Stay the hell away from Seriously Internet

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:43

And just for the record my card company completely agrees with me.

They have already suspended the transaction and blocked any further charges from Seriously Stupid.

The women's reaction (at the card company) was literally "OMG" when she heard of the situation.

AtreuS · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:44

AdladUK said:
Well let me tell you now, these idiots aren't getting **** from me. They can do whatever they want, but I refuse to be ripped off for something like this.

It's 2007 FFS. Who in the right mind charges £360 a month for a home ADSL package?

In regards to your first point, the £360 was for bandwidth used during the month of January. I use pretty much the same bandwidth each month. So one could assume they would charge £360 for February etc etc.

I don't care what their terms and conditions say. That is not good enough reason to charge someone this sort of money. If their terms and conditions said they owned the rights to your house if you went over 10GB of usage what that make it ok? I think not.

As a side note i wonder how much exactly you think 360GB of bandwidth actually costs the ISP anyway? far more than £360 thats for sure. The only isp i know that does a totally unlimited package is ZEN internet and its something like £75 a month ( 8mb business package) but even then im not sure 360 a month every month will go down too well.

No other ISP is doing this. And it is their obligation, as the supplier, to make their consumer FULLY aware of something so drastic.

1 email 3 months ago is not sufficient.

Oh dont worry i agree totally with you but from a LEGAL point of view you have used the bandwidth and therefore owe the money. Simple as that... and yes an email is considered as "good enough". Like i said the terms and conditions are avilable on request, thats good enough for a county court to judge against you and issue a CCJ.

How come you have used 360gb a month anyway? thats an aweful lot of linux disros!

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:50

AtreuS said:
Oh dont worry i agree totally with you but from a LEGAL point of view you have used the bandwidth and therefore owe the money. Simple as that... and yes an email is considered as "good enough". Like i said the terms and conditions are avilable on request, thats good enough for a county court to judge against you and issue a CCJ.

I'm not sure I agree with that. When I signed up with them, I agreed to a specific amount per month. They have changed this amount (without my consent) to something completely unreasonable.

Consumer protection rights kick in right there.

Now as for notification of this change. I never received the email. They cannot prove I received the email (only that they sent it). For example when you receive something via courier and sign for it, you are giving full consent that you received that package.

And this is assuming 1 email is a good enough notification.

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:53

Going by your rules AtreuS (not attacking you, just the point you raise) I could start an ISP charging £5 a month for "unlimited" access.

Then 6 months down the line change my "terms" so that every GB you download costs £100. So now all my customer owe my £xxx or £xxxx.

There is no way that sort of business practice stands up in a court of law. Things aren't so black and white these days.

Killa_ken · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:54

Bell South, cant complain.....yet

Dave M · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:56

Have a word with trading standards and also get your cc company to charge back, tell them you did not authorise the transaction and they should be sweet.

Whenever my terms have been changed in any serious way you get it in writing with big characters basically saying this is an important change.

One email you may or may not have received and certainly would not have read in detail looking for any minor change is not going to be sufficient given the consumer protection laws in this country.

AtreuS · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:57

AdladUK said:
I'm not sure I agree with that. When I signed up with them, I agreed to a specific amount per month. They have changed this amount (without my consent) to something completely unreasonable.

Consumer protection rights kick in right there.

Now as for notification of this change. I never received the email. They cannot prove I received the email (only that they sent it). For example when you receive something via courier and sign for it, you are giving full consent that you received that package.

And this is assuming 1 email is a good enough notification.

Like i keep saying... their terms are available on request! by paying each month you LEGALLY have accepted the current terms and conditions and therefore accept that any download over 1GB is payable at whatever the stated rate is. This is how a county court will see it and they WILL side with the ISP... its upto you to check what you are buying.

The best id aim for is cancelling your contract if you still have any time left on it and asking for a heavy reduction considering the situation. Talk to them asap before it goes to debt collection as usually its too late to bargain by then.

www.adslguide.org is full of cases like yours and sadly not many people win.

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:57

Telescopi said:
Have a word with trading standards and also get your cc company to charge back, tell them you did not authorise the transaction and they should be sweet.

Whenever my terms have been changed in any serious way you get it in writing with big characters basically saying this is an important change.

One email you may or may not have received and certainly would not have read in detail looking for any minor change is not going to be sufficient given the consumer protection laws in this country.

Thank you dude. That is exactly the point I am trying to make.

MarcLister · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:58

AdladUK said:
Email is not a reliable form of communication for such matters. So many factors could prevent you from recevieg an email (spam filters)

Surely their spam filters wouldn't block their own emails? Only third party spam filters might block them?

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:59

MarcLister said:
Surely their spam filters wouldn't block their own emails? Only third party spam filters might block them?

The email I have registered with them isn't one of their own. It's a Google one.

AtreuS · 16 Feb 2007 at 17:59

AdladUK said:
Going by your rules AtreuS (not attacking you, just the point you raise) I could start an ISP charging £5 a month for "unlimited" access.

Then 6 months down the line change my "terms" so that every GB you download costs £100. So now all my customer owe my £xxx or £xxxx.

There is no way that sort of business practice stands up in a court of law. Things aren't so black and white these days.

I agree totally but never assume whats reasonable and whats legal are the same thing. Just dont let it goto debt collection as its usually too late to do something about it by then.

I really would hope that the law would side with you and say that a simple email is insufficient. For example my zen package is going from unlimited to 100gb capped on march and so far ive had a bout 2 dozen emails off them

One email does sound very bad indeed.

MarcLister · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:01

AdladUK said:
The email I have registered with them isn't one of their own. It's a Google one.

Ah.

yak.h'cir · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:04

Good luck!

I had a similiar thing with a bank, I opened up a student account and got free insurance for 3 years for all my cards. I signed a contract for 3 years only. When it expired they auto renewed it with no notice charging me a fair bit of money!

I tried to complain and they told me that it was my responsibilty to tell them i didnt want a new contract!!! I couldnt believe it was possible legal, and tried for quiet a while to get my money back, but didnt get anywhere. So for revenge I gave the card details to a friend abroad who maxed out the card purchasing loads of stuff over the internet from an internet cafe and having it sent to random unconnected addresses. All of which the insurance had to cover

So for the sake of not refunding me £100, they had to shell out just under £10000.

Pretty stupid I know, but their arrogance ****** me off.

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:05

AtreuS said:
Like i keep saying... their terms are available on request! by paying each month you LEGALLY have accepted the current terms and conditions and therefore accept that any download over 1GB is payable at whatever the stated rate is. This is how a county court will see it and they WILL side with the ISP... its upto you to check what you are buying.

The best id aim for is cancelling your contract if you still have any time left on it and asking for a heavy reduction considering the situation. Talk to them asap before it goes to debt collection as usually its too late to bargain by then.

www.adslguide.org is full of cases like yours and sadly not many people win.

I paid each month at £27. Not £360. £27 was the amount I agreed to pay.

They decided to change their policy. Fine. But they should have made all their customers FULLY aware of the change (especially considering how drastic it was). A phone call... Some sort of recorded physical mail.

Not a 1 off email sent months ago, that may or may not have been received. That's deception.

There is nothing standard about what these fools are doing. No doubt they have shot themselves in the foot. No one in their right mind pays £14.99 for 1GB of usage. Not on an 8Mb connection...

I've already sent a cancellation request and my card assures me no further charges will be made.

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:07

Oh and another crucial point... There was no contract.

I did not agree to an xx month contract. It was month by month payment.

AtreuS · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:07

AdladUK said:
I paid each month at £27. Not £360. £27 was the amount I agreed to pay.

They decided to change their policy. Fine. But they should have made all their customers FULLY aware of the change (especially considering how drastic it was). A phone call... Some sort of recorded physical mail.

Not a 1 off email sent months ago, that may or may not have been received. That's deception.

There is nothing standard about what these fools are doing. No doubt they have shot themselves in the foot. No one in their right mind pays £14.99 for 1GB of usage. Not on an 8Mb connection...

I've already sent a cancellation request and my card assures me no further charges will be made.

just thank yourself its not talktalk! they keep billing you even when you dont have an account anymore and then send the baylifs round!

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:10

AtreuS said:
just thank yourself its not talktalk! they keep billing you even when you dont have an account anymore and then send the baylifs round!

Well I honestly think this company (Seriously Stupid) won't be in business much longer. I actually think this was some sort of last minute grasp for cash.

No business wanting to be successful for years to come would do something like this to its customers. It just makes no sense.

And this isn't some sort of multi billion pound company either. It's pretty small from what I can gather.

Kreeeee · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:12

Rich_L said:
Sounds like a dodgy proper way of doing business! Write into Watchdog or something

Have to say, Telewest have been fantabulous in the 3-4 years I've used them, no complaints at all (from them or me), v. happy

I agree matey, Telewest rock.

AdladUK · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:12

My apologies if I came off as aggressive AtreuS.

I just go into auto defence mode when anyone brings up opposite points to something I see as being so ridiculously stupid.

AtreuS · 16 Feb 2007 at 18:16

AdladUK said:
My apologies if I came off as aggressive AtreuS.

I just go into auto defence mode when anyone brings up opposite points to something I see as being so ridiculously stupid.

Dont worry i didnt think you were. I was just showing you sort of things they will say and claim if it goes to a county court... which by getting your card co to do a charge back, it may well get to.