GoFibre unable to move BB to new home.

Cannot supply at new address - Early Redmemption Penalty!


My elderly mother has broadband with them and due to health issues is having to move to a more suitable property in the same Town.

She phoned up today and asked for her broadband to be transferred to the new property. She gave them the address details and was informed that their services were not available at the new address yet.

They are charging her £340 early termination fees!

She pointed out that she wanted the services transferred, but through no fault of her own this isn't possible.

Any other broadband provider who cannot transfer the services do not charge early termination fees as this is outwith the customer's control. I can testify to this happening to me personally.

So is my mother expected to only consider moving to another property if it has Gofibre availability is this even legal?

Unfortunately, this is the way of the modern world. If mother's move was in any way predictable, she should not have signed for renewal. We saw OR here preparing for fibre over a summer. Our wireless broadband contract reached 2 years in October, I could see fttp was coming and I declined to renew, just staying on month by month.

As an aside, I tend to think that while a fixed contract period initially is justified, continued contract lock in after that is predatory.

Just found it in the their T&Cs

You could speak with them and explain the situation and see if they can meet you in the middle. Someone moving house during the minimum contract period may not be within the control of the customer, but it's not the providers' fault either. They will have spent money to acquire the customer, may have applied an introductory offer, performed a physical installation and supplied equipment, and they recoup those costs over the term of the initial agreement.

Personally I'd rather the standard was no contracts, no supplied routers, and you pay for the costs of the installation, but "the market" has decided otherwise.

I feel for you and your mother but companies have costs in putting in services and so they have these clauses to help them recover costs if people terminate early.

Whilst your mother may not have been able to foresee a move neither could the company - the alternative is maybe the company should have refused service to someone that they considered may be a risk of moving but then I am not sure how they would determine that.

A lot of broadband networks are running at a loss at present so may not be able to absorb this like a large long term player like BT would.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I feel for you and your mother but companies have costs in putting in services and so they have these clauses to help them recover costs if people terminate early.

That is valid in the initial minimum term. But not for follow on terms

The follow on terms often are discounted in which case the profit levels will be much lower. I am sure it is in the contract they signed up to.

I also understand that they should only be recovering their costs according to the code of practice so shouldn't just be charging the full amount to end of contract - but not sure if that is the case here (ie whether there has been any discount to the total amount owed to the end of the contract).

EDIT: Can't see anything here that says whether it was the initial contract or a follow on anyway so we don't know if that makes any difference here - contractually it doesn't, morally is down to individual judgement.

Edited by ian72 (Tue 27-Jan-26 10:52:22)

Is her intial contract. She will just have to pay it.

Have set her up with a new deal through TCB Compare Broadband. Vodafone 500 with cashback and a voucher

Personally think that, while they are entitled to charge the termination fee, it's a bit hard considering the situation.

When my wife's aunt's health took a turn for the worse we moved her from phone only BT, for which she was paying an exorbitant amount, to Vodafone Broadband, which we added to my existing account. The intention being that we could provide her with devices to help her continue to live independently, she being all but blind.

Unfortunately after a stay in hospital and what was intended to be a short recuperation in a care home she died.

I expected an argument with VF over terminating the contract but it turned out to be the shortest and easiest contact that I have had with them - all on the phone speaking to a person; not a bot. No discussion and didn't ask for the hardware back. They even refunded the unused portion of the monthly payment.

Agreed.

Its nice to see a BB Provider doing the right thing.