Perlico T&C's - Beware

Triangle

Been with Perlico on and off for over two years and with the exception of terrible BB support i've never had any issue with them until recently.

I received my bill which had an extra €35 on it for breaching my D/L allowance by 3 Gb. I have NEVER breached it before and was stunned by the lack of warnings or such. So, I rang customer services and was told that she would mark on my account that i was unhappy with this surcharge but there was nothing she could or would do.

Needless to say i'm no longer with them!

After looking in their T&C's they mention that

'In the event that, in any given month, the Customer exceeds the Monthly
Download Allowance for their chosen broadband Package, Perlico shall be entitled to charge the Customer for any additional capacity usage at the rates set out in the Guide.'

But the guide seems to be unaccessable to view!!!!

Anyways, just a note to watch out for terms like these that most other Broadband providers do not pursue (in my experience, unless serious limit breaching takes place ofc.)

Cabaal

I have to say my parents subscribed to Perlico and I found it clear at the time on there website and T&C's that there was a set cap and you'd be charged for going over it.

Its hardly a evil tactic by Perlico especially when the majority of ISP's in Ireland also reserve the right to do the exact same thing when you go over the cap.

If Perlico choose to charge people they are within there rights and if customers signed up to Perlico or for that matter any ISP without reading the T&C's first then I think they are actually insane

Infact bottom of each webpage I just looked at says

Only 3c per MB (up to a maximum charge of €35) if you go over this generous limit

and I certainly remember something similar when my parents subscribed

If you login to the on-line account manager at http://www.perlico.com/SecurityNew/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fMyAccountNew%2fDefault.aspx you can view your bills and check your usage.

My parents didn't use there's much during September although they left the router powered on but it shows for example
Total Hours Online: 638:40:12
Total Downloaded: 87.76MB
Total Uploaded: 4.59MB

In short I'd recommend everyone do re-search and erad T&C's before getting Broadband with ANY ISP,

Triangle

Cabaal,
In all honesty you're 100% right - they are in their rights to charge this.

But most ISP put this in their T&C's in order to maintain fiar usage and not abuse it like i feel perlico have. 3Gb over the cap in an 18-23 month period does not necitate a €35 surcharge. This is just my opinion.

I rang BT and Eircom - Eircom sales said they don't have the surcharge and BT sales said they promise to send out a couple of warnings prior to any sanctions.

Cabaal

Triangle wrote: »

Cabaal,
In all honesty you're 100% right - they are in their rights to charge this.

But most ISP put this in their T&C's in order to maintain fiar usage and not abuse it like i feel perlico have. 3Gb over the cap in an 18-23 month period does not necitate a €35 surcharge. This is just my opinion.

I rang BT and Eircom - Eircom sales said they don't have the surcharge and BT sales said they promise to send out a couple of warnings prior to any sanctions.

I certainly get whetre your coming from, perhaps give Perlico another ring and explain it again to a supervisor, see what they might do as goodwill perhaps?

As for Eircom and BT and there charges, unless you've gotten this in writing its worth crap, they can just as easily charge you.

Pansy Potter

Triangle wrote: »

Cabaal,
In all honesty you're 100% right - they are in their rights to charge this.

But most ISP put this in their T&C's in order to maintain fiar usage and not abuse it like i feel perlico have. 3Gb over the cap in an 18-23 month period does not necitate a €35 surcharge. This is just my opinion.

I rang BT and Eircom - Eircom sales said they don't have the surcharge and BT sales said they promise to send out a couple of warnings prior to any sanctions.

Perlico haven't abused anything. Its in the terms and conditions that they can charge up to €35, and that's just what they've done. A previous history of good behaviour counts for nothing. The system reads the stats for the month in question, and makes no reference to historical data. Just because someone has never commited murder before doesn't entitle them to be let off the first time they do it!

btw eircom T&Cs say they reserve the right to charge for cap breaches. UTV most definitely charge.

BaconZombie

Plus all the the Irish ISPS's have causes in their T&C's letting them modify them when ever they like without notifying you.

dub45

BOFH_139 wrote: »

Plus all the the Irish ISPS's have causes in their T&C's letting them modify them when ever they like without notifying you.

Could you quote the clauses your refer to please?

Cabaal

dub45 wrote: »

Could you quote the clauses your refer to please?

I have to say I've never seen a clause in ANY T&C's which state that they can be changed without notification, infact its actually the opposite from my experience if a company changes its T&C's and you don't agree with the changes then you can opt out of the service within a certain period.

I to would be very interested to see this part of the T&C's your referring to BOFH_139, as I've certainly missed this up till now.

Pansy Potter, as for UTV I'm sure they do charge but they do offer a "unlimited" option for 5e extra month which is pretty handy, either that or an option to stop your service as soon as you reach the cap so you can avoid being charged

Sofa_King Good

Triangle wrote: »

Been with Perlico on and off for over two years and with the exception of terrible BB support i've never had any issue with them until recently.

I received my bill which had an extra €35 on it for breaching my D/L allowance by 3 Gb. I have NEVER breached it before and was stunned by the lack of warnings or such. So, I rang customer services and was told that she would mark on my account that i was unhappy with this surcharge but there was nothing she could or would do.

Needless to say i'm no longer with them!

After looking in their T&C's they mention that

'In the event that, in any given month, the Customer exceeds the Monthly
Download Allowance for their chosen broadband Package, Perlico shall be entitled to charge the Customer for any additional capacity usage at the rates set out in the Guide.'

But the guide seems to be unaccessable to view!!!!

Anyways, just a note to watch out for terms like these that most other Broadband providers do not pursue (in my experience, unless serious limit breaching takes place ofc.)

Having worked for Eircom before, they definitley do reserve the right and have not only because the others weren't. If this is a sign of things to come, and with all operators scrambling for any revenue they can get, it'll probably start off a chain reaction where everyone will be charged for excess, and customers will have to upgrade their packages.

Cabaal

Sofa_King Good wrote: »

Having worked for Eircom before, they definitley do reserve the right and have not only because the others weren't. If this is a sign of things to come, and with all operators scrambling for any revenue they can get, it'll probably start off a chain reaction where everyone will be charged for excess, and customers will have to upgrade their packages.

In fairness l;ads the op has agreed that he knows Perlico are 100% right and they do have the right to charge and he is also aware Eircom can to, although he's been told over the phone that they don't actually charge...of course as it doesn't have this in writing this is worth nothing if he moved and did actually get charged by Eircom or BT

daveharnett

I'm with the OP on this one. Of course they are entitled to do it - it is spelled out in the T&Cs that they may.

The purpose of caps is to provide all users with a fair slice of a limited amount of bandwidth, and to keep contention under control. I have no problem with ISP's charging or restricting users who wilfully breach an explicit cap, provided that the purpose is to enforce fair use rather than to raise revenue. To charge so much for what looks to be a fairly small and uncharacteristic lapse (bearing in mind that a virus/unsecured wireless could also be responsible), strikes me as short-sighted.

The fact that the OP has decided to switch providers would seem to confirm that this was not the wisest course of action for them.

dub45

daveharnett wrote: »

I'm with the OP on this one. Of course they are entitled to do it - it is spelled out in the T&Cs that they may.

The purpose of caps is to provide all users with a fair slice of a limited amount of bandwidth, and to keep contention under control. I have no problem with ISP's charging or restricting users who wilfully breach an explicit cap, provided that the purpose is to enforce fair use rather than to raise revenue. To charge so much for what looks to be a fairly small and uncharacteristic lapse (bearing in mind that a virus/unsecured wireless could also be responsible), strikes me as short-sighted.

The fact that the OP has decided to switch providers would seem to confirm that this was not the wisest course of action for them.

It is also absurd not to have some form of warning system in place.

Cabaal

Cabaal wrote: »

Pansy Potter, as for UTV I'm sure they do charge but they do offer a "unlimited" option for 5e extra month which is pretty handy, either that or an option to stop your service as soon as you reach the cap so you can avoid being charged

My ADSL modem has a meter to calculate online usage, it gives you the option of either dropping the connection when you reach the cap, or blinking a light on the modem as a warning.