the fiasco on the phone, I cancelled the Direct Debit.

Any advice?

[Florence]

Shouldn't have canceled the DD.

If you have moved house into a non cabled area and you was on more than they can offer I can't see why the contract cannot be canceled. It was before the ADSL products and unless they can offer something the same as what you had before then they cannot keep you to the 12 month contract.
Most ADSL providers only have a 3 month contract.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

When I telephoned and got through to house moves, they put me through to cancellations.

Why am I not surprised that happened?

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

However, this became an engaged tone and I had to hangup and redial.

Then customer services gave me a direct dial number of 0800 052 0243 - they seemed quite suprised! The woman at the end said that because I was still under contract I'd want to get Freedom, and shoved me through to another queue for Freedom sales.

*Sigh*...The good old 'ntl telephone ping pong' that they love to play with customers.

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

At this point I hung up.

Can't say I blame you.

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

Question is... the freedom services are vastly inferior to SACM (from what I can see the best speed they do is 512k and this costs £29.99 to be able to download a half decent amount ie. more than 5gb)

There's no download cap/guideline on the ntl Freedom ADSL product (unlike your 1.5 Meg cable connection), & yes the best you can get is 512k (from ntl that is, but if you've got a BT phone line you have the choice of a wealth of ADSL suppliers offering from 150k to 4 Meg services)

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

Is not them offering a vastly inferior product an opportunity for me to cancel services? Incidentally, after the fiasco on the phone, I cancelled the Direct Debit.

Any advice?

Yes-The fact that you are moving out of a cabled area entitles you to cancel with one month's notice, regardless of how long you have remaining on your 12 month contract-end of subject.

Get rid of your ntl connection by putting it in writing to the address on your bill, & don't let them try to con you into getting the ADSL service-you do not have to take this.

HTH.

Originally Posted by BlueMeany

<snip> Is not them offering a vastly inferior product an opportunity for me to cancel services? Incidentally, after the fiasco on the phone, I cancelled the Direct Debit.

Any advice?

as Kits, really.

You have a point that you are not being offered an equivalent package - but before you cancel your payments, are you sure you can get more from another provider. The (presumably) BT line you have may only be good enough for 512, anyway??

I think you will be better off pursuing a graceful release from your contract, rather than the prospect of possibly putting your credit rating at risk

<edit> & pretty much what Neil said, too

[intalex]

Had the same issue...

(i) moved houses, called them to transfer my services to my new address,

(ii) got told that I'm moving to a non-NTL-broadband-enabled area, so they can't offer me my 300k cable broadband, but said that they couldn't cancel my contract either because they could still offer me NTL Freedom ADSL, so i should transfer to NTL Freedom

(iii) told them I don't have a BT line as I use NTL's TV & phone package (yes, they supply TV and phone in my area, but no cable broadband). told them i really wouldn't mind taking up the NTL Freedom offer if they were willing to pay for my BT line rental each month (which would become an extra cost otherwise)... they said they won't !!!

(iv) i get told that i should either get a BT line installed and take up the NTL Freedom service, or i should pay off the rest of my cable broadband contract (another 8 months)... i.e., pay them for no service !!!

(v) common sense told me that this has to be illegal, but to take it up, i'd need everything in writing so sent them a letter (recorded delivery) asking them to either transfer the same 300k cable broadband service to my new address or cancel my contract on the basis that they can no longer offer me the same service... offered them a 30-day notice in my letter.

(vi) will let people here know how i get on, but in the meantime, has anyone had any success with cancelling their contracts without penalty recently (from Dec '04 onwards)?

ps> when i first signed up over the phone, i told the salesperson that i am likely to move within 3-4 months of signing up, at which point he assured me (verbally of course) that in such a situation, it was normal practice for NTL to either transfer the same service over to the new address (first transfer is free of charge), or failing that (i.e. if moving to non-broadband-enabled area), they will cancel the contract without penalty. that's not what they tell me now !!!

[Neil]

Originally Posted by intalex

Had the same issue...

(i) moved houses, called them to transfer my services to my new address,

(ii) got told that I'm moving to a non-NTL-broadband-enabled area, so they can't offer me my 300k cable broadband, but said that they couldn't cancel my contract either because they could still offer me NTL Freedom ADSL, so i should transfer to NTL Freedom

Nothing like the truth.

Originally Posted by intalex

(iii) told them I don't have a BT line as I use NTL's TV & phone package (yes, they supply TV and phone in my area, but no cable broadband). told them i really wouldn't mind taking up the NTL Freedom offer if they were willing to pay for my BT line rental each month (which would become an extra cost otherwise)... they said they won't !!!

Not that unreasonable IMO.

Originally Posted by intalex

(iv) i get told that i should either get a BT line installed and take up the NTL Freedom service, or i should pay off the rest of my cable broadband contract (another 8 months)... i.e., pay them for no service !!!

Totally wrong, & also probably quite illegal-did you get the name of the person that gave you these "facts"?

Originally Posted by intalex

(v) common sense told me that this has to be illegal, but to take it up, i'd need everything in writing so sent them a letter (recorded delivery) asking them to either transfer the same 300k cable broadband service to my new address or cancel my contract on the basis that they can no longer offer me the same service... offered them a 30-day notice in my letter.

That's all you need to do.

Originally Posted by intalex

(vi) will let people here know how i get on, but in the meantime, has anyone had any success with cancelling their contracts without penalty recently (from Dec '04 onwards)?

Most people have major aggro after cancelling ntl service with ntl carrying on billing etc (they were on Watchdog last night for that very issue), they are getting as hard to get away from as AOL.

Originally Posted by intalex

ps> when i first signed up over the phone, i told the salesperson that i am likely to move within 3-4 months of signing up, at which point he assured me (verbally of course) that in such a situation, it was normal practice for NTL to either transfer the same service over to the new address (first transfer is free of charge), or failing that (i.e. if moving to non-broadband-enabled area), they will cancel the contract without penalty. that's not what they tell me now !!!

Typical ntl there too I'm afraid-again, did you get the person's name?

to the site btw.

PS-Please ditch the Arial font.

[intalex]

Thanx for the quick reply Neil

Unfortunately, I didn't take down the name of my Salesperson or the House Moves Advisor/Supervisor I spoke to. Hopefully if they are going to be consistent with their policies (or rather horror stories), then I will probably receive the same in writing in response to my letter.

Would you happen to know how long NTL take to respond to complaint/cancellation letters? I'm thinking of cancelling my direct-debit as soon as they have taken payment for the next month (which is my 30-day notice period). I don't fancy doing any chasing up afterwards so I'd much rather let them do all of that once I've served my 30-day notice period (if the situation is not settled by then that is).

[Neil]

Originally Posted by intalex

Thanx for the quick reply Neil

Unfortunately, I didn't take down the name of my Salesperson or the House Moves Advisor/Supervisor I spoke to. Hopefully if they are going to be consistent with their policies (or rather horror stories), then I will probably receive the same in writing in response to my letter.

Would you happen to know how long NTL take to respond to complaint/cancellation letters? I'm thinking of cancelling my direct-debit as soon as they have taken payment for the next month (which is my 30-day notice period). I don't fancy doing any chasing up afterwards so I'd much rather let them do all of that once I've served my 30-day notice period (if the situation is not settled by then that is).

Don't cancel you DD as that may have an adverse affect on your credit history.

ntl are infamous for "not receiving" cancellation letters, send it via Recorded Delivery to the address on your bill, & if you still get no luck, contact one of the people listed here to get it resolved.

HTH.

[intalex]

I already sent my cancellation letter by Recorded Delivery last week and it was signed for as well. But now that the ball is in their court, how long should I wait for a response before I take things further? Also, looking at the nature of my query, who out of the people listed on that hyperlink you posted would be best to contact for a rapid resolution? Do you know of anyone who has had any luck with directly contacting these "seniors"?

You see the one thing that I'm trying to avoid is NTL taking money out of my account (keeps happening all the time, sometimes even after they tell you they have cancelled your account) and then me having to keep chasing them to refund me that money. The forums show that this is proving to be a major hassle, and I really wouldn't want any of that at this moment in time. You got any "time-scales" in mind which I should allow?

Cheers!

[ian@huth]

Is it just me or are there loads of posts these days that say things like "(keeps happening all the time, sometimes even after they tell you they have cancelled your account)". Is it a widespread problem or are there a lot of members posting about the experiences of a very small number of other customers who have had problems?

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Neil

Yes-The fact that you are moving out of a cabled area entitles you to cancel with one month's notice, regardless of how long you have remaining on your 12 month contract-end of subject.
HTH.

Actually, I understand this is not now the case.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by intalex

I already sent my cancellation letter by Recorded Delivery last week and it was signed for as well. But now that the ball is in their court, how long should I wait for a response before I take things further? Also, looking at the nature of my query, who out of the people listed on that hyperlink you posted would be best to contact for a rapid resolution? Do you know of anyone who has had any luck with directly contacting these "seniors"?

You see the one thing that I'm trying to avoid is NTL taking money out of my account (keeps happening all the time, sometimes even after they tell you they have cancelled your account) and then me having to keep chasing them to refund me that money. The forums show that this is proving to be a major hassle, and I really wouldn't want any of that at this moment in time. You got any "time-scales" in mind which I should allow?

Cheers!

You should allow up to 30 days from when your letter was signed for, for them to contact you & confirm cancellation on the 30th day.

If you find that it's not happening, call any of the big cheeses in that link I gave you.

[intalex]

Neil, I think I'll do exactly what you suggested, and just hope that they don't put me in a position to take things further.

Scrotnig, you state in the other forum that the policy to force customers to take up NTL Freedom is probably unenforceable, but how do you convince them not to enforce it? So far, they simply won't budge, so do I have to go to take legal action to contest this?

Ian, I understand that there is a small chance that a couple of small "errors" on NTL's part may well be played up quite a bit via these forums, but because there is no certainty as to how often these problems occur, any visiting customer is always going to look at all possible worst-case scenarios and try and prevent them rather than having to deal with them. I'm sure you understand !!!

[Neil]

Originally Posted by intalex

Neil, I think I'll do exactly what you suggested, and just hope that they don't put me in a position to take things further.

Yep.

Originally Posted by intalex

Scrotnig, you state in the other forum that the policy to force customers to take up NTL Freedom is probably unenforceable, but how do you convince them not to enforce it? So far, they simply won't budge, so do I have to go to take legal action to contest this?

No-take the name of the idiot that is trying to enforce it on you, & then contact Simon Duffy or one of his cronies, & ask him to explain why this individual is trying to do this, & what kind of underhand training are they giving out to get to this situation.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

<SNIP>

Yes-The fact that you are moving out of a cabled area entitles you to cancel with one month's notice, regardless of how long you have remaining on your 12 month contract-end of subject.

<SNIP>

That's not fact at all Neil - I don't beleive there's anything in the t&cs about being able to cancel early if you moved to a noncabled area, it was just a (very good) discretionary unwritten rule. So, no, there isn't any 'entitlement' to do this.

As Scrotnig says, I think this is no longer happening anyway...which is a shame, and not a little bit stupid.