Changed Provider - Charged full month

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hsvhel

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Topic # 148968 7-Jul-2014 10:40

Hi

Recently changed broadband provider, all was smooth until I went and cancelled my service with Woosh (I know).
Was advised that as they are charged by Chorus a month in advance, I would not be receiving any portion of my monthly charge back, although I no longer use their service.
Incidentally I terminated out of any contractual terms and one day into the billing cycle.

Interested to see peoples thoughts on if this is correct?

Cheers

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Reply # 1082256 7-Jul-2014 10:43

It's fairly rare for providers to bill in partial months. Seems reasonable. Timing is everything.

timmmay

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Reply # 1082257 7-Jul-2014 10:44

What does your contract say? A months notice sounds reasonable to me, you're lucky there are no early termination fees.

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hsvhel

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Reply # 1082261 7-Jul-2014 10:48

Cheers, was out of contract so it was essentially a month by month.
The contract does not touch on termination out of contact period, only if I had wanted to cancel within the 18months. Guess its on me to have caught that one!

NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 1082263 7-Jul-2014 10:49

depends. What terms did you agree to when you signed up?

what Chorus charge is irrelevant really. It's up to each ISP to decide how and when they charge you, and it's up to you to agree to their terms when you sign up (or, if you don't agree, don't sign up and go with a different ISP)

hsvhel

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Reply # 1082280 7-Jul-2014 10:54

I signed up to and 18 month term that expired in April this year, after that time the service went to a month by month service. I did not resign to any other agreement.
Within the contract for the 18 months there was highlighted, an early termination fee. but that was it for charges outside my monthly service charge.
There is nothing in the contract about charging in advance and that amount being non-refundable.

This was not a case of me jumping to another provider the day after my term ended.....

Flickky

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Reply # 1082418 7-Jul-2014 13:46

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Most providers you'll find have a notice period of thirty days in their terms and conditions and will tell that to customers when you enquire about cancellation; if I'm not mistaken Flip requires (or did require) thirty days notice before cancelling also.

Whether they choose to enforce it or not is a different case though :)

Lannah - find me on twitter.

hsvhel

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Reply # 1083936 8-Jul-2014 10:03

Found more specific T&C's on their website, they got me!

kiwiharry

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Reply # 1083951 8-Jul-2014 10:17

This probably brings up an interesting debate on how a customer is able to provide the 30 days notice when switching providers, especially as it is highly recommended that you do not call the losing service provider to let them know you are churning/cancelling.

I recently churned between providers, but scheduled my activation 1 week before my old ISP's billing date. Although I was charged by the losing ISP for the following month, it was eventually refunded, but there was no pro rata refund for the 1 week.

NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 1083986 8-Jul-2014 11:13

kiwiharry: This probably brings up an interesting debate on how a customer is able to provide the 30 days notice when switching providers, especially as it is highly recommended that you do not call the losing service provider to let them know you are churning/cancelling.

I recently churned between providers, but scheduled my activation 1 week before my old ISP's billing date. Although I was charged by the losing ISP for the following month, it was eventually refunded, but there was no pro rata refund for the 1 week.

Yes, I'm surprised TUANZ don't shout loudly about this (not just woosh, virtually all ISPs) since it does seem to go against the spirit of the TCF codes of conduct.

ISPs aren't allowed to market towards customers they are losing to allow the free flow of competition. However, if the customer contacts them, then they can say whatever they want. So the simple loophole type solution is to require the customer to contact you before leaving or sting them with $$$ charges for something they aren't even getting.

Flickky

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Reply # 1083988 8-Jul-2014 11:25

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NonprayingMantis:
kiwiharry: This probably brings up an interesting debate on how a customer is able to provide the 30 days notice when switching providers, especially as it is highly recommended that you do not call the losing service provider to let them know you are churning/cancelling.

I recently churned between providers, but scheduled my activation 1 week before my old ISP's billing date. Although I was charged by the losing ISP for the following month, it was eventually refunded, but there was no pro rata refund for the 1 week.

Yes, I'm surprised TUANZ don't shout loudly about this (not just woosh, virtually all ISPs) since it does seem to go against the spirit of the TCF codes of conduct.

ISPs aren't allowed to market towards customers they are losing to allow the free flow of competition. However, if the customer contacts them, then they can say whatever they want. So the simple loophole type solution is to require the customer to contact you before leaving or sting them with $$$ charges for something they aren't even getting.

Somewhere in the TCF transfer code it states that it's the customers responsibility to contact their old provider to 'ensure any outstanding obligations are taken care of' or something to that effect (may be a bit rusty; haven't gone through the different codes in a while).

On the other side of the coin as well, if a customer transfers providers from one network to another (VF's cable network, or even Woosh's wireless network which may have been in this case) providers can't see any churn notifications either which makes it a bit difficult.

Funnily enough I cancelled my Woosh account last month as well; I just made sure I sorted everything out in advance instead of leaving it until the end of my billing period to contact a new provider.

Lannah - find me on twitter.

rugrat

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Reply # 1083990 8-Jul-2014 11:26

Some isps want a months notice otherwise you get charged that month.
Give them a months notice and they put a cancelation order or what ever it is with chorus.

Then new isp can't churn you to them because of order with chorus, or it causes problems in getting new internet connection.

Something seems wrong here to me!

kiwiharry

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Reply # 1084003 8-Jul-2014 11:38

Flickky: Somewhere in the TCF transfer code it states that it's the customers responsibility to contact their old provider to 'ensure any outstanding obligations are taken care of' or something to that effect (may be a bit rusty; haven't gone through the different codes in a while).

On the other side of the coin as well, if a customer transfers providers from one network to another (VF's cable network, or even Woosh's wireless network which may have been in this case) providers can't see any churn notifications either which makes it a bit difficult.

Funnily enough I cancelled my Woosh account last month as well; I just made sure I sorted everything out in advance instead of leaving it until the end of my billing period to contact a new provider.

When I was thinking of switching, I logged into my old ISP's "my account" section and they had a link to Cancel Services. I clicked to see what I may need to do. On that page there was a statement that clearly stated that if you are switching providers then do not cancel your services. It said the new ISP will make contact with them to arrange the transfer.

Flickky

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Reply # 1084038 8-Jul-2014 12:12

kiwiharry:
Flickky: Somewhere in the TCF transfer code it states that it's the customers responsibility to contact their old provider to 'ensure any outstanding obligations are taken care of' or something to that effect (may be a bit rusty; haven't gone through the different codes in a while).

On the other side of the coin as well, if a customer transfers providers from one network to another (VF's cable network, or even Woosh's wireless network which may have been in this case) providers can't see any churn notifications either which makes it a bit difficult.

Funnily enough I cancelled my Woosh account last month as well; I just made sure I sorted everything out in advance instead of leaving it until the end of my billing period to contact a new provider.

When I was thinking of switching, I logged into my old ISP's "my account" section and they had a link to Cancel Services. I clicked to see what I may need to do. On that page there was a statement that clearly stated that if you are switching providers then do not cancel your services. It said the new ISP will make contact with them to arrange the transfer.

Your account needs to be active, yes - but that doesn't stop you from giving your old provider notice that you'll be cancelling on a specified date (the date should be after you've moved providers, of course).

So if good ol' Bob was to switch from one ISP to another, to minimise any issues he'd probably do it in these steps:

Sign up with Awesome new ISP today (8th July)
Figure out billing end date with crappy old ISP (we'll say end of month, 31st July)
Request for his connection to be connected on the 28th while signing up
New ISP give confirmation that his booking date is the 28th - choice as!
Contact old ISP and let them know he wants to cancel at the end of his billing period, 31st July
Gets connected on the 28th with new ISP, doesn't need to do anything else as he's already given notice to his old ISP earlier in the month.

Lannah - find me on twitter.

Behodar

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Reply # 1084074 8-Jul-2014 13:06

I recently changed from Vodafone to Mynxnet.

I contacted Mynxnet and ordered services. I provided my Vodafone customer number.
Chorus transferred my service. Presumably Vodafone was notified of this.
After transferring, I contacted Vodafone and asked for confirmation that my account had been closed off correctly. This was done within a couple of days (the T&Cs said I "may" have a give a month's notice).
When my usual Vodafone billing cycle came around, I received a bill for a full month's service (the T&Cs say that you're only responsible for up to the disconnection date).
I emailed Vodafone and politely provided the invoice number and disconnection confirmation, and asked for confirmation that the account had been closed correctly.
Vodafone apologised and zeroed out the entire bill (including some toll calls and the few days that I did have service).

All is well, and I was impressed with Vodafone for going as far as wiping out the calls. A switchover doesn't have to be a hassle :)

raytaylor

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Reply # 1084422 8-Jul-2014 21:13

I encourage people not to tell their old provider until the churn order has been processed and you are connected with the new isp.
You just deal with paying the little bit extra and having a few weeks of crossover in exchange for a smooth transition process.

An extra $50 for a crossover period is worth it when you are a business, or someone who values an internet connection that isnt down for 3 days.

Ray Taylor
Taylor Broadband (rural hawkes bay)
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