Sky. Cooling off period.

[#1]

I have just moved into my new home. Sky broadband could not provide the same broadband as my previous home so I started up a new contract at much reduced speeds. Unfortunately these speed were not enough for my purposes. Sky said these were the best speeds available where I live, however Plusnet offered full fibre. It was a no brainer, I started the process of moving to Plusnet and cancelling sky During my cooling off period.  All sound good so far. The installation date took about 2 weeks but was still withing my 30 days cooling off period. However on installation the engineer could not connect me due to a fault at the exchange and a subsequent openreach guy failed to connect me a few days later. I have had to stay connected to sky due to working from home and this has now taken me over my 30 days cooling off and they are asking for £297.25 termination charge. My question is who should be responsible for paying this charge?? I am still not connected and no contact from plusnet on the matter.

Also Sky now say they can do full fibre at my address now.

[#2]

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@antswinburne wrote:

... this has now taken me over my 30 days cooling off and they are asking for £297.25 termination charge.

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I'm not sure who is asking for the termination charge - Sky or Plusnet?

If I've followed this correctly you have Sky broadband currently working (and you are now past the cooling off period?), and you have ordered Plusnet broadband but they have failed to connect you or even keep you updated with progress. 

If so I'd guess Sky have a valid point unless Plusnet gave Sky notice that they were taking over your broadband - but if the Plusnet order is for FTTP it might not cancel your Sky FTTC broadband since it wont be taking over a phone line?

Sounds like a bit of a mess to me. Can you cancel the Plusnet order without penalty?

[#3]

@antswinburne 

This is very unfortunate.

You say that you cancelled Sky within the 30 days limit, so why did you stay connected past this date? Did you cancel the cancellation?

You seem to have got yourself into a no win situation. The Plusnet cancellation period is 2 weeks from signing up so you are committed to, I assume, taking both FTTC from Sky and FTTP from Plusnet, both of which will levy a penalty if you cancel.

[#4]

PlusNet inform Sky when the installation is complete so Sky can turn off their service on the same day. The idea being I'm not left without internet access. I had an agreed installation date with PlusNet of 11th April. Seems I'll have to wait until PlusNet connect and then fall on the good will of Sky to waive the fee. 🤣

[#5]

PlusNet inform Sky when the installation is complete so Sky can turn off their service on the same day

Not necessarily with an FTTP order!. Because FTTP is completely independant of any existing copper line, It depends on whether you selected to 'keep your existing services' during the order process. If you opted to keep them, as opposed to have them cancelled, then Plusnet will not inform Sky. The FTTP installation will be a separate installation in addition to your existing services which will continue until you cancel them directly.

[#6]

Not necessarily with an FTTP order!. Because FTTP is completely independant of any existing copper line, It depends on whether you selected to 'keep your existing services' during the order process. If you opted to keep them, as opposed to have them cancelled, then Plusnet will not inform Sky. The FTTP installation will be a separate installation in addition to your existing services which will continue until you cancel them directly.

 I was told ( by Openreach installation guy ) Sky would disconnect after midnight on the day PlusNet was up and running.

[#7]

You were told wrongly.

[#8]

 I was told ( by Openreach installation guy ) Sky would disconnect after midnight on the day PlusNet was up and running.

@antswinburne As @jab1 says, he/she was making assumptions and was likely wrong! after all they were almost certainly an Openreach contractor and wouldn't have detailed information of the actual Plusnet order.

As I said above, what option for 'retaining existing services' did you select when placing the FTTP order?

[#9]

I opted to keep sky until after Plusnet was up and running. We work from home.

[#10]

and I'm afraid , that's why Plusnet would not inform Sky when the installation is completed/or not.  There is no link between the Plusnet Full Fibre order and the existing Sky service.

[#11]

And being a pedant, Plusnet does not inform another ISP of anything.

The process is that the gaining provider seeks to take over (or replace) an existing service with a new one and sets up a linked cease order.  That cease order is notified to the existing provider (by BT Openreach / BT Wholesale) who should then invoke anti-slamming measures.

If the user does not activate the anti-slamming measures the provisioning of the new service continues.  When the existing service is ceased, it is BT Openreach / BT Wholesale who notify the losing provider (not the the new ISP).

That process ensures that "The idea being I'm not left without internet access." does not happen.

The process for the provision of an entirely new service has no such link to anything else which might be present at the property.

It somewhat sounds as though you requested a new installation not referencing the existing Sky service.  That leaves the responsibility for coordination of the activities and communication with Sky entirely in your hands.  Seems that you now have a resilient internet service to your home for work purposes, provided by two different ISPs and different technologies.  That is a commendable strategy in situations where one's ability to work is predicated entirely on having an operable internet service at all times.

If that is not what you want, then you will need to pay the early termination charges for Sky ... or get them to waive them.  It is somewhat unfathomable why Sky could not have provided FTTP at the address.  You might use that as a bargaining chip to get the fees waived: "If you had offered me a decent package at the time, we'd not be here now".

Did you note this T&C in your Plusnet contract...

2. Your use of the services

2.1. You must:

2.1.3. use the services for personal use in the UK (so don't use the services to run your own business, but a couple of work emails or occasional home working are okay) and in accordance with our Acceptable Use Policy;

[#12]

@Townman, do Plusnet really intend to enforce section 2.1.3 of the T&Cs? It seems to be a hangover from when Plusnet did offer a business service - then they could direct residential users who were using their connection for "business" to the business service.

Now, in a post-lockdown world where many people work from home at least part of the week, with no business service and a no business use T&C on their residential service, Plusnet are effectively declaring their service is unsuitable for use by a significant portion of the population. Not a good marketing proposition.

Edit: If Plusnet don't intend to enforce that section, then they should remove it. Other ISPs do allow working from home. My ISP only charges their business tariff for commercial premises, so a home based business (like mine) can use their residential service (unless they want to pay extra for a VAT receipt).

[#13]

Clearly I cannot and do not speak for the business. There have over recent years been a multitude of changes and developments to the T&Cs and this one has remained throughout … even after lock down.

The T&Cs are what users agree to when contracting for a residential service. Irrespective of if the business would seek to enforce the condition, in using the service contrary to the T&Cs one has agreed to is a user anticipatory breach of contract.

[#14]

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@Townman wrote:
The T&Cs are what users agree to when contracting for a residential service. Irrespective of if the business would seek to enforce the condition, in using the service contrary to the T&Cs one has agreed to is a user anticipatory breach of contract.

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The presence of that restriction alone totally prevents me recommending Plusnet to anyone (there are also other reason's I'd be cautious of recommending Plusnet even without that restriction).