does cancalling credit card to avoid early ADSL account cancellation fees work?

[eskimo]

with my and most other ISP if you cancel your account before the contract period has ended you get charged a fee. i was wondering what if you canceled your credit card and did'nt except direct debt on your bank account or changed your bank account number, would or could your ISP still be able to bill you? i am guessing they would be calling you up saying your credit card isnt vaild, blah blah, your account will be cancelled, but what do you guys think would happen next with fees/charges? I know governments will chase you to the end of the earth for expired traffic fines etc but what sort of authority do ISP have?

[Paul Komski]

Anyone with whom you start a contract and from whom you purchase goods or services becomes your creditor and they are entitled to sue you for reparation if you default on your contract.

If you bounce a cheque or stop payment by other means it does not remove your obligation to pay.

If, as most firms do, you are sued then you may well find that you are liable for all sorts of additional fees and sevices and penalties and even legal expenses if it reaches court. In addition you may be blacklisted and find it hard to get credit again.

A contract is a contract - if you want to get out of it early you should negotiate with the company - if they are open to negotiation.

[FrankSG]

Well---since you asked: If you do owe anyone some money, your conscience should give you the answer.

[FrankSG]

eskimo--I got to thinking about my response to your post, and I believe that I was a little off-base answering like I did. I had no right to judge you by suggesting that you search your conscience. I apologize.
~Frank~

[eskimo]

hey fellas i dont owe anybody money, if i did i have no problems paying them. i think my post is a bit misunderstood, my fault, i will try to explain better.....so here is the situation....every month i get billed to my credit card for my internet account and i was wondering if i cancelled my credit card before the next billing period (eg; i cancel my credit card tomorrow and billing period for the NEXT month is on the 10th) then what would happen? could they still try and chase me for another billing period or will they just cancel my account (without the early termination fee) because they will say your credit card isnt valid. the reason im asking is becuase just yesterday my ISP emailed me saying they are changing the entire netowrk over from ADSL to ADSL+2 free of charge and i have 7 days to select a plan or a new one will be automatically selected for me, BUT with the change to ADSL+2 there is a minimum 6 month contract! im leaving going overseas in about a month and a half so that means if i cancel this new ADSL+2 contract before 6 months then i get charged an early cancellation fee and there saying to me that i can be charged up to $350 for early cancellation. i think that's crap what there doing just saying account holders must enter a new 6 month contract and giving them no other choice. i dont even want ADSL2+. ive got so much **** to organizre on the net with flights, visas, hotels etc that's this is the last thing i want to think about. hope that makes more sense guys.

[PrntRhd]

Depends on your location as to the legality of early cancellation terms.
Generally speaking, if you agree to a contract, you are obligated to comply with the terms of the contract.
I would call the provider and ask if you can just keep the present version for 6 weeks and explain the situation to them. By doing that, you have the chance to opt out on the 6 month contract.

Some recent legal rulings on the US cell phone industry practices recently held that enforcing those early termination request charges were unfair and the companies will be liable for refunds.
The cell company argument was that they helped customers with discounts on the phones and needed the contract to get the phone cost covered. The court ruled that the companies did not have to price their phones and services this way and the penalties hurt people who needed to stop service (like the death of a subscriber, yet the cell company wanted to have the estate pay for the service until the contract was end of term). There have also been examples of people who needed to cancel a week before the deadline and were charged the full ETR charges.

Many cell companies have recently switched to a pro rated method that reduces the penalties over time.

My cable internet provider has no contract to sign, you can cancel at any time. I like that idea much better than being forced to use someone's service.

[Paul Komski]

PrntRhd is of course right. Any statutory law takes precedence over any contract - and particularly when there may be pressure selling. Cooling off periods are common in such cases under many legislatures.

Many of the ISPs and Telecoms want to get you on to an integrated telephone/broadband package as many see broadband as the future and also because land-based telephone services have had to compete with VoiceOverIP such that their rates have had to come down and down.

Here in Ireland it is an extremely competitive market and some companies seem very user friendly and others have a very hard sell. I hope yours comes into the former group becauset they certainly want your business.

As a complete aside, but since I mentioned VOIP, I only recently discovered that you can send text messages to cell phones using Skype. It's just so much easier than typing on a cell phone!

[vickershaft]

if you take that route and cancel your credit card your ISP will chase you and if you still don't pay they'll send a debt collection agency after you causing you to incur they're costs as-well. In the UK the charges from these debt collectors is usually around £70 that's about $140 us. I'm not sure of the charges in the US but that's just a little insight to how UK companies deal with that kind of problem

[tommy]

Equally, if not more, important than the costs is that non-payment and processing thru a debt collection agengy will cause a negative record on your credit report.

[eskimo]

its all good now! i just went into my ISP office after work and they said they would be willing to wave the early cancellation fee because it is a "forced" migration to ADSL2+. sweet!

[Sylvander]

"It's just so much easier than typing on a cell phone!"
I hate trying to type text messages on a mobile phone so I use Free UK SMS Text Messaging with Replies (http://www.cbfsms.com/) on my PC [Skype not necessary].
Apparently, to send worldwide it's necessary to use the VIP pay version (http://vip.cbfsms.com/).

[PrntRhd]

i just went into my ISP office after work and they said they would be willing to wave the early cancellation fee because it is a "forced" migration to ADSL2+.
Very good.
:)