A Consuming Experience: broadband

Showing posts with label broadband. Show all posts

Saturday, 23 October 2010

Phone, mobile, internet, pay TV provider - get your refund, never mind ways to leave 'em!

It's bad but sadly not surprising to hear that when UK consumers change their mobile phone, fixed line telephone or broadband or even pay TV (eg cable TV and presumably satellite TV) service, the comms service provider doesn't always repay the customer for any credit amount due - eg advance line rental payments, or promotional credits.

In fact the total unclaimed money owed to UK consumers was at least £10 million over the last 2 years, according to UK comms regulator Ofcom.

All this is because you can get stung for two lots of fees (from old and new provider) at once, during the "overlap" period when your contract with your new provider has started but the one with the old provider is still within its termination period, usually 1 month.

An example may help. Say you pay BadProvider £30 in advance monthly on the 1st of the month for use of their service during that month. If you terminate with BadProvider on the 2nd of the month and start using ShinyNewProvider's service, you're obviously not using BadProvider's service after the 1st, but you've already paid BadProvider for it in advance.

So from the 2nd to the end of the first month you move to ShinyNewProvider, you're paying BadProvider for rental for the 2nd to the end of the month (even though you've stopped using it), and you're paying ShinyNewProvider rental for their service for the same period too.

You're paying twice over, unless BadProvider refunds you for the advance payment you made on the 1st, for the period from the 2nd to the end of the month ie 29/30 (assuming 30 day month) of the amount you paid on the 1st of that last month, or £29 in this case - which can be a lot when you add up the customers who don't get a refund!

Obviously the amount of credit due will be less if you terminated later in the month, etc, and some people may actually owe money to BadProvider at the end of the contract, depending on their usage, but this is just to illustrate with a concrete example.

(I'm ignoring any possible twists from the monthly payment date being on a different date from the "contract month" that the payment is for!)

After Ofcom's intervention, the good news is that they've produced a guide to help you claim your outstanding credit when you move to another communications service provider.

The guide has a handy table showing some big providers and what you need to do. Just to summarise (please check the guide for full details), the current position on outstanding credits is:

BT	Automatic refund of any credit, whatever the amount.
O2	Automatically credits amounts over £20; you have to ask for it if less.
Orange Post Office	Automatic refund of credit, whatever the amount.
Sky TalkTalk (including AOL and Tiscali) Three	You have to contact them directly to arrange a refund, but they should now be giving you "improved information" about your outstanding credits.
T-Mobile	Will now automatically refund all outstanding credit. This suggests they didn't use to!
Vodafone	Automatic refund of any credits "for all customers who pay by direct debit" only. If you paid Voda by another method, you won't get a refund unless you specifically request it from them.
Virgin Media Virgin Mobile	The press release contradicts the guide so I'm going by the guide. I wish Ofcom were clearer about this, it's not going to help consumer confusion. Virgin Media - automatic refund for amounts over £1. It doesn't seem to matter when you terminate the contract. Virgin Mobile - for amounts over £1: - if you terminate before 28 days, automatic refund - if you terminate after 28 days, you have to request a refund (but from December 2010 the refund will be automatic). I guess you need to contact Virgin Mobile to get a refund of any credit under £1 - the paper doesn't say.

The bad news? There isn't mention of lots of other providers include broadband internet providers.

"Ofcom thinks that industry best practice should mean that all providers refund customers the outstanding credit they are owed automatically, and without any further action needed by the consumer."

Well frankly that should be legally compulsory for all providers, not just "best practice".

More help on termination process?

To help customers with switching providers another area, Ofcom should look at and maybe provide a guide on the termination / cancellation process.

Asking for your MAC or PAC number does NOT always automatically terminate your contract (broadband internet and mobile, respectively).

If they are given a MAC or PAC number by your new provider some providers seem to take that as notice of termination, but others don't, and may keep on charging or debiting you unless you actually contact them as well to say you're ending the contract.

I repeat, asking for a MAC or PAC isn't enough. You need to check with your provider as to their termination or cancellation procedure and at the right time tell them officially that you're cancelling their service, and (if they're not listed in the table above) also find out what is their procedure for reimbursing any credits to you and follow it.

And you might also try (if possible) to time when you give them formal notice of termination such that you minimise the period of "advance rental" anyway.

Friday, 7 May 2010

UK broadband - changing ISPs

An online survey by Opinium for comparison site Moneysupermarket.com in February 2010 showed that, disappointingly, of people requesting a MAC to enable them to change their broadband provider 34% experienced delays, which could cost broadband internet users as much as £143 a year. 82% of broadband users didn't change provider in the past 12 months.

It does pay to shop around. UK comms regulator Ofcom have recently accredited Broadband.co.uk for its broadband internet price comparison calculator, under a scheme launched by Ofcom because Ofcom had found that 65% of internet users would be more likely to shop around if they had information to calculate the cheapest supplier based on usage, with 66% being more likely to trust an accredited price comparison website. See Ofcom's consumer FAQ.

Not many websites have been accredited by Ofcom so far - the others include BillMonitor (for mobile services) and SimplifyDigital (for digital TV, landline and broadband services). Oddly, Moneysupermarket.com themselves don't seem to be accredited yet.

It used to be a nightmare to switch providers and Ofcom kept an eye on things for a while with their Own-initiative enforcement programme to give effect to General Condition 22 (Service Migrations), even fining Prodigy, but unfortunately in November 2009 they stopped as they thought things had improved enough.

Personally, while I have a lot of time for Ofcom, I think they shouldn't have stopped monitoring migrations, and the recent Moneysupermarket survey seems to confirm my view. Ofcom's light rap on the knuckles to Pipex was too lenient given the way Pipex had deliberately treated customers who tried to leave (I was one of them, Pipex told me they'd treated my request for a MAC as a notice to terminate my broadband service completely, not to switch! - and others had even worse experiences than me, just check out some of the transcripts of phone calls with Pipex in the Ofcom Pipex notification.)

See also How to switch your DSL broadband ISP: easier procedures, with teeth for Ofcom, and Ofcom's webpage and video, below, on how to choose the right ISP deal, and consider complaining to Ofcom if you have problems switching:

I think more still needs to be done by Ofcom to protect consumers. I am planning to change ISPs but I don't dare to do it yet because I can't afford for something to go wrong with the switch these next few months. I'm only going to ask for my MAC in June or July as I can survive if an attempted switch goes pear-shaped in August, but I can't risk the migration going wrong in the near future as I absolutely need working internet at home.

Thursday, 3 July 2008

Mobile, broadband etc price comparisons: Broadband Choices & SimplifyDigital accredited by Ofcom

When choosing or changing your mobile network operator, phone company, broadband provider or cable, pay TV or satellite TV company, it can be hard to be sure that you've got the most up to date information and that you compare like with like. There are many services around that claim to provide price comparisons, but how do you know how accurate they are?

To help consumers be confident that the price comparison calculator they use is reliable and up to date, in 2006 Ofcom the UK comms regulator launched an accreditation scheme for price comparison calculators with guidelines for applicants wanting accreditation for their price comparison calculator services - which can cover a range of telecommunications services from fixed telephone, mobile telephone, international roaming, narrowband internet, broadband, voice over IP and digital TV to bundled services.

Ofcom have now awarded their first Ofcom Price Accreditation Scheme kitemarks, to two companies:

Broadband Choices, and
Simplifydigital.

They've each been accredited for fixed phone line, mobile, broadband and digital television services price comparisons. The accreditation is good for a year (i.e. until July 2009), after which it will be reviewed and a further audit conducted.

This means that they've both "met the terms of a rigorous independent audit. The audit assesses whether sufficient processes are in place to ensure that information provided to consumers is accessible, accurate, transparent, comprehensive and up to date.

Accredited schemes are also required to provide information in a format that is easy to use and understand, and, where they provide their services online, to also provide their services on the telephone or in writing."

So if you're planning to get or change your fixed line telephone, mobile, broadband or digital TV service, you can now compare the prices of these services or bundles of them (e.g. phone combined with Internet access or TV) from Broadband Choices or Simplifydigital and, as Ofcom put it, "be assured that these companies offer accurate, comprehensive, up to date information on prices in an accessible format." If you use a non-kitemarked services, as the Ofcom Consumer Panel put it "Consumers should be aware that if they use providers not kitemarked by Ofcom then they risk an inferior service".

Hopefully this will encourage more price comparison services to try to get an Ofcom kitemark.

For more on the kitemark, see the Ofcom Price Comparison Accreditation consumer FAQ.

(But note that Ofcom's accreditation is only for the listed comms services - it doesn't mean that price comparison services for finances, insurance or energy prices accessible through the Broadband Choices site have been accredited by Ofcom, for instance. There will be other services for those, e.g. the Financial Services Authority regulator recently launched free official comparison tables for payment protection insurance or PPI, and they've indeed got tables - more like wizards, really - for financial products like mortgages, savings accounts etc. Ofcom just deals with telecomms.)

Friday, 21 December 2007

Broadband speed claims: Ofcom acts

Have you ever been misled by broadband providers' advertisements claiming to offer broadband speeds of "up to" X Mbps - then found that in fact your download speed is much less than that, or that your upload speed is just pitiful?

Misleading ads like this have been all too common in the UK; people sign up, tempted by the lure the ISPs hold out of faster speeds, not realising that with many ISPs you'll probably get less than the fastest advertised speed if you're further from the exchange, or that with other ISPs your speed could be significantly reduced depending on how many other users sharing your service are online. That's only in the small print, or not stated at all.

UK consumers and consumer bodies have been increasingly exercised about this kind of misleading ad, particularly for supposedly ultra high-speed services.

Take upload speeds, for instance. For domestic broadband, usually upload speeds are much slower than download speeds, e.g. for BT Broadband the advertised download speed is 8MB but the upload speed is a mere 256Kbps (and it's impossible to find any info on upload speeds on the BT site itself). Originally advertisers were claiming high speeds all round, without making it clear that upload speeds weren't hugely better than on a dial up package. So much so that in mid 2005 the UK Advertising Standards Authority issued advice to marketers to "either do not use unqualified speed claims (unless the package is faster for both downloads and uploads) or be specific about the advantage, e.g. “Faster download” or “Upload speeds of up to XMB”," having upheld complaints on that front against NTL, BT and AOL.

Then in September 2006, the ASA upheld complaints about "up to 8 meg" speed ads on TV and in the national press by Bulldog (though the ASA felt "up to" was fine in ads for 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps services, "where the user would not achieve the maximum speed because of factors such as the number of people on line but where the attainable speeds were close enough to those advertised so as not to affect the customers' experience in any meaningful way" - the highlighted buzzwords were used again earlier this year in a Sky vs Virgin advertising spat).

They again upheld complaints about "up to" speed claims against Wanadoo UK in October 2006, and against Be in January 2007.

The ASA even issued general advice to advertisers in March 2007 on that broadband ads should include a prominent statement along the lines of “top speeds vary significantly, in particular because of a user’s distance from the local exchange”.

The UK comms regulator Ofcom have been aware of the issue for some time, mentioning it e.g. their September 2007 consultation on Future broadband - Policy approach to next generation access in the context of the importance of appropriate information being made available to consumers so they can make informed purchasing decisions about next generation network products and services.

In their November 2007 consumer experience report and policy evaluation Ofcom noted falling consumer satisfaction with broadband in the UK , one area of complaint being that advertised headline broadband speeds do not reflect actual speeds delivered.

Their December 2007 International Communications Market report also noted that in the UK fully a quarter of respondents felt that they received a service that was less than the advertised speed of 8Mbit/s or higher - the UK (along with Japan) had the biggest gaps between perceived advertised/headline and actual speeds - and

In October 2007 the chair of the Ofcom Consumer Panel Colette Bowe wrote an open letter on broadband speeds to the Chief Executives of leading UK ISPs. And now finally, in their response to proposals in a letter by the Ofcom Consumer Panel, Ofcom have said that they'll be talking to internet service providers early in the New Year about:

ISPs providing consumer specific information prior to sale on the estimated maximum speed a customer’s access line can support (using BT Line Checker and/ or equivalent).
ISPs providing consumers with data early within the contract period on the actual (rather than estimated) maximum speed being achieved.
ISPs offering consumers the choice to move, penalty free, onto a different speed package based on the information provided

Other things mentioned in the letter, to help consumers:

To help consumers choose the most appropriate ISP for their needs, Ofcom have also started a project to identify the most useful indicators to consumers for comparative Quality of Service information, and they'll consider what's the best way to provide this information to consumers.
Ofcom are also going to publish, in summer 2008, a consumer guide with advice on how best to maximise the quality of a broadband connection within the home.

Ofcom further said:

"We are keen that any measures are implemented in the shortest time frame possible. At this stage, we have not ruled out the possibility of using formal powers if we consider it would be more effective in delivering our objectives."

In other words, "This has gone on long enough. Better sort this out fast, you ISPs, or we'll make ya do it!" Which is good news for us consumers. I hope they make ISPs provide (pre and post contract) info on download speeds as well as upload speeds, and allow contracts to be cancelled if the promised speeds are not met - not just moved to a different package with the same provider. Let's wait and see...

Friday, 16 November 2007

Switching broadband: Prodigy Internet fined £30k; complain to Ofcom if you have problems!

On 9 November UK regulator Ofcom fined Prodigy Internet Limited - which seems to trade as Prodigy Networks - £30,000 for failing to provide info on Prodigy's compliance with new rules, known as GC22, introduced in Feb 2007 to help consumers migrate their broadband services "quickly, easily and with minimal service disruption" (more on moving broadband internet providers using GC22):

As part of its ongoing investigation into Prodigy’s compliance with GC22 and GC14.7, Ofcom issued a notice to Prodigy under section 135 of the Communications Act 2003 (‘the Act') requiring the provision of specified information. As Prodigy failed to comply with this notice, a notification under section 138 of the Act was issued to Prodigy on 31 May 2007. Prodigy also failed to comply with this notification.

Ofcom considers that Prodigy has failed to provide all the required information. Given Prodigy’s ongoing failure to comply with the section 135 notice and having followed the procedures set out in the Act, Ofcom has decided to impose a penalty of £30,000 on Prodigy. A non-confidential version of the penalty notice issued to Prodigy on 9 November 2007 under section 139 of the Act is currently being prepared and will be published shortly.

Ofcom said they continue to investigate Prodigy's activities. Interestingly, at the date of writing this I see Prodigy are also overdue on filing their obligatory annual accounts with the UK companies registrar (due 31 October 2007)...

Ofcom are continuing, until at least February 2008, to keep an eye on the extent to which internet service providers generally are actually following GC22.

So do complain to Ofcom if you encounter difficulties moving between ADSL broadband service providers who provide internet connection over BT copper loop phone lines (the rules don't apply to cable broadband, sadly). Or even if you've had problems with migrating your broadband internet access after Feb 2007, but hadn't got round to telling Ofcom yet. And make sure to do it before Feb 2008.

They say they won't deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them, and if there are relatively high complaint levels against a particular ISP, they've "held discussions with the relevant broadband provider to identify the cause of the complaints and bring about compliance with GC22. Where this approach has not succeeded, we have taken a more formal approach." I guess that's what happened with Prodigy.

Ofcom say that since the introduction of the enforcement programme, the number of complaints received by Ofcom about broadband migration issues has fallen by about half, from around 480 complaints per week at the start of March to around 250 complaints per week at the start of August. So that seems to be a sign that GC 22 is working. But as the Prodigy fine and my own experiences trying to migrate providers show, it's not working in all cases. So the more consumers who register their complaints with Ofcom about their issues, the better - if you've had problems, just drop them a line. They can't investigate something if they don't know about it.

More details about steps to take to move ISPs under GC22 are in my previous post but your existing broadband ISP is supposed to provide info on how to switch and to enable you to switch, involving what's called a "MAC" which is a migration authorization code you give to your new ISP, with certain deadlines. They're not supposed to charge you for the MAC either, not even if they say you owe them money for unpaid charges.

So what are you waiting for - if you've had difficulties with obstructive unhelpful ISPs stressing you out with deliberately trying to put obstacles in the way of your changing to another DSL broadband provider, tell Ofcom today. Even a one liner is better than nothing, naming the ISP and the issue of course. Ofcom's page on problems with switching providers unfortunately isn't enough to cover all the possible breaches of GC22, but tell 'em anyway, and strike a blow for consumer rights - and maybe even get at least the satisfaction of seeing the obstreperous rule-breaking sods fined for it!