Can an ISP withhold a MAC for billing purposes?
- Thread starter ic1male
- Start date
No, it's not that. I think I've been a bit of an arse. They tried to take payments right up until the end of March by direct debit (when they should have only taken to end of January). Silly me cancels the direct debit so they couldn't take that much but in effect I appear to have automatically put a cease request on my line by doing so. Why I just didn't let them take the overpayment and then give me a refund I don't know. Too much Xmas booze and stress I think as this all started in December. D'oh!
But I decided I would go anyway - it's only a 1-month contract.
But I decided I would go anyway - it's only a 1-month contract.
I'll explain a bit further what's going on. All was well until July 2007 when I contacted this guy, he is a virtual ISP and runs the whole thing by himself. I asked him about a cheaper connection as I was going away but there were still people in the house who needed the Internet.
So he took me off a BT 8Mb ADSL connection and put me on a 24Mb Tiscali LLU connection with a migration charge of £14. This never got past 8Mb and kept dropping out.
After 3 months, I'd had enough and told him I wanted to go back to my old connection so he put me back on the BT 8Mb ADSL and charged me £58.
Next thing, I get an email with a direct debit detail on listing charges up to the end of March. I cancelled the direct debit with my bank as I refused to pay all that when it was clearly wrong. What a mistake this was. According to him, his company's T+C meant that by cancelling my direct debit, I've put a cease request on my line.
He's reversed the cease by making me pay £168 for the £58 migration charge, a £10 direct debit cancellation and monthly charges til the end of March which he said he'd refund from the migration date (minus 30 days notice). This has put my line back to normal so that he can get a MAC code so I can transfer elsewhere.
It's developed into a complete pickle and in two months I've paid £240 in all. Apparently now, I have to wait for his provider (which I think is BT Wholesale) to issue a MAC to him so he can issue a MAC to me.
I'm finding all this to-ing and fro-ing really annoying as I just don't know whether is taking the P or is really at BT Wholesale's mercy himself.
So he took me off a BT 8Mb ADSL connection and put me on a 24Mb Tiscali LLU connection with a migration charge of £14. This never got past 8Mb and kept dropping out.
After 3 months, I'd had enough and told him I wanted to go back to my old connection so he put me back on the BT 8Mb ADSL and charged me £58.
Next thing, I get an email with a direct debit detail on listing charges up to the end of March. I cancelled the direct debit with my bank as I refused to pay all that when it was clearly wrong. What a mistake this was. According to him, his company's T+C meant that by cancelling my direct debit, I've put a cease request on my line.
He's reversed the cease by making me pay £168 for the £58 migration charge, a £10 direct debit cancellation and monthly charges til the end of March which he said he'd refund from the migration date (minus 30 days notice). This has put my line back to normal so that he can get a MAC code so I can transfer elsewhere.
It's developed into a complete pickle and in two months I've paid £240 in all. Apparently now, I have to wait for his provider (which I think is BT Wholesale) to issue a MAC to him so he can issue a MAC to me.
I'm finding all this to-ing and fro-ing really annoying as I just don't know whether is taking the P or is really at BT Wholesale's mercy himself.
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Thanks for your insights, folks.
My ISP managed to get a MAC within a couple of hours whereas it normally takes 72 he said. I take my hat off to him for that, he could have kept me dangling for the full 3 working days. So I have put my order in with Eclipse Internet and should hopefully get some money back from my old ISP when the migration is completed.
My ISP managed to get a MAC within a couple of hours whereas it normally takes 72 he said. I take my hat off to him for that, he could have kept me dangling for the full 3 working days. So I have put my order in with Eclipse Internet and should hopefully get some money back from my old ISP when the migration is completed.