Eircom Phonewatch Contract

briancarr82

Hi, i have a monitored alarm with eircom phonewatch that was installed 6 years ago. At the time we signed a one year cotract with them. At the minute i don't want to be forking out €36 every month so i rang to cancel. They told me og you've just entered a new contract and that continued payment is renewing the contract. I'm tempted to just cancel direct debit. Anyone have any similar experiences with them?

brian_t

briancarr82 wrote: »

Hi, i have a monitored alarm with eircom phonewatch that was installed 6 years ago. At the time we signed a one year cotract with them. At the minute i don't want to be forking out €36 every month so i rang to cancel. They told me og you've just entered a new contract and that continued payment is renewing the contract. I'm tempted to just cancel direct debit. Anyone have any similar experiences with them?

What does the contract you signed say about cancelling.

briancarr82

Have no idea, would have to pull it out. The contract i signed is 6 years old. What they're saying is that my contract was up in June. But by making July's payment i agree to another year's service.

Kings Inns or bust

Interesting one, it's a shame it's not a hypothetical so that a discussion can be had. One might suggest reading charters and contracts. In the latter case it might be that the term is unenforceable. As for the venue, bear in mind many of the people here are barristers so have nothing worth stealing. If by chance they do, they'll generally know who stole it*. You might want to try a forum with more consumers having issues if it's not a strictly legal opinion you want.

I personally can't be told anymore times that it's a repair, replacement or refund or that there is a 2 year EU warranty by the broken records very helpful posters :pac:

*Which Judge was it that recused himself when met with his own burglar?

Little CuChulainn

Ask them to provide you a copy of the contract that they are binding you to and have a read of it. You can also speak to them on Boards. Usually these companies do have an automatic renewal but on a month by month basis.

Kings Inns or bust

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Ask them to provide you a copy of the contract that they are binding you to and have a read of it. You can also speak to them on Boards. Usually these companies do have an automatic renewal but on a month by month basis.

Eircom phone watch isn't Eir as far as I know.

jayobray

Eircom sold Phonewatch in 2013, so no longer Eir

Little CuChulainn

jayobray wrote: »

Eircom sold Phonewatch in 2013, so no longer Eir

Ah right, don't try talk to them on Boards so.

nuac

Kings Inns or bust wrote: »

Interesting one, it's a shame it's not a hypothetical so that a discussion can be had. One might suggest reading charters and contracts. In the latter case it might be that the term is unenforceable. As for the venue, bear in mind many of the people here are barristers so have nothing worth stealing. If by chance they do, they'll generally know who stole it*. You might want to try a forum with more consumers having issues if it's not a strictly legal opinion you want.

I personally can't be told anymore times that it's a repair, replacement or refund or that there is a 2 year EU warranty by the broken records very helpful posters :pac:

*Which Judge was it that recused himself when met with his own burglar?

I know a few modest abodes in West Mayo and Connemara

Kings Inns or bust

I hope I'm not straying into legal advice here. I stress OP that I'm only advancing the below as a starting point for discussion.

I'm not sure a contract can stipulate that a 'new contract' is formed by silence. Taken simpliciter a contract can not be formed by silence. However what we have here is offer and acceptance of contract (1) and in one scenario acceptance of contract (2) by the terms of contract (1), potentially an offer accepted by silence.

Scenario (B) is that there is no contract (2) and this is just a continuation of contract (1) - however why then the lock in period?

I welcome a discussion on these points and stress again this is not legal advice. I am somewhat hijacking the thread, which I hope the OP does not mind, if he/she does please just say and I'll start a full hypothetical. Sorry for the quasi-algebra it seems all the cool kids like Friel are at it so I thought I'd follow this needlessly 'different' fashion.

Seth Brundle

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Ask them to provide you a copy of the contract that they are binding you to and have a read of it. You can also speak to them on Boards. Usually these companies do have an automatic renewal but on a month by month basis.

Surely there would be a need to notify the customer in writing of any new contract regardless of any automatic renewal?

Kings Inns or bust

kbannon wrote: »

Surely there would be a need to notify the customer in writing of any new contract regardless of any automatic renewal?

Not in writing no. Also a month by month basis is generally a continuation of the original contract, simply requiring a notice period. To allow a new lock in period, one would have to start a new contract IMHO.

The function of lock in periods is to recoup any upfront fees, I can't see how something like this would require that, unless it's an annual payment paid monthly, that might be one possibility.

Little CuChulainn

kbannon wrote: »

Surely there would be a need to notify the customer in writing of any new contract regardless of any automatic renewal?

Not usually. Whenever I have signed up to things like Sky or Eircom they generally tell me that the contract is for a minimum period and will continue on a monthly basis afterwards along the same terms until one of us chooses to cancel or alter the contract. Often they will contact me before the end of the period to offer me something new.

Here is the terms and conditions from Phonewatch.ie. Section 3 is the part on duration. That's the usual clauses you get in service contracts.

Paulw

kbannon wrote: »

Surely there would be a need to notify the customer in writing of any new contract regardless of any automatic renewal?

PhoneWatch do send renewals, every year.

But, it is stated, clearly, in the documents that you do not need to do anything to continue another year of service, or you must notify them of your desire to end the service. So, by not notifying them that you want to end the service, and by continuing to pay for the next month, their contract deems that you have renewed.

hollybee123

Mod

Poster appears to be in that business, and has made a defamatory statement about a competitor
Post deleted
Warning to poster: Pls do not post like this again on this forum

Peppa Pig

Paulw wrote: »

PhoneWatch do send renewals, every year.

But, it is stated, clearly, in the documents that you do not need to do anything to continue another year of service, or you must notify them of your desire to end the service. So, by not notifying them that you want to end the service, and by continuing to pay for the next month, their contract deems that you have renewed.

Yep - this is exactly what happens. Have been getting these for over twenty years.

Jeff2016

briancarr82 wrote: »

Hi, i have a monitored alarm with eircom phonewatch that was installed 6 years ago. At the time we signed a one year cotract with them. At the minute i don't want to be forking out €36 every month so i rang to cancel. They told me og you've just entered a new contract and that continued payment is renewing the contract. I'm tempted to just cancel direct debit. Anyone have any similar experiences with them?

Hey there, I wonder how this has developed, my father is having the same issues and is now being contacted by a debt collection agency, his situation is that he noticed on his direct debit that he was paying more for his pw alarm, he contacted them and told them he didn't want it anymore, this was in Sept / Oct , a rep said no bother that someone would be in contact, my father never spoke with anyone re the contract after that, they then contacted him saying he owed money, he had at this stage stopped his direct debit. I made contact and cancelled in writing on his behalf. They got bk to me saying he was in contract til may 17 and owed 280, I rang them today saying that I was willing to pay the two months owed and a month in advance for this month105e and there is no negotiating with them at all, it's he owes this money and that's final....they said they sent letters and made phone calls but never heard from my father. The rep said they rang in April re updates and the contract and spoke with my mother and she said she was happy with the contract but never spoke with my father the contract holder, I said this to the rep but it didn't matter and she back tracked on that comment saying she only spoke to my mam re services and not the contract. I have requested all correspondence and phone calls which she is sending out to me, any suggestions???