General Terms & Conditions
1 Purchasing Terms and ownership of goods
1.1 All purchases are subject to cash on delivery unless otherwise agreed.
1.2 All payments that re-
1.3 Account customers payment terms are strictly 30 days from date of invoice. Whilst purchase orders are accepted, the Social Telecoms CIC trading terms and conditions override any terms of purchase stated therein.
1.4 Social Telecoms CIC reserves the right to charge interest at 3% above the HSBC Bank base rate for any monies due after 30 days.
1.5 Social Telecoms CIC may retain title of goods at its sole discretion until all monies due are paid in full.
1.6 All prices subject to VAT.
1.7 It is the customer’s responsibility to check all equipment and contracts are as requested, and to notify ThiftyComm within 7 days of any hardware irregularities and 30 days for any contractual irregularities.
1.8 These terms and conditions shall override any terms and conditions stipulated and referred to by the customers purchasing conditions.
2 Network Terms
2.1 All mobile phones which are subject to the signing of an airtime agreement are heavily discounted, and will remain the property of Social Telecoms CIC until a fully completed and signed agreement has been received by Social Telecoms CIC.
2.2 All prices for contract handsets are dependent on connection to a particular network and tariff, based on a minimum 24-
2.3 In the event that you downgrade your tariff within 6 months, an administration charge will be payable of £25.00, as well as the difference in handset price between the ordered tariff and the new tariff, as well as any incentive gifts received with the original chosen tariff. The amount will be charged to the card details supplied when ordering and a receipt will be sent via email. In the event that we cannot charge your card, an invoice will be sent requesting payment within 7 days.
· O2 Must not be downgraded within 6-
· Vodafone Must not be downgraded within 7-
· Orange Must not be downgraded within 6-
· T-
2.4. A thorough credit check will be carried out by the network/provider prior to connection using the information supplied by the applicant or company. The applicant will be advised of any negative credit assessments and connection refusals. Social Telecoms CIC cannot be held responsible for the result of any credit assessments carried out or any delays caused by
insufficient or incorrect information supplied by the applicant.
2.5 As with any contract, all parties should ensure that they have viewed and understood the full terms and conditions of the transaction. In particular, please note your obligations to us and the network concerned (O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-
2.6 All mobile phones that are sold with an ‘Airtime’ agreement are heavily subsidised. Any agreement therefore that is cancelled within the contract period, Social Telecoms CIC reserves the right to charge the full price of the handset. (Details of handset prices are available upon request). Additionally, any ‘cash backs’ or ‘kit funds’ that have been agreed prior to entering into the contract will become null and void if the minimum contract term is not completed.
2.7 All phones are supplied with an international call bar and ‘roaming’ bar facility. This can be removed on selected tariffs at the Service Providers discretion.
2.8 Social Telecoms CIC cannot be held liable for any loss of business or inconvenience caused due to a handset or network malfunction.
3 Delivery terms
3.1 Social Telecoms CIC reserves the right to charge for delivery of goods where applicable.
3.2 Any date or time quoted by Social Telecoms CIC for delivery of goods is estimated only and time for delivery shall not be of the essence of the sales contract.
4 Faulty goods
4.1 Social Telecoms CIC reserve the right to refuse any returned goods that have been used, neglected, incomplete or damaged AND ALL MONIES DUE for those goods are to be paid in full.
4.2 Any goods delivered by Social Telecoms CIC that are faulty or damaged must be reported to Social Telecoms CIC within 7 days in writing.
4.3 Social Telecoms CIC reserves the right, and under its sole discretion, to replace faulty goods with new or used replacement goods.
4.4 Any goods found faulty as proved by the manufacturer or manufacturers agent will be repaired free of charge under the manufacturer’s warranty. Please see Warranty Exemptions.
5 Loan phones and repairs
5.1 Social Telecoms CIC will be under no liability for any delay or failure of a repair centre, replacement service or manufacturer to repair faulty goods with in a specific time period.
5.2 Social Telecoms CIC will, wherever possible, provide a loan phone of any type, free of charge with a refundable deposit, whilst repairs are being undertaken. (Social Telecoms CIC reserve the right to provide this service at its sole discretion) Social Telecoms CIC reserve the rights to dispose of any repaired or un-
Terms and Conditions
The small print (Full terms and conditions) for:
Line Rental (“LR”)
Call Service (“Call Service”)
Broadband Internet Access (“Broadband Service”)
DISTANCE SELLING IMPORTANT!
If you ordered any Service (as defined below) from us either over the internet, by telephone, by mail order or by any other distance selling method you may cancel the Contract (as defined below) pursuant to the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (“Regulations”) at any time up to 7 working days either after receiving these terms and conditions for any Service or up to but not including, the date our supply of that Service to you commences if sooner (“Change of Mind Period”) provided that you notify us in writing of such cancellation within the Change of Mind Period. If we have supplied you with any goods without charge (for example a wireless router) or if you have purchased any goods from us (such as a powerline adapter) that you wish to return for a refund, you must first call us on 0333 358 3034 to arrange the return. You must then return the goods to us undamaged and in their original packaging, together with your proof of purchase, by sending them special delivery to Social Telecoms CIC Returns c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL. We will issue you with a cheque refund within thirty (30) days of receiving any goods from you that you have purchased from us. This refund will only apply to the purchase price of the goods; we will not refund the cost of returning them to us. For further details see clause 4 (Modems) below.
You will be deemed to have received these terms and conditions 48 hours after they are posted to you.
Please note that if you do not return all the goods you have received, we shall be entitled to charge you for the costs we incur in collecting them from you. These terms and conditions do not affect your rights under law. If you require any advice or assistance we would suggest you contact your local branch of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, which should be able to help.
Finally, please note that if you have commenced using any Service after receiving these terms and conditions, you will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions and agree that you will also lose your statutory right of cancellation under the Regulations.
These terms and conditions are effective from 1 January 2013
Your Legal Rights
These Conditions do not affect your rights under law. These Conditions also include certain exclusions as to our liability to you. If you require any assistance we suggest you contact your local branch of the citizens’ advice bureau, which should be able to help.
1. General Provisions Relating to the Services
Eligibility
1.1 The Services are for home use only and not for business.
1.2 To place any Order you must be at least eighteen (18) years old and you agree that the details that you provide to us on your Order shall be true, accurate and complete.
1.3 Our Service(s) may not be available to a small number of customers in certain circumstances. We will tell you if this applies to you.
Duration
1.4 The Services, for which you enter a Contract, will start on the Commencement Date and will continue until terminated in accordance with clause 10 of these Conditions. Your Contract may also be subject to a Minimum Period, but we will tell you what this is before you sign up.
Equipment
1.5 We are not responsible for any problems you may have with equipment which we do not provide.
1.6 You agree not to connect equipment to our network that may harm it or other customers’ equipment. If you do, you must disconnect it immediately, or allow us to do so at your expense.
Your Bill
1.7 We will send you a bill, which you must pay on time. We may send you separate bills if you take more than one Service from us. If you choose to manage your account online, you must provide us with a working email address so that we can send you our bill.
1.8 Please note that you cannot change your billing email address online and to make this change you will have to phone Customer Services or write to us at Social Telecoms CIC Returns c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL
Telecommunication Networks
1.9 When we provide you with a Service, we will use the reasonable skill and care of a competent service provider, but we cannot guarantee that the Service will never be faulty. This is because the Networks, which allow you to access the Services may be provided by other third party companies over which we do not have control.
Your Telephone Number
1.10 You accept that you do not own any telephone number we make available to you under your Contract. You agree not to transfer the number to anyone else or to try to do so. You accept that we may have to change your telephone number. We will do so only when it is reasonably necessary or if we are requested to do so by Ofcom or another similar regulator. We will tell you before we change your number. You may request us to ‘port’ your number from another communications provider and we will try to do this wherever it is reasonably practicable. However you accept that this may not always be possible. In these circumstances we may have to provide you with a new number. If you have any questions in this regard please call Customer Services.
Ending a Particular Service or Changing a Tariff
1.11 You accept that the price that we charge for a bundle of products may be lower compared to prices of the individual products in the bundle taken together. If you take a bundle of Services, but later choose to take one or more of the Services from another telephone provider, you accept that we may charge for the remaining Services at their stand-
1.12 Please note that, if you make calls over another operator’s Network using an override code these calls may be charged at a higher rate than your normal Social Telecoms rates.
Transferring a Service
1.13 We will try to give you the same set of services that you received from your previous telephone provider. However you accept that this may not be possible in some limited circumstances. Furthermore, since the services will not be automatically retained on transfer to Social Telecoms, we can only provide you with Services, which you specifically selected when signing up to us.
1.14 If, immediately prior to receiving the Services from us, you were a customer of BT, some calls (such as subscriber or premium rate services) that appear on your Social Telecoms bill may involve additional call charges. We will charge you for these at our rates as set out in our list of Charges (as amended from time to time).
1.15 You may have existing contracts for telecommunications services (i.e. line rental, or calls, or broadband, or mobile or TV) with your old service providers, which have minimum service periods in them. You are responsible for checking any such contracts and for paying for any ongoing charges or charges on termination you may have to pay to your old service provider. These will be in addition to our charges.
1.16 If you move house and want to access the Services at your new address you may need to set up new accounts for that location by calling Customer Services. You will have to provide us with what we regard as suitable proof of your new address if you wish to receive the LR Service or the Broadband Service or the TV Service. We will follow good industry practice in deciding what proofs of address are required. If you do not provide this information we will not be able to terminate your existing account and you will be liable for any charges that remain due in respect of the remainder of the term for the particular Service (for example, the remainder of the Minimum Period for the Broadband Service and / or TV Service).
Social Telecoms Privacy
1.17 If you have given us your permission, we will register your telephone number for ‘Social Telecoms Privacy’ using the Telephone Preference Service (“TPS”) registry. The TPS is independent of Social Telecoms and is a central register of individuals who have indicated that they do not wish to receive unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Registering your telephone number on the TPS will stop telemarketing calls from all other companies in the UK, including those who regard you as a customer unless you have previously told them you have no objection to them calling you.
Codes of Practice
1.18 We seek to provide our Services in accordance with our consumer code of practice. The code is available on www.socialtelecoms.org.uk or by calling Customer Services.
Connection Fee
1.19 When you connect to our Network you will usually be charged a connection fee (“Connection Fee”). This Connection Fee is levied in addition to any other Charges, which may be due under any other term of these Conditions and it arises primarily from charges which BT levy on us. Accordingly, we reserve the right to pass on some or all of these charges to you and if appropriate to charge you for any additional related expenses we may incur in relation to your connection. The Connection Fee will usually be charged at the point of connection to the relevant Service. The Connection Fee will be charged in accordance with our price list as published on our Website on the day you order the Services.
New Line Fee
1.20 If you have signed up for a “new line” installation with us, you will usually be charged a new line fee (“New Line Fee”). The New Line Fee will be charged in accordance with our price list as published on our Website on the day you order your new line. Your New Line Fee will be applied to your first or second bill.
General LLU Provisions
How we provide the Services to you
Local Loop Unbundling
1.21 Developments in Network technology (known as Local Loop Unbundling or “LLU”) may enable us to provide fixed line Services to you through the TalkTalk Network rather than the Network provided by Openreach. We will let you know when these developments occur. If you have previously agreed to take our LR service we may transfer you to our LLU network but we will still offer the same Services to you as those which you received from us before the transfer.
1.22 On the day that we transfer you to our LLU network, you may experience a temporary loss of Service of up to 24 hours. Afterwards, you may also have to re-
1.23 Unless you have agreed previously to take our Broadband Service, we will seek your express consent before transferring you to our LLU network if you take a broadband service from another provider on the same telephone line at the time of transfer.
1.24 When you have been transferred to our LLU network, you need to be aware that:
1.24.1 you may no longer be able to use some telecommunications services you purchase from other telephone providers, such as indirect access services (whether using the BT 1280 or other indirect access codes);
1.24.2 you will no longer be able to use Broadband or Line Rental Services from other providers. We will not be liable for any charges which may arise as a result of the termination of your contract with your existing providers for those services;
1.24.3 if you want to switch one or more of your services to another telephone provider, we may have to provide your remaining Service(s) through another Network. You accept that you may have to pay additional charges for receiving Services from us in that case.
2. Specific Provisions Relating to the LR Service
General
2.1 If you take our LR Service you must also take our Call Service. Your contract for our LR and Call Service will not include: telephone or other equipment (other than line rental); internet access; or calls via any mobile services which we may provide.
2.2 If we do not provide your LR Service over the TalkTalk LLU network you may use another provider for broadband services but you will need to continue paying them in order to receive that particular service.
Specific Provisions for LR and LLU
2.3 If you are a Customer of the LR Service only you are not eligible to:
2.3.1 participate in the ‘calling circle’ promotion;
2.3.2 receive “Inclusive Calls to Social Telecoms Customers” (referred to in clause 3.4 below); or
2.3.3 take advantage of any other offers made available by us from time to time.
2.4 At an additional cost, we can provide you with the following optional LR select services:
2.4.1 voicemail;
2.4.2 voicemail plus;
2.4.3 call waiting;
2.4.4 ring back;
2.4.5 call divert;
2.4.6 withhold number on all calls;
2.4.7 anonymous caller reject;
2.4.8 last caller barring; and
2.4.9 caller display.
2.5 Please note you can only change your select service options once in any given month. We will make any requested change to your service with effect from the following month.
Moving House
2.6 If you are moving home, we will do our best to arrange the transfer of your line whilst retaining your existing telephone number. However, you accept that we may not always be able to do so and we are not liable to you if we cannot.
2.7 You accept that if you move house and wish to continue to receive the Services at your new address you may incur a Homemover Fee and a new Minimum Period will begin.
2.8 If you have been allocated or have chosen to obtain a new number, you accept that we may bill you for your calls at a higher rate than normal until our Call Service has been activated on your line.
Faults and Repairs
2.9 If there is a fault with your LR Service, you should contact Customer Services. In accordance with industry practise we will try and repair a service failure by midnight on the second weekday (not including public and bank holidays) after the day you report the fault to us.
2.10 You may also be able to claim compensation if we fail to repair your LR Service or if we fail to respond to a fault when we said we would. Please contact Customer Services or visit our Website for further information on reporting a fault and details of our compensation policy. If your compensation claim is successful, the amount you receive will be credited to a later invoice. The maximum compensation claimable is £500.00 per line per annum.
2.11 Please note, you cannot claim compensation if:
2.11.1 you don’t qualify under the terms of our compensation policy;
2.11.2 you have not made your claim within one (1) month from when we put things right;
2.11.3 someone other than Social Telecoms has caused the fault;
2.11.4 the fault was caused by something outside Social Telecoms’s control, e.g. network or atmospheric conditions;
2.11.5 we ask to come onto your property and you do not allow us to;
2.11.6 we reasonably ask you for other help and you do not give it; or
2.11.7 your Service(s) haven’t been fully installed and activated at your address (whether you’re a new customer or are moving house and taking your service with you).
2.12 If you have agreed to a visit from our engineer you or someone over the age of 18 authorised by you must be present. If the engineer is not able to come onto the Premises or gain access to the relevant equipment, we will charge you an abortive visit charge.
2.13 We can also charge you for any such engineer visit if we reasonably believe that you have caused the fault by damaging the phone line or phone plug in your wall.
Transferring Services
2.14 If you are a Call Service Customer and / or an LR Service Customer and elect to use another provider for some or all of your calls we may, at our sole discretion, decide to: (i) bar your use of IDA codes; (ii) charge you a higher fee for your use of the Call Service and / or LR Service; or (iii) disconnect your Call Service and / or LR Service (or Broadband Service if applicable).
2.15 If we provide the Services to you over our LLU Network, we may also charge you a higher fee for your Broadband Service.
3. Specific Provisions Relating to the Call Service
General
3.1 Your contract for the Call Service does not include line rental, mobile phone service or broadband. You will need to continue paying your existing providers for those services. You will be able to access the emergency services using 999 or 112 using the Call Service.
3.2 If your telephone line is faulty and you do not take our LR Service, you will need to contact your Line Rental Provider (usually BT) to repair and maintain the line and/or connection in accordance with the terms and conditions of your agreement with them. We are not responsible for any charges you may incur as a result.
3.3 Calls to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not automatically included in your Tariff Plan or in any promotion offered by Social Telecoms. In addition if your account was setup before 15/05/07 your Call Service will not include the ability to make calls to the following countries: Nigeria, Columbia, Russian Federation, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sao Taome, or Kuwait. We may permit you to call these countries but we may also withdraw such access at any time. If your account is activated after 15/05/07, you will be able to make calls to those countries without our prior permission, subject to the other provisions in these Conditions.
4. Specific Provisions Relating to the Broadband Service
4.1 The Broadband Service is available as a separate Service and does not include fixed line or mobile calls or line rental. If you use another provider for these services, you must continue paying the other provider.
Eligibility
4.2 In order to provide you with the Broadband Service, we need to test your telephone line to ensure that broadband is available in your area. You are responsible for paying for any work that needs to be carried out on your telephone line in order to receive broadband.
4.3 When we activate your Broadband Service you accept that there may be a temporary loss of your line.
Hardware
4.4 To be able to receive and use the Broadband Service you will need an existing telephone line and a personal computer (“PC”) of minimum specification. Please speak to Customer Services for further details of the minimum PC specification that is required. You will also need compatible cables and extension leads between your PC, Modem and telephone socket. You accept you may need to modify your PC slightly to make it operate with the Broadband Service. It is your responsibility to ensure that such modifications do not invalidate the terms of any warranty that you may have concerning your PC. We will not be liable if any such warranty has been invalidated as a result of work carried out by you, us or our agents (including BT) to make your PC operate with the Broadband Service, except in the event of our negligence.
Modem
4.5 If when you order an applicable Service you purchase a Modem from us or we otherwise agree to supply one to you without charge with the Service, we will try to make sure that the Modem is delivered to your home before the Service is activated. However we cannot guarantee that you will receive the Modem in time. Please note, for environmental reasons, any Modem that we agree to supply without charge may be a Modem in ‘as new’ condition. This will be a Modem that has been refurbished and/or repackaged, but it will look and operate in exactly the same way as a new Modem.
4.6 You must inspect the Modem as soon as you receive it and tell us of any damaged or missing items within seven (7) days by calling Customer Services. We will then send you a new Modem, but if we do this you must also return the faulty one to us in accordance with clause 4.7 below. We will also repair or replace the Modem if it becomes faulty during the first eighteen (18) months after we supply it to you, but we will not replace any faulty Modem if you are responsible for the fault (including without limitation as a result of your failure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions or your mis-
4.7 If we send a replacement Modem, you must return to us the faulty Modem (including all cables and software that came with it) within thirty (30) days of receipt of the replacement Modem. You accept that we will charge you for the replacement Modem if you do not return the faulty Modem (including all cables and software that came with it). We will accept proof of postage as proof that you have sent us the faulty Modem. You must keep the original box and packaging for the Modem in good condition and ensure that the Modem is stored in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. We will refund the reasonable cost of returning the faulty Modem to us by post. At your request we will send you a pre-
4.8 If you wish to use a modem or any other equipment that we have not supplied, we will try and help you as far as we can. However we cannot guarantee that the applicable Service will work with that modem or equipment.
4.9 If prior to the Commencement Date you cancel your Order for the applicable Service in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and we have supplied you with a Modem without charge, or if at any time you purchase a Modem from us over the phone or from our Website and in accordance with the same regulations you cancel your contract for the purchase of that Modem by giving us notice within the period of seven working days starting from the day after you receive the Modem from us, you must: (i) first obtain a Return Authorisation Number from Social Telecoms by calling our Returns Department on 0333 358 3034; and (ii) return the Modem to us undamaged and in its original packaging, together with your RAN and proof of purchase, by sending it special delivery to Social Telecoms CIC Returns c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL. If you have purchased the Modem from us, we will issue you with a cheque refund within thirty (30) days of receiving the returned Modem from you. This refund will only apply to the purchase price of the Modem; we will not refund the cost of returning it to us unless it is faulty.
4.10 If you return the Modem to us in accordance with clauses 4.7 or 4.9 and have either failed to take reasonable care of the Modem while it remained in your possession or you fail to return all the relevant cables and appropriate ancillary equipment or software supplied to you with the Modem, we shall be entitled to debit your account (using the details that you provided to us with your Order) for the full replacement cost of such Modem. To take reasonable care of the Modem you shall retain and keep the original box and packaging for the Modem in good condition and shall ensure that the Modem is stored in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Software
4.11 In order to connect to the Broadband Service, or the Fibre Optic Broadband Service we may require you to install certain software on your PC. If you do not install this software, we may not be able to resolve any installation and/or connection problems you may experience. In addition, we are not responsible to you for any matter that may arise as a result of your failure to do so. By installing this software you also allow us access to your PC so that we can diagnose and fix any problems. You accept that we will be able to access your PC in this way.
4.12 Before you install the software supplied with the Modem and before you connect the Modem to your PC, you should back up or save any data on your PC. We are not responsible to you if you lose any data.
Transmission Speeds
4.13 We will try to give you the ‘download’ Transmission Speed that you have signed up for but we cannot guarantee that you will always be able to get these Transmission Speeds. If we cannot provide you with the Transmission Speed you have signed up for, we will give you the next available lower Transmission Speed unless you have taken the Fibre Optic Broadband Service in which case we shall not be able to provide that Service to you. The Transmission Speed may also change if you move house because this is dependent on your proximity to your local telephone exchange. You accept that ‘upload’ speeds will always be slower than ‘download’ speeds. We will provide you with further details of these upon request.
Customer Services
4.14 If you have any queries regarding your Broadband Service or want to report a fault, you need to contact our Customer Services. In addition, we will operate a Technical Support Helpline to provide information and advice to you on any technical issues relating to your use of the Broadband Services. Calls to Customer Services and the Technical Support Helpline will be charged at the prevailing rates set out on our Website.
Allocation and use of e-
4.15 We will give you a username and password in order to access the Broadband Service. You will be responsible for keeping this username and password confidential and agree to take all necessary steps to ensure their confidentiality and that they are not disclosed to any unauthorised third parties. You will inform us if you become aware of or suspect any unauthorised use of your username and password and agree to take all necessary steps (or such steps as may be requested by us) to prevent such use.
4.16 You accept that you do not own any e-
4.17 To prevent ‘spam’ from affecting the operation of our systems and the Broadband Service, we may need to block access to or delivery of any e-
4.18 Where we provide you with email facilities, web hosting or other services that involve us providing storage space on our systems, we may impose limits (which we may vary from time to time) on the storage space we provide to you in order to ensure the quality of the service to you and other users. These limits may relate to the physical amount of webspace or the number of mailboxes made available to you, email messages that can be stored and/or the size of any attachments you can send. We may reject or delete material that exceeds the relevant limit. We may also: (a) block receipt of emails to; and/or (b) archive or delete emails and/or attachments from, mailbox accounts which have not been used by you for a reasonable period of time.
Alarm Systems
4.19 It is your responsibility to make sure that the Broadband Service does not affect any alarm system in your home.
Fibre Optic Broadband Service
4.24 The following special conditions shall apply in relation to our Fibre Optic Broadband Service.
4.25 To obtain the Fibre Optic Broadband Service you must be a Customer in receipt of our Broadband Service. If you are already a Customer in receipt of our Broadband Service you will have to agree to the commencement of a new Minimum Period for your packaged Services and that Minimum Period will begin when we successfully install the Fibre Optic Broadband Service.
4.26 When you sign up to the Fibre Optic Broadband Service we will arrange a convenient time for an engineer to visit the Premises to install and set up the necessary equipment for the provision of the Fibre Optic Broadband Service, including but not limited to a Modem. From time to time, we may have to re-
4.27 You will usually be charged a fee for the installation and set up of the Fibre Optic Broadband Service (the “Fibre Optic Activation Fee”) and you will be informed of that fee at the time you order the Fibre Optic Broadband Service.
4.28 If you have agreed to a visit from an engineer you or someone over the age of 18 authorised by you must be present. If the engineer is not able to come onto your Premises or get access to any equipment, we may charge you an abortive visit charge.
4.29 In order to provide the Fibre Optic Broadband Service the engineer may have to move the location of the telephone master socket within the Premises as well as install additional wiring. If you do not consent to the change in location of the telephone master socket or the installation of additional wiring the engineer will cease the installation of the Fibre Optic Broadband Service, you may be charged a fee to cover our reasonable costs and you will revert back to the Services we provided to you prior to your order of the Fibre Optic Broadband Service.
4.30 At the time of your Order we will give you an estimate of the Transmission Speed that we expect your Fibre Optic Broadband Service connection to attain and we will only process your Order if that estimate is above the minimum Transmission Speed stated for the Fibre Optic Broadband Service.
4.31 If an engineer visits the Premises to install and set up the Fibre Optic Broadband Service and the Transmission Speed of your Fibre Optic Broadband Service does not reach the minimum specified by us in relation to the Fibre Optic Broadband Service we will be unable to provide the Fibre Optic Broadband Service to you. In these circumstances you will not be charged the Fibre Optic Activation Fee.
4.32 It may take up to two weeks from the date of installation for the speed which you achieve through the Fibre Optic Broadband Service to stabilise.
4.33 You may cancel your Order for the Fibre Optic Broadband Service at any time up until the Commencement Date. If you cancel your Order for the Fibre Optic Broadband Service you may be charged a reasonable fee in relation to the work that may have been undertaken at your home or exchange.
4.34 If you cancel the Fibre Optic Broadband Service prior to the expiration of the Minimum Period you may incur a charge in accordance with Clause 11.8.
4.35 If you are moving house and wish to transfer the Fibre Optic Broadband Service we will do our best to arrange a transfer. However, you accept that we may not always be able to do so and we are not liable to you if we cannot.
4.36 You accept that if you move house and wish to continue to receive the Fibre Optic Broadband Service at your new address you may incur the Fibre Optic Activation Fee.
Transferring or Terminating your Broadband Service
4.37 You may need to obtain a Migration Authorisation Code (“MAC”) from your current broadband provider in order to move to our Broadband Service. This MAC will be valid only for a limited period and can only be used once. You accept that we may charge you if you are moving your broadband from another provider to us. For further details about MAC’s or of these charges please call Customer Services or visit our Website.
4.38 If you terminate your Broadband Service prior to the end of the Minimum Period you must pay us the amount set out in clause 11.8 below. The same applies if your telephone line is disconnected for any other reason such that we can no longer provide you with our Broadband Service.
7. Your Use of the Services
7.1 You agree not to use the Services:
7.1.1 for business purposes or to sell on or supply the Services to anyone on a commercial basis;
7.1.2 for making calls, sending data, publishing, knowingly receiving, uploading or downloading any data or material which are or may be reasonably deemed to be a nuisance, a hoax, abusive, obscene, racist, defamatory, menacing, indecent (including to the Customer Services operators who deal with enquiries concerning the Service), in breach of confidence, in breach of any intellectual property right (including copyright) or which is otherwise objectionable or unlawful, or you allow others to do these things or is of a nature which if transmitted would constitute a criminal offence;
7.1.3 to do anything (or allow anything to be done) which we think (acting reasonably) may damage or affect the operation of any Network;
7.1.4 to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any other person, company or organisation;
7.1.5 to send or procure the sending of any unsolicited advertising or promotional material;
7.1.6 for any purpose which we may reasonable notify you of, from time to time, due to the introduction of new legislation or applicable regulations;
7.1.7 as a means of communication, the purpose of which is other than that for which the Service is provided (including without limitation abusive or malicious calls), or which is carried out in an unauthorised way or for fraud or criminal activities;
7.1.8 for purposes of intrusion, or attempts to intrude, into the equipment and systems of any third party, or the mounting of any harassment campaign including Denial of Service Attacks;
7.1.9 in any way which does not comply with instructions given to you by us, our agents or our authorised contractors;
7.1.10 other than in accordance with the acceptable use policies of the Network and (if appropriate) any relevant internet standards; or
7.1.11 via a GSM Gateway.
7.2 You must comply with any instructions we give you about the Service and you acknowledge that we and our agents (including if applicable your Line Rental Provider) may give you instructions from time to time which we (or they) believe are necessary for health, safety or the quality of other telecommunications services provided to you by us or your Line Rental Provider.
7.3 You acknowledge that the Services are provided to other users and we owe a duty to them as a whole to preserve our Network integrity and to avoid Network degradation. If, in our reasonable opinion, we consider it necessary to maintain our Network integrity or prevent Network degradation we may change your Services, (including without limitation, your Transmission Speed if you are a Broadband Service Customer) or manage your use of, or access to our Broadband Service as we see fit in the circumstances. These reasons include but are not limited to, any circumstances where you are running an application or program that places excessive bandwidth demands on the Broadband Service for continued periods.
7.4 In addition to the provisions of clause 7.3, you accept that we may apply limits to your use of any Service that we provide. We may do this for various reasons including, without limitation, if your use of any of the Services is not appropriate or fair or affects (or may affect) other users’ enjoyment of the relevant Service or is significantly different from the usage that we would expect from a typical consumer user. If you exceed any limits which apply to you personally or your Tariff Plan, you should be aware that this could result in us imposing on you:
7.4.1 limits of access to the Services; and/or
7.4.2 reasonable charges for use of our Broadband Service outside of any download and/or upload limits on our Broadband Service; and/or
7.4.3 charges at our normal rates for calls which we regard as being beyond a ‘fair’ use of our Call Service . We refer to this as our ‘Fair Use’ policy. You can obtain full details of this from Customer Services or by accessing our Website. Furthermore, if the circumstances occur under which we could impose a limit, we may also, at our sole discretion, suspend or terminate your ability to access the Services but we will only do this is if it is reasonable in all the circumstances.
7.5 In addition to the provisions of clauses 7.3 and 7.4, we reserve the right, at any time, to give priority to certain other users of our Network in preference to you. We may do this for various reasons and in various circumstances, which may include, without limitation, times when we offer new technology or products, such as voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) which increase the demand on our Network.
7.6 If you have registered your account with us, you must tell us promptly in writing if you change your name and address or there are any changes to your payment card arrangements, which may affect your payment of the Charges.
8. Suspension of the Service(s) by Us
8.1 We may suspend immediately the provision of the Services to you until further notice without compensation if:
8.1.1 we reasonably suspect that you are in breach of these Conditions; or
8.1.2 you are in breach of your obligation to pay the Charges and have not remedied the breach within seven (7) days of you being reminded to pay your bill. You should also note that if you have subscribed for our Call Service and / or our LR Service and fail to meet your payment obligations, your line may be blocked and you will not be able to make incoming and outgoing calls (including emergency calls) and if you are on our LLU Network you will not be able to use the Broadband Service; or
8.1.3 we are obliged to comply with an order or request of the UK Government, the emergency services organisation or other competent authority; or
8.1.4 if you owe us any money whether under your Contract for Call Services, the Broadband Service or otherwise; or
8.1.5 exceed your Credit Limit; or
8.1.7 we have reasonable cause to suspect fraudulent use of a payment card, whether a Credit or Debit Card or otherwise.
8.2 If we suspend the Services under this clause, your Contract will still continue and you shall reimburse us our costs and expenses reasonably incurred in suspending the Services and/or recommencing them. In addition, you must pay all Charges due from you under your Contract incurred prior to the time when your Contract is properly terminated. If we suspend any Service, we will not provide it again until you confirm that you will use the Service only as agreed in this Contract.
8.3 If we exercise the right to suspend (or bar your access to) the Services this shall not affect our right to terminate your Contract under clause 11.
9. Liability
9.1 Nothing in these terms shall exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of our agents, or for any liability arising under Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
9.2 We shall not be liable for any loss that is not reasonably foreseeable nor for any loss calculated by reference to profits, income, or business or loss of such profits, income, or business or for any loss of data or goodwill.
9.3 In transferring you onto our Services and in providing the Services to you thereafter, we have to rely on other Network Operators and other providers of telecommunications services. Accordingly, we do not accept liability for the acts or omissions of Network Operators or other providers of telecommunication services.
9.4 Our aggregate liability, whether in contract or for negligence or breach of statutory duty or otherwise, to you for any loss or damage of whatsoever nature and howsoever caused shall be limited to and in no circumstances shall exceed £5,000 for any one incident or series of related incidents.
9.5 The limitations of liability set out in this clause 9, are in addition to any other provisions limiting our liability set out elsewhere in these Conditions.
9.6 Nothing in these Conditions shall impose any liability on us in respect of non-
9.7 The Broadband Service and, if applicable the Mobile Service, allows you to access the internet and you agree that your use of the internet through the Broadband Service is at your own risk and subject to all applicable laws. We recommend that you install security software on your PC before accessing the internet. We may offer you anti virus software or other security features as part of your Tariff Plan or as an additional service. Where such anti virus software or other security features are in addition to the standard features of your Tariff Plan we shall be entitled to charge you for its use. We expect any anti virus software or other security features which we provide to you to be effective but we can not guarantee that it will protect your PC from all harmful or malicious traffic disseminated on the internet. We shall not be liable for any loss or corruption of data or any losses you may suffer arising from your use of (or failure to use) any anti virus software or other security features. You agree that it is your responsibility to protect your PC against viruses and to back up all data to protect against loss or corruption of such data. We shall have no responsibility for any goods, services, information, software or other materials that you use or obtain when using your PC whether offline or online for accessing the internet (including e-
9.8 We do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any Content provided with the Broadband Service, including without limitation, any information, sound, data, software or other materials (in whatever form). You agree that any use that you make of any such Content is at your sole risk and is subject to any third party terms and conditions applicable to that Content.
9.9 Although alarm signals can be carried across a Network, we are not responsible for lack of service or failure to deliver an alarm signal due to:
9.9.1 your use of the Services;
9.9.2 a Network going down;
9.9.3 suspension of your account under clause 7;
9.9.4 failure arising from any misuse of the phone line or telephone equipment;
9.9.5 your telephone line being migrated to our LLU Network pursuant to clause 1.20; or
9.9.6 for reasons outside our control (including, without limitation, if there is a technical failure of a Network, because a Network is being tested, modified or maintained or if access to any Network is denied to us).
10. Charges and Payment
10.1 Our Charges for providing the Services shall be effective from the Commencement Date applicable for each Service and will be calculated in accordance with your Tariff Plan.
10.2 You must pay all the Charges incurred by you, or any person using any Service, even when such Charges exceed any Credit Limit imposed upon your account.
Your Bill
10.3 Within thirty (30) days of the Commencement Date, we shall prepare and send to you a bill for the Services you have used. Thereafter we shall prepare and send to you a bill at the end of every Billing Period.
10.4 You may choose to receive your bills in paper or electronic form (including accessing your bills online). If you choose to receive your bill in paper format we reserve the right to charge you an additional amount for providing you with this service.
10.5 The LR Service, the Broadband Service (if applicable) and certain charges for the Call Service and/or the Fibre Optic Broadband Service will be billed monthly in advance. Monthly charges incurred for periods of less than one month will be calculated on a pro rata basis. Calls made using any Service will be billed in arrears.
10.6 All bills must be paid by way of direct debit to Social Telecoms or such other entity as we may notify to you from time to time. We shall collect each bill payment from the bank account you register with us on the payment due date shown on your bill. This date will be on or around the same time each month, unless we otherwise notify you in writing in advance. Unless we expressly agree otherwise, any and all Charges are inclusive of VAT..
Direct Debit Payment
10.7 We reserve the right to request that you pay for the Services by Direct Debit and you accept that your Charges may increase if you do not use this payment method. If a direct debit is dishonoured or cancelled we shall be entitled to pass on to you any third party charges we incur and in addition, we may lower your Credit Limit, suspend or terminate your Service. We shall also be entitled to charge you a monthly administration fee for each month in which your direct debit is dishonoured or not reinstated following cancellation.
10.8 Unless you have requested itemised billing (for which we may charge you extra), you will only be advised of the total amount of Charges.
Interest
10.9 We may charge you interest both before and after judgement at a rate equal to the greater of 2% above the base rate from time to time of Barclays Bank plc or the statutory minimum allowable on the late payment of our bill. Interest is charged on a per annum basis, calculated daily.
Credit Limits
10.10 Where you have entered a Contract to receive any Service from us, your account is limited in any one month to an amount which may either have been set at the time of your application or at any time thereafter while you have a Contract with us (“Credit Limit”). This Credit Limit is subject to the following provisions:
10.10.1 we may, depending on your payment history with us, lower your Credit Limit. On request we may agree to raise your Credit Limit. If you wish to vary your Credit Limit you should telephone Customer Services;
10.10.2 as our billing system is not instantly updated each time you make a call, it is possible to exceed your Credit Limit. The Credit Limit does not act as a bar and you may be able to incur Charges that result in you exceeding your Credit Limit. You will be liable for all Charges, including any in excess of your Credit Limit. You will be asked to pay any Charges in excess of your Credit Limit before Services are reinstated; and
10.10.3 we may suspend your service if your Credit Limit is exceeded and if you exceed your Credit Limit in respect of the Call Service or the Mobile Service, all of your outgoing calls may be diverted to our Customer Services department.
Deposits
10.11 In addition to setting a Credit Limit, we may ask you to pay a non-
Call Charges
10.12 Charges for calls you make using any Service will be calculated using details logged and recorded by us. Calls are charged based on the rate applicable when the call was initiated. Calls will be charged and rounded up to three decimal places. Monthly spend will then be rounded up to the nearest whole penny. In addition, and notwithstanding the preceding sentence, there may be a per call connection charge and the details of these call connection charges appear in our price list which is available on our Website. The call connection charges will include without limitation, any calls made as part of a ‘calling circle’ but do not include any Mobile Service calls for which there is minimum charge per call (the details of which appear in our price list available on our Website).
10.13 You should also be aware that we may allocate Call Data Records (“CDR’s”) which have been received late, whether from other Network Operators or otherwise, into the bill for your current Billing Period. Further details of late arriving CDR’s are available from Customer Services.
Changing Our Charges
10.16 We shall be entitled to amend our Charges or change the Tariff Plan you are on from time to time and we will notify you of such changes by making the amended list of Charges available on our Website. If Charges are decreased this will be reflected in your next bill. Should we increase the Charges we shall provide you with thirty (30) days notice of such increase and the increase will take effect from the end of that period. In this instance you may, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of clause 16.1, be entitled to terminate our Services made available under these Conditions. Any changes that may apply to VAT charges from time to time, which may result in an increase or decrease in your Tariff Plan Charges, will not be regarded as a price increase.
Other Charges
10.19 Upon termination of any Service for whatever reason all sums outstanding and any cancellation Charges arising as a result shall be treated as a debt and shall become immediately due and payable. For clarity, this includes any charge that we incur from a third party for disconnecting you from a Service.
11. Ending Your Contract
11.1 If you no longer want to receive one or several of our Services, you must tell us a certain number of days in advance. How many days will depend on which Service(s) you currently take from us. If you receive more than one service (for instance Calls and Broadband), you must also tell us which Services you no longer want. Please note that for certain Tariff Plans offering a bundle of Services you may not cancel part of the Services. For further details please contact Customer Services.
11.2 Some of our Services have a Minimum Period. This means that you are legally obliged to keep receiving our Service until the end of that term. If you leave before the end of
the Minimum Period, you accept that you have to pay us an additional charge. Please see clause 11.8 about this charge.
Term
11.3 For the LR Service, unless we otherwise tell you, the Minimum Period is 12 months. We will tell you when you sign up if that applies to you. Please see the definition of Minimum Period if you would like more information.
Termination by You
11.4 If you wish to cancel a Service, the following will apply:
11.4.1 to end the Call Service, you must tell us in writing 15 days in advance of leaving us.
11.4.2 to end the Broadband Service, or the Fibre Optic Broadband Service you must tell us in writing 30 days in advance of leaving us;
11.4.4 to end the LR Service, you must tell us in writing 30 days in advance of leaving us. However, if you are leaving us to go to another telephone company, we will consider that you have given appropriate notice as soon as we receive notice from your new provider. In other words, you will not be required to give us 30 days written notice in this instance.
11.5 If you wish to end this Contract, you must either call Customer Services or write to us at Social Telecoms CIC c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL stating your name, address and Social Telecoms landline telephone number. Any legal proceedings that may be issued by you can only be served by sending them to: The Company Secretary, Social Telecoms CIC Returns c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL.
Termination by Us
11.6 If we wish to cancel a Service, the following will apply:
11.6.1 to end the Call Service, we can stop supplying you with our Service if we tell you in writing 7 days in advance.
11.6.2 to end the LR Service, Broadband Service or the Fibre Optic Broadband Service, we can stop supplying you with our Service if we tell you in writing 30 days in advance.
Payments Due on Termination
11.8 If your Contract has a Minimum Period and you terminate the Service before the end of that Minimum Period you must pay us, as compensation for our losses the relevant amount detailed on our Website www.socialtelecoms.org.uk/legal.html multiplied by the number of months remaining of your Minimum Period.
11.9 We will not charge you anything if you cancel your LR or Call Service within 10 working days from the date on which you agreed to take those services, except that you must pay us the New Line Fee if you have had a new line to your home installed by us in that time.
11.10 If you have had a new line to your home installed by us and you then cancel your Contract with us before you have paid either the New Line Fee or the Homemover Fee (as applicable), you accept that you must pay us the New Line Fee or the Homemover Fee (as applicable) in addition to any other charges you may be liable to pay to us for any products or services we may have provided to you before you cancelled your Contract. This does not affect your statutory rights.
11.11 If you wish to cancel an Order before the Commencement Date, you also accept that we may charge you a disconnection fee for any work that may have been done at your home or local exchange.
Other instances when we can end your Contract
11.12 If you cancel or terminate any Service or change Tariff Plan you accept that we can cancel any other Service that we supply to you by giving you thirty (30) days’ notice.
11.13 If you breach your Contract, and we ignore your breach, or if the Service is suspended, we can still end your Contract if you breach it again or if the Service is suspended.
11.14 If at any time BT ceases to provide services to us such that we are unable to continue to provide any of the Services, to you, we may immediately terminate our Contract with you.
11.15 We may terminate your Contract by giving you notice in writing, if: you are in material breach of these Conditions or you give us false credit information; or you are or become bankrupt or enter in to an IVA or similar creditors’ agreement.
Other provisions
11.16 If we end your Contract for Call Services under this clause 11, and you are not on our LLU Network, you accept that we can transfer your service either to BT, or back to your original provider without your consent.
11.17 If you end your Service with us, you will be responsible for transferring to another service provider. If you do not do this, you may be left without any telecommunications service.
11.18 If you have accepted any Service on the basis of it being offered by us ‘forever’, you acknowledge and accept that this can only apply providing that you stay as a Customer and we continue to offer the Service on our Network.
11.19 If at any time either you or us end your Service with us for any reason and you have made any cash, debit or credit card payments in advance for that Service or paid any deposit under clause 10.11, we shall only refund the excess of such payments that remains after settlement of all charges on your Social Telecoms account. If we have awarded you any goodwill credits during your Contract, we shall apply those first to any outstanding charges on your account before we send your final bill. However, if your Service is cancelled by you or us and any goodwill credits or any part of them remain after we have accounted for all outstanding charges on your account for that Service, those credits will be cancelled when your Service ends and you will not be paid or be entitled to claim the cash value of any such credits, or to otherwise redeem them or transfer them to any other Social Telecoms account holder or to any third party.
12. Use of Your Information
12.1 We respect your personal information and undertake to comply with applicable Data Protection legislation in place from time to time. We may hold information that you provide to us (such as by telephone on an application or Order form or registration form) or that we may obtain from another source (such as our suppliers, marketing organisations or credit reference agencies). This information (“Your Information”) may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, telephone numbers, email address, bank and Credit or Debit Card information, occupation and employment data, lifestyle information and details of how you use the Services, which may include for example and without limitation, traffic data related to your use of the Call Services including, without limitation, the numbers you call, the type, date, time, location, duration, and cost of calls, messages or other communications, the addresses you send messages to, or your use of the Broadband Service, such as how long you are on-
12.2 We may share Your Information with: your social landlord (if applicable), companies within the Social Telecoms CIC and any company or other entity in which Social Telecoms CIC owns (directly or indirectly) more than 15% of the issued share capital for the purposes described in these Conditions including, without limitation, its insurance companies); and, in the event that we undergo a re-
How Your Information May be Used
12.3 Your information may be held and used by us for a number of purposes and we may use third parties to support us with purposes which include, without limitation:
12.3.1 processing your Orders or applications; administering your account and billing; settling accounts with those who provide related services to us; disclosing your data to banks and debit and credit card companies to validate your Credit or Debit Card details; dealing with requests, enquiries or complaints and other Customer care related activities; debt recovery (also using recovery agents and agents facilitating contact with you) and legal actions and all other general administrative and business purposes;
12.3.2 carrying out market and product analysis of Your Information to develop and improve and to tell you about Social Telecoms’ products and services, new developments, special offers, discounts and awards which we believe may be of personal interest to you. We may tell you about these by post or telephone. We may also tell you by email, fax, SMS, MMS, automated telephone call and via world wide web, subject to any preferences indicated by you at the time you apply to enter into this Contract or subsequently;
12.3.3 contacting you about the products and services of carefully selected third parties and allowing you to receive advertising and marketing information from
those selected third parties but without passing control of Your Information to the third party concerned;
12.3.4 passing on data to organisations from which you have ordered any products and services; registering your details and allocating or offering you rewards, discounts or other benefits and fulfilling any requests or requirements you may have in respect of our and Social Telecoms CIC’s loyalty or reward programmes and other similar schemes;
12.3.5 inclusion in a telephone directory in printed/electronic format, a telephone directory available on the internet or world wide web and a directory enquiry service operated by us or by a third party but only where you have consented to this;
12.3.6 carrying out any activity or disclosure in connection with a legal, governmental or regulatory requirement on us or in connection with national security, legal proceedings and for the prevention and detection of crime or fraud and the prosecution of offenders or suspected offenders; and/or
12.3.7 carrying out activities connected with the running of our business such as personnel training, quality control, Network monitoring, testing and maintenance of computer and other systems and in connection with the transfer of any part of our business in respect of which you are a Customer or a potential Customer.
Credit Checking and Account Collections
12.4 You agree to the disclosure by us of the following information to any telecommunications company, debt collection agency, credit reference agency, credit or fraud monitoring scheme, credit provider or security agency:
12.4.1 any information relating to your Contract with us including details of how you conduct your account and your obligations to us and your personal financial information;
12.4.2 any information which is covered by our registration under the Data Protection Act 1998 as amended from time to time; and
12.4.3 any information which we are required by an order of any court of competent jurisdiction or by statutory authority to disclose.
12.4.4 We may also use the information you supply to carry out credit checks to help decide whether to accept your application or future applications, and to verify your identity and to protect our legitimate interests. This may involve searching information held about you by licensed credit reference agencies who will record details of the search and your application.
12.4.5 We may use a combination of credit scoring and/or automated decision making systems when assessing your application.
12.4.6 If you proceed with an application we may subsequently disclose details to credit reference agencies of your Contract, the payments you make under it, account balances and information about any default, dispute, queries and debts. We may also disclose details of any reported change of address or changes of which we become aware. We may also check and share your details with fraud prevention agencies who will record details of any false or inaccurate information provided by you or where we suspect fraud.
12.4.7 The information may also be used by us, credit reference agencies and other organisations to:
12.4.7.1 help make decisions about other credit applications by you or other members of your household with whom you are linked financially; and
12.4.7.2 trace debtors, recover debts, prevent money laundering and to prevent and detect fraud.
12.4.8 Information held about you by the Credit Reference Agencies may be linked to records relating to your partner. Under certain circumstances, you may be entitled to request that you and your partner are financially independent and your application may then be assessed without reference to any “associated” records, although you recognise that this may adversely affect the outcome of your application. You believe that there is no information relating to your partner that is likely to affect our willingness to offer financial services to you. You authorise us to check the validity of this declaration with credit reference agencies and if we discover any associated records, which would affect the accuracy of this declaration we may decide not to proceed with the application on this basis.
12.4.9 Records held by fraud prevention agencies may also be shared with other organisations to help them make decisions on motor, household, credit, life and other insurance proposals and insurance claims, for you and members of your household.
12.4.10 If you do not become our Customer or if your application is declined we will continue to hold information about you for such period as we determine for the purposes of dealing with enquiries, complying with any legal obligation and for crime and fraud prevention and detection.
12.4.11 You can ask us at any time for details of the credit reference and fraud prevention agencies to whom your information is disclosed and from whom it was obtained however we will not be able to provide you with any information relating to reasons for your failure to pass the credit scoring or automated decision making systems operated by these agencies or other information held by such agencies. If requested we may be able to give you details of the sorts of information we take into account when assessing an application.
Records
12.5 We may also pass your information for any specific purpose to certain third parties (some of which may be based outside of the European Union) where this is necessary or otherwise required or allowed to those who provide products or services that support the Services that we provide, such as our dealers and suppliers; credit reference agencies (unless we have agreed otherwise) who may share your information with other credit and insurance organisations and who may keep a record of the searches we make against your name; if someone else pays your bill, such as your employer, that person; those agencies and organisations involved in the prevention or detection of fraud or crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, including the operators and participants of crime prevention schemes in which we participate who may compare Your Information with information collected from other sources and who may keep a record of the searches we make against your name; and anyone we transfer our business to in respect of which you are a Customer or a potential Customer and they may use and disclose Your Information for the same purposes as us.
12.7 You should be aware that if we are requested by the police or any regulatory government authority investigating suspected illegal activities to provide your user information or information concerning your activities whilst using the Service we shall do so. We also reserve the right to disclose individually identifiable information to third parties where a complaint arises concerning your use that is deemed by us to be inconsistent with these terms.
12.8 We may disclose to third parties aggregated data related to the use of the Service provided that a single individual is not identifiable in such data. This aggregated and anonymised data may be used by those third parties for their marketing purposes (e.g. to improve their targeting of advertising based on user preferences).
The Information Commissioner
12.9 A comprehensive description of how we use personal information is publicly available from the Information Commissioner –
12.10 If you would like us to tell you what information we hold about you, please write to us Social Telecoms CIC Returns c/o Digital Den, 25a Maesbrook Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9NL. We may charge a £10.00 administration fee; please quote your full name, address, and fixed line number and account number on all requests. You can also call Customer Services to correct or update any inaccurate or incomplete information and to advise us of any preferences you may have concerning how you can be contacted for marketing purposes or to indicate your preferences for directory entries.
Opting Out
12.11 If you do not wish your details to be used for the purposes described in clauses 12.3.2, 12.3.3 and 12.3.4 please write to us at the above address stating your full name, address, account number and phone number. Please note: this will not affect any marketing consent which you have already given to any of the companies referred to in this clause in respect of agreements relating to other products and/or services.
12.12 If you provide us with any information about any other individual, such as another user of our services, it is your responsibility to ensure that that other individual consents to, and is made aware of, the use of their information by us for the purposes set out in this clause.
12.13 Subject to your rights of objection set out in this clause, and your right of objection in the registration process, you agree that you consent to us, Social Telecoms CIC or third parties contacting you for any of the above purposes whether by telephone, email, MMS, SMS or in writing and you confirm that you do not consider any of the above as being a breach of any of your rights under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
12.15 We may use “cookies” and other software so as to be able to build up a profile of your interests and preferences and this may be used by us to develop and operate the Service.
13. Matters Beyond Reasonable Control
13.1 Sometimes we are unable to do what we have agreed due to something beyond our reasonable control. If this happens we do not accept responsibility for what has occurred.
14. Transfer
14.1 You may not transfer the whole or any part of the Contract without our prior written consent.
14.2 Your Contract may be administered in whole or part by another company within the Social Telecoms CIC.
15. Disputes
We have a customer complaints code which explains the steps you need to take when you want to complain to us about something. You can get a copy from our website (www.socialtelecoms.org.uk) or by calling our customer service team on 0333 358 3034.
16. General
Changing these Conditions
16.1 We may change these Conditions at any time for legal, regulatory or commercial reasons. We will notify you of all such changes in writing and/or by publishing them on our Website (www.socialtelecoms.org.uk). To the extent that we believe such changes are to your material detriment we will give you at least thirty (30) days’ notice of such changes by writing to you and/or publishing them on our Website or providing them on our Customer Services telephone line by way of a recorded message. If you object to a change that we believe is to your material detriment you may terminate your Contract without charge provided that you notify us in accordance with the provisions of clause 11 and prior to the date that the relevant change is due to take effect.
16.2 The Contract sets out the whole agreement between you and us for the provision of the Services and supersedes all prior agreements between you and us. Neither of us has relied on any representation arrangement understanding or agreement (whether written or oral) not expressly set out in these Conditions.
16.3 If any particular clause of these Conditions shall be, or be held to be, invalid or shall not apply to the Contract, the other clauses hereof shall continue in full force and effect.
How We Can Notify Each Other
16.4 Any notice which has to be given under these Conditions shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been given by us if, left at or sent by post to you at the address stated in your application or any other UK address you supply to us for this purpose, or by you to us at the address given on your last monthly bill. Any notice or document shall be deemed to have been delivered immediately (if delivered by hand) or 48 hours after posting (if sent by first class post). References in these Conditions to notices given to you by us “in writing” and by email, which must be sent to your email address stated in your application or any other email address that you supply to us for the purpose.
Call Monitoring
16.5 Monitoring or recording of your calls may take place for our business purposes, such as quality control and training, to prevent unauthorised use of our telecommunications systems and to ensure effective systems operation and in order to prevent or detect crime.
16.6 We make every effort to ensure the security of your communications. You are however advised that for reasons beyond our control, there is a risk that your communications may be unlawfully intercepted or accessed by those other than the intended recipient. For example, your communications may pass over third party Networks over which we have no control and if you are connected to an analogue Network, there is no protection for your communications over the air interface. If you are connected to the digital Network, your communications over the air interface with our systems are encrypted providing a greater level of protection, but even this cannot be guaranteed.
16.7 Any calls you make using the Service, whether to Customer Services or otherwise, may be recorded and so you hereby grant us, or our agents, the right to monitor or record your calls or emails for our lawful business purposes, such as quality control and training, to prevent unauthorised use of our telecommunications systems, to ensure effective systems operation and in order to prevent or detect crime.
16.8 Failure by either you or us to exercise or enforce any right conferred by statute or the Contract shall not be deemed as a waiver of any such rights nor prevent the exercise or enforcement of such rights at a later date.
16.9 Except in the case of any permitted assignment of the Contract, a person who is not a party to the Contract has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise to enforce any clause of the Contract.
16.10 These Conditions, and all other legal relationships between us shall be governed by English Law, unless you live in Scotland in which case Scottish Law will govern, and are subject to the exclusive courts of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Schedule 1
DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION
1.1 In these Conditions (unless the context otherwise requires):
“Billing Period” means any period in respect of which we bill you from time to time for your use of any of the Services provided to you;
“Broadband Service” means the high speed ‘always on’ Network access to the internet provided in accordance with the particular type of Tariff Plan chosen by you and supplied to your Premises via either our Network or your BT landline and which is provided in accordance with the terms of your Contract;
“BT” means British Telecommunications Plc, 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ and may as the context requires include without limitation ‘Open Reach’ or any other trading division of BT from time to time;
“Call Service” means the service that we provide to you that allows you ability to make telephone calls in accordance with the terms of your Contract and which, for the avoidance of doubt, may include without limitation International Access. We may provide the Call Service to you using CPS, LLU, WCLI or any other service delivery method available to us from time to time;
“Charges” means our published list of prices as amended from time to time applicable both to our Services in general and your particular Tariff Plan. To obtain a copy please telephone Customer Services or visit our Website;
“Commencement Date” means the date upon which our supply to you of any Service commences, and the relevant Commencement Date for each Service will be as communicated to you by us. This date is not guaranteed but a Customer of the Call Services shall be deemed to be ‘active’ from 12 midnight on the day before such a Customer’s Commencement Date;
“Conditions” means these terms and conditions as amended by us from time to time in accordance with clause 16.1;
“Content” means textual, visual or other information, software, photos, video, graphics, music, sound and other material appearing on or available through any of the Broadband Service, the Mobile Service or the TV Service including all information supplied by content providers from time to time;
“Contract” means the contract between you and us to pay for and receive one or more of the Services set out in these Conditions (together with such changes and/or other terms as may be notified to you from time to time) and your current Tariff Plan as amended from time to time;
“CPS” means ‘Carrier Pre Selection’, which is the Network access mechanism that occurs when a particular telecommunications operator, automatically programmes your local telephone exchange to route your calls or traffic over a particular carrier’s Network without
your Modem having to be reconfigured or you having to dial additional (prefix) codes on your telephone prior to making a call or using any other telecommunications service;
“Credit or Debit Card” means your nominated credit or debit card, details of which you have provided to us by any means;
“Credit Limit” means any credit limit, which is applied to your account either when you apply for any Service or at any time thereafter and described more fully in clause 10;
“Customer” means any customer who enters a Contract;
“Customer Services” means the customer services facility provided by us for you to report any faults with any Service or make general or account enquiries via 0330 358 3034 (or such other number as may be advised to you by us from time to time) or by e-
“Denial of Service Attacks” means any attacks to the Network on which the Broadband Service is provided or any other third party’s Network, the purpose of which are to attempt to prevent legitimate users from using or enjoying the benefit of the Broadband Service or any other similar service (as the case may be), including but not limited to, attempts to ‘flood’ the Network or to disrupt users from connecting to, accessing or using the Broadband Service;
“GSM Gateway” means a fixed device containing one or more SIM Cards which enables a call from a fixed phone to a Mobile Phone to be routed directly into a mobile Network as if it were from a Mobile Phone and thereby attract a different call rate;
“Homemover Fee” means the fee published on our Website and which may be payable if you move house and wish to continue to receive the Service(s) at your new address;
“IDA” means indirect access which is a fixed line telephony product which allows a customer to access special call rates by first dialling a prefix immediately before making a call;
“Inclusive Calls to Social Telecoms Customers” means those calls made in the United Kingdom only by Customers who have been notified that they are eligible to benefit from Inclusive Calls to Social Telecoms Customers and which are:
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and which, if made in accordance with clauses 3.4 or 5.17 as applicable, will not cause you to incur Charges. For the avoidance of doubt, Inclusive Calls to Social Telecoms Customers do not include any calls between customers using Mobile Phones whether such calls are made on the Social Telecoms mobile Network or any other mobile Network;
“International Access” means calls to international telephone numbers via our Network which may be made by dialling the Access Code prior to dialling the international telephone number that you wish to call. A list of the countries which may be called via the Access Code and the charges (if any) applicable to such calls is listed on our website at: www.socialtelecoms.org.uk or is available from Customer Services or by email.
“internet” means the global data Network comprising numerous interconnected Networks communicating via a telecommunications system as defined in Section 4(1) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 or by such other methods as may from time to time
be developed, invented or discovered, commonly known as the internet;
“Line Rental Provider” means the service provider, such as us or BT, who rents to you the fixed telephone line that you use to receive the Services;
“LLU” means Local Loop Unbundling which is a technology that allows alternative telecommunications companies to put their own equipment onto the end of a consumer’s copper local loop and own the connections for the local exchange instead of BT, so as to offer services in competition with BT;
“LR” means line rental;
“LR Service” means the LR service provided to you by us, which allows you to obtain from us the telephone line(s) on which you make your calls or connect to the internet. We may provide the LR service to you using either wholesale line rental or LLU;
“Minimum Period” means the minimum period that applies to your Contract, which will depend on the Tariff Plan you select at the time you place your Order. The following minimum periods apply:
(i) For any Customer who:
a. transfers their existing telephone line to our non-
b. enters a Contract for the non-
c. enters a Contract for a new line installed for the non-
the minimum period is twelve (12) months from the Commencement Date of any such Service.
(ii) For any Customer who either:
a. transfers their existing telephone line to our LLU LR Service; or
b. enters a Contract for the LLU Broadband Service only; or
c. enters a Contract for a new line installed for the LLU LR Service;
the minimum period is either twelve (12), eighteen (18) or twenty-
(iii) For any Customer who enters into a Contract (or upgrades an existing Contract) for certain products that we offer (which may include, without limitation, our combined products i.e. any product (whether supplied through LLU or not) under which you receive our LR Service, our Call Service, our Broadband Service and our TV Service), your Contract will have a minimum period of either twelve (12), eighteen (18) or twenty-
(iv) For any Customer who has a Contract under (iii) above and who chooses to take the Fibre Optic Broadband Service you will enter in to a new Contract which will have a minimum period of either twelve (12), eighteen (18) or twenty-
“Modem” means the high-
“Network” means as the context requires either the public switched telecommunications, internet protocol packet Network and/or a wireless telegraphy link by means of a cellular radio system operated by a Network Operator;
“Network Operator” means, as the context requires Social Telecoms Communications, BT or such other company or companies from time to time that operate a fixed line or mobile Network or ‘virtual’ Network, which can be accessed for communication purposes;
“Order” means any order that you submit to us for any of the Services;
“Ofcom” means the Office of Communications;
“Premises” means the UK premises where we agree we shall provide you with the Service(s);
“Pre Pay” means where a Customer pays for their use of the Service in advance;
“Service(s)” means, as the context requires, any of: the LR Service; the Call Service; the Broadband Service; the Mobile Service; the TV Service; a Boost, the Fibre Optic Broadband Service or any other telecommunications services that we may provide to you pursuant your Contract;
“Social Telecoms”, “we”, “us”, “our” means Social Telecoms CIC (registered in England under Company Number 4633015) of 11 Evesham Street, London W11 4AR;
“Social Telecoms CIC” means Social Telecoms Telecom Group Plc (company number 07954912)
“Tariff” means the tariff setting out our list of Charges for any of the Services we offer from time to time, copies of which are available at our Website or by contacting Customer Services. Although we are able to launch new Social Telecoms products and/or alter our Tariffs at any time, if we make an alteration to your existing Tariff (but not if we simply launch a new Tariff), which has a material detrimental effect on you, the provisions of clause 16.1 may apply;
“Tariff Plan” means the monthly Tariff (that may include some elements which are not chargeable) which you select for the Services at the time you place your Order and which you may change from time to time by agreement with us and where we agree, such change to take effect at the start of your next Billing Period;
“Technical Support Helpline” means the Broadband Service technical support telephone helpline available via 0333 358 3034(or such other number as we may advise from time to time) between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday (except certain public holidays). All calls may be monitored. This technical support help line is specific for the Broadband Service only;
“Transmission Speed” means the rate in either thousands of bits per second (“Kbps”) or millions of bits per second (“Mbps”) that data is transferred between two modems. Your transmission speed is that specified in your Tariff Plan;
“WCLI” means the method of delivering our Call Service known as ‘Wholesale Calls Line Independent’, which involves the use of third party networks to deliver calls made by you through the Call Service;
“Website” means the website for the Social Telecoms business currently located at url:www.socialtelecoms.org.uk; and “you” and “your” means the person named in the application process and/or, where the context requires, it includes a person we reasonably believe is acting on that person’s authority. Words in the singular shall include the plural and vice versa and references to legal persons shall include natural persons and vice versa. The headings in these conditions are intended for reference only and shall not affect their construction.
Sustainability policy
Mission statement
Our mission is to deliver positive social outcomes through social value mobile and fixed telecoms contracts which combine performance efficiency and sustainability.
We follow the Brundtland report’s definition of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This means we are conscious of Social Telecoms’ social, economic and environmental impact in all that we do.
We seek to reduce the negative effect of what we do as much as possible, but more than that we seek to find ways in which to make a positive difference through our own actions and through seeking to influence the actions of others.
This policy explains our approach to sustainability, showing how we live our values. It provides a reminder and guidance to staff in their day to day work, and clearly communicates our approach to sustainability to the clients, venues and suppliers we work with.
Scope
This policy covers:
• Social Telecoms’ values and operations as a company;
• Our core business activity which is using telecommunications to provide social outcomes
As a company, we want to embody our values and ensure that our own practice as a company supports our aims. We have a strong sense of the ‘Social Telecoms way’ of doing business and everything from our staff engagement, to our office building right down to our kettle plays a part in this.
The Social Telecoms Standards
1) Energy demands
• Our energy supply comes from Green Energy and is from 100% renewable sources.
• Our computers, from Very PC, are designed to use a fraction of the energy of regular desktop PCs.
• Energy efficiency is a key consideration when acquiring new electrical equipment.
• Our office is lit by ample natural daylight, and low energy fluorescent lights.
• We turn off all lighting and electronic equipment when not in use, and have a strict policy for switching off and unplugging overnight.
• We monitor and record our office energy consumption.
2) Transport demands
• Our office location is accessible by public transport.
• Wherever possible, staff travel on foot, by bicycle or by public transport to events and meetings.
• Taxis are used rarely, where necessary, such as for very early or late journeys and must be approved by a director. Staff will share taxis rather than booking separate ones wherever possible.
• We operate a Ride to Work cycle scheme, enabling employees to benefit from tax free bicycles.
• Air travel is to be avoided as far as possible and seen as a last resort.
• We encourage telephone or virtual meetings where possible.
• We look for ways to consolidate and reduce the number of deliveries required, such as asking suppliers to backhaul where possible.
3) Air, Water and Land
• The green energy and transport policies outlined above are also important in minimising damaging air emissions.
• The office is a non-
• We only use tap water and an eco-
• Our office is in Harlescott Barns, Shrewsbury and is part of a single story divided barn that has been converted to small offices that meet modern building standards
4) Cultural impact
• Social Telecoms embraces all cultures and we have a formal equal opportunities policy covering staff and clients.
• Our work for charities and RP’s has given us the opportunity to become involved in events specifically for the local community and take account of all cultures.
• Wherever possible we provide opportunities for our staff and partners to learn more about the cultures who reside in the community, such as through our choice of activities, entertainment or food.
5) Waste and recycling
• We operate a closed loop recycling policy, looking for recycled options in our procurement, and recycling as much as we can.
• We reuse paper where possible, with used paper in the printer for internal printing.
• We recycle all of our office paper, card, glass, cans and printer cartridges.
• We recommend the use of electronic communication methods as much as possible.
6) Ethical supply chain
• We only purchase tea and coffee that carries the Fairtrade mark.
• Much of our office furniture is reused, sourced from Reviive, a social enterprise providing recycled office furniture.
• We use eco friendly cleaning products in the office.
• We apply a sustainable approach to all our procurement, asking:
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7) Transparent relationships
• We are open and fair in the contracts and terms we issue to clients and suppliers.
8) Local sourcing
• When ordering stationery, office equipment and printing, we prioritise the use of local suppliers.
9) Security and safety
• We provide a safe and secure working environment for our staff.
• We have £5 million public liability insurance, and £10 million employer’s liability insurance.
10) Equality and diversity
• We have a positive office culture that recognises the contributions made by all staff.
• Our office is fully accessible.
• We ask visitors in advance if they require special access or have dietary requirements and ensure these are accommodated.
11) Community impact
• We regularly support events, activities and our neighbours in our local community.
• We assess our activities for potential risks of negative impacts on local communities, such as congestion, litter or noise pollution, and implement the necessary measure to minimise these.
• We look for ways that our activities can have a positive impact on the community.
• We favour suppliers whose work benefits the local community such as social enterprises.
12) Financial impact
• Social Telecoms is a social enterprise that is run as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Registration number is 07954912.
• We are committed to offering fair pay and conditions for all our staff, both permanent and temporary.
• We operate an internship scheme, and pay our interns the national minimum wage.
• We aim to ensure best value for money for all our clients With positive social outcomes
• We believe that a social value approach to telecoms supply doesn’t have to cost more money.
13) Stakeholder communication
• We work to minimum delivery commitments relating to our communication with clients and other stakeholders, and are always responsive and willing to help.
• We commit to discuss sustainability with all of our clients.
• We hold weekly staff meetings to discuss all current projects and Social Telecoms matters, ensuring all staff are up to date with developments.
• We communicate with all clients and suppliers about our sustainable approach.
• Where appropriate, we will include clauses in supplier contracts which hold them accountable for actions relating to sustainability.