Orbit Flatrate

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2meke

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#22366 25-May-2008 21:08

I think I'll just tell them to stick their service but before I do.......

The other day I got an email from Woosh to 'advise' me they were changing the plans they offered.

I've been a QSI customer for nearly 6 years and on the flatrate plan for 18 months.

With my monthly usage in the 50-80GB range their offer of to change me to "the best equivalent price plan (Orbit 10)" equates to an 80% plus reduction in service for the same money.

Alternatively, I could retain a 50GB data cap but at a whopping 150% price increase!

Can they legally change my plan WITHOUT my consent? (especially as it’s a downgrade)

If what they doing is legal I’m changing providers…if not how does one force them to uphold their end of the deal??

I have a similar situation with my mobile provider where the plan I’m on is no longer available to new customers but they continue to provide it to me. And that’s never been a problem.

Anyway....below is a copy of what they sent.

Any suggestion greatly recieved

Account Number: my account number here

Dear xxxxxx

Woosh is currently undertaking a review of rate plans & services offered, and have identified that you are on Quicksilver flat rate, a plan which is no longer being offered to customers.

This plan will be removed from our system on 1st July 2008.

We want to ensure you continue to get a good deal so we will be changing you to the best equivalent price plan (Orbit 10) on 1st July 2008. This plan costs the same as you are currently paying ($49.95) and offers the same speeds; but does however have a monthly data cap of 10GB.

If this is not suitable to you, we recommend you select an alternative suitable to your data requirements to avoid getting speed limited when your plan is automatically changed over on the 1st July 2008.

Plan

(Download/Upload)

Monthly Data Cap

Cost per month

Orbit 5

(2M/128k)

5GB

$39.95

Orbit 10

(Full Speed / 128k)

10GB

$49.95

Orbit Pro 20

(Full Speed 128k)

20GB

$79.95

Email us now with your plan change request at support@woosh.com along with your username and address for verification. We will endeavour to change it within 24 hours after receiving your email and will send you a confirmation to advise that your plan has been changed.

Regards

The Woosh Customer Services Team

Frequently Asked Questions:

How does this plan withdrawal affect me?

If you do not change your Flat rate plan by 1st July 2008, we will automatically change it to a 10GB plan for you. If you use more than 10GB, your connection will be speed limited until the end of the month. You can top up your data online throughout the month if required. You are free to use your data allowance at any time of the day.

Can I choose another plan?

Yes, you are free to choose any of the current Woosh DSL plans. There is no fee to change your plan

Should you have any queries, please visit our website http://www.woosh.com for pricing plan, Terms
and Conditions information.

Woosh Website

manhinli

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#133194 25-May-2008 21:26

2meke: Can they legally change my plan WITHOUT my consent? (especially as it’s a downgrade)
If what they doing is legal I’m changing providers…if not how does one force them to uphold their end of the deal??

Usually it is part of their T&Cs, to the likes of "we have one month to notify you of any changes to your services"...

50GB plans out there for Full Speed/Full Speed aren't that cheap though - you can look at the NZ Connections Wiki ADSL Comparisons page.

EDIT: Well, well, well:

The Services: We may vary the Services from time to time or decide to stop providing a particular Service. We will try to notify you prior to making the variation and will tell you about any substitute service we have available.

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2meke

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#133195 25-May-2008 21:39

manhinli:

EDIT: Well, well, well:
The Services: We may vary the Services from time to time or decide to stop providing a particular Service. We will try to notify you prior to making the variation and will tell you about any substitute service we have available.

Fair call........But I did not sign up with Woosh.
Woosh bought Quicksilver and rolled over all the existing contracts.

Surely the Quicksilver T&C's would roll over too???

manhinli

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#133197 25-May-2008 21:49

2meke:
manhinli:

EDIT: Well, well, well:
The Services: We may vary the Services from time to time or decide to stop providing a particular Service. We will try to notify you prior to making the variation and will tell you about any substitute service we have available.

Fair call........But I did not sign up with Woosh.
Woosh bought Quicksilver and rolled over all the existing contracts.

Surely the Quicksilver T&C's would roll over too???

There is usually one clause that most providers have - that they can change their T&Cs at any moment in time without notice. Because Woosh bought QuickSilver, they should just be able to run everything under their name and structure. So (if under my logic), Woosh can do anything to their customers (including transferred ones) and their respective T&Cs.

EDIT: QuickSilver did have a similar clause in their T&Cs:

SUSPENSION OF SERVICES
From time to time we may partially or fully suspend Services for reasons including without limitation upgrading network equipment, infrastructure, management and topology. We will endeavor to inform you of any planned or unplanned suspension of Services before they take place, but we reserve the right to suspend service at any time at our sole discretion.

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0llie

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#133648 27-May-2008 20:09

Hi, I'm in the same boat as you... I think this will answer some of your questions.

This is a reply I recieved today from an email I sent on Saturday.

Dear XXXXX,

When you signed up on the Quicksilver Flat Rate plan you were on a 12 month contract and we can confirm your broadband contract has expired. This contract has been honoured since Quicksilver was acquired by Woosh on 24 July 2006.

The Quicksilver Flat Rate plan is a service Woosh no longer offers, and as such we have notified you of this being discontinued on 1 July 2008. If you need any further information or there is anything else we can help with, please don't hesitate to get in contact with us on 0800 4WOOSH (0800 496 674).

The Woosh T&Cs state (can be viewed from www.woosh.com/tc):

ï¿½ "We may vary our service from time to time or decide to stop providing a particular service. We will try to notify you prior to making the variation and will tell you about any substitute service we have available"

The old Quicksilver T&Cs state (can be viewed from http://www.quicksilver.co.nz/misc/nettermsandconditions.php ):

Our responsibilities section

ï¿½ Point 6. iii. "We may adjust aspects of Quicksilver Services if necessary for the efficient operation of the Service."

ï¿½ Point 8. "In relation to all Quicksilver Services we reserve the right to refuse customers to join and to terminate customers at our sole discretion."

Suspension of Services section

ï¿½ From time to time we may partially or fully suspend Services for reasons including without limitation upgrading network equipment, infrastructure, management and topology. We will endeavour to inform you of any planned or unplanned suspension of Services before they take place, but we reserve the right to suspend service at any time at our sole discretion..

Thank you for your enquiry. If you need any further information or there is anything else we can help with, please don't hesitate to get in contact with us on 0800 4WOOSH (0800 496 674).

To be honest I think it's total BS - I've been with 'Quicksilver' for several years also and imho it's no way to treat long term customers who are paying them ~$600 per year for broadband. In the email I wrote I asked for a better alternative, which they didn't even mention anything in regards to in this email. Anyway I'm sure they're going to loose a few customers over this...

I'm taking my $600 per year over to Xnet. Hope you find an internet company that suits your needs and doesn't try to rip you off.

2meke

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#133652 27-May-2008 20:28

I've since had the same email and like you said it's absolute BS.
The sooner the last customer departs the better as far as I'm concerned

0llie:
I'm taking my $600 per year over to Xnet.

euanandrews

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#133656 27-May-2008 20:42

I am surprised you guys are so upset about this...

Its been a long time coming, everybody knew...

Many ISP's stuffed up by offering unlimited plans at cheap prices, under-estimating thier popularity and potential for abuse by over zelous downloaders...and one by one, they have all had to cancel the services/plans after finding them unprofitable.

Its not to say they are bad companies, or treating their customers like crap, its just they took a chance at offering a new product/plan, to learn that they were unprofitable and had no choice but to cancel.

At the end of the day, the purpose of a business is to make money, it needs to make money to survive.

0llie

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#133684 27-May-2008 21:57

To be honest I had no idea it was coming until I recieved the email. Maybe I might have been able to read it somewhere in this forum.. but unfortunately I've only joined just to look at my different options for a new ISP :(

They did advertise the plan as "Unlimited" when it came out, via their website or emails that I received - there was a lot of advertising which probably contributed to its popularity. To me though if they did under-estimate the popularity of an "Unlimited" plan then I don't see why their mistake has to come back to the customers.

I mean what would be the problem with getting rid of the "Unlimited" plan and not offering it to new customers, but keeping exisiting customers on this plan (especially those who had been with the company for a few years). Now with my gym membership I get to keep the rate at which I signed up on, $13 per week, yet since I've joined the current rates are up to $28 per week. I know an internet company is not a gym, but obviously my gym must not be making much/any money off me since the rates have more than doubled since I joined. I understand that they are a company and need to make money but as a result they'll be loosing money from customers who do not want to use them as their ISP anymore. My 2c anyways

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euanandrews

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#133708 28-May-2008 00:25

0llie: To be honest I had no idea it was coming until I recieved the email. Maybe I might have been able to read it somewhere in this forum.. but unfortunately I've only joined just to look at my different options for a new ISP :(

Fair enough...

Those who hang out reguarlly here at Geekzone generally are either 'in the know', or at least 'up with the play', so for many of us, this was knowen long ago and much discussed...many people here have even become tired of such discussions...

May I suggest you follow the NZ Connections link at the bottom of my post, it leads to a wiki comparing all the ISP's plans and prices.

0llie: They did advertise the plan as "Unlimited" when it came out,

Yes, they did, as did other ISP's, and they all too had to scrap thier 'unlimited' plans, as they to were unprofitable...

To put it simply, they got it wrong.

0llie:...then I don't see why their mistake has to come back to the customers.

Its hardly the end of the world or going to effect you deeply...

The plan had not been around long, and all they are asking/requiring, is that you go back to the plans that were previously available, as this one is not profitable to keep going.

0llie: I mean what would be the problem with getting rid of the "Unlimited" plan and not offering it to new customers, but keeping exisiting customers on this plan (especially those who had been with the company for a few years).

Because those customers would still be unprofitable.

And this is especially so with a plan such as unlimited as there are those who rape the plan for as much data as possible, costing the ISP a small fortune.

And with margins so thin in the broadband market, services/product can not be given away for free or at a loss

0llie: Now with my gym membership I get to keep the rate at which I signed up on, $13 per week, yet since I've joined the current rates are up to $28 per week. I know an internet company is not a gym, but obviously my gym must not be making much/any money off me since the rates have more than doubled since I joined. I understand that they are a company and need to make money but as a result they'll be loosing money from customers who do not want to use them as their ISP anymore. My 2c anyways

While I understand your arguement, the two dont compare...

A gym has mostly fixed costs to a certain extent, where an ISP has variable costs, depending on how much data/bandwidth is used...thus thier plans and costs are variable.

I am not trying to make light of your concerns, I understand how you all feel, but it is old news here at Geekzone...

And I to was a customer of Woosh, having been on the Orbit Flatrate plan...I changed long ago when the trouble started, the throttling of the service, the excuses given by Woosh never admitting they were throttling and going to can the plan, and the eventual news the plan would be canned anyway...

Before that, I was a customer of Xtra, having been on the Go-Large plan...andd that to had massive issues before it eventually got canned/capped/throttled.