Whirlpool

For the past few years I've been a satisfied customer of AANet's. Other than the rare service drop-out I've had no problems – that is until I went to cancel my service and was charged an additional month despite following AANet's clear instructions that they provide in their FAQs.

A little over a month before I was due to move house (i.e. last week in April) I checked out the AANet site to see what the process was for cancelling. I found the following in their Billing & Accounts FAQ...

How do I cancel my ADSL service?

To cancel a service, you must log into your members area and select the 'cancel service' option. Here, it will inform you the last date you have pre-paid until, and allow you to select any date to cancel the service. The day after the service is canceled, aaNet will submit a request to our suppliers to have your ADSL codes removed. You must use this interface to cancel a service, even if you are transfering away, simply make sure your transfer is complete before your cancellation request date. If you have internet access, this is the only acceptable way to cancel an ADSL service, and close your account.

(Source: http://www.aanet.com.au/billing.html, retrieved July 16, 2008)

So I logged in, hit the 'Cancel service' link and noticed, as I expected, that I had pre-paid (note: pre-paid, not post-paid) until the end of April. I did not want to cancel the service until the end of June so made a note to myself to return to the AANet site in June and try again. Sometime in the first or 2nd week of June (I know – I should have kept these details) I went back and, as per AANet's instructions cancelled my account. I set the cancellation date as the last date that I had pre-paid to (June 30).

On July 1, my account was cancelled – I could tell because just to make sure I tried connecting to the internet and couldn't.

The trouble is that on June 30 AANet direct debited from my account an extra monthly fee – meaning I had now pre-paid until the end of July despite having already cancelled the service, effective end of June. The double whammy was that because I was not expecting any further direct debits from my account, my bank charged me an overdraft fee for honouring AANet's direct debit request.

After getting the house move out of the way I e-mailed (billing@aanet.com.au) AANet on the 16th of July to enquire as to why they had charged me for an extra month. I have not heard back yet.

Now, I should in all fairness to AANet point out that their terms and conditions do state the following:

5.1.1 You may cancel the service at any time by giving us 30 days notice in writing.

However, this contradicts their own FAQ which is lot clearer on the subject...

To cancel a service, you must log into your members area and select the 'cancel service' option ... If you have internet access, this is the only acceptable way to cancel an ADSL service, and close your account.(my emphasis)

If the FAQ was consistent with their own terms & conditions I would have cancelled the service, in writing, well over 30 days before the date on which I wanted to cancel.

I believe their FAQ is misleading and as such would like my money (plus the overdraft fee my bank charged me) refunded.

If an AANet representative would like to contact me to sort this out, I'd be very happy to hear from them.

The 30 days notice thing is the "official" line on cancellations, however they provide the one-day option if you use their online automated system. So actually, both are correct.

What day were you normally billed on? If it was the 30th then you should have cancelled on the 29th. However, from my memory of that page the system should have automatically chosen this date for you?

edit: or maybe your billing date was usually the 31st? In which case maybe something got confused in the form and you might have a case...

metofindout writes...

If an AANet representative would like to contact me to sort this out, I'd be very happy to hear from them.

You need to contact them, via email to accounts@aanet.com.au and ask that they review the charge for the following month. If your anniversary date is the 30th you should have set the cancel date as the 29th as per Geoff's post.

What day were you normally billed on? If it was the 30th then you should have cancelled on the 29th. However, from my memory of that page the system should have automatically chosen this date for you?

The day I was normally billed on varied. Sometimes it was the start of the month, sometimes the end of the Month (e.g. last 3 months I was billed Apr 1, Apr 30 and Jun 3).

As you mentioned, the cancellation page did automatically choose the date for me – June 30.

From AANet's FAQ:

it will inform you the last date you have pre-paid until

Andy. writes...

You need to contact them, via email to accounts@aanet.com.au and ask that they review the charge for the following month.

I have done that. I e-mailed them on the 16th of July and have not had a response.

If your anniversary date is the 30th you should have set the cancel date as the 29th as per Geoff's post.

I chose the cancellation date from what AANet's cancellation page offered me. I saw no reason to make it any earlier than what I had "pre-paid until". First, I'd already paid for it, and second I wasn't actually moving house until the 2nd week of July – but figured I could live without the internet for a few days (easier said than done!).

Sounds like as I suggested above – your billing date is actually the 31st and the system has stuffed up for a month with only 30 days. If that's the case they'll probably fix it up for you

Still no response from AANet to my e-mail requesting a refund – 8 days and counting. all I have is the automated tracking e-mail from their system.

One way to prevent organisations from freely accessing your credit card or set up billing account (direct debit) is to formally send a letter to both the ISP and the Bank. Inform both that from such a date no more withdrawals may be made from the Direct Debit account or cancel the account from a predetermined date. Its amazing just how many ISP's continue to withdraw money from Direct Debit accounts long after customers leave or churn.

Then it is always a battle to get the money back.

keep researching writes...

One way to prevent organisations from freely accessing your credit card or set up billing account (direct debit) is to formally send a letter to both the ISP and the Bank.

Couldn't agree more, but sometimes, for whatever reason many of us don't have the time or forget to write that letter. In which case we should be able to trust the ISP to do the right thing.

Plus I should point out I have no problem with the fact that AANet have made a mistake in this case by charging me an extra month. We all make mistakes and no system is perfect.

What really bothers me is that AANet seem to be ignoring my request for either a) a reasonable explanation of why they charged me or, b) a refund in the event that the charge was a mistake (which I think it was).

metofindout writes...

What really bothers me is that AANet seem to be ignoring my request for either a) a reasonable explanation of why they charged me or, b) a refund in the event that the charge was a mistake (which I think it was).

aaNet are not ignoring you – rather a high level of sickness took out almost ¾ of our staff meaning there are some delays.

I expect most emails should be replied to by Sunday evening.

Jason

Jason Μ writes...

aaNet are not ignoring you – rather a high level of sickness took out almost ¾ of our staff meaning there are some delays.

I expect most emails should be replied to by Sunday evening.

I look forward to the reply. Thanks very much for the update.

Jason Μ writes...

I expect most emails should be replied to by Sunday evening.

Jason was right. I have been contacted by aaNet and they have offered to refund both my monthly fee and the overdraft fee my bank charged me.

This is a good outcome. Thank you aaNet for the response.

It is nice to see a happy ending to one of these threads. I have seen a few posts that mentioned good experiences with aaNet, and replies that say "Get used to it", so hopefully I am making the right decision to churn to aaNet.

Cheers,
Ponder