Line Termination FEE

Hello,
Basically, We have in the past had problems and had two broadband lines for redundancy,
now we have FTTP, and the second line contract with plusnet ends on the 28th, and I have given notice to terminate, but they say there is a £30 fee to pass on from openreach to terminate the line at the exchange,

is this normal or am I being done over here?

cheers.

It's normal.

I don't recall ever seeing any ISP's T & Cs, (sometimes called "Legal"), where complete cessation of broadband on a line doesn't incur this fee. IIRC it is not subject to Vat.

The line itself, once for telephone service only, I don't think has a cease fee.

Cool, Thanks for clarifying, I thought it was weird as when we had a talktalk line I never had this, but looking it up they are llu so slightly different to openreach,

I have told them to take the £30 via direct debit or to contact me if they need to discuss it,

Cheers.

TT probably have. Don't confuse it with a migration away, which is not a cease of broadband on the line but a transfer of provider . Very few charge for a migration away outside any minimum term in force.

Edit - I have a vague recollection that TT don't charge a termination fee for a complete cease.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 07-Jun-16 14:10:36)

You should be able to terminate your service after the contract has ended without incurring a termination charge. I did this about a year ago,

Father in law is moving and not taking his service for phone or adsl etc, he is out of contract on adsl. Plusnet charged us £33.46 for termination due to openreach cease fee apparently...

That's what I said.

Except it is £30, not £33.46, and it depends on which DSL product the customer is on.

Link to Plusnet cessation charges.

Surely if you are out of contract it should not apply...

"Cessation charges don't apply if:

You switch to a service that's part of the BT Wholesale network
You're a customer without a contract on any of the following products:
Plusnet Essentials
Unlimited
Unlimited Fibre
Unlimited Fibre Extra"

We were told that the charge was due to paying openreach to visit the cabinet and cease as we were not taking it with us.He is well out of contract. And it was £33.46 not £30... (I suspect this was the adsl rental for the few days he needed between billing dates and exiting the property)

I said that too.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

... and it depends on which DSL product the customer is on.

Link to Plusnet cessation charges.

You just quoted from that link.

So most likely it was £30 for termination and £3.46 to finish paying off the notice period. They are 2 separate charges and the £3.46 part will be different depending on how long is left of the notice period when the bill is raised.

In reply to a post by Tazz_uk:

"Cessation charges don't apply if:

You switch to a service that's part of the BT Wholesale network
You're a customer without a contract on any of the following products:
Plusnet Essentials
Unlimited
Unlimited Fibre
Unlimited Fibre Extra"

I've read elsewhere that in Plusnet language, a "customer without a contract" (stupid phrase) is someone who signed up without initially committing to a 12/18 month minimum term. Those packages are designed to be cancelled any time without charge, but cost extra every month and probably carry a set-up fee (can't find details at the moment). People initially joining on a 12/18 month minimum term which has lapsed pay the cease charge.

I concur, PlusNet wording can be a tad confusing.

Perhaps a better wording would be

Cessation charges don't apply if:

"You switch to a service that's part of the BT Wholesale network
You're a customer who did not sign up to a service with a 12 month or longer on any of the following products:
Plusnet Essentials
Unlimited
Unlimited Fibre
Unlimited Fibre Extra

The extra monthly and setup costs of the no-contract options already cover various elements, hence their appeal for those who require flexibility in terms."

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

"You switch to a service that's part of the BT Wholesale network"

And that part is misleading too, since MPF migrations following a recognised migration process are also free of the cessation charge.

Discussed at length here so probably doesn't need to be revisited: http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/4461149-plu...

Last September my daughter entered into a 9 month 'student' phone and bb contract with BT for a rented house (sharing with two other girls).
(Scottish uni's start earlier and BT was the only one 'ready' for it.)

Now she has been charged a £31 termination fee !
Surely that is wrong, the contact was for fixed period, so it's understud it will end, so why termination fee ?
I suspect that they use std. contract, which probably does not cater for short term, but even so, they should vave it.
She was unable to talk BT out of that, I told her to cancell the DD, but as BT may be the only option again come September, she decided not to.
(Though it could be in another housmate's name...)

Not amused, and I a BT shareholder, don't use BT directly at home, but i's PlusNet !
Regards,
Martin

Did contract state service would be ending after nine months, or did the 9 months mean minimum term and you then gave notice to migrate or cease. If cease the usual cease charges would apply

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

I've read elsewhere that in Plusnet language, a "customer without a contract" (stupid phrase) is someone who signed up without initially committing to a 12/18 month minimum term. Those packages are designed to be cancelled any time without charge, but cost extra every month and probably carry a set-up fee (can't find details at the moment). People initially joining on a 12/18 month minimum term which has lapsed pay the cease charge.

Not IME. I had a 1 year contract which I renewed twice. I then stopped renewing the contract and about 15 months after that I got them to agree that I could cease as per their T&Cs without paying a cease charge,

I actually left about a year after that. I did not pay a cease charge. Just referred them to the notes on my account.

As it turned out I might not have saved any money because I was out of contract for some time, but I left later than I originally expected/hoped for.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Did contract state service would be ending after nine months, or did the 9 months mean minimum term and you then gave notice to migrate or cease. If cease the usual cease charges would apply

My daughter says she never had a written contract..., so I am not sure.
However, she did eventually cancelled the DD, BT had a month to claim the fee,
but didn't, we will see what happens next and again in September.

In reply to a post by thomaswarne01:

Cool, Thanks for clarifying, I thought it was weird as when we had a talktalk line I never had this, but looking it up they are llu so slightly different to openreach,

I have told them to take the £30 via direct debit or to contact me if they need to discuss it,

Cheers.

We had the same, PN FTTC+TT FTTC, now on VM. Terminating TT was easy, we were in contract still so some termination fee to come out via DD on final bill.

PN wanted a card payment over the phone, didn't have the card with me at work so they said they would contact me when I was at home, but terminated it there and then. No call happens, they then close my access to the online account so I can't see any bills, refuse to take the payment via DD, and instead pass the account to debt collectors.

I'm fighting with them now, but they also refuse to discuss the matter via email, only via ticket, which I can't use as they closed the account.

I don't know of an ISP that gives a written contract. The Ts&Cs are as per the web site at the time of sign up. The "contract" in this sense is the minimum term agreed to at the time of accepting the service.

Before entering into an agreement it is generally best to check what agreement that is. If you don't check then beware of potential nasty surprises.

The charge is a cessation fee, which Openreach charge to disconnect the line from the old DSL DSLAM.

BT charge £31.