Termination Fee?!!!

OVERTONE69

im not paying it for the record.

Myself and my girlfriend were with smart telecom for just about 8 months. we had broadband for about 3 weeks of all that time. it just simply didnt work. a lot of calls to tech support provided absolutely no help. so we cancelled and explained that they had breached their own contract and we'd been paying for a service we hadnt got.

so now two months after cancelling, they sent us a terminationg fee of 355 euro.

theres absolutely no way were paying it but has anyone had any similar experiences before?

cian1500ww

Most ISP's put you in a 12 month contract when you sign up, normally when you agree to this contract you agree to pay a termination fee if you cancel the service before 12 months are up. Considering they didn't provide you with the proper service I wouldn't pay it either. I've never been in this position myself but I'd advise you to read over their contracts that you agreed to when you signed up, you might be able to get away without paying it.

jor el

What did they say about the lack of service when you originally contacted them? Did you give them a chance to repair it, or did they offer to do anything? Do you have any written (even email) correspondence, or was it all on the phone?

Basically, if you gave them no opportunity to fix the service, and just stopped paying, then you may have done the wrong thing. If you gave them opportunity, or if they didn't even try, then you should be OK.

You can expect this to continue, and to go to debt collection agents, if not resolved. For €355, it may even be worth their while taking you to court (if it gets that far).

RangeR

cian1500ww wrote: »

Most ISP's put you in a 12 month contract when you sign up, normally when you agree to this contract you agree to pay a termination fee if you cancel the service before 12 months are up. Considering they didn't provide you with the proper service I wouldn't pay it either. I've never been in this position myself but I'd advise you to read over their contracts that you agreed to when you signed up, you might be able to get away without paying it.

Negative, in relation to op complaint. ST didn't provide the service that they agreed to in the contract.

OP
1. Ring ST customer care and explain your issue and that you are not paying the termination fee. Tell them why [you did log numerous support calls to them, right?]
2. If they agree, hopefully they will drop the charges
3. If they don't agree, put your complaint in writing with as much detail as possible. Mention the words FORMAL COMPLAINT in your opening sentence. Mention that you are giving them 10 business days [2 weeks - 14 days to you and me] to remedy the situation [waive the termination fee]. I'd actually also ask for a refund for the months without broadband coverage.
4. Send that letter of complaint by REGISTERED MAIL not regular mail or EMail. This way, you will have a record of ST receiving it and who signed for it.
5. Wait 10 business days for them to respond. If you want to be nice, wait 15 business days just in case there are delays in the post etc.
6. If they respond favourably, fine.
7, If they don't respond [favourably], start proceedings with ComReg. Have all details to hand, emails sent, rough dates of phone calls, letters you sent etc.

dub45

If you have an issue with your isp it really is wise to get it down on paper as quickly as possible. A paper trail cannot be denied whereas phone calls can be denied. If you are thinking of leaving put it to them in writing before you do not after. If you behave properly and give them a chance to remedy the situation then you have the moral high ground in the event of a third party geting involved whereas if you just walk away no matter how many times you claimed you phoned them it just doesn't look good.

As jor el asked what attempts did they make to get it resolved for you?

Smart also have a really good forum unlike other isps where the lads are always helpful and effectively you can get personal attention there.

Remember Smart can quote all this in their favour if you have given them a reasonable chance to fix the problem

probe

You mightn't need a paper trail if your service only worked for 3 weeks over 8 months. Let them bring a printout of your traffic data into court to show that you used the service and it was working over the period in question.

While I have no experience of Smart, telecom providers generally speaking engage in this blackmail all over the place, and get away with it because they are in bed with governments providing snooping intelligence on victims at the drop of a hat without a court order (ie on citizens, their "customers").

Put the burden of proof on Smart to show that the service was working and you used it. Consider counter-suing for your losses, costs and mental anguish :-) Consider setting up a "victims of" website against them!

OVERTONE69

hey. sorry for the delay to all your posts.

We did log plenty of calls asking them to remedy the situation, most times we were brushed off with a wait for the dial tone to come through on the phone and call back.

we rang of both our mobile pphones at different dates. one woman gave us a quick remedy which stopped working after 2 weeks.

were working on getting the call logs from our phone providers. but they definitely didnt provide the service and had many chances to fix it.

thats why we cancelled.
taking our money back or taking them to court seems extreme. weve put it to bed now and were just sick of talking with them altogether. we'd be happy enough with not paying their fees. but we'll see how it goes.

thanks everyone for the help

dub45

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

hey. sorry for the delay to all your posts.

We did log plenty of calls asking them to remedy the situation, most times we were brushed off with a wait for the dial tone to come through on the phone and call back.

we rang of both our mobile pphones at different dates. one woman gave us a quick remedy which stopped working after 2 weeks.

were working on getting the call logs from our phone providers. but they definitely didnt provide the service and had many chances to fix it.

thats why we cancelled.
taking our money back or taking them to court seems extreme. weve put it to bed now and were just sick of talking with them altogether. we'd be happy enough with not paying their fees. but we'll see how it goes.

thanks everyone for the help

Under no circumstances do nothing. Respond to Smart's claim immediately in writing. That claim will be referred to a debt collection agency.

Doing nothing is not an option unless you want to be hounded by debt collectors.

OVERTONE69

just to reiterate some key facts.

we had called them multiple times. the majority of the times we were told to plug the phone into the line and check if there was a dial tone.

we didnt have a phone each of those times. we were broadband only customers. so they told us to call back when we had a phone and hung up.

there were two times this didnt happen.

one was with a woman who asked me other details. like my ip address and such. then gave us a fix which got the internet working. but this fix stopped after about two weeks.

when we called back we got the same response. get a phone and call back.

when we called the house number of our mobiles it rang fine so i told him we did have a dial tone. it was a lie and a stupid move. but i was sick of being told to go away. he said he would log a technical fault and they would get back too me.

a very long time later. they got back to my girlfriend saying they had been in contact with eircom and the line had been fixed. it had not though. when we got back to the house. it still didnt work. neither did the womans quick fix.

a week later we cancelled.

now my girlfriend rang up today without me and explained that she hadnt got the service for a long time.
they claimed it wasnt their fault and that when the line hadnt been fixed, we should have called back..

is this right? how can calling back yet another time make a difference. i think they're lieing.

dub45

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

just to reiterate some key facts.

we had called them multiple times. the majority of the times we were told to plug the phone into the line and check if there was a dial tone.

we didnt have a phone each of those times. we were broadband only customers. so they told us to call back when we had a phone and hung up.

there were two times this didnt happen.

one was with a woman who asked me other details. like my ip address and such. then gave us a fix which got the internet working. but this fix stopped after about two weeks.

when we called back we got the same response. get a phone and call back.

when we called the house number of our mobiles it rang fine so i told him we did have a dial tone. it was a lie and a stupid move. but i was sick of being told to go away. he said he would log a technical fault and they would get back too me.

a very long time later. they got back to my girlfriend saying they had been in contact with eircom and the line had been fixed. it had not though. when we got back to the house. it still didnt work. neither did the womans quick fix.

a week later we cancelled.

now my girlfriend rang up today without me and explained that she hadnt got the service for a long time.
they claimed it wasnt their fault and that when the line hadnt been fixed, we should have called back..

is this right? how can calling back yet another time make a difference. i think they're lieing.

Look you can keep posting here until the cows come home or in fact until the whole farm comes home it is not going to do you one jot of good particularly when you are not taking the advice you are being given.
In fact the time you are spending posting here is a complete and utter waste of time when you could be devoting it to writing a letter to Smart about the situation.

Smart are not going to go away because you post on boards.

You have a contract with Smart that you entered into voluntarily - you have broken that contract because you consider that they did not fulfill their part of the agreement but you have to tell them that formally and make a case as to why you are of that opinion.

Anyone considering breaking a contract with an isp should write to them giving details of what is wrong, the contacts you have had with them and any other relevant material and then say unless this problem is fixed by xxxx I will have no alternative but to terminate the contract.

In the meantime if all you are going to do is post on boards then get the tea and biccies ready for when the debt collectors call!

OVERTONE69

the letters away. comreg were called. i was updating the situation because id left our information. no need to get upset.
i post on boards because i dont know anyone else who i can ask.

but if youd rather i didnt post. i wont.

Mountjoy Mugger

Post here all you want. Dub45 can be a bit "abrasive" in his posts.

dub45

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

the letters away. comreg were called. i was updating the situation because id left our information. no need to get upset.
i post on boards because i dont know anyone else who i can ask.

but if youd rather i didnt post. i wont.

You never posted that you had written the letter or contacted Comreg - did you not think that that was relevant?:rolleyes:

Obviously what I would "rather" is that you do the right thing in your situation!

dub45

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Post here all you want. Dub45 can be a bit "abrasive" in his posts.

Only when provoked!:)

OVERTONE69

i posted it (the letter) just after i wrote that long coment

thefishone

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

i posted it (the letter) just after i wrote that long coment

Just let us know the eventual outcome...I'd like to hear how it all works out for you.

RangeR

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

a week later we cancelled.

Also HOW you did this will have a VERY big bearing on the outcome.

dub45

RangeR wrote: »

Also HOW you did this will have a VERY big bearing on the outcome.

Indeed thats why I tried in my posts here to emphasise the importance of trying to do this type of thing properly as presumably people in similar situations read these type of threads. The message is cover yourself as much as you can by communicating regularly and keeping a record of all that happens.

OVERTONE69

thefishone wrote: »

Just let us know the eventual outcome...I'd like to hear how it all works out for you.

Just to say how it turned out in the end.

They played the pity card and my girlfriend bought it on the phone. They dropped it to 150. Comreg said we should pay so we did. Thanks for the help