Here we go again eh? Millions of Sky customers have had letters through the door saying that their monthly bill is going up around £3 a month. But here’s the good bit – this means you can get out of your contract if you’re unhappy about it and look for a better, cheaper deal.
So many people are in broadband contracts they hate (because they’re too slow etc) have more power than they realise, thank to Ofcom’s rules.
Source: 10Ways
Reasons you can cancel your broadband contract
Price hikes
If you’re unhappy and you get a price hike – its your lucky day because you can get out of your contract scot free – even if you have loads of time left on it.
Under rules from regulator Ofcom, those who have taken out a line rental, broadband or mobile contract since 23 January 2014 can cancel their contract without charge if a provider ups its monthly prices and didn’t tell you about it when you first signed up.
You need to call up and say you are leaving because of the price hike – WITHIN 30 days of getting the letter.
Poor service
If you’re not getting the service you signed up for, then your broadband provider has breached the contract. For it to have failed to provide an ‘acceptable level of service’, you need to experience either installation delays, slow broadband speeds, connection dropouts or bad customer service.
Make sure you keep a record of your complaint. So if you’re unhappy with speeds – initially check its worse than they promised using a speed checker and then screenshot your results over a week or so, building up evidence.
Write to your provider to formally report the issue and again, keep a record of all correspondence. If the problem isn’t sorted within eight weeks, ask for a deadlock letter which you can take to either the Communications Ombudsman or the Internet Services Adjudication Scheme.
These are your main two reasons for getting out of your contract. Let’s face it, broadband providers love to up the price, so you shouldn’t have to wait too long if you are unhappy. HOWEVER, if you are like me and paid upfront for the year to get a slightly cheaper price (kicking myself now thanks to Plusnet’s slow speeds), you’re not going to get refunded.
Which provider are you with? Is it any good? Let me know in the comments.
I have had a lot of trouble with V4 Telecom,i have spent 2 months trying to sort it out with them but get no further.
It all started when I got a letter off them telling me they had brought out an insurance scheme to cover any breakdown costs on my line. I wondered what line rental was for? They gave 30 days to respond if I waned to opt out.
I contacted them straight away that same day and told them not to take any more money from my account than they already do. Guess what, they took it anyway. Contacted them again and told them what they had done and told them to put it back. They had taken it within the 30 days as well. As they did i realized they had been in the wrong and knew it. I told them they had broken the contract by taking money out of my account after i had specifically told them not too. In view of this I wanted out of any dealings with them.
After 2 months of negotiating a got an agreement that let me out of the contact, i thought. I was told my service would stop and my contract would be canceled and there would be nothing for me to pay. I gave them 5 working days to sort out what they had to do and then canceled my direct debit. I went ahead to switch to NOW TV. in the usual way. NOW TV have tried 5 but have been blocked each time. When I get in touch with V4 telecom they say I have to pay them £79-99 before they will release the line. When they do release the line I won’t be able to have my present phone number. I have in the past switched without all this trouble. NOW TV have done a line check and find there is nothing wrong with the line,and they believe there is no reason for all this hassle.
Please can you tell me who can help me, it’s really getting me down I just seem to be going around in circles. I have contacted all the people I know of to no avail.
F. Fletcher.
I am concerned about the reliability of the phone and network connections as we live out in the country surrounded by fields and we have had problems when the connections stop working. We are with BT and they will help at short notice and this makes me feel more comfortable.
Alan Dorman @ 01241 860387 – Agreement made over the phone with Energy Dundee on 31 January 2022