Bit of a rant.

[Castiel]

I just cancelled my Orange Broadband contract giving the required months notice. Because I already have Virgin Cable Broadband installed I obviously do not need a MAC code.

Orange duely informed me that I will be charged £25 plus VAT for the honour of them disconnecting me....WTF.

They say it is BT's fault, I don't give a toss whose fault it is, I do not see why I should pay any such fee. If the disconnection incurs cost then Orange need to adjust their business model to accommodate it, not just foist it onto it's customers. It was not in the original T&Cs and they said they informed me by email of the changes last January. Considering that Orange is LLU in this area they didn't accept my original MAC code anyway IIRC I think this is a bit of a cheek.

Anyway I told them as much and that Virgin don't require the MAC, they said that Virgin will use the MAC anyway and I wouldn't be charged. What a crock of crap.

Anyway ranting over. I also cancelled my other contracts (3 Mobiles) with them also as a direct result, so I now need a bunch of new mobiles contracts.

 

[Castiel]

Did you read the T&C's when signing up?

Yeah and nowhere does it state any disconnection charges. They bought them in last year and they say they informed me by email of the changes. If I had known I would have cancelled there and then.

Anyone that fully disconnects from ADSL has to pay that fee, BT charge it to go to the exchange and unplug you afaik.

Orange is unbundled in our area, so I am being charged for nothing.

Yeah right on! Why don't you head on down to the supermarket too and smash some oranges up? THAT'LL LEARN 'EM!!!!111!11!!!!!1ONE!!!

I am lining some up against the wall right now.....

 

[Castiel]

Someone still has to go to the exchange and unplug you from their equipment though right?

They don't get charged by BT, so why are they passing on that noexistent cost to me.

 

[Castiel]

And been charged £25

Nope, they have to give you 30 days to cancel if the T&C's are detrimental to you financially. There is no penalty.

I am not convinced they informed me at all.

Anyway, we are awaiting the MAC code, we will phone Virgin and tell them what Orange said, listen to Virgin laugh their heads off, and then phone Orange back call them some insulting names (in Urdu probably) and then proceed to pay the £25 plus VAT.

Still we have cancelled 3 orange mobile contracts which were coming up for renewal anyway much to the chagrin of the manager I spoke to this morning so I feel a little better.

Now where to google the best Urdu insults....

They told you about the charge, as they did this you could have cancelled the contract there and then and not had to pay the charge. Because you accepted the change in contract, you have to pay it. Simples.
Though, kick up a big enough fuss and they should refund it. Shoulda said something about how you have multiple contracts and because of that can they waive the fee?

They claim they told me, by email and not in writing mind.

They wouldn't budge when I told them I carried three other contracts with them, so as I said above, I cancelled the whole lot.

 

[Castiel]

Still not getting the problem. Why not just stop paying out? What are they gonna do if you refuse to pay, disconnect you?

And all the rigmarole that goes with non-payment. Debt recovery agencies, letters, bad credit record and so on.

Not worth the aggro for a small amount of money. It simply gets me riled up when I got to pay extra to stop paying for something I no longer need or want, especially as the reason for changing was the poor service and downtime they gave me originally.