ISP Change Question

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Ragnor

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#23961 11-Jul-2008 18:57

Is there a process between ISP's for notification of account cancellation when changing ISP's?

The situation is:

Living arrangements changed (same house slightly different people) and we ended up changing ISP mid way through May (Phone and Internet). Was it the new ISP's responsibility to notify the old ISP of the change? Or is it the responsibility of the person making the change to ensure the old ISP properly cancelled the account?

What if the person making the change isn't the person who originally signed up with the old ISP?

Reviewing our bills today I noticed we just recieved a bill for June from the old ISP even though we've clearly used no data nor authenticated with them via ppp. Ringing the old ISP's helpdesk their response was "we didn't get a notification the account was to be cancelled thus it's not our problem, we won't/can't credit you back the amount, go chase it up with your new ISP"

I dont' really have a problem with the full month of May being billed for May (even though it should have been a partial month bill probably), however June irks me...

Where do we stand with this?

We pay by shared Visa normally so I'm tempted to have have Visa revert the charge for June if it goes through. That's probably not a good idea, emo idea's are never good ideas!

numfarr

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#146965 11-Jul-2008 20:26

This happened to me when I moved away from ihug, they managed to cancel the phone service but not the Internet service. They said they would get a "winback file" from Telecom to credit me for the unused internet service and send me a new invoice, which to their credit they did correctly and reasonably promptly.

coffeebaron

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#147679 14-Jul-2008 10:19

numfarr: This happened to me when I moved away from ihug, they managed to cancel the phone service but not the Internet service. They said they would get a "winback file" from Telecom to credit me for the unused internet service and send me a new invoice, which to their credit they did correctly and reasonably promptly.

Ihug seems to be one of the worse offenders here.

My advise, when changing ISP's, call your old ISP 1 week after the change over to confirm cancellation. Don't ring them too soon though, as I've seen this cause problems too, thus the 1 week later suggestion.

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Ragnor

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#147790 14-Jul-2008 14:43

Thanks for the responses so far.

Does anyone know if there's actually supposed to be a system in place or whether it's upto the customer to cancel everything?

Fraktul

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#147799 14-Jul-2008 15:03

You have the relationship with your old/current ISP - you need to termiate this, not anyone else. Yes there are systems in place in Telecoms online ordering and tracking platform for notifications of churn however you should not rely upon these.

Lurch

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#147961 15-Jul-2008 00:39

Depends on the new ISP, if they're doing their job then you shouldnt have to worry about contacting your old ISP. This is the only thing Orcon did right for me.

In my case if I tried contacting Telecom/Xtra about disconnecting they would refer me back to Orcon as I was "now an Orcon" customer.

Ragnor

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#148231 15-Jul-2008 18:40

Well happy ending for me.

Under the current system it's impossible for your new ISP to take over your UBS DSL service without confirmation from your old ISP. My new ISP was able to tell me the exact date and time the old ISP confirmed the change over.

I rang back the old ISP and gave them this infomation and suddenly they were happy to credit or cancel the june invoice contrary to the the first time I talked to them when they told me several times it wasn't their problem LOL.

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webwat

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#148708 17-Jul-2008 01:25

Ragnor: Well happy ending for me.

Under the current system it's impossible for your new ISP to take over your UBS DSL service without confirmation from your old ISP. My new ISP was able to tell me the exact date and time the old ISP confirmed the change over.

I rang back the old ISP and gave them this infomation and suddenly they were happy to credit or cancel the june invoice contrary to the the first time I talked to them when they told me several times it wasn't their problem LOL.

Confirming that the new ISP does have the authority to change the ISP does not involve confirmion of a changeover date as far as I am aware, and Telecom Wholesale may not send a winback notice promptly either. You chould check the terms of your service with the old ISP to work out how much advanced notice you should give them, and tell them that you are changing ISP so that they dont relinquish everything (which would block the new ISP until completed).

Also, I think its worth doing the changeover a couple of days before the old ISP expects to cancel, so you have a chance to try again if the new ISP has any other problem getting their order accepted by Telecom.

Time to find a new industry!