binky

Anyone else had an email from IINet over the last few days with some crap about how they can't afford to provide the service they are at the moment due to their suppliers increasing their costs blah blah blah?

I got it yesterday and they say that they now have to reduce my service by almost a third from 1500kbps to 512kbps!!!??!! :scared: They advise me that I can stay with them as is or leave them without incurring any penalties, however if I got a free modem when signing up I would have to pay for that if I left....yeah thanks - you changed my contract!

The other option is to increase my broadband speeds back up to previous levels by paying them an extra $20 per month. Funny that....

Sounds like they've got me over a barrel.

Well at least there's one thing I can do which is this:

IINet - avoid them at all costs. They are rubbish.

Paul and Chloe

Hmm, not had any email and I have just checked their website....is this a dodgy email?

NKSK version 2

I'm with iinet so I'll watch this with interest.

Contact Dept of Comsumer and Emp. Protection who will give you the number of the telecommunication watchdog. They were very good when I contacted them over iinet a few months ago. They should be able to tell you how your rights have been affected.

Amazulu

I use them & find them to be excellent. I have their 24Mbps ADSL2+ service & have had no problems with it. I can recommend them highly.

gedge

It was front page news yesterday on Whirlpool.
It is Telstra who are causing the headaches, but i don't like the way iiNet are handling it. They should be kicking the regulators harder than ever.

NKSK version 2

I like the fact that if you break the contract you have to pay a penalty. If they break the contract they have to pay nothing.

NKSK version 2

I'm amazed that they can get away with this (it doesn't affect me BTW).

Citing the wholesaler price increase surely cannot be an excuse to increase the price within a fixed term contract? Doesn't this apply to all fixed term plans? i.e. Foxtel has an increase in its costs so monthly 24 month plans increase? Football gets an increase in it's cleaning costs so the price of the season ticket goes up mid season? (i.e. they ask for more cash)

Isn't it a fair expectation that once a contract is entered into it can't be altered? (even given the small print?)

binky

Here's what the email said:

**********************************

13 July 2006

We are writing to advise you of an important change to your broadband plan.

In December last year our wholesale provider made some significant changes to our supply costs. This resulted in the cost of your broadband plan exceeding the amount you are paying us. Since that time, we have worked with our wholesale supplier on the costs and also built our own equipment where we can in order to reduce our costs.

Although it was below cost, we have maintained the price and features of your plan. However, we regret to advise that we now believe there is no likelihood of costs coming down for the high speed plan any time in the foreseeable future. As such, the download speed of your plan will be reduced from 1500k to 512k, 21 days from the date of this notification.

All of the other great features of your plan will remain unchanged:

Your generous download quota will remain You will continue to receive free anti-virus and anti-spam email protection You will still be provided with a free backup dialup service Free technical support will be available to you 24/7 The 512k speed plan is very popular and is still double the speed that most other providers promote. However, if high speed is really important to you, we have created another plan which has the same downloads and speed as your current plan but at $20 more per month. We would prefer there were no additional charges but the increase in our cost was actually more than $20 per month. If you wish to discuss this or other options, please contact our friendly support team on 1300 300 928, or email [email protected]

We are confident that your plan still represents great value. However, if you wish to close your account, please notify us by no later than 24 August 2006 (42 days from the date of this notification) by email to [email protected]

If you are on a fixed term contract with us and you decide to leave, there will be no contract exit fees. If you received a free modem as part of a special deal when you signed up and you decide to leave us, you will need to pay for the modem. As hardware such as modems/routers can be used with other providers, we are unable to refund any hardware purchases if you leave.

If you don't advise us and you keep using your service as normal, we will assume that you have accepted this change. For more information about this change and your options, please click here.

It is with great reluctance that we must make this change and we apologise for any inconvenience. We thank you for your support and look forward to meeting your broadband needs in the future.

Kind regards,

xxxxxxx xxxxxx
Products Manager
iiNet Ltd

**********************************************

binky

But would you say the same if they had just done what they had done to me?

CadburysFingers

iinets share price has more than halved in the last two weeks, as they are experiencing serious financial difficulties.

We are with them and our service is superb, cant speak highly enough about them.

Teliko21

We were with IInet and couldn't get away from them fast enough. They rank right up there with Netspace in terms of being the worst ISPs we have had dealings with in Oz. And trust me we have used a few I love our current ISP, noone has heard of them, the service is excellent and the customer service is the best I have ever experienced from any company

NKSK version 2

This just shows you the inconsistencies.

Despite my comments earlier and one billing problem at the start of my contract, iinet have been fantastic for me. Good speeds, reliability, patient when I had a filter problem and I think, good value. The only problem is the usual wait times when calling support - 10 minutes.
But I get this with banks, superann. companies, the lot.

ozzieeagle

To date I've not had any troubles. I am expecting some because I'm aware of their problems.

Makes three out of thee for me....failing companies for me. Onetel..... Iprimus, and now IInet.

I'm not too good at judging these providers.