Orange/Wanadoo change of conditions

In summary, you have to give 30 days notice to leave, they will charge £12
for a MAC code and a £1 extra for payments by debit or credit card. And
they expect people to stay with them? I pity anyone locked into a 12 month
contract.

Quote:

Hello,

We'd like you to know about a few changes to your terms of
use that'll come into effect on 12 December 2006. We're telling you about
them nice and early, just so that you're aware. Don't worry, you don't need
to do anything.

We hope that you'll never want to leave us. But if you do,
you'll need to give us 30 days' notice, so that we can tie up all the loose
ends before you move on and ensure the process is as smooth as possible. If
you're still in your contract period, you can continue to enjoy all the
benefits offered by your home broadband service. If you decide to leave
before the end of your contract, you'll have to settle any outstanding
charges on your account. You may want a MAC code which will cost £12 to
cover the processing fees. Don't worry, we won't charge you for the first
one. Other than that, there'll be no charge to close your account.

The easiest way to pay your bill is by direct debit. You
can set this up by visiting the member centre. It's as simple as that. It
makes sure that all your bills are settled on time.

If you choose to pay using a credit or debit card, you'll
pay an extra £1 each time (this is just to cover the additional handling
costs for these payments). Please bear in mind that a £5 charge will apply
for payments that are not made on time. If you experience any difficulties
in paying your bills, please give us a call in advance so that we can help.

Thanks for taking the time to read this email. We're
making these changes to ensure we can continue to give you one of the best
home broadband services about. After all, we have been voted Best Consumer
Internet Service Provider three years running by the ISPA. We hope that you
will continue to enjoy all the benefits we offer.

Customer Support

(E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> In summary, you have to give 30 days notice to leave, they will charge £12
> for a MAC code

Only if you fail to use the first one, which is free. That's how I'm
reading it anyway.

> and a £1 extra for payments by debit or credit card.

Non DD fees are common in many other regular-payment scenarios. Why
should ISPs be any different?
--
Regards
Jon

Tony wrote:

> We'd like you to know about a few changes to your terms of
> use that'll come into effect on 12 December 2006. We're telling you about
> them nice and early, just so that you're aware.

Presumably nice and early because they have to give 30 days notice of
changes to their T&C's. I do wish vendors would stop doing us favours.

"Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
> (E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
>> In summary, you have to give 30 days notice to leave, they will charge
>> £12
>> for a MAC code
>
> Only if you fail to use the first one, which is free. That's how I'm
> reading it anyway.

I suspect they've done this because of the inefficient ISPs who, having been
given the MAC code by the prospective customer, fail to use it within the
validity time and then demand another. The prospective customer would be
wise to demand that the inefficient ISP reimburse them for the £12 (probably
won't get it though).
--
Keith Willcocks
(If you can't laugh at life, it ain't worth living!)

On 7 Nov 2006, "Keith Willcocks" wrote:

>I suspect they've done this because of the inefficient ISPs who, having been
>given the MAC code by the prospective customer, fail to use it within the
>validity time and then demand another.

Is that based on speculation, hype, or evidence of there being lots of more
inefficient ISPs which don't use the code properly ?

I only ask because I can assume some people request a MAC, then start their
search for another ISP (instead of the other way around), and after taking
a look, decide not to bother to switch, when someone points out they will
not have the same quality / facilities of (web space / news service / mail
features ) and Freeserve/Orange has seen it happen again and again, so is
covering their staff time, to some extent, for second and subsequent MAC
requests. It seems common enough to see someone post 'I have my MAC, now,
which ISP would be best for me to use' (or have you seen none of those) ?

"Tony" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:454fd423$0$1350$(E-Mail Removed). com...

> we have been voted Best Consumer Internet Service Provider three years
> running by the ISPA.

I can guarantee there won't be a fourth year.
Since Orange took over, they went crap.

"Keith Willcocks" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:IJGdnXRKXPRa183YnZ2dnUVZ8q-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
>> (E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
>>> In summary, you have to give 30 days notice to leave, they will charge
>>> £12
>>> for a MAC code
>>
>> Only if you fail to use the first one, which is free. That's how I'm
>> reading it anyway.
>
> I suspect they've done this because of the inefficient ISPs who, having
> been given the MAC code by the prospective customer, fail to use it within
> the validity time and then demand another. The prospective customer
> would be wise to demand that the inefficient ISP reimburse them for the
> £12 (probably won't get it though).

That's true, I never thought of that. I was thinking when I read it that if
you ask for a MAC code then you are moving anyway so why should you need
another but didn't think of the scenario of a new ISP not acting quickly
enough or someone not bothering to use it.

"Gonz" <T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote in message
news:Ov%3h.50143$%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Tony" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:454fd423$0$1350$(E-Mail Removed). com...
>
>> we have been voted Best Consumer Internet Service Provider three years
>> running by the ISPA.
>
> I can guarantee there won't be a fourth year.
> Since Orange took over, they went crap.

I'm getting pretty miffed with them anyway and was looking to move. I
didn't like the way they withdrew newsgroup access without sending a
notification to everyone (they were Wanadoo at the time). They just made a
post in all the newsgroup that they were withdrawing access and there was a
debate as to whether it was genuine or a wind up. There is still no
newsgroup access with Orange.

I also noticed that they had reduced the monthly cost to £15.99 from £17.99.
I assumed that they would automatically apply it to all customers but no, if
you want to the monthly fee reduced to £15.99, you have to sign up for a new
12 month contract. Again this hasn't been notified to all customers, you
only find out if you log into your account.

You would of thought that they would offer some benefits if you paid more
like an increased download monthly allowance but looks like they are doing
the typical thing of p*ssing on their existing customers. It must be more
cost efficient to retain existing customers than to sign up new ones.

I'm moving myself and four other people away so that is five people they
have lost. None of us are heavy users and the Eclipse package will suit us
all, plus the fact that it is cheaper and gives a newsfeed.

Wonder how many more ISP's will follow Oranges lead though and start adding
extra charges/moving conditions.

On 7 Nov 2006, "Tony" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm moving myself and four other people away so that is five people they
>have lost. None of us are heavy users and the Eclipse package will suit
>us all, plus the fact that it is cheaper and gives a newsfeed.

I'm glad to see that some people aren't put off by the adverse comments
that can be seen on www.DSLzoneUK.net - I suppose it depends on what one
has been wanting to do as to whether any lower priority might affect users'
traffic. I've had few problems and no complaints over the past 6+ months.

--
Change to DSL Max the way I did: switch ISP <http://www.dslmax.info/>

On 7/11/2006 2:25 pm, in article
45509935$0$1350$(E-Mail Removed), "Tony"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I'm getting pretty miffed with them anyway and was looking to move. I
> didn't like the way they withdrew newsgroup access without sending a
> notification to everyone (they were Wanadoo at the time). They just made a
> post in all the newsgroup that they were withdrawing access and there was a
> debate as to whether it was genuine or a wind up. There is still no
> newsgroup access with Orange.

The old Freeserve/Wanadoo newsgroup server at:

news.svr.pol.co.uk

Is still working ! :-)
--
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