trying to cancel clearwire

Shannonsider

I had modem with clearwire and after my 1 year contract was up I rang to cancel my account. When I rang they said they would reduce my bill and send me a wireless modem for free that would give me faster broadband. I think I agreed over the phone (not sure as it was 8 months ago) to renewing.

Just to be sure, after I had spoken to clearwire at the time of renewal I had sent them an email where I clearly stated that I will not agree to renewing my contract until

1) I have received a better modem
2) The modem actually gives me coverage throughout my whole apartment – as promised
3) The internet speed is not slower


On receipt of the new modem and after hours on the phone to their technical team, I couldn't get the modem working and basically did without internet up to January.

In January I got a new service provider and emailed clearwire to cancel my account. They are trying to charge me cancellation fees and are saying my contract has not been cancelled. clearwire informed me that I had already agreed to renewing my contract over the phone last July but I had emailed saying that I would not agree to renewing until the above conditions were met. Is this legally binding?

I advised that I would contact the courier company with the a view to returning the modems to Clearwire, however, I refused to be liable for any ‘cancellation’ fees when the product/service has not met its most basic requirements. I also refused to be held liable for any ‘cancellation’ fees based on the fact I have not signed any contract with Clearwire.

Anyone have any advice as to whether they are right or have I any grounds for waiving any outstanding fees?

dekbhoy

had lots of trouble with clearwire too , i renewed my contract with them as they gave me a deal much much cheaper than i had previous , eventually i realised their broadband is terrible and rang them to cancel . they informed me they had a spoken agreement over the phone which was legally binding and that i would have to pay the remaining 6 months of my contract if i cancelled even though i dont ever remember agreeing to an extra 12 months ..... i still have the modem in one of my presses and am still paying my monthly subscriptions even though i have a new internet provider , very difficult to deal with imo. Best of luck

jor el

Cancel any direct debit payment you have, send back their modem, then ignore them. You have records of where you explicitly told them you were not renewing your contract, and I'm willing to bet they have no record of where you did agree to renew.

Ignore the threats and inevitable debt collectors letters too. If they have proof of a contract extension, then get them to show your that proof.

Shannonsider

I cancelled direct debit same day as sending cencellation email, so they haven't got a penny from me since. Debt collection letters have started to arrive.

I asked them for the details to send the modems to but they were saying the account aint cancelled until they have received the cancellation fee.

If I thought I was wrong I'd pay the balance as I don't want this affecting my credit rating. But a very strong part of me feels I am actually right as I have written proof whereas they seem to think an oral contract is legally binding.

They also claim that I would have confirmed renewal by continuing to use their internet service - which i din't as the modem wouldn't work.

jor el

Shannonsider wrote: »

If I thought I was wrong I'd pay the balance as I don't want this affecting my credit rating.

Neither Clearwire nor a debt collector can effect your credit rating. If they say they can, it's a lie.

Shannonsider

Thanks for the advice.

When they said I agreed to renewing my contract over the phone, I asked him to send me a copy of this or proof, he was like we don't normally do this, then said he could try and request this recording - which i'm guessing is a long shot on their side.

Does anyone know if agreeing something over the phone is a valid form of agreeing a contract?

If not, then I can ignore clearwire

Max Power1

Shannonsider wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

When they said I agreed to renewing my contract over the phone, I asked him to send me a copy of this or proof, he was like we don't normally do this, then said he could try and request this recording - which i'm guessing is a long shot on their side.

Does anyone know if agreeing something over the phone is a valid form of agreeing a contract?

If not, then I can ignore clearwire

Only is if it can be proved. Otherwise its your word against theirs

Shannonsider

Thanks for the advise folks. I've sent them an email yet again saying my account is closed as far as I am concerned, so my guess is unless they come back with hard evidence I am going to ignore them and the debt collection agency.

Does anyone know how to return the modem to Clearwire them as they say I have to settle my balance first (which I am not doing) before I can send back the modem

StupidLikeAFox

I live in a student house, and when we moved in we started getting letters from clearwire for a guy who lived in the house the term before had stopped paying. We got all his letters from clearwire, the debt collectors and eventually a solicitors letter. Then they stopped. Nobody called or that, just stopped. So sometimes ignoring it does make it go away!

Sponge Bob

Clearwire make a lot of noise but they cannot do anything with a credit rating, only a court can. Tell them to arrange pick up of their modem and if they do not then there will be a storage charge of €30 a month after the 31st of March and a €30 handling fee for any communications from Clearwire WHILE the modem is being stored.

If they sell to a debt collector who makes noise for a few months then bill clearwire every month by email, €30 storage and €90 in handling charges = €120.

It soon adds up

Clauric

With regard to this query, there are two things to consider.

1) The contract. If they promised you a better service, for cheaper, and they didn't provide that service, then the contract is void. This is under the terms of the provision of Goods and Services Acts. There is no onus on you to pay any charges, fees, or any other debt related invoices. A verbal agreement is still a contract, under contract law.

2) The modem. Hold onto the modem if you think this is going to end up in court. It is proof of the failure to provide a service that lives up to the agreed contract.

The only way out, IMHO, is for Clearwire to refund you all the money you paid since the start of the second contract, as otherwise you will be tacit in agreeing that the service was as agreed, before you decided to change, at which point you were liable to a cancellation fee.

I suggest that you keep a log of all conversations with Clearwire, and all emails, letters, etc sent to them. Further, I suggest you issue them with a Freedom of Information request, which should show whether a written contract or the recordings exist (remember, that by law they can't ignore an FOI).

GerardKeating

Clauric wrote: »

Further, I suggest you issue them with a Freedom of Information request, which should show whether a written contract or the recordings exist (remember, that by law they can't ignore an FOI).

FOI only applied to certain government bodies ...

Clauric

GerardKeating wrote: »

FOI only applied to certain government bodies ...

Generally speaking an FOI is used for all government bodies. However, the process is the same for getting information from corporate bodies.

GerardKeating

Clauric wrote: »

Generally speaking an FOI is used for all government bodies. However, the process is the same for getting information from corporate bodies.

But the Freedom of Infomation act would not apply to corporate bodies, unless some provision of the data protection acts would apply?

Karen23

OP , Did they just offer to reduce your bill and give you a free wireless modem because you were going to cancel?
I'm with clearwire and have been for about two years and while I havent had any problems with them I have been thinking of changing to a new provider because there is cheaper and faster services available.
I wonder would it be worth me ringing and saying I want to cancel and see will they offer me the same deal, providing the new modem works of course.

pirelli

Shannonsider wrote: »

I had modem with clearwire and after my 1 year contract was up I rang to cancel my account. When I rang they said they would reduce my bill and send me a wireless modem for free that would give me faster broadband. I think I agreed over the phone (not sure as it was 8 months ago) to renewing.

Just to be sure, after I had spoken to clearwire at the time of renewal I had sent them an email where I clearly stated that I will not agree to renewing my contract until

1) I have received a better modem
2) The modem actually gives me coverage throughout my whole apartment – as promised
3) The internet speed is not slower


On receipt of the new modem and after hours on the phone to their technical team, I couldn't get the modem working and basically did without internet up to January.

In January I got a new service provider and emailed clearwire to cancel my account. They are trying to charge me cancellation fees and are saying my contract has not been cancelled. clearwire informed me that I had already agreed to renewing my contract over the phone last July but I had emailed saying that I would not agree to renewing until the above conditions were met. Is this legally binding?

I advised that I would contact the courier company with the a view to returning the modems to Clearwire, however, I refused to be liable for any ‘cancellation’ fees when the product/service has not met its most basic requirements. I also refused to be held liable for any ‘cancellation’ fees based on the fact I have not signed any contract with Clearwire.

Anyone have any advice as to whether they are right or have I any grounds for waiving any outstanding fees?

Well they did keep their end of the agreement. You gave up on the modem set up procedure and didn't set it up. So why did you agree to this new modem and fee to just get fustrated and try to cancel.

I am not sure where either of you stand. It's unlikely they are going to chase you to court over it. I had to deal with a company like this and TBH they were quite decent about it. Do what you think is fair.

dekbhoy

Karen23 wrote: »

OP , Did they just offer to reduce your bill and give you a free wireless modem because you were going to cancel?
I'm with clearwire and have been for about two years and while I havent had any problems with them I have been thinking of changing to a new provider because there is cheaper and faster services available.
I wonder would it be worth me ringing and saying I want to cancel and see will they offer me the same deal, providing the new modem works of course.

How much you paying monthly...... i was paying 39 euro per month , i got wind of a deal they were offering to people who were going to cancel their contract and got offered the same deal for 15 euro per month. imo i was effectively been ripped off for months as i was informed by a friend they had been on that deal for months . Problem with me is the modem is now too slow for my needs , clearwire informed me i was locked into a 12 month contract even though i dont recall agreeing to a 12 month contract over the phone . Actual modem is stored away in a press somewhere as i switched IP anyway..... so annoying

Shannonsider

I went about cancelling the whole thing because it was crap to be honest. Then it sounded like they had a list of sweeteners to offer in the event of such a request. First, came the monthly charge which was cut from €29 to €14. I refused saying the service was still crap. Then, as far as I can remember, they offered me a free wireless router which would give me wireless broadband throughout my whole apartment (The initial modem I had had to be connected to the laptop and reception was terrible).

I said fine, and then straight after sent an email saying I would not agree unless they met the conditions that the router actually worked, gave me better coverage than I was experiencing and it gave me broadband throughout my apartment as promised.

It took them a month to send me out the new modem (which in fairness they did credit me for) and then I spent hours on the phone to technical support. When this failed I rang Clearwire and they said basically that it was a third party company who issue the router and pretty much hit a brick wall at that stage.

I have requested that they provide me with proof that a contract is actually in place (I'm sure the onus is on them to provide this?). They have said that they don't normally request recordings and it's not in writing, and also that once I activitated the router I'm accepting the service. But the whole problem is I haven't been able to get the router working.

And since then I have spent ages ringing them to cancel my account and they keep saying you've to ring customer services, which is a broken record at this stage.