WARNING: Onspeed

WARNING: Onspeed conditions of service

Onspeed sounded great. It got fabulous reviews and. So last Nov I signed up.


I used it for a year on my dial-up connection. It did speed up some things,
but overall it was a disappointment. Web pages loaded quicker if I chose to
accept much reduced picture quality. Emails did not seem to download any
faster. Overall it was decidedly unimpressive.


So towards the end of my subscription year, I uninstalled it.


I thought that was the end of it.....not so


Today I received my credit card statement. It included £24.99 for a renewal
to my onspeed subscription. I rang them. They pointed out that according to
their conditions of service, renewal is AUTOMATIC unless actively cancelled.
I had not realised that. They told me that they had sent an email about the
renewal.....but I had originally provided them with an address that is
spam-proof in that I don't usually read it!


Worse still....they had billed me at a credit card that I had stopped using
but had not cancelled ( I realise now that I should have done!)


They agreed to refund me.....fine....once I had retreived my card details.


They offer a 14-day refund. My credit card statement just happened to come 7
days after the billing date, so I was fortunate. It might have arrived after
too late for me to cancel.


But I wonder just how many subscribers are caught out by this clause in the
conditions of service...........see below


So if you have it and don't want to continue, be sure to check the email
account that you gave them.


And if you don't have it ......well, read all the conditions of service
before you sign up.


Below is an extract from the email that they sent me


.................................


Your ONSPEED account renews shortly. There is no action for you to take.
Your card, provided when you initially purchased ONSPEED, will be charged on
01 Dec 2005. This is your renewal confirmation and receipt.


If you want to charge your ONSPEED renewal to a different card, click here.
If you change your card details, your ONSPEED renewal will be charged on
this new card straight away.


Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED.
Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.

--
its not a dot its an underscore

its not ie its co.uk

"Dongle Widget" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)...
> WARNING: Onspeed conditions of service
>
> Onspeed sounded great. It got fabulous reviews and. So last Nov I signed
> up.
>
>
> I used it for a year on my dial-up connection. It did speed up some
> things,
> but overall it was a disappointment. Web pages loaded quicker if I chose
> to
> accept much reduced picture quality. Emails did not seem to download any
> faster. Overall it was decidedly unimpressive.
>
>
> So towards the end of my subscription year, I uninstalled it.
>
>
> I thought that was the end of it.....not so
>
>
> Today I received my credit card statement. It included £24.99 for a
> renewal
> to my onspeed subscription. I rang them. They pointed out that according
> to
> their conditions of service, renewal is AUTOMATIC unless actively
> cancelled.
> I had not realised that. They told me that they had sent an email about
> the
> renewal.....but I had originally provided them with an address that is
> spam-proof in that I don't usually read it!
>
>
> Worse still....they had billed me at a credit card that I had stopped
> using
> but had not cancelled ( I realise now that I should have done!)
>
>
> They agreed to refund me.....fine....once I had retreived my card details.
>
>
> They offer a 14-day refund. My credit card statement just happened to come
> 7
> days after the billing date, so I was fortunate. It might have arrived
> after
> too late for me to cancel.
>
>
> But I wonder just how many subscribers are caught out by this clause in
> the
> conditions of service...........see below
>
>
> So if you have it and don't want to continue, be sure to check the email
> account that you gave them.
>
>
> And if you don't have it ......well, read all the conditions of service
> before you sign up.
>
>
> Below is an extract from the email that they sent me
>
>
> ................................
>
>
> Your ONSPEED account renews shortly. There is no action for you to take.
> Your card, provided when you initially purchased ONSPEED, will be charged
> on
> 01 Dec 2005. This is your renewal confirmation and receipt.
>
>
> If you want to charge your ONSPEED renewal to a different card, click
> here.
> If you change your card details, your ONSPEED renewal will be charged on
> this new card straight away.
>
>
> Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED.
> Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.

Good-o. When you want to end your association with your ISP, (assuming you
are on a contract and arent just PAYG) make sure you CANCEL that too and
dont just "not use it" and expect it to stop being charged for.

In article <caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Dongle Widget <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED.
>Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.

I very much doubt that it is legal to limit the ways an account can be
closed in this way.

-- Richard

"Richard Tobin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dn7r3e$143k$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Dongle Widget <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED.
>>Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.
>
> I very much doubt that it is legal to limit the ways an account can be
> closed in this way.
>
> -- Richard


Sorta screws you up if you are deaf or dumb really!

James wrote in
43977988$0$1485$(E-Mail Removed):

> "Richard Tobin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:dn7r3e$143k$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In article <caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
>> Dongle Widget <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>> Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call
>>> ONSPEED. Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.
>>
>> I very much doubt that it is legal to limit the ways an account can
>> be closed in this way.
>>
>> -- Richard
>
>
> Sorta screws you up if you are deaf or dumb really!

It also means that you are kept hanging on the phone indefinitely until they
deign to answer. I much prefer an offline mechanism where I can lob my
request over the wall and say "right - it's in your hands now" and get on
with the rest of my life. I can imagine that some companies might refuse to
accept authorisation by email or fax, but to refuse to accept letters is the
real killer.

I am not sure what T&C you are looking at but the current Online
version states:

"ONSPEED Terms and Conditions (Web Purchases)

11.5 You may inform us in writing (including by email) at any time
that:

(a) you wish to stop using the Service immediately; or

(b) you do not wish to use the Service after the end of the Minimum
Period or the then current Additional Period as the case may be."

I cannot see anything about having to telephone.


On Thu, 8 Dec 2005 00:58:26 -0000, "Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>James wrote in
>43977988$0$1485$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> "Richard Tobin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:dn7r3e$143k$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> In article <caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
>>> Dongle Widget <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>> Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call
>>>> ONSPEED. Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.
>>>
>>> I very much doubt that it is legal to limit the ways an account can
>>> be closed in this way.
>>>
>>> -- Richard
>>
>>
>> Sorta screws you up if you are deaf or dumb really!
>
>It also means that you are kept hanging on the phone indefinitely until they
>deign to answer. I much prefer an offline mechanism where I can lob my
>request over the wall and say "right - it's in your hands now" and get on
>with the rest of my life. I can imagine that some companies might refuse to
>accept authorisation by email or fax, but to refuse to accept letters is the
>real killer.
>

Dongle Widget wrote:

> So last Nov I signed up.

LOL

> but overall it was a disappointment

No, really?

> Overall it was decidedly unimpressive.

Almost anyone with a brain could tell you that.

> I uninstalled it.

Oh oh ........

> I thought that was the end of it.....not so

Why, after entering into a contract with a credit card would you think
uninstalling something would end the contract?

> acc to their conditions of service, renewal is AUTOMATIC

Oh oh ........

> I had not realised that.

Oh oh ........ dimwittedness strikes yet again.

> They told me that they had sent an email about the
> renewal.....but I had originally provided them with an address that is
> spam-proof in that I don't usually read it!

Good grief. You deal with an on-line contract using an email address
that is spam-proof and that you don't read. Not just dim-wittedness
now, more like absolute Stupidity.

> Worse still....they had billed me at a credit card that I had stopped using
> but had not cancelled ( I realise now that I should have done!)

Oh oh ........

> They agreed to refund me.....fine....once I had retreived my card details.

I think I'd have told you where to get off.

> But I wonder just how many subscribers are caught out by this clause in the
> conditions of service...........see below

You mean how many don't actually read what they're signing up to. surely?

> And if you don't have it ......well, read all the conditions of service
> before you sign up.

Very good advice, indeed the only good bit of your post.

For T&C's of onspeed, see http://www.onspeed.com/en/tandc.php in section
11 Term and Termination.

"11.5 You may inform us in writing (including by email) at any time that:

(a) you wish to stop using the Service immediately; or

(b) you do not wish to use the Service after the end of the Minimum
Period or the then current Additional Period as the case may be."

Pretty normal way to end a contract really and says nowt about only
telephoning them.

'course, that doesn't stop dimwits from moaning, now does it?


--
The Caretaker .........

Richard Tobin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> In article <caJlf.24353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Dongle Widget <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED.
> >Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned.
>
> I very much doubt that it is legal to limit the ways an account can be
> closed in this way.
>
Yes, I wondered this when I read the OP's tale of woe. It would seem
especially dodgy as they (ONSPEED) expect to be able to communicate
with the user by E-Mail.

--
Chris Green

On Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:58:26 +0000, Martin Underwood wrote:

> It also means that you are kept hanging on the phone indefinitely until
> they deign to answer. I much prefer an offline mechanism where I can lob
> my request over the wall and say "right - it's in your hands now" and
> get on with the rest of my life.

You could tie it to a rock and chuck it through the window. Not strictly
legal, but it's satisfying when dealing with some companies.

On 8-Dec-2005, osc <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> You could tie it to a rock and chuck it through the window. Not strictly
> legal, but it's satisfying when dealing with some companies.

They will still deny they ever received anything from you. Signed
for is no proof of content, you could send a blank sheet of paper.
Most companies are expert at charging for services and notorious
for ignoring cancellations, even if made in good time.
It's equivalent to "The cheque is in the post."