UPC Want Modem Back

hearny

A Friend of mine went travelling to Australia for a year or 2.

Before he went he cancelled his broadband with UPC, the contract had been up for quite a while, but they are getting onto him to return the modem that he was using or pay €150. I think its a Scientific Atlanta one but am not 100% sure.

Has anybody ever been asked for that back before cause I've never heard of it.

The problem is he is renting out his house and the modem is in the attic, he sectioned off a small space in the attic and boarded it up to store some stuff so he doesn't want to get anybody to call out to the house, its too much hassle and the tenants would have access to the rest of his stuff then.

They don't even give them out those modems anymore, and even if they did they are never worth that much.

Does anyone have any suggestions (or even old UPC modems lying around), or has anybody had similar requests from UPC.

Thor

hearny wrote: »

A Friend of mine went travelling to Australia for a year or 2.

Before he went he cancelled his broadband with UPC, the contract had been up for quite a while, but they are getting onto him to return the modem that he was using or pay €150. I think its a Scientific Atlanta one but am not 100% sure.

Has anybody ever been asked for that back before cause I've never heard of it.

The problem is he is renting out his house and the modem is in the attic, he sectioned off a small space in the attic and boarded it up to store some stuff so he doesn't want to get anybody to call out to the house, its too much hassle and the tenants would have access to the rest of his stuff then.

They don't even give them out those modems anymore, and even if they did they are never worth that much.

Does anyone have any suggestions (or even old UPC modems lying around), or has anybody had similar requests from UPC.

The modems still belong to UPC even if your contract is out, They must be returned once you cancel your contract, Your friend would have been told this in his contract and when he cancelled.

They will know if its not the original modem, So getting someone else's isn't going to work. Also, They do still use the scientific atlanta modems, I'm using one right now. He really only has two options, Get the modem out of the attic, Or pay the €150.

I know its a headache to do, But really is his only options, Unless he argues he was never told to give the modem back and isn't sure of its whereabouts, Simply put! He would have to put the blame on UPC, Again i must add, That its in the contact that you have to return the modem when you cancel the contract.

hearny

I know it's in the contract and part of his agreement but they seldom enforce it. I mean they don't reuse the modems. Any new customers get new cisco wireless ones not refurbished scientific atlanta ones.

Kensington

They will ALWAYS ask for the cablemodem back. Not sure where you got the impression they rarely enforce it?
They may have a supplier deal for exchange of old inventory in return for newer gear so while it may not be returned to use as a cablemodem they may have other uses for it.

Simple answer: they want it back, he'll have to return it or pay up as mentioned. They will look for that specific modem MAC, another unit is no use.

Big Lar

Reply to upc and give them his address in Australia.

Tis doubtful that they will follow up

The Left Hand Of God

He just has to say yes and agree to give it back. The time frame may not suit UPC but that's life.

GarIT

hearny wrote: »

but they seldom enforce it. I mean they don't reuse the modems.

I've never heard of them not enforcing it. It doesn't matter what they do with them, it's their property. You can't borrow something from a friend then decide I'm not giving it back he'll never use it anyway. Same applies here.

saa

They advertise it as free modem don't they?

they just charged me for a house phone i wont need when the contract is up so why couldn't they have lent me that

GarIT

saa wrote: »

They advertise it as free modem don't they?

they just charged me for a house phone i wont need when the contract is up so why couldn't they have lent me that

They advertise that now, it used to just be free installation, you used to be able rent the stuff, was like €4 a month or something till you gave it back.

If they advertised it is free its his, they obviously didn't in this case, although he might get away with saying that he was told it was free when he signed up.

Thor

saa wrote: »

They advertise it as free modem don't they?

they just charged me for a house phone i wont need when the contract is up so why couldn't they have lent me that

I believe its the router they advertise as being free, Not the modem, I have yet to see anyone who has been able to keep the modem, Unless someone dropped the ball and didn't ask for it back.

It all comes down to the facts, They have asked for the modem back, Your friend is obliged to give it back or pay the fee. Really is that simple. While there may be ways to get out of giving it back, I wonder why anyone would. The hassle with dealing with them would be the same by just going to get the modem and give it back.

roast

The modem isn't even worth 150€. Its theirs, under the T&C's. Best to give it back and save the additional hassle of paying out.

hearny

Thanks for the replies lads,

Its not like he actually wants to keep the modem as its no use to him, until he comes back and he will be signing up to UPC again.

He can return it in September at the earliest (provided he doesn't stay another year).

The issue is they didn't ask for it back until he was gone and its just not an option to get it back until the tenants move out, too much hassle and time.

I spoke to one of their engineers and he told me that they dont reuse them and usually have a pile of them in the van so its really only another money spinner for them to charge €150 for something worth about €50 at most.

They have a debt collection agency pursuing him for the money now, does anyone know where I can see the terms and conditions to see what kind of timeframe, if any, is mentioned.

Snickers Man

Well we changed over from Smart Telecom (remember them?) to UPC about a year ago and I still have the old Smart router kicking around my attic. They can have it back if they want but they've never asked.

Why are UPC so pernickety about this?

They certainly do reuse them. I was given an EPC2203 with the old WEBSTAR logo on the front rather than the Scientific Atlanta one, which I had on my previous account with UPC.

Nothingbetter2d

Kensington wrote: »

They will ALWAYS ask for the cablemodem back.

not true....i have 2x sagem chorus boxes doing nothing (switched to sky multiroom for tv) + 2x cisco 2435 routers doing nothing....(upgraded 1 of them to a thompson router for 50mb/s band)

not once has UPC ever requested any of the boxes back from me.

phill106

Dont open any mail from upc unless it is addressed to you.
If upc phone asking for your friend, tell them he does not live there anymore.
If they discuss any billing issues with you, a third party, they are violating data protection laws.

Yakuza

The courier who brought my Thompson router/modem last week took away the Cisco one (+ power supply). I kept the patch cable, yaay. You never know when you need *another* patch cable .
I have three DSL modems (one dating back to 2002, when I was paying €108.90 a month for 512/256 Kb/s) should I ever take a fit of lunacy and go back to Eircom again.

ratedR

We switched from Eircom to UPC and back a few times over the years, depending on prices/speeds, etc. Have about 3 eircom modems and routers at home, and 2 of those scientific atlanta modems. One of which I am using at the moment.

Funnily enough, mine was a similiar enough story, cancelled UPC BB to go travelling. Reconnected 6 months later, told them over the phone I still had all the gear and that there was no need to send out a new modem or router, but they sent the modem anyway..