Upc help

jvrk

Hi I got a bill from upc yesterday for 121.21 for 1 months broadband said im on extreme package. I phoned up and got told to email aup@upc.ie but I dont have a clue what to say so im looking for a bit of help im on upc about 10 months if that helps and there is a few people who use the net in house.
Thanks in advance.

jor el

You've gone over the cap, and they've moved you to the actual unlimited "Extreme" package.

jvrk

So theres nothing I can do about it.

vibe666

you can use less bandwidth and ask them to downgrade you (afaik €10 charge), but if you go over again they will re-upgrade you.

there's supposed to be some warnings that you've gone over before they upgrade you, but if you went over by enough, they might have decided not to bother with the warnings.

the limit on the ultra package (the 30mbps) is 250gb per month which is everything you donwload plus everything you upload, so 150gb down plus 100gb up = your 250gb for the month.

if you have several people in the house, you'll want to get yourself a router with bandwidth monitoring on it so you can keep track of your usage to keep it within the 250gb per month AUP, or you can just divide the bill up between you and stay on the extreme package and download as much as you like with impunity till your eyes fall out.

if it was a one off and they didn't give you any prior warning letters then i'd argue the toss with them since they don't give you any way to track your own usage, even though they are perfectly capable of doing so (obviously, since they know you broke the AUP).

good luck and let us know how it goes.

jor el

jvrk wrote: »

So theres nothing I can do about it.

They've already moved you up, and they may be unwilling to downgrade you to your previous one. You'd have to ask UPC. If they do, you will have to ensure that you keep under the cap, a difficult task if there are several users in the house. The alternative is to cancel the service completely.

dub45

If they have moved you up without any prior warning then you have a strong case against them. Comreg have a clear policy on "unlimited products" which UPC continually ignore.

http://www.askcomreg.ie/home/my_service_provider_has_advertised_an_%22unlimited_package%22___what_does_this_mean_for_me.5.154.LE.asp

My Service Provider has advertised an "unlimited package" - what does this mean for me?

A number of telephone and broadband packages being offered are described as ‘unlimited’. In this context the word ‘unlimited’ would normally be taken to mean that a subscriber, having agreed to pay a set price, may make as many calls or spend as much time online as he or she wishes. However, some service contracts qualify the meaning of ‘unlimited’ by stating that it is subject to an ‘acceptable’ or ‘fair’ level of use by the subscriber. This is referred to as a “fair usage policy” in some advertising.

ComReg would like to advise consumers that any provision of a contract which sets usage thresholds, or describes what constitutes ‘fair’ or ‘acceptable’ use, should be clear and unambiguous, particularly where the service is described as being ‘unlimited’.

Usage thresholds or limits should be clearly set out, as should the manner in which they may be updated or amended.

ComReg expects each service provider to implement a clear, transparent and policy for dealing with customer usage above any set thresholds. The policy should set out the rules for contract termination, including penalties, the charges that shall apply for any use above the threshold/limit, and the policy regarding migration of the customer to other packages, if applicable.

ComReg advises consumers to carefully read the terms and conditions of their contracts and to be aware of the particular limits or thresholds that apply before purchasing.

The emphasis is mine.

If UPC genuinely didn't warn you that you were in breach of their so called "unlimited" product then make a formal complaint to Comreg.

MJL23

Just got a 'warning' letter from UPC regarding same issue as you. I looked everywhere on their website and there is no information in regards to the policy of any kind of LIMIT for UNLIMITED broadband packages. If anyone can find it, please forward it here. Otherwise they threaten us without any legal ground. After reading the whole Comreg post - it seems they are not allowed to do that.
I've emailed them and we'll see what will they have to say.
Also, there's no such plan as 'extreme' broadband advertised either, otherwise I wouldn't even signed for an unlimited(not) plan if there would be one that is REALLY unlimited. Bull ****!

vibe666

keep us posted.

it seems like UPC are really pushing the 250gb limit now, there's been a rake of posts in the last couple of days about it so it would be interesting to see what they come up with when people call them on it.

Kev.

dub45 wrote: »

then make a formal complaint to Comreg.

Trust me on this mate...Comreg are useless

dub45

Kev. wrote: »

Trust me on this mate...Comreg are useless

They have a formal complaints procedure which is worth going through. In this case they have a formal policy which an isp is ignoring and they more people that point that out to them the better.

They did after all recently face up to O2 in the recent paper billing controversy. And not doing anything is also useless - trust me!;)

You could also cover all your options and cc your formal complaint to Comreg to the Joe Duffy show.

flamegrill

Complain to the advertising standards authority aswell. Unlimited is unlimited. In Australia in the last few years a heap of ISPs got slapped and had to remove "unlimited" from their product offerings if there was _any_ contention and/or any hidden limit.

The same should happen here, but it won't unless we complain.

Paul

vibe666

flamegrill wrote: »

The same should happen here, but it won't unless we complain.

ditto. no good complaining here but doing nothing about it where it matters.

of course we'll all give you the moral support (well most of us, with a few exceptions) but it's not going to change anything unless more people start making waves.