UPC- Student Cancellation

The___________

Just rang UPC in an attempt to cancel my current subscription as I am moving home for the summer to an area where UPC is unavailable,

When I stated college this year I rand UPC explained that the house was a student residence and would be unoccupied over the summer months, no mention was made of any cancellation fees

Today I have been told by one of their remarkably unhelpful phone operators that I have a further 3 months left on my contract and to end it now would incur 300e in penalties

The 'best' they can do is reduce my bill from 65e/month to 50e, which I obviously do not want to pay for a service I cannot use

Does anyone have any similar experiences with UPC or any ideas about how to avoid this waste of money

Thanks in advance

Procrastastudy

Did they tell you you could avail of the service for only 9 months?

IIRC you can move the service during the contract period.

kirving

Their standard contract is 12 months I think. I'm pretty sure that the term of the contract is one of the first things in the small print(it usually is anyway). Did you actually sign up for it, or was it a previous tenant and you took over the bill?

Don't UPC have a deal specifically for students, where you don't pay for the summer months?

Leeg17

They have it from September to December where you sign up to a contract and don't have to pay for the June/July/August months.

We signed up in Nov so we'll pay Nov-May and then Sept-Nov (12 months with 3 free).

lavine7

In the exact same position as the OP except with a better outcome. I wanted to get the service moved to home for the summer but they don't offer service to the area. As a result, I rang to get it cancelled.

First agent told me tough luck but I redialed immediately and a more helpful agent sorted it for me. I was given an email address (see below) to contact and the replied swiftly to confirm the free cancellation and arranged collection of the equipment.

The deal was to get the 4 months of summer free but seeing as the contract was only taken out in November, I would be liable for the last 2 months and won't be moving back to the same house.

Email resolutionteam@upc.ie outlining the situation and they should sort it for you.

Jesus Shaves

If you're moving to an area where ups is unavailable then there are no disconnection charges

wmpdd3

Unless this is new,
I, dont think this is the case. Do you have a link to this?

Jesus Shaves

I rang them up when i was moving house and asked to move my broadband and digital tv, it wasn't available in the area i moved too so they said they wouldn't charge me the disconnection fee.

Maybe it was a goodwill gesture

dotsman

Similar thing happened to me 6 years ago. Haven't used UPC/NTL since, nor ever will.

Roisy7

Exact same thing happening to me. Didn't give them notification period of 30 days because the summer house situation has been up in the air, but the place we're moving too has broadband already sorted, so they're saying I could end up paying stupid money in penalties... or let the contract run until Sept. Either way is costly! It's a direct debit too so it's not like they won't be able to take the money off me
It isn't even our TV- it's the landlords!
I'm sure I told them when I signed up that I only needed it until April/May but that doesn't matter because I've no proof of that

Jesus Shaves

Roisy7 wrote: »

Exact same thing happening to me. Didn't give them notification period of 30 days because the summer house situation has been up in the air, but the place we're moving too has broadband already sorted, so they're saying I could end up paying stupid money in penalties... or let the contract run until Sept. Either way is costly! It's a direct debit too so it's not like they won't be able to take the money off me
It isn't even our TV- it's the landlords!
I'm sure I told them when I signed up that I only needed it until April/May but that doesn't matter because I've no proof of that

Go into the bank and cancel the DD

Roisy7

darokane wrote: »

Go into the bank and cancel the DD

Would they not chase me down anyway? I honestly don't mind paying the extra month as I didn't give the thirty days' notice, but I really don't want to go down the road of threatening letters and such.

They should really do nine month contracts for students- many landlords are far from technologically advanced and leave it up to students themselves!

NR04

darokane wrote: »

If you're moving to an area where ups is unavailable then there are no disconnection charges

I wish i knew this!! I left my last address and did not cancel the UPC as I knew i would incur cancellation fees.

jor el

NR04 wrote: »

I wish i knew this!! I left my last address and did not cancel the UPC as I knew i would incur cancellation fees.

It's not a standard term of UPC contracts, so there is no obligation on them to release you from contract early. It could be done as a good will gesture, but not if you don't give any notice.