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MEPs are examining the abolition of part of the termination fees for telephone or internet subscription contracts. This deletion is part of an emergency bill for purchasing power, which also includes a measure to facilitate termination operations.
Canceling your telephone or internet packages could cost you less in the future, and prove to be much easier. In any case, this is what the government wants, which has presented a bill for the protection of purchasing power. This project has been under discussion since July 18 in parliament.
Terminate a contract in just a few clicks
Among other things, it should make life easier for users who struggle to terminate a contract they have signed online, for example with a mobile telephone operator or an Internet service provider. It indicates that contracts concluded electronically can be terminated, at the choice of consumers, following the same procedure. The professional must make available to his clients a free function which allows the steps necessary for termination to be carried out remotely.
When the consumer notifies the termination of the contract, the trader confirms receipt of the notification and informs him, on a durable medium and within a reasonable time, of the date on which the contract ends and of the effects of the termination. A decree sets the technical specifications to guarantee easy, direct and permanent identification and access to the function. This means that in theory the consumer will not have to go through tons of sub-menus, more or less visible on an operator’s site, to access the termination process. He will also not be obliged to contact customer service by telephone. Currently, professionals who unduly complicate the terms of termination of their contracts can be sued for aggressive commercial practices, but the procedure is complicated and the assessment of the aggressive nature is made on a case-by-case basis. With the modification of the consumer code, the government intends to set the terms for the termination of contracts taken out online and allow consumers, for example, to choose more attractive offers.
Canceling a telephone or internet contract would cost you less
Today, if you want to terminate an Internet or telephone contract with a commitment of more than one year, you must pay the remaining monthly payments for the first year, as well as 25% of the remaining costs for the second year. This can represent significant sums. To lighten the bill, the First Amendment proposes to remove the fee applied to the second year. For Julien Dive, LR deputy from Aisne who is at the origin of these proposals:
It is an “amendment that directly gives purchasing power to the French. »
The second amendment concerns consumers registered in the over-indebtedness procedure. If they provide “concrete proof” of their situation, they could then be completely exempt from the costs of terminating an internet or telephone contract.
Amendments that are still debated
If the Insoumis deputy Matthias Tavel underlines “a common sense measure which goes in the right direction”, other members of the assembly are not of the same opinion. This is the case of Sandra Marsaud of the Renaissance party (new name of LREM) who warns against legal difficulties and a risk of “opportunistic behavior likely to destabilize the market concerned”, before warning:
“It would call into question any type of contract, any type of commitment. It is a real revolution. »
For his part, the Renaissance deputy Frédéric Descrozaille expressed his doubts concerning the two amendments which, according to him, could cause an “increase” in the price of internet or mobile subscriptions. See you Monday, July 18, when these amendments will be debated in the National Assembly.
While waiting for any changes on these subjects, we explain how to cancel your mobile or internet plan by avoiding cancellation fees. With the many packages to which we subscribe (mobile internet, landline, Netflix, online storage, video games, etc.), it is easy to forget to cancel some of them and continue to pay, even when we do not have them. use more. Recently, it was the European Union that got its feet wet by forcing Amazon to facilitate the cancellation of its Prime service.
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