cheeky Tesco

10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband

Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75

I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
"required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.

"johannes" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
>
> Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75
>
> I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.

Eclipse use the same scam to extract the last drop out of a departing (and
usually dissatified customer)!

Roger

Unless there is any contractual obligation to the contrary (and you could
almost bet that as it's to their advantage there will be) you could try the
argument "you didn't provide a service after 24/5 so there is no liability
to pay you". Well you could argue that anyway AND make sure the Direct
Debit has been cancelled. IMHO this is nothing more than an attempt to
screw the ex customer. You may find that other than sending a few
intimidating letters (which you could just ignore) it will take the matter
any further for the cost involved and the amount outstanding.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway

"johannes" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
>
> Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75
>
> I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, johannes
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
>
> Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75
>
> I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.


Didn't your Tesco contract say you had to give 30 days notice of
cancellation? In which case you gave notice when you asked for the MAC
and were contractually obliged to pay for 30 daysfrom that date.

Kit

Kit wrote:
>
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, johannes
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> > 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> > 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
> >
> > Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75
> >
> > I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> > for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> > for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> > "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> > physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.
>
> Didn't your Tesco contract say you had to give 30 days notice of
> cancellation? In which case you gave notice when you asked for the MAC
> and were contractually obliged to pay for 30 daysfrom that date.

No, the 30 days is for Tesco to give notice of any changes of their
conditions. The initial contract are for 12 months, if you cancel before
that, then they will charge a cancellation fee £70. After that, you
can cancel any time. I had Tesco broadband for more that 12 months and
was keen to leave once that period had expired. The problem I had with
Tesco was discussed here in an earlier thread. I had a 1Mb service and
Tesco could not upgrade it to 2Mb. They tried to convince me that 1Mb
was limited by my local exchange, i.e. implying that no other provider
could give a better service from the exchange. This was a plain untruth.
The limitation was due to Tesco's particular setup; because they didn't
have an ADSL MAX service.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Johannes Andersen
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Kit wrote:

> > Didn't your Tesco contract say you had to give 30 days notice of
> > cancellation? In which case you gave notice when you asked for the MAC
> > and were contractually obliged to pay for 30 daysfrom that date.
>
> No, the 30 days is for Tesco to give notice of any changes of their
> conditions. The initial contract are for 12 months, if you cancel before
> that, then they will charge a cancellation fee £70. After that, you
> can cancel any time. I had Tesco broadband for more that 12 months and
> was keen to leave once that period had expired.

According to the Tesco T&C:
"You can inform us that you wish to cancel this agreement after the
expiry of the Cancellation Period by giving at least 30 days notice to
us in writing, or by telephone on 0845 650 8000"
(see http://www.tesco.net/terms_conditions.asp)

This is standard with many services for which you pay monthly.

BTW - I have absolutely no connection with Tesco and have never had any
internet access with them. I just moved from Nildram and the 30 day
notice applies with them as well - I got my MAC on 24th May, moved
service on 4th June and had to pay up to 23rd June.

Kit

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:30:16 +0100, Kit wrote:

> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Johannes Andersen
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Kit wrote:
>
>>> Didn't your Tesco contract say you had to give 30 days notice of
>>> cancellation? In which case you gave notice when you asked for the MAC
>>> and were contractually obliged to pay for 30 daysfrom that date.
>>
>> No, the 30 days is for Tesco to give notice of any changes of their
>> conditions. The initial contract are for 12 months, if you cancel before
>> that, then they will charge a cancellation fee £70. After that, you
>> can cancel any time. I had Tesco broadband for more that 12 months and
>> was keen to leave once that period had expired.
>
> According to the Tesco T&C:
> "You can inform us that you wish to cancel this agreement after the
> expiry of the Cancellation Period by giving at least 30 days notice to
> us in writing, or by telephone on 0845 650 8000"
> (see http://www.tesco.net/terms_conditions.asp)
>
> This is standard with many services for which you pay monthly.
>
> BTW - I have absolutely no connection with Tesco and have never had any
> internet access with them. I just moved from Nildram and the 30 day
> notice applies with them as well - I got my MAC on 24th May, moved
> service on 4th June and had to pay up to 23rd June.
>
> Kit

So is the answer to transfer, i.e. give the new ISP the MAC, about 25 days
after getting it?
--
Peter.
If you can do it today, you didn't put off enough yesterday.

johannes wrote:
> 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
>
> Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75
>
> I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.

You think that's bad, SKY give out MACs but keep on charging your
account until you send in a cancelation, by post to a PO box...

johannes wrote:
> 10/5 : I requested the MAC code from Tesco
> 14/5 : Received the MAC code and signed up for new provider ADSL24
> 24/5 : Transition to ADSL24 broadband
>
> Hence I was surprised to receive a bill today from Tesco of £12.75

As another poster has said, this is likely to be your final payment to
cover the 30 days notice of cancellation you have given.

> I called up Tesco accounts and they told me that the charge was
> for the part of June up to 11/6. This was because the MAC was valid
> for 30 days, hence they said that they had to keep my line open
> "required by law"! Seems odd since there was no way that I could
> physically use their service after the transition to ADSL24.

This is appear to be a cack-handed reference to GC22 which says the
following (in short, if you are migrating the service away, we cannot
cease/cancel the service - we have to wait until you have migrated):

"
22.2 The Communications Provider shall:
(a) facilitate the migration (or where applicable, connection) of
the Broadband Service in a manner that is fair and reasonable;
(b) ensure that the migration (or where applicable, connection) of
the Broadband Service is carried out within a reasonable
period;

(c) ensure that the migration (or where applicable,
connection) of the Broadband Service is carried out with
minimal loss of the Broadband Service;
"

Appendix A
"
Cease requests and notice to terminate a Broadband Service
A1.13 The Communications Provider shall not issue a Cease Request for
the Broadband Service unless the Communications Provider has
established that the End-User does not wish to transfer the
Broadband Service to another Communications Provider.
"

PeterC wrote:
> So is the answer to transfer, i.e. give the new ISP the MAC, about 25 days
> after getting it?

That's a bit long to wait, I'd wait a maximum of 3 weeks from the MAC
being generated, or at least 10 days before the MAC expires. A typical
migration order with BTwholesale will take 5 working days to complete,
assuming there are no problems.