NTL charging consumer to disconnect service?

Someone nameless of my acquaintance who has gone through a hard time due to recently becoming a widow with young children has decided she cannot afford to continue paying both NTL and also Sky Movies package etc for the one household.
As Sky with movies package etc provides all the channels the household needs and the NTL, despite being paid for, had never been used in years, she decided to call NTL and terminate her account.
The response relayed back to myself is NTL told her that to disconnect her household from NTL she has to pay a 100 euro disconnection charge. Whats going on ? She has told them that since she cant afford the 42 euro (or thereabouts) they are presently charging her per month then how is she supposed to afford a 100 Euro disconnection fee ???
It seems like a racket and highly anti competitive to me. If someone refuses/cannot pay their NTL bill would they be pursued for the bill or simply disconnected ? I am finding it hard to believe this really happened but apparently it did. Under these circumstances maybe I could call NTL and claim she is dead to obtain a disconnection?

Can anyone shed any light on this ? What should be the next action?

Re: NTL charging consumer to disconnect service?????

I haven't heard of this myself - the only instance I could think of where a disconnection fee may apply is if she was still within a contract period - eg you signed up for a year but wanted out before the 12 months. This is clearly not the case here though. My parents in law disconnected from NTL to switch to Sky earlier this year and all that was needed was a letter sent asking them to disconnect the service, and to send on details of any outstanding charges (ie final bill).

I can tell you anecdotally (I live in Waterford and would have heard this from various sources who would have been in a situation to know) that until recently enough, NTL would have followed the practice of writing off bills of smaller amounts if they felt they had sent enough warning letters and still nothing was being paid, they would simply cut them off, but I don't know how they react to such a situation nowadays with the takeover.
disclaimer - I am not suggesting you ignore the bill, I am merely saying this in case your friend is worried they may chase her through the courts, to put her mind at ease.

I am sorry to hear of your acquainteance's situation, this is the last thing she needs on her plate to be worrying about.
Ask to speak to a manager/someone higher up the chain as from my own dealings with NTL (and that of friends/family) the frontline on the callcentres will only recite the speil as they don't have authority to make a situation by situation decision. If you stomp your foot loudly enough to a manager, they more often than not can sort the problem for you as they will be more amenable to keeping good customer relations/public profile.

Re: NTL charging consumer to disconnect service?????

We changed over from Chorus to NTL to Sky and never paid any disconnecting charges. I thaugh you only paid penalty if you cancel before one year of the installation.

Re: NTL charging consumer to disconnect service?????

I had to pay a disconnection fee to Chorus when moving house recently. Had been with them over 7 years before that and customer service was brutal, we never got a single bill from them (paid by d/d) remote controls broke and we couldnt get them on the phone, but when we sent a letter saying we were moving house, they sent us a bill quicksmart! Think the disconnection fee was in the region of €50 so it's not unheard of.

Re: NTL charging consumer to disconnect service?????

I would ask to see where in their contract it mentions this diconnection charge. I cancelled NTL around 3 years ago and didn't have to pay a cent. They weren't even interested in taking back the box.

UTV Broadband charge such a fee, but it is mentioned in their terms and conditions at the outset.

It may be a new charge that they have introduced, but I would have thought that they would be obliged to inform customers in writing before doing so.

There is something about giving them a month's notice in writing of termination of contract, so make sure your friend does that. I would also suggest sending that letter by registered post so that she can later prove they received it if necessary.

purpeller said:

There is something about giving them a month's notice in writing of termination of contract, so make sure your friend does that. I would also suggest sending that letter by registered post so that she can later prove they received it if necessary.

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Do exactly this. I cancelled 4 months ago after 2 years with them. The woman did say there was a Fee, but when I said I was over the year, which she confirmed, I was not charged.

Also the address is a PO Box number (she'll need to ring to get it I think). I couldnt find it anyway where. (and cant find it now)

Thanks folks. Shes had a hard time lately and doesnt need to be stressing over this. I will draft a letter with her help and make sure I get the correct address to send it to . Will let you know how we get on