On Wed, May 01, 2013 at 07:00:12PM -0600, Steve Smith wrote: > > On the other hand, my experience with PacBell suggests these folks > felt that may have felt they had no good options. PacBell > required that I sign a 12 month agreement to get internet... even > though I told them I only planned to live there 11 months... they > had no option so I took the 12 month deal. When it was time to > leave, I tried to get them to waive the $200 "early termination fee" > when I was shutting down 20 days before my 365... they weren't > having it. So finally I told them I would keep the service until > the year was up and they said that as soon as they detected that all > my devices were disconnected from the service *they* would terminate > my service (unattended service?), which they did, and then levied > the $200 fee which I ignored which still plagues me everytime I try > to refinance my house! In the post subprime mortgage world, it > seems a smudge as faint and explainable as that can move you from > super-prime to questionable! Students who likely move through > apartments as frequently as on a semester basis are just SOL unless > good samaritans (scofflaws?) like myself provide an alternative? >
That is so daft. I can understand them not refunding the remainder of the 12 month contract, but to levy an early termination fee when the pro-rata refundable amount is less than the levy is crazy. How long a period of disconnection counts as an unattended service anyway? I regularly power down all my computers, routers, phones etc., when going on extended holidays (more than a few days), partly as a green measure to prevent unnecessary usage of electricity, but also as prevention against hackers, lightning strikes and other calamities. If that were in Australia, you'd lodge an objection with the ACCC. And I'd expect you'd win. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
