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Don't let Fast4 catch you out with T&C's

I was about to request a MAC code from my current ISP to join Fast4, but I thought i'd give the T&C's a look over before I did, and luck I did.
ok I was looking for a Fast (around 8meg) connection with a high FUP and a 1 to 3 month contract. Looking at Fast4.net Broadband front page and I thought I had found it.
BUT LOOKING AGAIN

Advertised: NO 12 month contracts

But in there terms and conditons:-

1.14 "Exit Fee" means that in the event that you wish to move providers or cancel the service provided to you, within the first 12 months you will be liable to pay a £85 contract exit fee.

Note the words 'contract exit fee', so there is a 12 month contract you just have to pay £85 to get out of it. LOL

And Fast4 have this to say,
There is indeed no contract as we do allow people to leave within the
12months. this has been checked with the ASA and this is cmplient with
thier advertising guidelines.

Maybe your Legally in the right but Morally your wrong and misleading potential customers.

In other word if your thinking about Fast4, is a 12 month contract or £85 to get out.
 
Surely that counts as a contract?

How would law look at it?

Your entering an agreement in which if you stops their services within 12 months, you have to pay. Is that not a 12 month contract?

So if there is no contract, what exactly are you paying to get out of?

But as you say, either way its underhand from such a self stated customer centered ISP.

This is in addition to the spam they have been sending out to illegally sourced email addresses.
 
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Interesting that FAST4 Support, viewed this subject but had nothing to say on the matter. (I eagerly await your reply)
Looking at what you said Old Dude, I decided to take the matter up with the ASA anyway after all it does state 'CONTRACT exit fee', so therefore there is a contract. That will be the basis of my complaint to the ASA.
I'll update you if I hear anything.
 
Nice one. I do hate it when ISPs claim to be really about the customer, and are quite simply, not.

I hope you took a screenie, cos I imagine various things might change now this has been viewed.
 
Well I'm not Fast4 or affiliated with them, but I know why that charge exists - basically, you aren't being charged for the ADSL line being brought into service: there is no activation fee.

However, if you cancel within the first twelve months, Fast4 would be liable for the activation fee on that particular line - thats the fee you're charged if you cancel within the first year.

From what I gather, Fast4 are telling the truth when they say 'no long term contracts' - however, considering the cost they would incur from customers signing up and cancelling within a couple of months, its a valid fee to raise.

...perhaps the wording of that needs to be made clearer however to keep Fast4 customers happy? Afterall, if there isn't a long term 'contract', it shouldn't be a 'contract exit fee' should it?
 
Looking at the figure I would then prefer to pay activatin fee upfront as its only £55 max.
 
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Thats correct. If there is no contract fee, you should only pay the activation fee thats been waived at the start of the contract.


And as Kits pointed out, thats not the activation fee. Thats more.
 
Looking at the figure I would then prefer to pay activatin fee upfront as its only £55 max.

They wouldn't have to pay an activation fee if someone was foolish enough to migrate to them, just the £15 migration fee, there is no mention of the fee not applying to people migrating to them though is there. So it is a contract termination fee.

More interestingly the fee has gone up I see, it was £70 http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?p=166008#post166008


I wonder if they intend charging the new higher fee to existing customers and if so, did they email them to inform them of the changes. note:-

We may change these terms or our Acceptable Use Policy at any time by posting the amended terms conspicuously on the Fast4 Internet website (“the Website”) and any variations will be effective fourteen days after they have been posted on the website.
:mad:

May I also remind the rep of the commitment he made in this forum http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showpost.php?p=166044&postcount=9
If and If we do make any amendments to our terms and conditions, these will be posted out to our customers on thier contact email.


Their provider www.eurisp.co.uk (which has a minimum two year term for direct sign-ups) revised their wholesale prices recently, I suspect a large part of the fee is past on to them.
 
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Dispite seeing many of them view the forum, I doubt we will see any replies from the Fast 4 lot.

This ALWAYS happens.

People find dodgy things out about an ISP, the reps try to bluff their way out for a while, and then seem to get more and more rare as time goes on.
 
Dispite seeing many of them view the forum, I doubt we will see any replies from the Fast 4 lot.

This ALWAYS happens.

People find dodgy things out about an ISP, the reps try to bluff their way out for a while, and then seem to get more and more rare as time goes on.

It would be a shame if Fast4 did stop posting here because of a couple of less favourable posts: the silly thing is that if they comment on a post quickly, you can nip complaints in the bud and get customers back on board to your side.

...I'd recommend that although Biscit are iritating to many (and especially so to the V21 directors who have not yet been paid for the sale of their company), it would be best for any Fast4 fellows to reply here before continuing to discuss Biscit elsewhere...
 
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Unfortunately I have fallen prey to this exit fee. I had an argument with one of their tech supports about the poor connection I was getting. I decided to ask for my MAC code so I could find an ISP I could better trust to supply my broadband and was hit with the "If you leave before your 12 months are up there is an £85 exit fee".

OMG far as I am concerned it's a con. It stated clearly that there was no 12 month contract I accepted no hardware basically they just added their tag to my adsl as it was already setup.

I am going to have to attempt to sort through my connection problems with them but wether I am happy or not at the end of the 12 months I shall definately be leaving them for another ISP as I am not happy with the underhanded tactics.

As for them not answering in forums, well their potential customers still read these forums and others and sticking their head in the sand is not going to fix their problems whilst their customers just keep growing their complaints about Fast4 to the point that people will cotton on to them and it will eventually cost them in the long run.

In the meantime I am also registering this with BBC Watchdog as they have just started taking complains about broadband companies that deal like this. I would advise others to follow suit.
 
Was the fee £70 when you joined (it was still £70 on 11th of Feb according to google's cache)? Depending on when they revised the fee you might have grounds to cancel at no cost because of a detrimental change to the terms of the contract.
 
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They obviously learned from Biscit's old T&C's :nod: (Which BTW are still posted on the V21 site) (except theirs stated £75+vat was required to escape within the 12 month term);)

Technically they are not Biscit's T&C's :) Apart from the rather ineptly drafted amendments, the copyright would appear to belong to another ISP :-

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=biscit&Number=2641198&page=&view=&sb=&o=

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthr...archpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=2600033
 
Hi All, the exit fee is there because we are charged it by our provider. We offer free connection to all customers but in return we must pass on the exit fee that is imposed on us through our contract.

Whilst I can understand that some people do not like the idea of such a fee it does mean that we are not subsidising users who wish to constantly change providers. Our intention is to provide a quality service at a cost that is sustainable. We will not be yet another provider that falls by the way side because they priced their products to gain market share without any consideration for the costs of their services. By passing on this fee we can enusre that the service we provide remains highly cost effecive for the majority.
 
The connection fee shouldn't be any more than £40+vat - after all that's what BT charge isp's for new adsl connections.
 
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None the less, being tied in to a 12 month contract subject to a £85 early termination fee is not a good deal for someone who has a MAC code. Where you could get a genuine one month rolling contract with an ISP that will even absorb BT's £11 + vat migration fee. One of the Entanet resellers for example (eg ukfsn/adsl24) .
 
Hi All, the exit fee is there because we are charged it by our provider. We offer free connection to all customers but in return we must pass on the exit fee that is imposed on us through our contract.

Whilst I can understand that some people do not like the idea of such a fee it does mean that we are not subsidising users who wish to constantly change providers. Our intention is to provide a quality service at a cost that is sustainable. We will not be yet another provider that falls by the way side because they priced their products to gain market share without any consideration for the costs of their services. By passing on this fee we can enusre that the service we provide remains highly cost effecive for the majority.

Firstly is it this :
------------------------------------------------------------------
16.8 In the event that Fast4 Internet agrees to you migrating your connection to an alternative provider, you must pay all the Charges due, up to and including the date of expiry of the Minimum Period.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Where it mentions the exit fee cause it seems pretty vague not to mention it doesn't really tell you what the minimum period is but then again there's no 12 month contract so there isn't a minimum period but obviously there is cause it states it there mmmmm confused. Has anyone else seen where it actually tells you about the exit fee cause I may have missed it and I aint reading all that crap again.

Second: Why would anyone want to swap from you when you only charge £15 for 8meg broadband. It's obviouse that your company has done something wrong to them or you have not measured up to what they expected from you. There is no other reason for wanting to leave you soon after joining.

So i guess if your company is everything it's cracked up to be as it says on you website you wouldn't have to worry about putting such an item in your T&Cs and annoying customers with it.:shrug:
 
Ok I just seen this in a post from Mel and checked it in their T&Cs

1.5 "Minimum Period" means a period of 3 months commencing from the Start Date;

So does that mean that after that period you can cancel with out the exit fee?
 
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