Plan change without permission

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Plan change without permission - is this legal?

MGARD

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#58897 22-Mar-2010 23:54

Recently I had message left on my answerphone from my ISP (NZnet) to say we had exceeded our cap. Bizarre as last year we'd signed up for an unlimited data plan (albeit at slower speed). My wife called and was told they'd left 'several' messages on the answer phone. A check through the messages found ONE message (that somehow we'd missed) saying nothing about plans changing - just asking for a call back to discuss our plan (not 'you need to choose a new one or we'll choose one for you').

Is this legal? Surely they must be required to have our agreement before changing plan, and one message that didn't even mention the issue can hardly be called informing the customer. And, of course, the message about exceeding the cap came AFTER the cap had been exceeded meaning that now we apparently have to pay for a higher priced plan and over $100 in excess data charges!!!

Looking through the FTA and CGA the closest I can find is work being done without consent. Is there anyone with a better idea of the legality around this?

Thanks

Detruire

1611 posts

Uber Geek

#310026 23-Mar-2010 00:52

Check the terms you agreed to when you signed up.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a clause allowing them to change your plan for you if they give you "reasonable warning" (I'd see this as at least four weeks)

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wmoore

510 posts

Ultimate Geek

#310046 23-Mar-2010 07:59

I am surprised they didn't sent you an email. Yes I would read through all the small print and see if it says anything there.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -
-- Abraham lincoln

MGARD

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#310266 23-Mar-2010 15:34

I had a look through the T&C and couldn't see anything about plan changes. The T&C's can be seen at http://www.nznet.co.nz/terms.php

Looking at our original email to them it certainly specified the plan that we wanted - surely that means that we have a contract for that plan at that price ONLY.

MikeyPI

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

#310278 23-Mar-2010 15:52

"6. PRICES
6.1 All prices are exclusive of GST, freight costs, installation and any other applicable taxes and duties and are subject to increase due to exchange rate fluctuations and all such items and increases are payable in addition to the price."

33. Fair Use Policy
If your internet plan doesn?t have a data limit/cap then you are subject to the ?Fair Use Policy?. This means that your usage of the internet must not be excessive, such as high use of pair to pair (P2P) file sharing. Excessive or ?unfair? use is solely decided by NZNet.(shouldnt that be peer to peer?!?)

35. Cancellation
35.1 Cancellation of any product, unless expressly stated otherwise, must be at least one month in advance of the date for service cancellation.

This is the most interesting as it doesnt state "Customer" or "Company", so you could claim THEY are required to give YOU a months notice.

Those T&C's dont seem to cover an arbitrary plan change without consent. Did you have to sign a doc when you joined, as that may be different.

MGARD

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#310286 23-Mar-2010 16:29

There was not anything in writing - everything was done via e-mail and no T&C's were discussed

MikeyPI

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

#310336 23-Mar-2010 18:42

It "seems" there may be a prima facie case. I would start stern communications with the company, quote them the cancellation clause, and say they have breached there own T&Cs.

webwat

2036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#310448 23-Mar-2010 22:55

It would be unusual for them to just change the plan without telling you what the new plan is and getting you to choose another if its not suitable. They may have sent you a letter by snail mail or an email could have been filtered to your junk folder. They may have been concerned about privacy with the phone message.

Since true unlimited plans are not possible in NZ, its likely they found you using alot of P2P and decided it was against their fair use policy. Sounds like you used about 50GB over their normal limit for the new plan and probably at faster speed than the previous plan, so they will argue you got pretty good value for money. I know its pretty sad that ISPs have to resort to traffic limits....

Time to find a new industry!

KraserK

41 posts

Geek

#310473 24-Mar-2010 00:25

Surprisingly this happend to me with Orcon. But it was because I got cabinetised they said that nothing would change at all and I soon realised I wasn't on an Orcon+ Platinum plan anymore and I lost my caller id and had to pay a little bit extra. They did not inform me at all hence why I am with telecom now

insane

3170 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#310477 24-Mar-2010 00:38

Well I say take it to them, I've got some serious concerns as someone working for NZnet or someone contracted by NZnet decided to slide several promotional brochures under our door over the weekend where our high value customers would walk over them on the weekend. Pretty sneaky considering we're in direct competition with them.

Needless to say when I found them on the Monday morning I filed them safely in my file, the round receptacle under my desk ;)

KraserK

41 posts

Geek

#310523 24-Mar-2010 08:16

insane: Well I say take it to them, I've got some serious concerns as someone working for NZnet or someone contracted by NZnet decided to slide several promotional brochures under our door over the weekend where our high value customers would walk over them on the weekend. Pretty sneaky considering we're in direct competition with them.

Needless to say when I found them on the Monday morning I filed them safely in my file, the round receptacle under my desk ;)

Haha we have that too it's our green filling cabinet

MGARD

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#310789 24-Mar-2010 15:29

No, definitely no snail mail notification (not even included with last months bill) or e-mail (junk folder searched).

It was a 'true' unlimited account (the catch was the slow speed of 256kbps) which was the sole reason that the plan was chosen (ie. not having to worry about caps, slow-downs or excess charges). Yes, the speed had increased but assumed it was a glitch at their end and was expecting it to go back any day (the idea it was a glitch was helped by the speed varying wildly, often going back down to the 256kbps range).

At $0.02 per MB, $100 equates to 5GB - definitely not value for money as $80 gets you 100GB on their plans, so the value for money arguement is sunk.

MikeyPI

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

#310799 24-Mar-2010 15:48

MGARD: (edit)
At $0.02 per MB, $100 equates to 5GB - definitely not value for money as $80 gets you 100GB on their plans, so the value for money arguement is sunk.

That is also not cool, the minimum they could do is cover your usage under the best value equivalent plan.