Broadband hidden charges
We have no hidden charges, however there can be extra charges which you might encounter. These are charges which do not apply to all customers.
Our main published prices apply, obviously. So for a broadband service, for example, you pay the installation charge, e.g. £50.00 for a new broadband service, and ongoing charges, e.g. £20.00† for our entry level broadband service with 2 units of usage.
Extra charges
| Cost | Reason | Description |
|---|---|---|
| £8.40† | Postage | We charge postage at cost. For most customers the postage is the charge for the router and splitters we send with the new service. These are sent special delivery. The exact cost depends on the weight and £8.40† is the normal special delivery fee for a small router as it covers 1kg. Wireless routers and routers with several splitters can cost the 2kg rate (£10.86†). The charge is our cost, as you see printed on the postage label on the package, but with VAT added (as required by HMRC). |
| £5.64† | Usage excess | Our various tariffs have usage levels defined. A buffer is allowed to carry over to the next month but beyond this you are charged for over usage. |
| - | DD/Cheque | We make no extra charge for paying by other than Direct Debit. However, some services are only available if you pay by Direct Debit. |
| £6.00† | Admin fee | We have an accounts admin fee which we apply if you do something wrong which makes our accounts department have to do extra work. The main example is a BACS payment without the right reference, but in such cases we will contact you and try and resolve it rather than charging the first time. This fee also applies for a returned Direct Debit, or an attempt to claw back a valid direct debit or card charge. |
| - | Min term | For most services we don't have a minimum term. Where a service does have a minimum term then you are charged for the remainder of the term when you terminate service. |
| - | Notice period | Our broadband services have a 30 day notice period. When you request a cease of the service or migration code you are billed to 30 days from that point (or a credit issued if already billed beyond that point). This includes all services and usage allowances at the current tariff at the time of the cease (not one that may be a change requested for next regular bill) |
| - | Interest | If, as a consumer, you pay late we charge interest at same rate as commercial debts (which is based on 8% over Bank of England rate). Commercial debts have statutory penalties which all commercial customers should already be well aware of. |
| - | Price changes | We try and give plenty of notice of price changes and we also try and engineer them to be on a quarterly boundary. However, the price we charge is the price we know and have announced at the time we raise the bill. This can mean, where a price change has been announced in advance we charge the new price for part of the advance billed period. We don't go back and change invoices already issued, so a price reduction at short notice is not refunded and a price increase at short notice does not cause invoices to be re-issued for the higher price retrospectively.. |
| £18.00† | BT Cancellation fee | Any order we submit to BT can usually be cancelled up to a point. If we cancel an order then BT charge us a cancellation fee. If you ask us to cancel an order then we will pass on that charge. The catch here is that this applies to free orders such as line settings changes and upgrading to 21CN though we have asked BT to change their prices so as not to charge for cancelling orders for free services in future. |
| £29.69† | BT Cease fee | Usually when someone no longer wants broadband service from us they are moving it to another provider, which is free. However if the broadband is to be ceased completely and nobody else is taking it over then there is a cease charge which we have to pay to BT and which we pass on at cost. |
| £102.00† | BT Abortive visit | If a BT engineer is arranged to visit your premises and cannot gain entry then BT charge us an abortive visit charge which we pass on at cost. It is important to ensure BT engineers have access in the time frame of the agreed appointment. |
| £114.00† | BT SFI2 | We do not normally make use of BT Special Faults Investigation (SFI) engineers, but where you insist that we do then there may be a charge. We pass on the charge from BT at cost. The circumstances in which BT charge have become progressively more common following various changes to terms and basically mean this charge will apply if the engineer cannot find fault in the BT side of the network. |
BT charges
Note that where BT make a charge to us and we pass it on, we will use all reasonable efforts to dispute the charge, and take any additional evidence you can provide from you to assist in that process. If we succeed in disputing the charge with BT we will credit the charge we have made to you.
Also watch out for
| Extra items | There may be extra items you want to buy and did not realise were not included. The main examples are a wireless router if you need one, and a broadband splitter. These are not really extra charges as they are optional products you can buy if you wish and the price is listed on the price list and order form. Do check what other items you may wish to buy before ordering. | ||||
| Telephone | It is clear that you need a phone line for ADSL broadband, but is not obvious to everyone that you need a telephone handset of some sort. This is needed if you ever have a fault as one of the first tests that need doing is confirming you have a dial tone and no cracking on the line. If you don't have a telephone handset you may wish to buy one. | ||||
| Master socket | Telephone installations have, for many many years, been installed using a master socket. A master socket provides a way to disconnect your extension wiring from the telephone line. It is important for testing when there is a fault. If you don't have a master socket, or if there is incorrect wiring in your house the wrong side of the master socket, that can cause faults. Importantly this can mean that an engineer will find fault in your wiring and may mean an SFI2 charge could apply, which is not cheap. BT or your line supplier do offer a service to regularise a master socket which you may wish to discuss with them to avoid the risk of charges when there is a fault. | ||||
