Service goas live only after the 14 day cooling period

Hi,

Newbie here and residing currently in London. Finally pulled the trigger on a 12 month contract nowTV broadband as the cashback was enticing. I was hoping I could use the 14 day cooling period to test the quality and cancel it if not really up to the test but they are only actually starting the service on the 15th day after signup which in my opinion defeats the purpose of cooling period. Is this a common practice in this country? Why would anyone want to cancel during 14 days if they haven't been able to even test the service nor the quality of customer support.

Any thoughts appreciated

It's common practice.

Why would they make a 12 month commitment and allow you to leave within days of taking the service?

Is it not from when you go live?

Edited by BuckleZ (Wed 04-Aug-21 18:03:31)

Correct! First they said "Congratulations you have everything ready to go live and an engineer does NOT need to visit your home" and then where I would choose the go live day, the earliest available date was on the 15th day

Because that's the whole point of 14 day cool off and customer protection for online purchases?

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/c...

Thanks. That's a good read. Does this mean I could call them and ask to go live sooner and be ready to pay for what I have used in case I cancelled? Happy to do that. I just hope they agree to go live sooner

In reply to a post by aquiss:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/c...

Not according to that Which article, No.

Cancelling services
Your right to cancel You have 14 days from entering into a service contract in which you can cancel it.

The trader shouldn’t start providing the service before the 14 day cancellation period has ended, unless you have requested this.

If the service is provided in full within 14 days The right to cancel can be lost during the cancellation period if the service is provided in full before the 14 days elapses.

Thanks! I'm gonna go ahead and request this! Lets see if they will do it

In reply to a post by iannewson:

Not according to that Which article, No.

Cancelling services
Your right to cancel You have 14 days from entering into a service contract in which you can cancel it.

The trader shouldn’t start providing the service before the 14 day cancellation period has ended, unless you have requested this.

If the service is provided in full within 14 days The right to cancel can be lost during the cancellation period if the service is provided in full before the 14 days elapses.

You going to request what exactly? Starting the service earlier? The 14 days is not a try before you buy offer, you have committed to a contract and you have 14 days to change your mind, before the service starts. If the service starts before the 14 days the right to cancel may be lost.

This is how I understand the above text:
If the service is used "in full" then the right to cancel might be lost. But there is no way for me to use the service "in full" in 14 days as the term of the service is for 12 months. I guess the "in full" part can be subject to different interpretations?

Anyways to be honest I don't think they are gonna let me go live sooner but if they do I'm planning to use it to try. Hopefully all will be well. I was just not familiar with this practice as aim new here.

Will report if I got any answers worth sharing

In reply to a post by Realalemadrid:

You going to request what exactly? Starting the service earlier? The 14 days is not a try before you buy offer, you have committed to a contract and you have 14 days to change your mind, before the service starts. If the service starts before the 14 days the right to cancel may be lost.

In reply to a post by hcltowz:

Thanks. That's a good read. Does this mean I could call them and ask to go live sooner and be ready to pay for what I have used in case I cancelled? Happy to do that. I just hope they agree to go live sooner

In reply to a post by aquiss:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/c...

You are aware that Now Tv do mot control when OpenReach can do the install at the exchange?

Link about Internet cancels

In reply to a post by hcltowz:

I was hoping I could use the 14 day cooling period to test the quality and cancel it if not really up to the test but they are only actually starting the service on the 15th day after signup which in my opinion defeats the purpose of cooling period. Is this a common practice in this country? Why would anyone want to cancel during 14 days if they haven't been able to even test the service nor the quality of customer support.

The cooling off period is a statutory distance selling safeguard, there so should you change your mind.

This is not necessarily the same as “testing” the services and in any event, as has been pointed out the delivery of these types of services won’t always fall within the 14 day window which for the contracting of service, the clock starts ticking on the day you accept the agreement, not the date the service is activated.

This is different from goods, which is perhaps where some of confusion is creeping in. For goods the 14 days starts when you take ownership of the goods.

Also, if the service doesn't perform to the contract then it could be cancelled at any time. But, if it performs within contract then the 14 days cooling off is irrelevant for these services anyway (and as has been pointed out that 14 days likely is void as soon as the service goes live - so if the service goes live on day 3 then the cancellation no longer applies).

In reply to a post by ian72:

But, if it performs within contract then the 14 days cooling off is irrelevant for these services anyway (and as has been pointed out that 14 days likely is void as soon as the service goes live - so if the service goes live on day 3 then the cancellation no longer applies).

That's an interesting statement and something we have had two different law firms give us two different verdicts on. Let me give an example:

FTTP Port Restarts - These can happen within 24 hours. If that is switched on and the service is working fine, does the 14 day cooling period still apply?

We have had two law firms look at Consumer Contract Regulations and Part 36, seems to imply confusion. One law firm has told us the 14 days still applies and another has said if the service is delivered sooner than 14 days, then the cooling off period ends.

We are now at the point, do we hold off restarting a port until day 15 just to allow someone to cancel because people will try and take advantage of situations like this.

Openreach product always first service go live in 14 days! (never before that) If you order today your live service will go either Aug 19th or 20th. That's the normal 14 days go for everyone for new service.

You can't cancel your minimum 12 months contract after 14 days but before that yes but sometimes the ISP will tell you sorry u can't cancel the service the day before installation date because it too late to stop the installation order via BTW as the engineer appointed can't be cancel on the next day for installation date.

Day 1-12 yes u can cancel the order
Day 13 to 14 - you might be too late to cancel the order as the ISP can't stop the order
Day 15 - u can't cancel it

Got it Thanks!

I called and they also said there is no way they can start the service sooner. So the part in the above mentioned document that says "you could start the service sooner if requested" doesn't work in this case.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Openreach product always first service go live in 14 days! (never before that) If you order today your live service will go either Aug 19th or 20th. That's the normal 14 days go for everyone for new service.

You can't cancel your minimum 12 months contract after 14 days but before that yes but sometimes the ISP will tell you sorry u can't cancel the service the day before installation date because it too late to stop the installation order via BTW as the engineer appointed can't be cancel on the next day for installation date.

Day 1-12 yes u can cancel the order
Day 13 to 14 - you might be too late to cancel the order as the ISP can't stop the order
Day 15 - u can't cancel it

In reply to a post by hcltowz:

So the part in the above mentioned document that says "you could start the service sooner if requested" doesn't work in this case.

At present the only service we can see happening sooner than 14 days, is FTTP Port Restarts, that can happen within 24 hours. However, as also noted in this thread by myself, we have differing legal views that we are trying to seek clarity on ourselves.

Slightly off topic, but is likely that Consumer Law will have to change. Ofgem has a stated objective of one day energy switching with the 'cooling off' period extending into the new contract period. It follows that if someone cancelled on, say, day 12 then the follow on action would have to be a reverse transfer.

You, and others, have t look at the costs involved if a customer signs up, service goes live and then he cancels. You will be paying OR and get nothing back, OR have done the work so should be paid. Then the customer goes elsewhere, does the same again, and again ... It really is abusing the system and costs all ISPs a significant sum, and for some it could be hard to bear.

I personally believe that once the service is installed any cooling off period should end. They may still have a right to canel if the service is well below the promised figure.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Then the customer goes elsewhere, does the same again, and again ...

Funny enough, this is exactly the example I used.

One bit down and one bit up - that would be using the service in full can be defined as..