£12.50 ADMIN FEE and how to cancel my contract

[Bigtime]

Hi I knew my contact was about to end at the end of sept so I logged into my account and saw a green tick saying paid.

I went to my online banking and cancelled my direct debit with talk talk just in case they auto renewed my contract and charged me a different amount.

anyway a few days ago I turned on my pc and found my internet had been disconnected I picked up my home phone and it autodialled straight through to talk talk call centre.

after speaking to an  lady she then told me the reason why I had been cut off is because i owed £12.96.

so I went to my online back and made an instant bank transfer for this amount.

now today I log into my talk talk account and see this has gone through and been paid.

BUT this months bill is now £44 meaning I have been charged an admin fee.

Now after going on ofcom.org.uk it clearly says Providers must now tell you when your contract’s up, and what their best deals are.

i was not advised that I had an outstanding bill or that my contract was about to end by talk talk.

it would of been so easy if they would of sent me 1 text message saying I owed 12.96  but no instead they slapped me with an ADMIN FEE even after the balance had been payed.

because  I have now seen this months bill I went online to see if there are better deals out there so I went on broadband price comparison websites and found that there are better/cheaper deals out there and faster speeds for the same or even less prices than I am paying now.

the thing is my family will also switch to another provider when there contacts end in the future months so not only are talk talk losing my  custom but my families also.

all this for putting an admin fee on my account when I never knew I owed them anything.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi Bigtime

Sorry that you are unhappy.

Your end of contract email was  sent 8th September, in this notification it advised the end date, (also shown in My Account)  and also that your price will revert to standard price. In this case the admin fee is valid, because the payment via DD was rejected your payment date is 27th of each month, and the payment wasn't made until the 19th of the next month.

If you renew with us via the loyalty team on 03451720088 the contract renews straight away and you may receive a credit on next months bill for the difference in the package price.  Cancellations can only be done via the loyalty team also. 

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. 

[fr8ys]

Sorry, but again this contradicts what you did. 

If you expected to be disconnected, why did you get on the phone to find out why the internet was disconnected? It was at that stage you found there was a fee to pay.

Also, when you take out a contract its explained that at the end it reverts to market rates, so when you agreed a contract you agreed to an increased price at contract end unless you re-contracted.

Is this your first contract for broadband, as all internet service providers offer contracts on this basis? Likewise all other service utilities providers, so if you have Gas or Electricity these work the same way.

I'll leave it here, as you say for a TalkTalk support response, sometime next week, but if you want a cheaper price you will need to speak to the Loyalty Team (as staff here cannot negotiate price), or instruct another supplier (ex Virgin where you will need to phone the loyalty team and give one months notice).

[Bigtime]

After doing my own research and reading between the lines I can now answer my own original question/query

what I thought was going to happen was,

CONTRACT ENDS =get terminated/cut off and renew or go elsewhere.

but what I have now found out is CONTRACT ENDS ,  stay connected and pay an amount which was not agreed until I make a phone call and instruct TALK TALK to terminate my contract.

I shall now wait for someone from the SUPPORT TEAM to respond to my post.

[fr8ys]

But you said you knew your contract was ending, so I'm really at a loss to know what you expected to happen when you cancelled your Direct Debit.

You then say you were surprised the Internet was disconnected. Did you expect it to çontinue without paying?

There are so many contradictions in your original post that it's hard to see what you were trying to do.

On a general point you should never cancel a Direct Debit as it can cause you all sorts of issues later on including penalty fees being added for late payment and it may affect your credit rating too. You are covered by the DD guarantee so should get your money back if you are in dispute, but here the only dispute has been caused by you taking precipitous action by doing just that, cancelling your Direct Debit. On this basis the DD guarantee is no longer applicable.

Arguing over the use of discount v contract will not help. You were informed and by your own admission you knew your contract was ending.

Your own actions precipitated this whole scenario which you now expect others to get you out of.

You may or may not be lucky. Good luck.

[Bigtime]

discount = a deduction from the usual cost of something.

contract = a written or spoken agreement.

so not really the same thing.

[ferguson]

OK, but it does tell you that your current discount is ending, which amounts to the same thing. And does also advise of the consequences and options available. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

The expiry date of the contract is shown in My Account, @Bigtime.

Check previous bills. 

[Bigtime]

Thanks for your reply, I have just logged into my email account and found this email 22 Aug 2023, 11:10

YOUR AUGUST BILL IS READY

Bill Summary

Account number x 

 Total amount due: £16.96

Payment due by: 30/08/2023

Your Direct Debit will be taken on or immediately after this date

You may incur an administration fee if your payment is not received by the due date shown.

Your bill may change next month.

Your discount ends soon, which means your next bill may go up. You can find out about our latest deals on the Offers & Upgrades page in My Account.

You can find a full breakdown on your bill.

NO WHERE in that email does it say my contract is due to expire, it does say Your discount ends soon. 

Thank you for taking your time to read my post and I look forward to hearing from the support team on Monday

[Gliwmaeden2]

@fr8ys, @Bigtime, @ferguson 

Sorry, yes, also been writing an essay here ....!

[Gliwmaeden2]

The previous bill would have covered use for a month, @Bigtime, which could have taken you into a period out of contract (monthly rolling). Out of contract billing is usually at a higher amount than the contracted amount that would have shown discounts etc.

Any boosts that have been discounted become out of contract too.

It will all be detailed in the billing in My Account. 

As with any utility, cancelling the Direct Debit doesn't cancel the agreement  - it just means that you are going to owe them something until the final bill is sorted out.

Sometimes they owe us a refund, which can be reclaimed via My Account, again using the same bank details. 

That's calculated once they know exactly when you left. We pay upfront a month at a time.

You give them 30 days' notice (or, if it's an easy FTTC switch, until a new ISP takes over the service, and, if you are keeping your number the Talktalk service would thereby be cancelled at that point).

To notify TT about leaving, you must ring 03451 720088 (Monday to Saturday). It's all detailed in the Ts&Cs, which are linked at the foot of every TT page. 

So it takes another bill to work out how many days were owed for the interim.

There can also be a late payment fee of £12.50, @Bigtime. It's listed under one-off charges:

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/pricing

Talktalk would not normally send a  text message with a bill, but send the normal billing notification at the normal time, which would have alerted you to any pending changes as you came out of contract.

If you see it from their point of view, was it reasonable to just pull the plug on the Direct Debit while you actually knew that you still had the service with them?

It might have made sense to check the Ts&Cs first and seek clarification on here or via Chat / phone call. There is also a useful search engine on the forum and plugging in "cancel" would have given you all the necessary information. 

It's like a utility:

An electricity company doesn't suddenly stop supplying you with electricity because a contract comes to an end. You just get moved to a standard tariff. The same applies here.

You only get cut off if you don't pay what is owed.

Staff will be able to check whether Talktalk sent you a reminder about choices to be made as you approached the end of your contract.

They will be back on here after the weekend. Please look out for their reply. 

[ferguson]

OK, there seem to be a number of issues here.

First, no ISP is allowed to auto renew contracts. All that can happen is once an existing discounted period ends that you move on to standard pricing and a rolling 30 days' service. 

Second, what did you imagine would happen if you cancelled your Direct Debit payment without making alternative arrangements to pay? Restrictions and possible fees are outlined in the T&Cs.

Finally, they are obliged to notify you when your contract is coming to an end, with a minimum of 10 days notice. Have you checked your spam/junk folders to see if maybe you missed an email to that effect? 

This has been escalated to the support team for you and they will respond as soon as they can when they are back online from Monday. 

EDIT: @Bigtime Apologies, myself and @fr8ys were clearly posting much the same thing at much the same time!

[fr8ys]

Your contract may have come to an end, but a contract is for a set period and unless YOU renew on cancel your contract it continues but at the full market rate.

You can't cancel a contract by cancelling your Direct Debit. Doing so, as you have found, incurs admin fees as the cost of processing monthly payments is higher than by a direct debit. 

TalkTalk send out emails when your contract is due with an offer and offers are also available via My Account.

To cancel your contract you need to phone and give 30 days notice, or sign up with and alternative supplier who will arrange the transfer.

These terms are within the terms and conditions that would have been sent to you when you took out your contract and are available at the bottom of each web page.

Try phoning 0345 172 0088 if you wish to give notice or take out a new contract.

Opening Hours can be found here - https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/How-to-contact-TalkTalk-Broadband/ta-p/2230529#