[Eircom] Am I entitled to cancel my contact?

bam-bam

Hey Guys,
Just looking for a bit of advice, not sure what I'm entitled to. I signed up for Eircom broadband in early Jan, it was activated on the 13th of this month, and its a 12 month contract, in the meantime I viewed a new house and there isn't broadband coverage there so am i entitled to cancel my contract under the cooling off period laws?? I'm not sure what to do, because Eircom have been absolutely no help basically saying its my own tough sh*t and haven’t offered any advice. . I know I only have the broadband a few days but I'm wondering does the cooling off period start when you order it or when you get it??? Been trying to get to the end of it all day cause unfortunately I cant just transfer my connection.

Cabaal

My belief is Eircom are correct, you signed to a contract and they provided a service based on where you signed up for the service, its not your fault you've chosen to move.

However, if you've signed a contract then you are likely subject to a cooling off period in which you can cancel before the 12 months comes into affect (not 100% sure of this).

If you signed up on-line or over the phone I believe you'd be covered by distance selling and you have rights under EU Distance Selling regulations. You'll need to act quickly if this is the case!!

I'd suggest ring Consumer helpline:
1890 432432 or (01) 402 5555

EDIT: reading eircom T&C's suggests the cooling off period is the time between ordering and install date so you may have no option to get out of the contract that way.,

faoile@n

As far as i know the cooling off is 14 days from time of order so they would be well within the law to enforce the contract.

Have you signed up to a bundle? Are they enforcing the lot?

dub45

What in God's name were you doing signing up for any contract when the prospect of a new house was in the air?

jenno86

dub45 wrote: »

What in God's name were you doing signing up for any contract when the prospect of a new house was in the air?

Was thinking the same thing. Its a bit daft alright.

smellslikeshoes

Normally I'd say to try find someone nice on the phone and explain your case in a nice way and they might let you off but in this case you've had it for so little they are gonna stick it to you.

Xcellor

If you move house and they cant offer broadband in your new address the contract is cancelled. No fees need to be paid. This was my experience with BT when I moved to my new house which wasnt on a BB exchange (now it is after 2 years)

dub45

Xcellor wrote: »

If you move house and they cant offer broadband in your new address the contract is cancelled. No fees need to be paid. This was my experience with BT when I moved to my new house which wasnt on a BB exchange (now it is after 2 years)

Be careful making statements like this unless you can back them up. Can you quote chapter and verse on this obligation?

Xcellor

dub45 wrote: »

Be careful making statements like this unless you can back them up. Can you quote chapter and verse on this obligation?

All I can say is my experience which is I moved to an area without broadband capability and the contract was cancelled, no hassle at all. This was with BT. You might need to fill in relocation form but once they realise the exchange is not enabled they allow you to cancel it.

dub45

Xcellor wrote: »

All I can say is my experience which is I moved to an area without broadband capability and the contract was cancelled, no hassle at all. This was with BT. You might need to fill in relocation form but once they realise the exchange is not enabled they allow you to cancel it.

But your experience with another isp, which in their case may simply have been of of discretion, is not in any way a vaiid argument that Eircom should cancel a contract.

There is nothing anywhere in writing afaik that requires an isp to continue supply with every move a customer makes throughout the duration of a contract. I doubt if any isp would agree to that.

slimjimmc

Current Eircom Broadband Terms and Conditions from their website:

“Initial Period” means six calendar months from the RFS date.

3.1 This Agreement shall commence on the Ready for Service date and
shall
be for the Initial Period. After the expiry of the Initial Period the
agreement
shall continue in full force and effect until terminated in accordance with
the
Agreement.
3.2 The Customer may cancel its order for the Facility at any time prior to
the RFS date. In the event of such cancellation by the Customer, or any
cessation during the term, the customer shall be obliged to return any Kit,
which may have been provided by eircom. Any Kit shall be returned to
eircom by
posting it to the freepost address detailed in the welcome pack. In the
event of any kit not being returned to eircom within fourteen (14) days of
the cancellation of the Order for the Facility, the Customer shall be
charged by eircom and shall pay to eircom such sum as is set out in the
Regulations as being the charge payable in respect of the non-return of
any Kit.

7.3 If the Customer terminates this Agreement during the Initial Period,
eircom shall, without prejudice to its rights to treat the termination as a
breach or repudiation of this Agreement, agree to accept such
termination provided notice of such termination is addressed to eircom
and the Customer will be liable and agrees to pay to eircom a termination
charge of the sum amounting to the Rental due for the remaining Initial
Period.

The contract is in effect since your line was activated on 13th Jan (para 3.1).

If you terminate it with 6mths the most you would have to pay is 6 months not the full 12. (para 7.3)

The 14 day period mentioned previously refers to the amount of time you have to return any equipment once the contract is canceled. (para 3.2)

I suggest you take smellslikeshoes's advice and contact them in a nice way. You might be lucky.

PaulieBoy

dub45 wrote: »

But your experience with another isp, which in their case may simply have been of of discretion, is not in any way a vaiid argument that Eircom should cancel a contract.

May or may not, but does show some precedent, that's good !

There is nothing anywhere in writing afaik that requires an isp to continue supply with every move a customer makes throughout the duration of a contract. I doubt if any isp would agree to that.

Perhaps not, but the reality is that people do move, and unless the service provider is able to "move with them" then there is a "situation" don't ya think?
I'm no solicitor but I do know of the "reasonable man" rule, what would a "reasonable man" think ?
I suspect that a "reasonable man" would say that if the service provider can provide the service at your new address ( with some compensation provided to enable it) then your stuck with the contract.
But if you move house and the service provider can't follow you, then it's their problem.
That sounds fair and reasonable to me !
But when did you ever hear of anything that was fair and reasonable happening in this country to an ordinary citizen ?

It is a very interesting question, I would love to hear a definitive answer.

dub45

PaulieBoy wrote: »

May or may not, but does show some precedent, that's good !

Perhaps not, but the reality is that people do move, and unless the service provider is able to "move with them" then there is a "situation" don't ya think?
I'm no solicitor but I do know of the "reasonable man" rule, what would a "reasonable man" think ?
I suspect that a "reasonable man" would say that if the service provider can provide the service at your new address ( with some compensation provided to enable it) then your stuck with the contract.
But if you move house and the service provider can't follow you, then it's their problem.
That sounds fair and reasonable to me !
But when did you ever hear of anything that was fair and reasonable happening in this country to an ordinary citizen ?

It is a very interesting question, I would love to hear a definitive answer.

The reality is that people may move that is up to them. I cannot see any reasonableness in expecting a contractor to follow a customer whenever they move. If someone changed apartment every month during a contract period would you expect an isp to keep them supplied with bb?

Xcellor

dub45 wrote: »

But your experience with another isp, which in their case may simply have been of of discretion, is not in any way a vaiid argument that Eircom should cancel a contract.

There is nothing anywhere in writing afaik that requires an isp to continue supply with every move a customer makes throughout the duration of a contract. I doubt if any isp would agree to that.

True but I was happy they let me

The easiest thing to do would be to call Eircom about it and tell them the situation. Let us know how you get on.

X

smellslikeshoes

Xcellor wrote: »

If you move house and they cant offer broadband in your new address the contract is cancelled. No fees need to be paid. This was my experience with BT when I moved to my new house which wasnt on a BB exchange (now it is after 2 years)

Its generally the case that they will just go ahead and let you cancel if you have to move house and they can't provide in the new location but they are definitely not obliged to do it, its completely at their discretion.

The problem in this case is the OP has barely got it in the door, if you cancel the contract this early Eircom will likely be in the red from the whole situation and it definitely won't look good on the CS person if they let you cancel.
Its just a case of getting a nice person on the end of the phone and talking it over with them, with a bit of luck they will let you cancel even with so much left on the contract.

PaulieBoy

dub45 wrote: »

If someone changed apartment every month during a contract period would you expect an isp to keep them supplied with bb?

You truly do have some exotic friends, that move apartment every month.
Pray tell, how do you keep up with them ?

I sadly have no such friends, nor have I ever heard of anybody moving apartment every month and just for some added spice insisted on a BB connection in each and every apartment.
Clearly I need to get out more and meet some people :-)

boomerang

I signed up for Eircom broadband (and phone) in October. I moved house this month and Eircom don't supply broadband in this area yet. The nice lady at Eircom cancelled both the BB and phone service for me and I'm just waiting on my final bill to arrive. I will only be charged for the service up to the date that I phoned to ask them to transfer the service to my new address. I should have the final invoice this week.

Cabaal

PaulieBoy wrote: »

You truly do have some exotic friends, that move apartment every month.
Pray tell, how do you keep up with them ?

I sadly have no such friends, nor have I ever heard of anybody moving apartment every month and just for some added spice insisted on a BB connection in each and every apartment.
Clearly I need to get out more and meet some people :-)

I believe dub45's case was simply an example,

you have to remember it costs an ISP money to cease or enable a line, you can't expect them to allow customers to move to free

Anyway back on topic, the OP should not have signed a contract if they were planning on moving so soon it was very foolish, eircom have no legal obligation to let them out of a contract and not charge them....the OP should speak nicely to eircom and see what they might do.

jor el

See here for rules regarding cooling off periods. It's 7 working days, from receipt of goods or start of service, so you may still be able to cancel. I wouldn't have thought this possible, until I read this.

You may have been asked to waive your cooling off rights, when you signed up, Banks often do this when applying for a loan, not sure if eircom would have asked the same. If they did ask, and you agreed, then you're stuck with whatever penalty they might apply.

Full distance selling regulations might also be of interest.

JohnG18

Whoever in an earlier post said that if you move to a house where BB isn't available you will be out of contract is absolutely CORRECT.


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