Switching broadband provider - is this normal practice?

CiniO

I had home broadband from Vodafone. Was on 12 months contract with them, which expired last year, and I didn't sign new one since. Service was provided as normal.

I decided to switch to Eir. They informed me, that they will take care of switching process, and I don't need to inform Vodafone, as they will do it. That was on 29th June.

Switch took place on 6th July.

Today I received bill from Vodafone, for period of 1st July to 31July with my standard monthly rate.

I called them, and they say they weren't told I was resigning from their service. They only found out at 6th July once switch phisically took place.
They claims, that because of that I owe for bill for July, as I didn't give them 30 days notice of resigning from their service.

Is that normal practice?

I also asked him (vodafone consultant) to cancel my direct debit, and he told me to ask my bank to cancel it.
I obviously cancelled it with my bank, but bank requires me to inform the insituion taking direct debit (vodafone in that case) as well, as they have charge for bouncing back direct debit - i.e. if it was cancelled with them, but institution still trying to take money.

Any thoughts on all those?

L1011

Yes, its normal to require notice even when out of a contract term. Its only not required with power and gas, generally.

However, if you block a DD under SEPA rules the bank can't charge you for someone attempting to take it.

niteclubbecks

Yes it's up to the customer to give the 30 days notice to cancel a service.

Slippin Jimmy

If you are out of contract you do not need to give notice. You can check this with comeg. You should have charged up to the date the switchover took place.

guil

Pretty sure that Vodafone have it in the t&c's that 28 days notice is required. This can come from you or the isp when a port is requested.

AngryLips

All providers require a notice period of typically a month, even out of contract, and when the customer doesn't provide it then the switchover date is taken as the start of that notice period.

VincePP

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

If you are out of contract you do not need to give notice. You can check this with comeg. You should have charged up to the date the switchover took place.

Totally incorrect - ist this type of wrong infomation that gets people into hassle that they donlt need.

If you are out of contract you may leave giving the minimum notice period set out in the terms and conditions you have agreed to. This is normally 30 dyas.

If you are in contract you may not leave until the end of the contracted time.

MOH

I'd expect you'd have to give a month's notice, but if Eir told you they'd take care of that, I'd have an issue with them.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MOH wrote: »

I'd expect you'd have to give a month's notice, but if Eir told you they'd take care of that, I'd have an issue with them.

In fairness he only agreed with eir on 29th June. He would have had to give notice for July anyway.

ED E

The whole system is broken tbh. Its something cromregs never dealt with.

In situ ports are pretty much instant, the only delay is you need to wait for modem delivery. So within 3-5 days of calling you're transferred. The problem is Eir and Vodafone regularly cease the existing service upon receipt of the request making it risky to give notice as you may well end up offline for a month. Go the other way and let the porting order kill the old provider and its sometimes perfect with a prorata fee applied and sometimes they cry foul.

A regulatory exclusion for notice periods on GLUMP transfers would make it all much clearer and consumer friendly.

CiniO

Thanks for all the info.

Looks like I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay this last bill for Vodafone.

I recall now something when I was switching from Eircom to Vodafone few years ago, it was also the case, that Eircom charged me for not handing enough notice, but Vodafone explained me then, that if I gave Eircom notice, they would have ceised a service and it could take few weeks for Vodafone to be able to enable it again.

So it looks like it's a broken system as ED E is saying.

TrustedApple

Major problems happened in my mum and dads house this year when changing. We where with Vodafone for i think 2 years or so ?. Said there was no Fibre in the House and Eir said there was so signed up found out after fitted no Fibre so i said crap. So Later found out that my line was with Vodaphone still for 7 months after changing ...... they refunded me the 7 months that i paid as well ha ha. Eir said the line was with them but it wasn't and never was. I owe them something like 500 euros for the 7 months or something stupid like that. I am now with Digiweb just got a new line fitted into the house. There was no internet for like 2 weeks in the mother and fathers house.

But plus side got 7 months for free. But in them 7 months who knows who was giving a line into the house ?.

theteal

Yes, 30 days notice for switching ISPs is normal. What kind of confuses things is the mobile networks do not require 30 for porting provider outside your contract term (only for straight cancellations), it goes through on the day and you get billed up to that point.

Nomis21

I signed up for 4G service with '3' with 18 month contract. I only ever received 3G service from them so I switched to Eir via fibre connection after 3 months.

I never told '3', I just stopped paying. '3' called me 50 times on my mobile over 2 months, but I never spoke to them as I blocked the calls. No other action by them.

I never do direct debits with internet companies as their service seems to rarely be consistent and their bills often inaccurate. They will all agree to cash payments for a few Euro more.

AngryLips

ED E wrote: »

The problem is Eir and Vodafone regularly cease the existing service upon receipt of the request making it risky to give notice as you may well end up offline for a month.

I think the problem here is with the way the customer words the request and not with the provider. Most people will request an immediate termination and then complain that their service was terminated immediately (instead of asking for termination at the end of their notice period). In the case of mobile phones I've also observed plenty of people complain that their number was disconnected, even though they asked to terminate their account when what they mean is that they wanted their number switched to pay as you go, you can't expect providers to account for that degree of ignorance.

theteal wrote: »

Yes, 30 days notice for switching ISPs is normal. What kind of confuses things is the mobile networks do not require 30 for porting provider outside your contract term (only for straight cancellations), it goes through on the day and you get billed up to that point.

This is false, Switching providers for mobile requires the same one month's notice out of contract as applies to landlines.

my3cents

AngryLips wrote: »

...

This is false, Switching providers for mobile requires the same one month's notice out of contract as applies to landlines.

Don't know what you mean? If you are out of contract with a mobile phone contract then you just port off and don't have to give notice on the other hand if you have a mobile broadband contract you do need to give notice even if out of contract.

AngryLips

my3cents wrote: »

Don't know what you mean? If you are out of contract with a mobile phone contract then you just port off and don't have to give notice on the other hand if you have a mobile broadband contract you do need to give notice even if out of contract.

If you port out without giving notice then you are billed for final month's line rental beginning the date you port out

CiniO

AngryLips wrote: »

If you port out without giving notice then you are billed for final month's line rental beginning the date you port out

And what happens if you port out with giving required 1 month notice?

my3cents

AngryLips wrote: »

If you port out without giving notice then you are billed for final month's line rental beginning the date you port out

So you get billed for money you have already paid? Do you know of any service provider that doesn't take line rental/monthly plan payments up front?

AngryLips

Yes you pay line rental for the month in advance normally. Lets say you have paid for line rental up to the end of July and you port out on the 14th of July without notice, then you will still be liable for rental on the period August 1st to August 13th and you will still get one final bill for this time. This is because since you failed to give notice of cancellation, your porting date is taken as cancellation notice and you are liable for line rental for the one month period July 14th to August 13th. In that sense there is no difference between land lines and mobiles, the principles of cancellation are the same.

guil

AngryLips wrote: »

Yes you pay line rental for the month in advance normally. Lets say you have paid for line rental up to the end of July and you port out on the 14th of July without notice, then you will still be liable for rental on the period August 1st to August 13th and you will still get one final bill for this time. This is because since you failed to give notice of cancellation, your porting date is taken as cancellation notice and you are liable for line rental for the one month period July 14th to August 13th. In that sense there is no difference between land lines and mobiles, the principles of cancellation are the same.

Not sure of other providers but with Vodafone bill pay you only have 2 options. Give notice and switch to prepay and then port or else request to port and get billed for 28 days. It's in the T&C's.

Careful_now!

You don't need to give the 30 days notice. I was with Vodafone and I switched to sky. I got my final bill from Vodafone for the full amount.

A short email to comreg resolved the issue