Telecom breaking contracts?

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64 posts

Master Geek

#349737 10-Jul-2010 12:25

yeah you would rather live in a country where companies walk all over the consumers because nobody will put up a fight; great country mate.
Bottom line is Kiwis as consumers are pansies who think being raped in the wallet is the norm.

GBristow

178 posts

Master Geek

#349739 10-Jul-2010 12:27

A lot of people citing the terms and conditions. They're largely irrelevant. If entity A agrees to a service for an agreed upon fee with entity B, neither party may renege on the service and fee without them breaching the contract. It's a fundamental part of contract law. Just because they include terms like "we may change or break this contract at our discretion" doesn't mean they actually can. It's an attempt to contract out of their obligations. Imagine a contract where I include an indemnity clause that allows me to murder you. If you sign it, can I murder you provided you fulfilled the requisite criteria? Absolutely not. I shouldn't have included the clause in the first place.

Bare in mind that if Telecom breaks their end of the arrangement, as has happened to a number of people, there are only two things that happen. First, the contract can be considered void. So you are free to leave Telecom without penalty. Second, you can claim damages. However, the burden of proof is high, and you would need need to initiate a dispute. I would imagine that the most you could be awarded is the costs involved in switching providers; say, a connection fee.

sadamhu

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#349743 10-Jul-2010 12:53

KALIJAMES - Thats what Kiwis are all about these days! We are a bunch of pussies
complaining to each other instead of to the cause. The reason I say that I want to move
to America (any country really) is because I can no longer explore this country I am
supposed to be a part of. How many of you can afford days at the beach with your
families? I'm not saying You, your two kids and wifey poo's... I mean Aunties and
Uncles, Granny an cousin sammy? Remember that? Not many, if any! So how can we
escape the drudgery of working as an electrician or a checkout operator or some other
job? By watching television? Channel 2 transforming spiderman 3, a 2 hour movie into a
3 hour ad filled extravaganza? Give us worker ants for the colony a break I say. Or
just keep ripping us off until we all move to Australia. You know there was about 70,000
people who moved to Australia last year? Campbell live was showing us that Aussie isn't
that great, hahahaha! What a setup! Everyones had enough of how things go down,
down under.

It's us consumers that control everything. Yet we need it to get a little more rough
before we get out into the streets displaying our wit on signs. I asked before, when are
we going to see unlimited internet again? I say three years at least, and it will be
expensive, $80-$100 a month I bet, and you will still have to require a home phone of
$50.

What I have said in most of this thread probably sounds stupid, I don't care, I want to
know what you think of it all.

freitasm

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#349747 10-Jul-2010 13:23

sadamhu: Channel 2 transforming spiderman 3, a 2 hour movie into a
3 hour ad filled extravaganza? Give us worker ants for the colony a break I say. Or
just keep ripping us off until we all move to Australia.

When the movie was in cinemas had to buy tickets to watch it. Then the movie came to rental stores and you had to pay a rental fee to watch it at home.

TV 2 brought the movie to your home and you are not paying TV 2 anything. Somehow they have to make the money to pay for the movie. They do this by running advertising.

The same on websites. We don't charge you anything to post here, to put your opinions for your peers to review and comment on. But we have costs and need to pay to keep the site running. Since you are not paying anything then we have to show adverts to be able to generate enough money to pay for it (plus taxes, salaries, software, hardware, firewall, network, colocation, accounting, and the list goes on).

If you watch on FTA then you have to consider this.

sadamhu: What I have said in most of this thread probably sounds stupid, I don't care, I want to
know what you think of it all.

There, I posted it.

sbiddle

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#349748 10-Jul-2010 13:31

GBristow: A lot of people citing the terms and conditions. They're largely irrelevant. If entity A agrees to a service for an agreed upon fee with entity B, neither party may renege on the service and fee without them breaching the contract. It's a fundamental part of contract law.

Unfortunately they're not. I would suggest that you research a little more into Contract Law before making such a bold statement.

sbiddle

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#349751 10-Jul-2010 13:38

sadamhu: I asked before, when are
we going to see unlimited internet again? I say three years at least, and it will be
expensive, $80-$100 a month I bet, and you will still have to require a home phone of
$50.

There are still plenty of options providing unlimited internet. Some are cheap (well under $100) with speed throttling or traffic shaping and some are FS/FS but some at a cost (Actrix). At the end of the day nothing is free in this world. If you want a product be prepared to pay the market price for it.

tkr001

416 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349752 10-Jul-2010 13:39

You can't contract out of law. However I know of no law obligating Telecom to provide unlimited broadband. (there is a law against murder) It is ridiculous to suggest there is no right to termination clauses in a contract.

Suck it up people, it isn't illegal or even morally wrong. You got what you paid for. Telecom just doesn't want to offer it for sale any more!

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tdgeek

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#349759 10-Jul-2010 14:05

Just to clarify the contract.

If you are on a 12 or 24 month contract, that is for the supply of Telecom Broadband. The plan is not relevant and you are not in contract for the plan.

As a change has occurred, it is recognised that some may have joined Telecom Broadband on the basis of Big Time. It would be unfair for Telecom to force you to stay. So, you are now free to cancel Telecom Broadband and not have the Early Termination Fee to pay.

The reasons for terminating Big Time are clearly documented, so all we can do is to remove any barriers for those that wish to leave. Thus, you can choose what plan or what provider, as if Big Time never existed.

Cheers
Tony

GBristow

178 posts

Master Geek

#349823 10-Jul-2010 19:32

sbiddle: Unfortunately they're not. I would suggest that you research a little more into Contract Law before making such a bold statement.

Would you elaborate? I'm genuinely interested. If I've made a mistake I need to make sure I don't make it again. Would you cite the common law or statute you're referring to? Or do you simply mean a clause is able to invalidate a contract at will if so stated?

sbiddle

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#349838 10-Jul-2010 20:24

GBristow:
sbiddle: Unfortunately they're not. I would suggest that you research a little more into Contract Law before making such a bold statement.

Would you elaborate? I'm genuinely interested. If I've made a mistake I need to make sure I don't make it again. Would you cite the common law or statute you're referring to? Or do you simply mean a clause is able to invalidate a contract at will if so stated?

You are saying the fine print in the contract is meaningless. The reality is it's not. Telecom have the right to change their products at any time - and have done in this case.

You did not enter into a contractual agreement to provide Big Time for ever - you entered into a contractual agreement to provide a service (in this case internet). The contract you you may have entered into was a contractual period that you were required to stay a customer for - and Telecom have allowed this to be broken.

crazed

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#349885 11-Jul-2010 09:53

Might also be worth noting the contract between Telecom and a customer is a contract for the supply of Broadband, NOT the supply of Bigtime, therefore by shutting down Bigtime and transferring you to another plan within Telecom's Plan Offerings is within the contracts scope, therefore completely legal.

CraZeD,
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quickymart

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#349886 11-Jul-2010 09:58

Indeed, all this talk of "Telecom broke my contract! WAHHH!!" is incorrect. They stopped selling you the Big Time plan, they did *not* stop selling you broadband altogether, did they?

crazed

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#349888 11-Jul-2010 10:11

It amazes me how many people jump the gun without investigating or reading it themselves.

CraZeD,
Your friendly Southern Geeky Fellow :P

qraider

374 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349891 11-Jul-2010 10:19

It seems as though they can't win either way ...

People complain that the Big Time plan is broken, slow speeds, etc, etc, etc,
People complain when Telecom removes the plan because it's broken ...

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

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rarebreed

18 posts

Geek

#349902 11-Jul-2010 11:37

I received my "letter" a couple of days ago, and i must say i am not surprised.
We have been with Telecom for a number of years now, and have been through 3 or 4 plans GO LARGE being one of them, after a lot of swearing huffing and puffing it boils down to a simple answer either subscribe with them or find another ISP .
I am not going to write a long post bitching about Telecom and poor business ethics because whats the point really....
I feel powerless ,Telecom can change anything they want and the customer has very little say in the matter, just boils down to "We reserve the right to change contract whenever we want" clause. (read your contract!)
After looking around i only found a few Isp's with similar Broadband plans, i was looking at this http://www.xnet.co.nz/hsi/ .
But it pains me to admit that Telecoms PRO is probably one of the best deals around with the 40GB data allowance.
So i guess i will have to make the decision to stay or go, if i stay with Telecom i shall expect another change in about 11 months or so stating that PRO is coming to an end ........!

Small Fish, Big River.....

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