Cancelling broadband accounts

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Okay, a quick rundown of the situation through an AIM transcript, because I can't be arsed typing it out again.

runmdc79: got a bill from bulldog the other day
runmdc79: for £ 263.40!
runmdc79: they have just asked me to pay, in one lump sum, the entire outstanding amount for my cancelled contract
thegardencentre: man, bulldog really have lost it
thegardencentre: fuck, can they do that?
runmdc79: which i cancelled because i got no service
thegardencentre: can you prove its their fault there was no service
runmdc79: and now there call centre appears to be down
runmdc79: no, i can't
runmdc79: but they did tell me i'd be reimbursed for the money i'd already paid, and that i wouldn't pay a cancellation charge
thegardencentre: on the phone?
runmdc79: yes :-(
thegardencentre: get their name?
thegardencentre: i think you might still be ok, as its obvious that you never had service from them
runmdc79: 5.4 You may end a Service or the contract:

* by giving thirty (30) days prior notice (written or verbal) to Bulldog at any time after activation; notice will expire on the last day of the notice period or the last day of the Initial Period, whichever is later.
* if Bulldog notifies you of a materially detrimental change to a Service or these Terms. In this case you may only terminate during the period of thirty (30) days following such notification.

5.5 If you want to end a Service or the contract otherwise than as set out above, you will still be liable to pay Bulldog all Charges due to the end of the Initial Period.
thegardencentre: i dont get it
runmdc79: initial period appears to be 12 months
runmdc79: i can go to my bank, and say, don't allow this money to be debited, can't i?
thegardencentre: hmm, this is partly why i went with freedom2surf, because contract is rolling monthly
thegardencentre: no you cant
runmdc79: thing is
runmdc79: i went to the bank
runmdc79: and apparently i don't have a direct debit with bulldog
thegardencentre: oh,
runmdc79: or a standing order
thegardencentre: in that case there is nothign to cancel
runmdc79: is there any other way they could get at the money?
thegardencentre: they cant take the money
thegardencentre: no, responsibiltiy is down to you
thegardencentre: but, if you dont pay
thegardencentre: bailiffs
thegardencentre: eventually
runmdc79: thing is
thegardencentre: theyll take legal action
runmdc79: if i absolutely, absolutely have to pay
thegardencentre: and itll go on your credit rating
runmdc79: i am happy to do so monthly
thegardencentre: you cant pay this!
runmdc79: but not in one big lump sum
thegardencentre: you had no service
runmdc79: i know!
runmdc79: thing is
thegardencentre: you were told you wouldnt have to, albeit verbally

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 17 December 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)

Am I basically fucked here? Is there some small print I should have read that can allow me to be charged this much, despite not having received any working service at all?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 17 December 2005 12:50 (twenty years ago)

fkn bulldog

sorry matt

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 17 December 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

if you NEVER received ANY service whatsoever, they'll find it very hard to argue that you owe them anything. They're in breach of contract.

I get the feeling i'm not getting the intricacies of this though.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Saturday, 17 December 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

(otherwise i could start a made-up company, charge people but give them nothing, and then insist they pay up anyway...)

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Saturday, 17 December 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

Can somebody explain what is going on with Bulldog? Every month they send me a bill by email and it says the amount owed will be billed on a certain date in the following month. But the amount keeps going up month by month. I'm up to about £192 and it seems like they never debit any money. In a way I don't mind not paying for the service I'm getting but I don't want it to mount up too much before they do debit it.

― Oak (small items), Saturday, 17 December 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

that's strange; i get sent that e-bill too but they do take the money every month.

i did mean to cancel my contract once my stated year was up but i totally forgot :(

i've never had any real trouble with them though, but everyone else's problems freak me out a bit. they even sent me 2 modems by mistake and didn't say anything

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Saturday, 17 December 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

also matt you should probly ask around at the adslguide forums : http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/ ; last time i looked this was a regular issue, and partic with bulldog, and they seem full of helpful bile.

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Saturday, 17 December 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

there was a time, when bulldog seemed to be the market leader, but the amount of bad press they have been getting is spectacular. what is it about them, why have they fallen off so badly?

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 17 December 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

(guess) um, they got bought by cable and wireless?

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Saturday, 17 December 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

yeah matt, adslguide forums are strongly reccomended. the people there are very knowledgable and helpful, and it's a fair bet that other people have had this problem...

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 17 December 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Am I basically fucked here?

Is there a dildo/penis in your arse?

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Saturday, 17 December 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

Why are British broadband ISPs generally so fucking completely useless? I read somewhere that Gwyneth Paltrow was bad-mouthing the UK for things like how it takes weeks to set up a broadband connection, and I say DAMN FUCKIN RIGHT Gwyneth. Do other countries have such awful public services?

I'm with UK Online but hopefully for not much longer. With my first order I waited seven weeks for it be connected then found out I had to reorder because they're morons. Then I had bband for 2 weeks and it suddenly stopped. Six weeks and 13 hour-long phone calls later I'm still waiting.

Onetel are also useless with their customer service helplines. Does anyone have any GOOD experience with broadband ISPs?

I'm cancelling the one I've got now, and looking for a fairly cheap one that allows for unlimited downloads at 1mb/s or lower (phone line can't handle anything higher), can anyone recommend a good one?

Oh and Matt DC, I don't think you'll have to pay that amount as you've been screwed around bigtime. Write to the Bulldog press office and say you're taking it to some consumer mags or newspapers and also contact Ofcom to see if they can help.

― Affectian (Affectian), Saturday, 17 December 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone have any GOOD experience with broadband ISPs?

yes, zen (for 18 months) and freedom2surf (for 3 months so far) have both been awesome. zen isn't cheap, but freedom2surf are (at least their 8meg is - i don't know if slower one are competetive).

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 17 December 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

Bulldog fucked up because they seemed to many (inc. me) to be the first touting 8 MEG line and that reeled me in quick enough. For pretty much a year their service was flawless and perhaps it was this initial success that prompted a big surge in demand once they started doing TV and press adverts properly. Probably couldn't recruit more support and admin staff quick enough, probably tried to install a new system for dealing with customer accounts. All blew up in their face. My ex-housemate took over my account when I moved out but though they keep e-mailing me the bill but with her name on it, they don't seem to be taking the money from either of our accounts (free broadband for her then woo).

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Saturday, 17 December 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

I've been to the bank and seen all my direct debits and standing orders on their very own screen so I'm sure there's no way Bulldog can actually get that money from my account. Could I get away with just ignoring it and hoping the problem will go away?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

Freedom2Surf is great though - really hugely impressed. I had one problem on my first day with it and they sorted it out in 30seconds. Bulldog's customer service twunts couldn't get me connected for two and a half months before I finally gave up.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

I have their PR Director's direct dial and mobile number on my work database. I could go directly for her. PR people are weak.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

bulldog were getting bad reports even before the 8meg touting - if anything i gather the customer service is supposed to be levelling out now. :$

but wow freedom2surf look excellent - how far do they live up to the 8meg claim? altho its usually so dependant on so many outside things like contention, proxmity to exchange, quality of bt line etc that it's pot luck what u get really innit

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

yeah matt and make sure u post that number on adslguide when ur done!

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

I finally got connected to the internet after nearly three months of waiting. turns out that in between sending me my details and fucking up my connection the first time no one troubled to tell me that they'd changed the static IP address that they'd issued originally. Now all I need to do is sort out the somewhat flakey wireless LAN and I'm all sorted. Although that at least probably has more to do with router positioning rather than anything more technical than that.

Now what am I supposed to do with 24Mbps?

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 18 December 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

use p2p to get stuff off people with dialup

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Sunday, 18 December 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

shit, wot a mess. fwiw we've got telewest and it's been pretty much problem-free - it's gone down a couple of times but they've sorted it out really quickly when it's been something they could do anything about, and been quick to let us know what the fault is when it's been something they couldn't. they even call us a few days before our bill is due if we haven't paid it to let us know if we don't pay it by x o'clock on day x we'll start losing services (which may seem a bit heavy-handed but is actually a blessing when the person in your house responsible for paying the bill keeps forgetting) plus their call centre staff are all *really* human and friendly which makes a pleasant change. we were thinking of changing as it's a bit expensive but mebbe we shouldn't...

― emsk ( emsk), Sunday, 18 December 2005 11:14 (twenty years ago)

You might want to change before Telewest becomes part of enormous ntl-Telewest-Virgin ubermonster and everything inevitably gets confused and goes down the pan.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 18 December 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

I've been with Zen for twelve months now and their service has been flawless. They are expensive, aye, but this seems to be one area where you really do get what you pay for.

― RickyT (RickyT), Sunday, 18 December 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Argh, I'm going to have to set this up in my new house, but it's got to wait until next month as I'm pretty broke, what with the insurance and the crazy first mortgage payment (why did no one warn me it would be 150% of a normal payment?) - I was tempted by the Bulldog ads (what with the Delays soundtrack and all) but not if it's as shite as you lot seem to say it is...

― Kate Classic (kate), Monday, 19 December 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

I can recommend Wanadoo broadband. Telewest can feck right off for ever for threatening to take me to court for no reason other than their incompetence.

― Dr.C, Monday, 19 December 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

i have pipex. i get 2.2mb. never had any problems in like 5 years. had to call them once when i couldn't connect, but that fixed itself before i got through on the phone.

― snowkitten (g-kit), Monday, 19 December 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

Aren't Wanadoo Freeserve now? Or am I getting my marketing campaigns mixed up? (I used to work on that account, as well, dammit.)

― Kate Classic (kate), Monday, 19 December 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

I've never had anything other than tiny unimportant problems during the four years I've been with Nildram - and those problems were due to a bad BT line.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 19 December 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

I've been with Zen for twelve months now and their service has been flawless. They are expensive

what is expensive for broadband in the UK? just for comparison's sake. because it's outrageous in the US

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

expensive now is around £25 a month. expensive a couple of years ago was £35 or so.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

this depends on capped/uncapped, speed, and length of contract, though. i mean, i'm paying £25/month, but for 8meg, uncapped, 1 month contract, i don't think i'm overpaying.

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

ah that's about the same, they all suck don't they

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

Haha, my Freedom2Surf connection seems to have suddenly stopped working. Argh, tempting fate. Hopefully its just a bit of downtime.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 09:59 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

right, BT are starting to fuck me off. "upgrade to broadband option 2", they twitter incessantly in e-mails. "we'll give you a free home hub and norton firewall software". dudes, i don't need any of that shit. piss off, will you?

anyway, this got me thinking: when i signed up with BT broadband (a good few years ago now), it was because they were pretty much the only easy option on offer, and it was a very simple deal: here's my cash, there's my ADSL. now they're trying to market broadband as some kind of lifestyle choice (home hubs and kriss fucking twatboy from "my family"; i mean, SWIVEL) and i've realised that i could probably get a far better, simpler and more grimly-friendly deal elsewhere.

a quick scout around on ye webbe suggests that fast dot co dot uk are absolutely teh r0xor - not the cheapest, but reliable, straightforward and excellent for customer service. oh, and a v cool name, esp for an old human league fan like me. i'm quite taken with them - free migration too - but wonder if anyone's had any experience with them?

indeed: does anyone have any other recommendations for mac-friendly UK broadband that i should consider?

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 16 November 2006 00:14 (nineteen years ago)

HELLO THREAD PLS TO MOVE TO NEW ANSWERS KTHXBYE

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:43 (nineteen years ago)

People say good things about Zen, but I'm not sure they do an uncapped rate. I'm about to move over to Be, which looks pretty good.

Avoid freedom2surf like the plague - they were good when I signed up but their service has been getting worse and worse and they've started throttling bandwidth for P2P applications. Which means no new episodes of Lost for me.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 16 November 2006 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

I'm happy with Nildram however I hear they were just bought up so we'll see.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Thursday, 16 November 2006 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

has anyone got the sky broadband? i'm completely hacked off with telewest, we pay through the nose for a not exactly wonderful (tv/phone/broadband) service, and i'm wondering how much of an arse it'll be to switch...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Thursday, 16 November 2006 11:03 (nineteen years ago)

Still reasonably happy with Nildram. I got bit pissed off that they couldn't help with chasing compensation from BT when my ADSL was down for 10 days (all BTs fault - they changed our number for no reason). Turns out that playing for an ADSL line does not guarantee you ADSL by law...

But apart from that I get a rock-solid stable 5 meg service almost 2 miles from the exchange for £26 a month and I don't want to rock the boat.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 16 November 2006 11:53 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, with a 50gig cap every month which I only rarely get half-way up to.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 16 November 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

Zen werer excellent but expensive when I was with them. I am now with Be and apart from some real problems when I signed up I have no problems at all.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 16 November 2006 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

thanks for reminding me. i shall move to bethere.co.uk next week

― -- (688), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:05 (nineteen years ago)

Has anyone taken advantage of any of the financially very attractive packages from people like Orange, where you get free broadband if you sign up for enough of their services yadda yadda? I am happy with Nildram (though the connection isn't flawless, which I suspect isn't their fault) but it's £26 extra a month and if I could cut this by half then maybe I should.

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

I'm on PlusNet but they throttle P2P VERY badly during the day, I get worse than dial-up speeds on Slsk. It does download things OK overnight, but that's no good if you want to get something NOW. Apart from that they are pretty good, much better than my previous provider (Telco Global via Griffin) who were bloody useless.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:25 (nineteen years ago)

People are saying bad things about orange and they have a sneaky 'fair use' cap as well.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:28 (nineteen years ago)

So there's no bandwidth throttling on Be then? That's my main concern if I'm honest. Freedom2surf basically made Soulseek and Bittorrent unusable.

Orange is basically the old-school Wanadoo rebranded, isn't it? All of these 'bundles' sound like a bad deal for me, ie "we'll throw in somoe shonky poor-quality broadband in for free".

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

No bandwidth cap on Be no.

The main gripe with orange is that they are sneakily moving people on to LLU lines without telling people making it harder to switch provider when you find out about the usage cap they didn't tell you about.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 16 November 2006 12:34 (nineteen years ago)

sorry f2s are capping you too, matt. they still cap slsk for me, but not bittorrent or normal downloads, as far as I can see. and i'm getting through over 100gb a month at the moment.

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

I've no idea why its happening, Bittorrent in particular seems to slow to pretty much nothing, even on relatively small downloads. It might be a problem with my BT line/wireless connection, but we'll see.

I still marvel at how you actually manage to consume the massive amount of stuff you download.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

yeh, i have f2s too and slsk has become useless. torrents are ok though, if they come from a private tracker - anything mainstream is pretty slow though. they started all this bandwidth throttling when pipex bought them out. i'm waiting until i can get Be from my local exchange (Feb 07 apparently)

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm with PlusNet, who've been basically fine with me. I think there's a 30 or 40GB monthly cap that doesn't take into account usage between midnight and 7am or something. Anyway, I download quite a bit of torrented TV and have only once hit the cap, which doesn't cut you off or anything anyway.

I think they might do throttling bittorrent - like zappi I get full speed on private trackers but slower with public ones. Slsk I get 20kb/s or so tops. This may be throttling. Not sure.

Anyway, PlusNet came top in some recent customer satisfaction survey so I guess they're doing something right. Let me know if you want to sign up with them, as if I get a referral I get 50p off a month or summat.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 16 November 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

(oh and unlike with some ISPs, you don't have to sign up for a 12 month minimum term if you don't want, though I think it's cheaper if you do)

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 16 November 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

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Cancelling broadband accounts - help please