Avonline!

Hi,

I'm after some advise, back in 2013 I ordered Avonline Satellite Broadband on the basis that they offered a Fibre Guarantee which was advertised as If you are able to get Fibre in the future then they would not hold you to the minimum term and let you cancel providing you give 30 days notice and return the equipment.

So I eventually gets fibre broadband and sends in the 30 days notice of cancellation which was received and confirmed, I was given a final bill which was paid and returned the equipment.

Since then I have heard nothing from Avonline but out of the blue have been getting pestered by a Debt collections agency regarding an outstanding balance, I have not been provided with anything yet but it appears they are chasing the remainder of the term despite me following the correct process.

They claim I did not fulfill the requirements of the early cancellation yet I did, I have asked for details but been provided with nothing as yet.

My issue is why did Avonline not advise me there was any problem and what can I do to resolve this, as the DCA are useless and Avonline won't discuss it with me?

Thanks

Time to take details of the issue to someone like citizens advice

Did avonline acknowledge you were cancelling under the fibre guarantee, when you handed in your notice

Deal with debt recovery companies can be a nightmare. They will insist the money is owed, no matter what you say.

Useful, free, advise at www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

Dave - having checked records here at Avonline, your account below is fundamentally inaccurate.

For Data Protection reasons I am restricted in documenting both the facts and your inaccuracies on this Forum, sadly denying me a fair opportunity to correct your misleading posting.

The debt is completely valid, caused by your failure to respond appropriately to us on multiple occasions.

If you do wish to resolve the situation, please call us on 0303 303 3131 to speak to the Finance team or feel free to email me at [email protected].

So, do you offer a "fibre guarantee" and if so what terms do people need to meet in order to cancel under that guarantee?

EDIT - I may have just spotted the issue. The fibre guarantee is only if the customer takes up fibre with Avonline and not if they go to another ISP. Is that correct? If so, then I assume (and the OP can confirm) that the OP has moved to another ISP and therefore does not meet the requirements of the guarantee.

As detailed on the fibre guarantee on the Avonline website:

If fibre does arrive at your home, let us know and we'll confirm if you can switch to fibre with Avonline. If we can provide you with a fibre alternative, we'll end your satellite contract with 30 days written notice and start your new fibre service.

It also states:

Only if we confirm that we are unable to provide you with a fibre service will we then accept confirmation of your fibre order with an alternative supplier and we will cancel the contract on 30 days notice. It is your responsibility to return our hardware to us safely if you have rented it from us.

But, if OP had not first got refusal from Avonline then they would not be able to enact this clause.

Edited by ian72 (Wed 28-Jan-15 15:41:47)

Ian - answering in general terms (just to keep away from any DPA issues), prior to us becoming a fibre provider last year, all that we asked for was the fibre order simply to make sure that the opt out was being used fairly by the customer.

In the circumstances when the customer did not/could not or would not provide evidence of the fibre service that they had ordered, then we would normally offer a sensible compromise to the customer based upon their length of service with us.

Only in circumstances where a customer avoids both of these options do we feel it is then appropriate to seek redress under the committed contract period. Hope that clarifies but please feel free to email me directly if you have further queries. Mark

There's an inconsistency here: the OP states he ordered Avonline in 2013 yet AvonlineBB has stated that they only became a fibre provider in 2014. If that is the case the scenario suggested by ian72 obviously doesn't apply (unless Avonline changed the terms of the guarantee retrospectively).

I read AvonlineBB's post to be saying exactly that - the information currently on the site doesn't apply as Avonline weren't a fibre provider at that time. Therefore, the suggestion is that the OP didn't meet some of the original requirements - but AvonlineBB can't post to say what due to concerns over sharing personal information.

The fact AvonlineBB seems happy to discuss this with the OP would suggest there is little else we can do here - the OP needs to speak to them to challenge whatever it is that Avonline believe the OP did not do to meet the terms.

Ian72/Jelv

Ian has this called correctly but to clarify. For all customers that joined us under the original Fibre Guarantee (proof of contract with new provider), even though we now have a modified FG for new customers (ie. first right to offer them fibre), we would only apply the terms prevailing at time of order. I'd attempted to make this clear in earlier response.

I believe this is at point of resolution already. Mark

Why am I getting very slow connection and transmission speeds? They are down to <3.5mbits per sec on down load and <1.5mbits upload?