A pity about the setup fee when migrating from another ISP

[Neptuner]

Have been with Afrihost for very many years and have heard good things about Cool Ideas. Wanted to sign up but see that there is a R999 setup fee or alternatively a claw back fee if cancelling within a year. While I understand the fee for new fibre installs, my infrastructure is already setup and I would be using the same last mile provider (Openserve). All that is required is a migration from Afrihost. I have 3 fibre lines that need migrating and simply can't afford the initial setup and/or the clawback (which I believe can work out more expensive) if something happens and I need to cancel within a year. Already logged a support ticket and chatted with a consultant. They don't seem to care. A pity. Forced to stay with Afrihost

That makes no sense why would they make you pay claw back fees on a fibre line already installed from day 1. Thats crazy... this can't be right.

 

[PBCool]

That makes no sense why would they make you pay claw back fees on a fibre line already installed from day 1. Thats crazy... this can't be right.

It's because there are connection fees on existing installations as well.

 

[Went_For_Beer]

In my eyes the admin fee is justified, someone has to do some admin work and that someone has to get paid his/her salary. Its standard across all boards. But yes charging the whole installation fee is absurd, and as someone mentioned cut the fibre line to get your monies worth is a stupid idea because you WILL be spiting yourself, The FNO/ISP will just take their sweet time to fix/replace the line and you will be without connectivity for X amount of time

 

[MagicMarq]

The bottom line is that we contract with the ISP.
The ISP offers a package with themselves bound to a FNO.
After acceptance we can only talk to the ISP as they are the supplier of the whole.
This is who we pay on a month to month basis (month to month contract is also a laugh - try getting stuff changed or cancelled)
This blame game is just disingenuous - the ISP is the one who has set up their own contract with the FNO and should be the one to negotiate properly and make sure all is in order - not the customer.
The customer only has one point of contact with the ISP because that is who they have a contract with not the FNO.
The ISP negotiates the various types of fees for installation, when they agree to sell the FNO's product - The fees structure, with/without existing installation, extras etc, should make sense, be reasonable and understood, and be properly communicated at time of sale. Its communicated on the ISP's package offerings, thats why they are responsible.
If it works differently to this then we should be able to change the FNO at any time - but we cannot and its the ISP that says you cannot.
If we are unhappy with the service, thats often blamed on the FNO, then we change the ISP - thats who the deal is with - so one would think that the ISP would show an interest and actually resolve the issue - but they all just appear to be competition for the poor service award that used to belong to telkom only.

 

[Armizael]

The bottom line is that we contract with the ISP.
The ISP offers a package with themselves bound to a FNO.
After acceptance we can only talk to the ISP as they are the supplier of the whole.
This is who we pay on a month to month basis (month to month contract is also a laugh - try getting stuff changed or cancelled)
This blame game is just disingenuous - the ISP is the one who has set up their own contract with the FNO and should be the one to negotiate properly and make sure all is in order - not the customer.
The customer only has one point of contact with the ISP because that is who they have a contract with not the FNO.
The ISP negotiates the various types of fees for installation, when they agree to sell the FNO's product - The fees structure, with/without existing installation, extras etc, should make sense, be reasonable and understood, and be properly communicated at time of sale. Its communicated on the ISP's package offerings, thats why they are responsible.
If it works differently to this then we should be able to change the FNO at any time - but we cannot and its the ISP that says you cannot.
If we are unhappy with the service, thats often blamed on the FNO, then we change the ISP - thats who the deal is with - so one would think that the ISP would show an interest and actually resolve the issue - but they all just appear to be competition for the poor service award that used to belong to telkom only.

I think your take on the situation is a bit naive - you say this like they have the power to negotiate those terms, but they don't - they can either choose to accept the terms provided to them, or to not sell on the FNO's network.