Is there a statutory maximum notice period for cancelling a service contract?

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torblednam

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Hi all,

I am aware that there's a 14-day cooling off period at the beginning of most consumer contracts, but my question is whether there's a maximum period provided for when a consumer wants to cancel a service?

The specific situation is that a small business had been using a web based service (let's say for cloud data storage), renewed annually, and the service provider state they require a 90-day notice period to cancel the service.

So if the renewal is 1 April 2021, you need to decide and notify them by 1 January 2021, or you're stuck to pay them up to 31 March 2022.

This seems pretty unreasonable to me, but I can't readily find anything setting out where and how the termination of a service contract is regulated. Surely there's something to protect customers, otherwise the 90 days in the case above, could just as easily be 365 days (or 10,000 days)...?!
 
First off, you’re not a consumer in this scenario. Any relevant law is designed to protect consumers.

You’re operating a business so this is a commercial contract. The contract itself should contain the notice period and it looks like you’re bound to that.

Give the 90-day notice now and seek a refund pro-rata of any advance monies paid.
 
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It's not me, and I don't have full details, as it was only mentioned to me by someone else.

As I understand it, notice was given 81 days in advance of renewal, and the service provider basically said tough luck, here's an invoice for a further 12 months...
 
As above, you'll need to check the terms in the original contract. If it states the 90 day cancellation policy then that is what applies unless both parties agree otherwise.
 
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