(I'm leaving it to the reader to guess who ? Internet are.)
I've just banked a refund cheque from ? Internet. It is, possibly, the end of over two years of hell.
It all started in Spring 2005, when I decided to abandon plans to commute from home in the second year. The people I was living with had already found houses and it was no secret that I didn't get along with them too well anyway. So I found some random people looking for housemates and signed a contract to move into a shared student house.
As usual, once we all moved in, each housemate took responsibility for a bill. I chose the telephone and Internet, since I was a computing student and it meant I might have some more control over the broadband setup. I signed a 12 month contract (well actually, I never physically signed anything, but still...).
I hated the house. The bedroom was small, the bathroom was rubbish, the kitchen was filthy, the garage was always broken and the landlord refused permission to put locks on our rooms (even just on the inside). I liked the garden, the cycling and living off-campus. Regardless, I had to leave.
The others were able to find an alternative housemate, and the University offered me a room on campus (which is an entirely different story...). I left and arranged for the housemates to pay for the telephone and broadband via me.
Guess what? They didn't pay. So I warned them and warned them and eventually had enough. I tried to get BT and ? Internet to transfer the accounts to somebody else. They refused. So instead, I just cut the accounts. I could see no good reason why I should be paying, when I didn't even live there.
Given that I had moved into student accommodation and that the University would never have allowed BT to drill holes and install telephone lines, it was quite obvious I could not transfer the account to my new address. So I told ? Internet this and they just quoted the contract and said that I had to pay for the 12 months regardless.
This is not the only thing that angered me. The expensive phone calls (remember, no proper line means calling card or mobile phone charges to 0845 numbers), poor quality sound and international call centre staff did nothing to help. Nor did the faults or deliberate hang-ups.
In the end, the only viable option left was to try to recoup some of the money. I figured that if I found somebody who needed broadband, I could transfer the account to their house and charge them half price. In theory my losses would be reduced even though a new contract had to be signed. So I did that and ? Internet agreed.
In the meantime I wanted the ADSL line to be disconnected. I had no keys and my router was still in the house. Without physical access I could not cut off the 'free Internet', and trust me we tried! ? Internet had no idea what I was talking about. Ask any technician what "log off" means and they should know. Oh well.
So I transferred the connection to my friend's house and put a computer in his house so I could have an off-campus machine. He paid. But then he had to move. Damn, still not the end!
So then I called ? Internet again. Again they quoted the contract. So I agreed to pay it off and they agreed for somebody to call back. So I sat in the office for weeks, and nobody called. I guessed somebody had intervened, so I cancelled the Direct Debit. It really looked like the end, but it wasn't.
14 months later I was contacted by debt collectors. I was then charged for 12 months outstanding fees, some £240. I then contacted ? Internet and asked what they were playing at. Again an international call centre, again bad excuses and again no budge. It turns out they forgot to close the account and even forgot to send the mail to the second address. To make matters worse they didn't even notice the account had been disused for over a year! By the way, the debt collectors called me on my mobile number, something ? Internet had all along.
So I kept trying and eventually somebody agreed to refund me to the point my contact should have ended. But it still didn't end. They never bothered to send the cheque.
Enter the law. ? Internet were then threatened with legal action, a cheque arrived within a week. Well short of what I think they should have paid, but at least it was all squared up.
Mistakes on both sides, perhaps. Was it fair?
You have been warned, so here are some tips:
Tips
- I could have commuted and got a room on campus (eventually). If you can do this, then do it. Rooms eventually free up, so a couple of weeks on the train is no problem - it may even be cheaper.
- Don't accept a room without a lock. Check. Especially when living with strangers. The strangers may be trustworthy, but are their visitors? It isn't just your stuff, it's also your personal safety when sleeping.
- Don't sign a 12-month contract unless there is a viable escape route. Paying off a £20 per month contract is expensive. Paying a £60 fee is not.
- Avoid long contracts completely. Some ISPs don't have them. They may cost a little extra, but it is worth the security.
- Sometimes it is cheaper and less hassle to pay for something you don't have, rather than paying again. Sounds nuts, but it is cheaper.
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