£1000+ to upgrade to next Fibre package?

Our area has recently been enabled for FTTC (yay!) so after a lot of research in search of a high quality ISP I chose Zen. Having never had to deal with usage limits before (while on BE's ADSL2) I had no idea of my typical usage so went for Zen's middle package with 200 GB usage at £38 per month ( http://www.zen.co.uk/business/broadband/fibre-optic-... ). Now, 3 weeks into my first month I have realised this isn't enough so was looking into changing to the larger 400 GB package costing £55 per month.

I was pretty shocked to be told that the only way of doing this would be to buy myself out of the existing contract (which I assume to be 23 months remaining * £38 = £874) then start a new contract on the new package. The chap in sales suggested that the cheaper option would be to get a new line installed and have the £55 package on that then downgrade my current line to the lowest package (£23 per month).

When querying this I was told that the first three packages are of one "type" and the last two of another "type" and I can't move between them. This isn't clear to me on the website and if it was my decision may have been different when choosing package.

I can't believe I'm the only person to have run into this - has anyone else here been able to upgrade from a Fibre Pro package to a Fibre Office package without paying over a grand (inc VAT) for the privilege?

At this time I'm thinking my only option is to downgrade to the lowest package to see out the 2 year term and get another line in which will be from another ISP for my broadband connection. It seems a bit excessive though.

I should also mention that the service during my first three weeks with Zen has been fine with a stable connection and a good response from support on the single time I've contacted them. I know they have a very good reputation for quality service which is why I spent a little more and went with them... however, if this is typical, I'm confused at why I didn't see any reports of this in my research. I'm eager to hear anyone else's experience or at the very least, put my experience out there so others can keep it in mind if in the same position as me.

The restrictions on regrades are listed under 24 Month Contract Offer Terms at the bottom of the page you link to. Only reason I can think of is that BT possibly imposes similar terms on Zen.

I wonder if there is a "cooling off" period in the contract, have you checked? If there isn't perhaps there ought to be, to avoid situation like this where the wrong package is chosen. Personally, if it were me I would chalk it up to experience and see out the rest of the contract being careful with my bandwidth usage. 200GB is a fair bit of bandwidth,

I download a lot and watch a lot of Netflix and other streaming video, but even I don't go much over 200GB a month (I am on Office Pro, soon to be regraded to Fibre Pro which I chose because I figured it would give me room to grow over the next 24 months)

Don't forget you can buy extra bandwidth when/if you need it, though it is relatively expensive.

Thanks for the replies.

In reply to a post by jphilip:

The restrictions on regrades are listed under 24 Month Contract Offer Terms at the bottom of the page you link to. Only reason I can think of is that BT possibly imposes similar terms on Zen.

Ah yes, I see the drop down text at the bottom of the page now. I ordered through email with sales so didn't see that first time around (or the option to go for a yearly term + setup fee which I would have chosen had I known).

In reply to a post by nrms:

I wonder if there is a "cooling off" period in the contract, have you checked?

Even if there was it wouldn't apply to me as the account is owned by my company and things like cooling off periods are only applicable to consumers/private individuals.

In reply to a post by nrms:

I download a lot and watch a lot of Netflix and other streaming video, but even I don't go much over 200GB a month (I am on Office Pro, soon to be regraded to Fibre Pro which I chose because I figured it would give me room to grow over the next 24 months)

Don't forget you can buy extra bandwidth when/if you need it, though it is relatively expensive.

Netflix/Lovefilm/iPlayer get hammered in this house by multiple users. Also, the connection is used for my work with a lot of uploading and downloading of fairly large files.

I'm aware of the extra bandwidth but at £1 per GB it's a non starter unfortunately.

With the notice being on the website (albeit very small and not obvious on the package comparison table) I guess it's my bad and I'll just need to suck it up. I'll go ahead with the plan of downgrading to the lowest package to see out the contract term and have a new line put in for my broadband connection (which will be from another ISP after this experience).

This has turned out to be the most expensive 3 weeks of broadband service I've ever heard of!

Is the hgher allowance package the same speeds from the vdsl part, if so a regrade of usage allowance should be simple enough

Try calling zen again

The terms and conditions do say what they say; however, they do seem to be a little strange. I assume that the 24 months is to cover the cost of the free FTTC install and it is not unreasonable for Zen to expect customers to honour the 24 month requirement. The OP is not suggesting otherwise and I note than other ISPs take a slightly different view on package changes. Some, IDNet comes to mind, will allow a free package change within the 12 month initial period. Others, and BT comes to mind, require a re-start of the contract. It might be helpful if a Zen Rep could explain the logic behind the Company's position given that in all other respects they are a very fair and efficient company to deal with.

The 'Office' packages are the "Elevated" traffic weighting version of FTTC from BTWholesale, while Lite/Active/Pro are all "Standard" (hence why a downgrade is possible without the same issue). Therefore a switch from Lite/Active/Pro to an Office service would require a change in service and therefore contract with BTW. The old contract would still need be honoured with BTW, however.

regards,
Phil.

No possibility of letting people regrade upwards without the Elavated?

I've highlighted this thread to the product manager and made that very suggestion. It does seem an "everybody wins" solution, as I see it.

regards,
Phil.

update as an when please, i don't mind telling you that i'm looking to stay with zen but not as it is currently.

edit i was sold on zen by their monthly no commtment policy (been here since 2003), i hope you guys are complaing to anyone and everyone regardless of british %&%%%& telecom.



fight! for us plz.

Edited by deleted (Thu 14-Mar-13 16:53:45)

Considering all he wants is to increase his usage allowance why do you need to change his contract with BTW? Why do you not just bill him the increased amount and increase his usage allowance?

hmm what happens with virgin media when you downgrade you packages ?

oh yes a new 12 month contract lol

In reply to a post by Stanman_24:

hmm what happens with virgin media when you downgrade you packages ?

oh yes a new 12 month contract lol

Stop trying to be smart - he is upgrading his package not downgrading.

Do I need to lock both of you into a room to sort this out?

The ISP answer at http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/zen/t/4214845-re-10... says it is being looked into.

The product range as sold on their site is jumping between different traffic priority levels and thus NOT just a Usage allowance change.