Standard Broadband and Telecoms Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

These terms and conditions apply if you are a customer using our telecoms and/or broadband services at your domestic premises at which the services are used wholly or mainly for domestic purposes. You must inform us if you start using your property for business purposes and we will provide you with an alternative contract.

Please read the terms and conditions carefully so that you fully understand your commitments and our obligations.

No contract will be formed between us until you start using the services or, if you are subscribing for the services online or by telephone, until we confirm that we accept your application. If you subscribe online or by telephone and there are any problems with your application prior to us commencing the registration process we will contact you and attempt to resolve any issues. We reserve the right to reject your request for any reason. Grounds for our rejection could include but are not limited to an unsatisfactory credit score or if your premises are found to have unsuitable equipment or, in the case of broadband services, that you do not have a BT telephone landline (we will test this for you using the telephone number given on your application) or your premises cannot be connected for any other technical reasons.

If you are subscribing for the services online or by the telephone you will have the right to cancel any or all of the services pursuant to our cancellation policy which is available on request from customer services or can be freely accessed through our website. I f you have any queries regarding this contract please contact customer services at email: customer.service@firsttelecom.com or call: 0845 215 1640.

You can subscribe for broadband services by telephone only.

2. Changes to these terms

2.1 We can make non-material changes to the terms of this contract by notifying you. Where we make any variations to the terms which are to your disadvantage (including without limitation changes to the price) we will provide you with a minimum of 10 (ten) day's notice and, subject to clause 2.2, if the change is to your significant disadvantage , you may terminate the contract in accordance with clause 12.1(b) provided that the variation to the contract is not due to misleading information you have provided to us regarding your status.

3. Your obligations, our obligations

3.1 In the case of broadband services, we will supply these services to your premises on condition that you terminate any existing supply contract to that premises to take effect in line with your services start date (as defined below).

3.2 If you subscribe online or by telephone, we will tell you the date on which the supply of each of the services under this contract is expected to start (service start date). The services start date may differ for each service. You accept that we cannot guarantee that date but we will take reasonable steps to ensure that it will be within 30 days of the date on which we confirm our acceptance of your order for the service(s).

3.3 You confirm that:

(a) all information which you supply to us during the term of this contract is complete and accurate in all respects and that you will notify us immediately of any material changes to your circumstances. You will compensate us against any liability or loss we may suffer as a result of your breach of this warranty;

(b) you are the owner or occupier of the premises (or will be on the date that your require the services to start) and they are used for domestic purposes only; and

3.4 You must:

(a) use the services and any equipment provided by us or on our behalf in accordance with any instructions given by us from time to time (so long as they are reasonable) and in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, codes of practice and licenses;

(b) not use our telecoms service to transmit any material which may be abusive, offensive, obscene, indecent, menacing or defamatory or which might cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety to anyone, or to commit a fraud or any other criminal offence;

(c) inform us as soon as possible if any of the passwords or other confidential information that we have disclosed to you becomes known to any unauthorised user; and

(d) in the case of broadband services, comply with our acceptable use policy and take reasonable steps to ensure that other persons using the broadband service that we provide to you also comply with this policy. A copy of this policy is available on our website or can be obtained from customer services.

3.5 Please note that those who provide the networks over which your calls will be carried may take action against you directly should you breach your obligations under clause 3.4(b) and (c).

3.6 Unless expressly agreed in writing or you purchase the equipment at the outset, any equipment we provide related to the supply of the services (including without limitation all equipment, the modem and the dialler) will remain our property and you will have no right or interest to it otherwise than as lessee. You must keep all such equipment in good working order and safe condition (fair wear and tear excepted) and undertake that you will not nor will you permit anyone to amend, modify, remove or in any way tamper with such equipment or any part of it (including without limitation obliterate, deface or cover up any plates or other identification markings on the equipment). Risk of loss or damage to the equipment will pass to you upon delivery or installation (if applicable).

You will indemnify us for any loss or liability we suffer as a consequence of:

• your breach of your obligations under clause 3.6; and
• any damage to or interference with our equipment, the connection to the network which is caused by your negligence, wilful default or breach of this contract.

4. Access to premises

You will allow us and any of our representatives, or any other person authorised by us in connection with the supply of the services, reasonable access to install, remove, inspect, check, replace, reset, maintain and disconnect any equipment, in each case at the your expense.

5. Telecoms services

5.1 If you sign up to our telecoms service you can make telephone calls from any telephone number which is registered with us. You can either use your current line rental provider or take line rental from us. If you take line rental from us we will provide you with an access line.

5.2 Line rental

(a) You can obtain full details of all line rental services by visiting our website or by contacting customer services.

(b) We reserve the right to charge you for any of the line rental services at the rates notified to you from time to time or published on our website and your call plan may be varied accordingly.

(c) You may from time to time change your line rental service options but you are only entitled to do so once in any billing month. Any such changes will take effect in the billing month following the billing month in which you made the request for the change.

(d) If we provide you with line rental and other services and you elect to use another provider for some or all of your calls we may at our sole discretion:

(i) cancel your calls order with that provider;

(ii) bar your use of indirect access codes;

(iii) charge you a higher fee for your use of the line rental service (currently an additional £3 per month); or

(iv) disconnect the line rental service.

In addition, we will raise the call charges in respect of calls made through another provider at the then current standard BT day time retail rate or at our then current call charge rate, whichever is the higher, for the telephone number dialled. Our 'lowest bill' guarantee or any similar offers made available by us from time to time will not apply to such calls.

(e) If the only telecoms service you take from us is line rental you are not eligible to receive 'free calls' (pursuant to clause 5.3 below), participate in the 'lowest bill' guarantee; or any such similar offers made available by us from time to time.

5.3 Free calls credit

(a) Subject to your call plan, free UK calls are available between you and our other residential monthly billed customers. To be entitled to free calls you must be registered with our 'carrier pre-select' service at the time of billing and be calling a UK land line number also registered for our monthly billed service. You must also both have made a chargeable call in the previous billing period.

(b) Calls can last for up to 60 minutes before reverting to standard UK charging. Free calls are not available between telephone numbers registered to the same account. We reserve the right to suspend free calls between monthly billed customers.

6. Broadband and email services

6.1 General

(a) The broadband service gives you network access to the Internet, a variety of intranet services and other applications. You can obtain full details of the broadband packages that we offer by visiting our website or by contacting customer services . Any specific terms and conditions or instructions relating to the service package that you chose will be treated as part of these terms and conditions.

(b) We can only offer our broadband service to customers who already have an active pay-monthly telecoms account with us. You must have a suitable computer and compatible cables from your telephone socket to your modem and computer. The minimum specifications are set out on our website .

6.2 Initial term and changes

(a) Your broadband contract will continue indefinitely (subject to the provisions of clause 12 below) but is subject to an initial term of 18 months during which the provisions of clause 6.2, 9.2 and 12.8 will apply (the ";initial term";). This initial term will start again each time you request any change to your broadband package or you transfer the broadband service to a new home.

(b) You may change your broadband package at any time, free of charge, but if you downgrade to a lower speed service within the initial term a re-grade charge will be payable. If you downgrade the service after the initial term no charge will be payable.

6.3 Email

We also provide an email service either as part of the broadband package or as a separate service. Further details about or email service can be found on our website or by calling customer service.

6.4 Usage

7. Dialler, modem and software

7.1 Dialler

(a) Unless the 'carrier pre-select' service has been enabled, calls made from any phone not plugged directly into our dialler will route to whoever is providing your line rental service.

(b) In the unlikely event that the dialler should become faulty and calls routed and charged by your line rental provider you will not be entitled to any compensation.

7.2 Modem and broadband package

(a) We will supply you with a modem or a modem pack comprising a modem plus two filter devices, cables and installation CD. If you are transferring your broadband connection from another supplier we will only supply you with a modem (but not an installation CD) if you request one. We will charge you a one-off fee for the modem. A list of our current fees is available on our website. If you are a customer new to broadband the modem pack will be supplied free of charge.

8. Faults, maintenance and technical support

8.1 Telecoms

(a) If there is a fault with either your line or the telephone connection, please contact customer services . We will arrange for the repair and maintenance of your line and telephone connection. If you cannot use the service during this time, you will be entitled to claim back charges relating to your telephone line and connection, or for any repair and maintenance charges unless the damage or fault was caused by your negligence. Any claims you make for back charges under this clause must be made within six (6) months from the date such charges were incurred. If an engineer visit has been arranged at a time pre-confirmed by you and the engineer is not able to access your property, you shall be charged for this abortive visit, and any such charges will be added to your bill. An abortive fee will also be payable if we reasonably believe that the fault is due to your act or omission or to your own equipment. We reserve the right to bill you for a non-subscription based event, including without limitation, one off charges such as an engineer visit, new line installation, or phone book purchase and these charges may be levied on you up to six (6) months after the relevant non-subscription based event has taken place.

(b) If you are on our ";standard care"; line rental service plan and you inform us of a fault, any fault raised between 8am-5pm GMT/BST Mondays to Fridays, will be responded to within 24 hours. We will endeavour to resolve any fault by midnight of the following working day from when you register the fault with us, unless an engineer visit is required. Any fault raised or reported outside of these hours will be treated as if it had been reported at the beginning of the next working day.

(c) We will use our reasonable endeavours to ensure that our engineers keep any scheduled appointment with you at all times.

(d) Compensation may be available if we fail to repair a non-appointed fault on time, or we fail to keep our appointment with you. In these circumstances you may be entitled to claim up to 35% of your monthly line rental charge (this is for your line rental subscription only and does not include any charges relating to your calls). If your compensation claim is successful, the amount you receive will be credited to a later bill. The maximum compensation claimable is £100.00 per line per annum.

(e) You will not be entitled to compensation in the following circumstances:

• you have not reported the fault to us within one (1) month of the failure giving rise to the compensation and have not claimed the compensation within six (6) months of the failure giving rise to the compensation;
• the failure is due to a fault outside of our network (for example but without limitation, a fault with the public internet);
• we suspend your service in accordance with clause 12 or you are in breach of any part of the contract;
• through no fault on our part we are unable to carry out any necessary work on your property because we are unable to gain access to your property, we are unable to agree an appointment date, the work is aborted, or we require information or assistance to provide the service but are unable to gain this information or assistance from you.

(f) We will aim to give you at least 5 days' notice before carrying out any maintenance of the telecom service that may affect you. We will aim to correct any defect or default in the services that you notify us of as soon as possible.

8.2 Broadband

9. Moving home

9.1 Telecoms

(a) If you move house you must contact us not less than 14 (fourteen) days prior to moving with your updated address details, the new telephone number on which you want the service to be activated (if applicable). Failure to do so may result in a restriction or suspension of the telecoms service. Call plan fees will be re-calculated accordingly.

(b) If we are requested to move your line we will, unless otherwise requested, endeavour to retain your existing telephone number. Installation of the new line in the property you are moving to or any additional new line will attract new line connection charges and a new twelve (12) month contract. We may also charge you for moving the existing line to your new property as well as a three (3) month minimum period. Details of these charges can be obtained from customer services .

(c) Please note that in the cases where you have been allocated or chosen to obtain a new number then unless our 'carrier pre-select' service has been activated on that new number, all calls made on your new number will be billed by us at a higher rate which will be the applicable rate from time to time at the time of the call as specified in our price list which appears on our website at.

9.2 Broadband

10. Pricing

10.1 Telecoms

(a) In consideration for receiving the telecoms services, we will invoice you for all calls made in accordance with your call plan, our published price list for the service and our call records.

(b) A fixed monthly package fee (where applicable) will be charged in arrears, a pro-rata sum will be charged on your first bill to cover the period from the activation of the service to the end of the first billing period, and a variable monthly charge for the telephone calls you make that exceed your free minute's allowance.

(c) The call charges will be billed monthly in arrears, and charges are calculated in accordance with your current call package. If you take a line rental service from us we will bill you monthly in advance for this service, a pro-rata sum will be charged on your first bill to cover the period from the activation of the service to the end of the first billing period.

(d) Where packages include inclusive minutes, which apply to call types up to a monthly limit, unused inclusive minutes (call minutes) cannot be carried forward from one month to the next. Free minutes are only available for voice (not data or internet) calls and cannot be used for premium rate, international, mobile or 0870 or 0845 numbers (unless specifically stated in your call plan).

(e) If, at any time, your usage of the telephone service does not match with that reasonably expected of a residential customer, you will:

(i) no longer be considered a residential customer;

(ii) have your access to any inclusive call plans/'lowest bill' guarantees and other similar offers suspended in accordance with the terms of this contract, and

(iii) be charged and billed in accordance with the extent of your usage. We will inform you before we start charging you in accordance with our then applicable standard tariff under this contract.

10.2 Broadband email

You will pay to us the appropriate charges for your use of the broadband and email services that may apply at the time you subscribe. Our current charges set out on our website or are available on request from customer services . We will collect the first payment from you shortly after the date on which the broadband service is made available to you. We will then collect payment on a monthly basis.

11. Billing and payment

11.1 We will send you one monthly bill covering all services under your contract with us. It will be produced and sent to the billing address provided by you. You must pay us by direct debit unless we agree otherwise in writing or you are an existing customer and we have already agreed a different payment method. Where you do not pay us by direct debit we may levy a reasonable monthly administration charge.

11.2 Where we fail to collect payment (other than as a result of our own act or omission) we will charge you, and you will be liable for, interest on the sum due 28 (twenty-eight) days after we sent the original bill according to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (interest) Act 1998 (Royal Bank of Scotland Base Rate plus 3% per annum).

11.3 If you let us know that you are having difficulty paying then we will attempt to help you in line with our codes of practice available from customer services on request.

11.4 We reserve the right to demand from you a reasonable deposit (or other form of security) for the payment of the charges under this contract. If we do, then we shall seek to agree with you any additional special terms we require to cover the provision of such deposit. In addition, if you fail or score low on the credit checks we carry out as part of our registration process we may set a credit limit on your account. Notwithstanding any other provisions in the contract, if you exceed this credit limit or, having a credit limit, do not pay all or any part of our charges, we may discontinue any or all of the services.

11.5 If you do not pay our invoices as agreed we can insist that you pay through another method which may attract higher charges.

11.6 If you reasonably dispute any amount in an invoice you must notify us with full details of the invoice and the reason for your dispute no later than 4 (four) days before the payment is due. You and we shall try to resolve the dispute as soon as reasonably practicable. However, in the meantime you must pay on the due date for payment, the full amount of the invoice or the amount of the invoice which is not in dispute (whichever is the greater). Once the dispute is resolved any amount due by you to us shall be paid within 10 (ten) days and any amount due from us shall be credited to your account within 10 (ten) days. We may, when it is considered reasonable to do so and at our sole discretion, apply a charge to recover any costs we may have incurred in investigating a payment dispute or other query initiated by you including, but not limited to, the provision of duplicate consumption data and documents.

11.7 If you pay your account by cheque, credit card or direct debit and your bank or credit card company refuses to make payment, we reserve the right to charge you for any bank charges, approved financial institution fees and/or other extra administration costs that we incur as a result. In addition if you take a line rental service from us your calls service will be suspended and Indirect Access Call Barring (IACB) will be applied to your account and you will cover all setup costs associated with this activation together with all monthly charges that we incur as a result.

11.8 In the event of non payment by you, any costs we incur for debt collection, tracing and investigations and legal proceedings will be added to the outstanding balance. Furthermore, any cheques returned from your bank, for whatever reason, will be charged at £25.00 per cheque.

12. Ending this contract and suspending the services

12.1 You can end the arrangements to have any of the services supplied at your premises by giving us notice in writing quoting your contract number (note you must give notice in relation to each individual service that you have requested):

(a) in accordance with our cancellation policy (available on request from customer services ) which is in line with the Consumer Protection (Distant Selling) Regulations 2000, as amended ;

(b) subject to clause 2.2, within 14 days from being told of any proposed change to your terms (including price) which is to your significant disadvantage;

(c) except in the case of broadband services, at least 2 working days before you want this contract to end, if you are permanently leaving the premises;

(d) at least 28 days before you want this contract to end.

12.2 When we have received notice under clause 12.1, we shall prepare a final bill or statement for you.

12.3 If you do not give us proper notice under clause 12.1, this contract will remain in force and you will continue to be liable for all charges arising under it until the contract ends.

12.4 We are entitled to end this contract and/or discontinue any or all of the services to your premises by giving you notice if:

(a) you do not pay any security deposit or all or any part of our charges (that are not genuinely in dispute) when due under these terms;

(b) you commit a serious or repeated breach of this contract (for example, if we reasonably believe that you have stolen telecoms or broadband services or deliberately interfered with the dialler or any other equipment or part of thereof which may affect the services);

(c) you are declared bankrupt, or any formal steps are taken to have you declared bankrupt or any other form of insolvency proceedings are initiated against you;

(d) you are no longer the owner or occupier of the premises;

(e) An telecoms or broadband regulator directs another service provider, instead of us, to provide services your premises;

(f) circumstances occur which are beyond our reasonable control and which result in us being unable to perform our obligations under this contract; such circumstances would include without limitation the acts or omissions of any other telecoms or broadband service provider;

(g) in the case of telecoms services, if in any period of one calendar month you do not make at least £1 worth of calls using the service;

• you fail or score low on a credit check that we carry out once the contract is already in force; or
• you disconnect your telephone landline or change to a non-BT telephone line.

12.5 Each of us may end this contract immediately if we are no longer licensed to provide telecoms or broadband services at your premises.

12.6 Ending your contract will not affect any rights and obligations which arose before that contract came to an end or which are stated in that contract to take effect or to continue after that date, or the right to claim damages for losses whenever they occur provided they arise out of an event occurring on or before termination of this agreement. In addition, clauses 3.3(a), 3.7, 4, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 13, 14, 16 and 17 shall survive termination as well as any provisions of this Agreement necessary for the interpretation or enforcement of this Agreement.

12.7 At the end of this contract you must immediately pay us all undisputed sums owing and return , at your own expense, any equipment that you may have which has been supplied by us or our representative in connection with the provision of any of the services.

12.8 If the contract for broadband services ends prior to the initial term we will charge you an early termination fee of £50 including VAT. This fee will not apply where you transfer the broadband services to new premises (even if these cannot be connected due to geographic or technical reasons) or if you change your broadband package.

If you are being provided with more than one service by us, ending one service will not automatically end the contract for the other services at our discretion.

12.9 Suspension of services

We may suspend any of the services in the following circumstances without liability to compensate you:

(a) to provide or safeguard any service to any emergency, rescue or other essential service or otherwise in a local or national emergency;

(b) to comply with a request or instruction from a government or other competent authority;

(c) if we reasonably suspect fraudulent or unauthorised use of the services;

(d) to repair, maintain the quality of or improve the services;

(e) until you pay us all undisputed amounts due.

13. Liability

13.1 The full extent of our liability to you is as set out in these terms and conditions. We have no other duties, obligation or responsibilities to you and we exclude all warranties and conditions implied by law or otherwise and any liabilities that arise from them so far as is permissible by law.

13.2 We will not be liable to you for any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation any act or omission of any other telecommunication or broadband operator or the failure of their equipment including access lines, or delay or failure in manufacture, production or supply of equipment by third parties.

13.3 We are not liable to you in any way for loss of income, business or profits or for any loss or damage other than in respect of our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation that was not reasonably foreseeable at the time you entered into this contract. In addition, we will not be liable to you for any loss which you sustain as a result of your liability to any other person (howsoever it arises).

13.4 To the extent that our liability to you is not altogether excluded by this clause 13, and subject to clause 13.5, our liability to you will not exceed £1,000 for any one event or a series of connected events.

13.5 Nothing in these terms will exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence and liability to you arising from a breach by us of our statutory duty under Part 1 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

14. Data protection

14.1 You agree that any personal information you provide may be used by us and our agents and contractors for the purposes of supplying you with the services, billing and maintaining your account. You also consent to us sharing data with:

• other businesses that operate in the telecoms and broadband markets, such as our replacement service provider;
• licensed credit reference and debt collection agencies, governmental and other appropriate authorities to help us to make credit decisions about you, to prevent fraud, to check identity and to prevent money laundering. These organisations may record any searches on file, and this information may be used by other credit grantors for making credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated, for fraud prevention, money laundering prevention and occasionally for tracing debtors. We may also disclose details of how you conduct your account to such organisations;
• other parties offering you goods or services that we feel may be of benefit to you;
• our approved partners who will use this information solely for the purpose of administering and improving the customer relationship with us. If you do not wish to consent to these matters, please let us know by e-mail to: customer services and your details will be removed from any third party communication

14.2 We may use the information you have given to us to make checks with our credit checking agency to confirm your identity as part of our registration process or, where this is not possible, after the contract is already in force. The credit checking agency will check any details we disclose to them against any database (public or private) to which they have access and will keep a record of that check. The credit checking agency will also retain this information and may use it in the future to assist other companies with identity verification. We reserve the right to retain this information for any ongoing credit checking requirements. This helps us to protect you and us from fraudulent transactions. In the event that your registration is not accepted, we may contact you to offer an alternative payment method or service.

14.3 Our privacy policy is available on request through our registration process or can be freely accessed online through our website.

15. Complaints

If you have any complaints about the service then please contact customer services.

16. Other terms and conditions

(a) These terms and conditions, the pricing information, any special terms and conditions relating to an offer or promotion, and any other documents referred to in them set out the whole contract between you and us.

(b) To the extent that there is any inconsistency between these conditions and any terms and conditions relating to an offer or promotion the latter will prevail.

(c) We may assign all or any of our rights (including the right to recover unpaid charges) and liabilities under the contract and sub-contract any of our obligations under the contract, in each case without your prior consent. Your rights and duties under this contract are personal to you, and you are not entitled to transfer the benefit or burden of this contract to another party without our prior written consent.

(d) Both parties shall take all reasonable steps except when otherwise required by law to keep confidential the contents of the contract and, if applicable, any information concerning the other party's business.

(e) We may monitor and record our communications with you (including telephone conversations and e-mails) to confirm your identity, ensure security, help maintain service quality and for training purposes.

(f) All communications under this contract must be in writing and sent by e-mail, facsimile, first class letter post or by hand to the recipient's registered office or, in the case of a consumer, principal residence address. Any e-mail notification sent to you shall be deemed to be received one day after sending, unless we have received a message by return that our e-mail has failed to deliver. Any facsimile shall be deemed received upon acknowledgement by the addressee's facsimile receiving equipment, unless such acknowledgement occurs after 1700 hours on any business day, in which case receipt shall be deemed to have occurred at 0900 hours on the next business day.

(g) No delay, failure or omission on our part to enforce any right or remedy arising under any provision of this contract is to be taken as a waiver of such right or remedy or as operating to prevent any later enforcement of it.

(h) If any provision in this contract is held to be illegal or unenforceable under any enactment or rule of law that term or provision or part shall to that extent be deemed not to form part of this contract and the enforceability of the remainder of this contract shall not be affected.

(i) If the customer comprises more than one person, each person will be jointly and severally liable to us. This means that we may at our option take action against any one or more of the persons comprising the customer.

(j) Unless expressly provided in this contract, no express term of this contract is enforceable pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise by any person who is not a party to it.

(k) Where the services are provided in England and Wales the contract will governed by the laws of England and Wales and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. Where the services are provided in Scotland the contract will be governed by the laws of Scotland and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

17. Definitions and interpretations

17.1 The words and expressions used in this contract have the following meanings:

"contract" or "agreement" ; means these terms and conditions, any schedules and appendices to it, any pricing information and any document referred to in them, and any other document in agreed form.

"initial term" has the meaning set out in clause 6.2.

"premises" means those premises (including any part of any land or buildings or structure) which you have requested us to supply with the services pursuant to this contract.

"services start date" the date which we tell you that the service(s) are expected to start pursuant to clause 3.2.

"we" and "us" and "our" and "first:telecom" refers to First Telecommunications Limited (5990981) whose registered office is at 19 South Audley Street, London W1K 2NU, UK.

"website" means www.firsttelecom.com

"you" and "your" refers to each customer or all customers collectively who are receiving any of the services under this contract whose names and addresses appear on the order form or website registration page, as applicable.

17.2 References to 'services' should be read as telecoms or broadband services or any or all of them, depending on the options you have chosen.

These terms and conditions are governed by English law.