Month-to-Month Contract Cancellation

Dear O2,

When we first moved to Germany the landlord had not finished running the fiber lines supporting the new buildings internet service.  We purchased a router and by month O2 subscription to enable internet service in our apartment.  

The landlord completed the fiber installation and we have had the new internet service for over (2) months.  Once we had confidence in the new system we turned the original hot spot/O2 subscription off.  Usage is zero.  We have been trying to cancel the subscription for over a month but in that we do not speak German at this time the call service has been a challenge...until yesterday when one of your English speaking representatives provided us some guidance towards SMS communications. 

Bottom line:  Please accept this as authorization to cancel our subscription (XXXXXXX) effective immediately.  While through usage you can see we have not been using the service for some time...we are not seeking any past credit...just no further charges from this date forward.

Know that the system and service performed flawlessly.

If you have any questions please contact me.

Best regards,

Tony R.

Edit o2 Antje: Rufnummer aus Datenschutzgründen entfernt

While I appreciate your response...it is unacceptable.  As you have sighted, I have sent numerous communications...in addition to numerous hours on calls attempting to cancel this subscription.  I fully understand that not understanding the German language has played a part.  But now you have full knowledge and understanding of our request.  As was stated by us previously and can be confirmed by your company through usage this service has not been use in months.  Also as stated we are not seeking any credit...but your comment to 14 days is a bit unprofessional in that it is clear we have been trying to cancel for much longer than that...and again as your company can verify the service has not been used for longer than that period.

Please accept our previous correspondence as request to cancel the service immediately.

If you cannot...please transfer our request to the appropriate department within your company that can.  If this cannot be accomplished, please elevate this issue to your company's management for resolution.

Given all it would be odd if we are charged another month service for a service your company knows it is not providing.  We subscribed to the month-by-month as we knew the landlord was eventually providing service.  We agreed to pay a higher monthly rate to have the flexibility to cancel...no long-term contract. While we understand not having online capability to cancel for customers which have entered long-term contracts...in our opinion there needs to be a more effective method for the month-by-month Customers.

If the next monthly billing (64.99) hits our account and we do not have conformation of cancellation for the following billing cycle, we will share this issue and supporting rationale with our bank and cancel all future payment/transactions.

Your company is a service company…as previously stated the service provided performed flawlessly...please do the right thing now.

Your Customer,

Tony

Maybe not as clear to all as it seems to us...but we have been trying for a long long time to cancel this month-to-month service.  All call attempts failed solely due to the fact that the representatives could not speak or understand English...the number 1 language in the world.  We were clear we are not looking for any credit...even stating the next charge is permissible which makes the 14 day issue moot.  Your comment “Whether or not you use the service is irrelevant” misses the relevance of my comment towards your being able to verifying the service is not being used.  In all honesty it not like car insurance where you pay and hope not to use the service...right?

After so many unsuccessful attempts on our part we are not willing to call or request again...my statement stands...after this next billing if we do not have conformation of cancellation for the following billing cycle, we will share this issue and supporting rationale with our German bank and cancel all future payment/transactions.

FYI...when we couldn’t cancel online our first calls were to Customer Service.  During the most recent call last week and after being transferred to 3 departments where we were finally given instructions to remove the card from the router and install it in cell (did not work using my US cell) so we could get SMS messages in (German).  This is how we finally accessed what is titled “English O2 Community” seeking resolution.  It’s not arrogance on my part...I was offered foreign language courses back in the 70’s...just didn’t have the foresight to realize after 40 years with the company I would be asked to spend a year in Germany.  While this particular issue has been frustrating...spending time in Germany has been a great experience.

 Regards,

T

My expectation is based on far too many O2 representatives and departments knowing what our written objective is and what the primary challenge is...it is not unreasonable to expect that the information would be transferred to the responsible department and executed. 

We did ask a German colleague and he was unsuccessful.  I also went to the store where the service was originally purchased.  The store rep spent over 15 minutes unsuccessfully...mostly on hold...while his queue of waiting Customers grew.  His manager came by and mention this is something they do not normally do...so I offered to return during a slower period.   On 2 returns they were busy.  

The 14 days was mention by O2.  Our assumption was that we were inside a monthly period and is why we offered to make the next payment prior to the cancellation becoming effective...allowing well over 30 days to make the change.  If I understand you we were not eligible for cancellation as we were past the initial 14 days.  As I previously stated and as O2 is fully aware our month-to month relationship is over 240 days.  Cancellation vs Termination...really...in that the 14 day period is long past/not relevant...there is no way O2 doesn’t understand our intent.  In my experience cancellation is for a subscription or service...termination is for cause/default. Bottomline...hiding behind two words that many use interchangeably is unreasonable.  

As for insurance...again in response to an O2 comment that non-usage was irrelevant.  The simple comparison was to differentiate the different types of services...one you pay to use but if you don’t there is benefit (coverage)...this one you pay to use but if you don’t there is no benefit.  Why would one pay for the latter?  Again...the only reason we mentioned usage was to enable O2 to validate the service had not been used/needed for months.

I have been to many countries...language barriers can be a challenge.  None equal to this round...but I have experienced a few over the years in Japan, Turkey and Norway...all of which the request didn’t go to the correct department...so I received a nice notice stating the information was in fact forwarded to the correct department and the issue resolved.

BTW...appears I am not alone...reminder we are month-to-month...see actual German excerpt below:

“Signing up for a service is very easy, cancelling it is not. This forum is full of horror stories. For someone who's here for the short term it's better to avoid long-term contracts whenever there are non-contract-based alternatives. Luckily, for the internet there are companies like 1 & 1 that offer service on a month-by-month basis, cancellable any time.”

Not stubborn...just highly frustrated.

T

Comical…

To your statement “Therefore, your cancellation here in our English community does not include any personal data. A cancellation without any personal data (including your mobile phone number) is not valid and cannot be accepted by our company.”

Presuming you have access to the O2 site...and even if you don’t someone at O2 does...as my personal data (including mobile phone number) is in your system.

While through multiple calls and correspondence I feel we had no alternative but to continue trying…you could have reduced your involvement/time by simply routing our request to the appropriate department, including the required personal data which is in your data base.

Again...I see we are not alone...actual German excerpt below:

“Signing up for a service is very easy, cancelling it is not. This forum is full of horror stories. For someone who's here for the short term it's better to avoid long-term contracts whenever there are non-contract-based alternatives. Luckily, for the internet there are companies like 1 & 1 that offer service on a month-by-month basis, cancellable any time.”

Please know that based on principle alone this issue will be elevated within your company...it is a broken/ineffective process.