Phonewatch refusing refund when I move house

David1234

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Rather than starting a new thread I'll put me recent experience with Phonewatch here.

We have recently sold our house, and are in the process of cancelling all of our utilities as we won't be into the new place for a while. All bar Phone watch (sky, broadband, bins) require a 30 day notice period which is absolutely fair IHO.

Phonewatch said that I entered into a new annual contract in January and that I would have to pay for the remaining 7 months. I have been with them 5 years and only agreed to a 1 year contract upon signing in 2014 for a discount. They said that they sent me an email with their terms and conditions back in January when the new contract apparently commenced. I may have received this but cant find the email and have no memory of ever reading it.

My question is can a utilities company automatically sign you up for anything else apart from a rolling monthly contract without written or verbal consent?
 
My question is can a utilities company automatically sign you up for anything else apart from a rolling monthly contract without written or verbal consent?

Check the cancellation terms in the original contract you signed. There's a good chance this allowed for 12 month rolling contracts, but if not you should push them on it.
 
You all might want to look other options.

I have a . This is a camera/motion/heat/humidity sensor which runs on your broadband and is operated via app. You can set up alerts, texts, or phone calls if motion is detected. You can then look at a live feed to a camera.

The hardware costs about €100 and there is no subscription fee.

You can hook it up to motion sensors on windows and doors as well (I haven't done this).

I know there are other products like this. I think it's much better value than a wired alarm plus phonewatch subscription.
 
Phonewatch said that I entered into a new annual contract in January and that I would have to pay for the remaining 7 months.

Seems reasonable to me.

I renewed mine recently and paid them the annual fee upfront.

It wouldn't occur to me to seek a refund if I stopped using it mid-year.

The other utilities are different. I am using gas, electricity and broadband. When I stop using them, I stop incurring a cost for the supplier.

I presume the new owners of your house could avail of the unused Phonewatch term?

Brendan
 
Seems reasonable to me.

I renewed mine recently and paid them the annual fee upfront.

It wouldn't occur to me to seek a refund if I stopped using it mid-year.

The other utilities are different. I am using gas, electricity and broadband. When I stop using them, I stop incurring a cost for the supplier.

I presume the new owners of your house could avail of the unused Phonewatch term?

Brendan


I would have no issue if I was trying to cancel a few months into the original contract and I also would not be looking for a refund for unused months.

I would look at it as phonewatch providing a service similar to sky/broadband and once you are out of the original contract agreed that rolling into another full years contract is excessive.

Out of interest how did you renew your contract? Did you contact them or were they in touch with you?

What is the maximum term you think these type of service providers can lock you into on completion of the original contract?
 
Phonewatch billing needs watching. Like another poster here, I've installed it at an elderly relatives house and if I wasn't tuned in on things like this I could easily have missed that they double charged us €100 for an element of the install. They were very nice and rectified it quickly but the relative hadn't clocked it. Also had issues where the monthly bill via DD was not collected so it was twice the following month
 
what I think David1234 is saying is that when the renewel comes around they roll the contract on to the next year if you dont contact them.. a bit sharp practice at least...
 
Out of interest how did you renew your contract? Did you contact them or were they in touch with you?

They sent me an invoice.

I rang them to query the invoice and then paid it over the phone.

But fair enough, maybe I don't have a contract with them.

What happens with car insurance or house insurance if you cancel half way through the year?

Brendan
 
Could it not be considered inertia selling and therefore illegal. Ask them for the contract that you signed with these terms and conditions.
 
What happens with car insurance or house insurance if you cancel half way through the year

When I take out my car/home insurance I sign up for a year and at the end of the year I must renew my contract or I am not insured. My insurance company don’t automatically renew a contract (I am aware that some do/at least use to) unless I instruct them to.

I think a provider locking a client in for a year at the end of a contract without a renewed agreement is shady. with home/car insurance you get refunded on a pro rata basis if you cancel. PhoneWatch want me to pay for 7 months of additional service.

Hypothetically could they have rolled me onto a 2 year contract at the end of the first term if it was in the Ts and Cs?
 
Hi
Id be interested in how this played out and especially if any compromise was reached.
 
How did this end I wonder as I am in the exact same position now.

My original contract states: "The contract shall have an initial service period of 12 months. At the end of the initial service period, the contract will be renewed automatically and continue to be in force until terminated by any party with a 1 months’ notice period. If the Customer does not with the contract to be automatically renewed, it must inform the Company no later than 30 days prior to the expiry of the initial service period."

I read above as saying after initial 12 months I am free to cancel with 1 months notice even if it has renewed. I have called them on May 30th to say I want to cancel, I challenged the need to pay out anymore money after one month notice but they continue to state over the phone that I need to pay out the contract. Even after I called out above statement to them.
 
Took me ages to figure out this sentence. Mistakes highlighted below.

"If the Customer does not want the contract to be automatically renewed, they must inform the Company no later than 30 days prior to the expiry of the initial service period."

This sentence is ambiguous. It can be read both ways. "The contract shall have an initial service period of 12 months. At the end of the initial service period, the contract will be renewed automatically and continue to be in force until terminated by any party with a 1 months’ notice period."

I think they probably meant "renewed for another 12 months" but they don't state that.

They also don't state anything about the consequences of early termination.

I think they should correct their terms and let you cancel early.
 
Threaten them with Joe Duffy or local radio. Sad but effective. They rely on a false reputation of being safer or better than other operators so fear bad publicity.
 
They are a nightmare to cancel with. We are in the process of moving house too but luckily we are near the end of our contract term. I rang to inform them that we were cancelling but the agent really gave me the hard sell as to why I shouldn’t cancel. It felt like I was being interrogated why we were cancelling and it took over 30 mins to get him to confirm that the contract would not be renewed. I’ll never deal with them again.
 
For what it's worth in case it helps anybody...
12 TERM AND TERMINATION

12.1 The service shall begin upon installation.
The contract shall have an initial service period of 12 months. At the end of the initial service period, the
contract will be renewed automatically for a further 12 month period. If the Customer does not want the
contract to be automatically renewed, it must inform the Company no later than 30 days prior to the expiry of
the 12 month period.

The termination period runs from the first day of the subsequent month after the notification of termination.
The Customer may terminate this contract by contacting the Phonewatch customer service centre
(see clause 20 for contact details). In the event of material breach by either party, or if either PhoneWatch or
the Customer goes bankrupt, suspends their payments, requests recovery or liquidation
proceedings or becomes insolvent, the other party may terminate the contract with immediate effect.
Outstanding payments that exceed 60 days entitle PhoneWatch to temporarily cease the Services
following prior notice to the Customer. The Customer is, however, still obliged to pay for the services
until the time of disconnection, including all outstanding amounts. Non-payment exceeding three months is
regarded as a material breach of this contract, and thereby entitles PhoneWatch to terminate this
contract with immediate effect following written notice.

12.2 Upon termination of this contract, PhoneWatch is entitled to remove all equipment and signage. If the
equipment is not in proper operational condition, the Customer will be billed for any costs that arise in
connection with repair/replacement. Phonewatch is not responsible for marks or damage that occur when
equipment and signage are removed. The Customer is obliged to give PhoneWatch access to the property
between the hours of 08:00 and 16:00 on regular working days to perform the disconnection and removal work.

If the Customer is not available at the agreed equipment removal time, PhoneWatch will charge a no-show
service fee of €100 incl. VAT. This also applies after the Customer has moved from the Installation Address, if
necessary. If the disconnection and removal work is not possible before termination of this contract due to the
Customer, the Customer will be charged for lost equipment, and will continue to be billed for the monthly charge and any additional costs in the event of an alarm being triggered, calls to emergency services, etc., until the disconnection and removal work has been carried out. In all circumstances, PhoneWatch is entitled to access the Installation Address externally to remove signage, even without the Customer’s presence, and shall bear no responsibility for any damage that could have been avoided if the Customer had cooperated and been present.
 
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