I have, for the next 4 or 5 days, a Tesco internet phone account. As some of you may know Tesco made what appears to be a snap decision last month to close their internet telephony services. When I say snap dcision I mean like on 25 March I got the following E-mail.

Dear Michael

We are writing to let you know that from 27th April 2010, we will no
longer be providing Tesco internet phone and Talk Wi-fi services. This
is due to a number of factors that impact the service we provide to
you, so we have decided to discontinue this offering.

From this date your Tesco internet phone account will be closed and
the service will not be available. You will no longer be able to
access your online account or be able to make calls using your Tesco
internet phone.

This does not affect any other services provided by Tesco Telecoms.

We apologise for any inconvenience and will be happy to assist you
with any enquiries you may have.

The Tesco internet phone team

This was the first I had heard, I had not seen anything to give me any idea they were going to be closing the service. In fact they were selling the hardware a few days before I got this mail because I debated on getting a new handset from my local store. Anyway I mailed them back straight away, well the day after if we are going to be pedantic.

26 March 2010
Hello,

I have just received an E-mail from you explaining that you are discontinuing the internet phone service from 27 April 2010.

Can you let me know how I can transfer my internet phone number to another provider as you seem to have missed this information out of the E-mail. It is imperative that I keep this number as I have publicised it and have had a large number of cards printed with this number on.

Two days later I get the following E-mail from tescointernetphone[@]tesco.net

28 March 2010
Dear Michael Rawlins,

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding Tesco Internet Phone.

It was with regret that we had to send an email to say that our Internet Phone service will cease from 27th April, without offering you a full explanation or providing alternative arrangements to allow you to switch to another service provider. Please be assured that we will be in contact shortly with more information.

I can understand why you are so disappointed and would like to offer my unreserved apologies.

Thank you for contacting us, if you require any further assistance please call us on 0845 300 2020 *free from your Tesco Internet Phone* (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm & Sun 10am-4pm)

Kind Regards,

Michael A
Tesco Internet Phone Team

So they would be in contact with me shortly. No doubt that is why I had to E-mail them back 3 weeks later asking:

20 April 2010
Hi,

Is there any update on how I migrate this number to another provider? I am concerned as your service is closing in seven days without providing a solution. I had 2000 business cards printed in March with this number on so I’m sure you will understand I would quite like to keep it?

If you could provide me with an urgent update I would be most grateful.

Kind regards

Mike

Today I get this response from cerb4[@]freshtel.net

21 April 2010
Dear Mike,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

You have recently contacted Tesco Internet Phone to enquire about taking your Tesco Internet Phone number to another provider.

We have been investigating alternative arrangements with a number of parties including the communications regulator, Ofcom, to try and make this possible.

Despite our efforts and after exploring a range of options unfortunately we have not found a workable solution for Tesco internet phone customers to take their internet phone number to another service provider.

We can understand this will be disappointing, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

From 27th April your Tesco internet phone account will be closed and the service will not be available. You will no longer be able to access your online account or be able to make calls using your Tesco internet phone.

Thank you for contacting us, please let me know if you have any further queries, alternatively call our customer care team on 0845 300 2020* – free from your Tesco internet phone or visit our website http://www.tescointernetphone.com

Kind Regards,

Michael A
Tesco Internet Phone

So it appears that the service and my phone number and 2000 business cards are all going down the drain in 5 days.

I had a look at freshtel.net and it seems they are an Australian outfit who started providing VoIP services to Tesco on 2008. Now if that is the case then they must have transferred numbers in to the Freshtel network, so why can’t they allow me to transfer my number out to another provider such as Skype?

Updated.
I have continued to have E-mail dialogue with my new best friend Michael, I have to point out I really don’t hold him personally responsible, the situation sucks and at least he is taking the time to respond

So I responded to his last E-mail thus:

Well that is very disappointing.

If you can give me details of how I can claim the cost of my now useless business cards I would be most grateful.

Kind regards

Mike

and he responded with

Dear Mike,

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding Tesco Internet Phone.

I can understand why you are so disappointed and would like to offer my unreserved apologies.

Unfortunately however, as this service was not intended for business use (as outlined in section 8.4 of our Service Terms and Conditions, listed below) we cannot make specific exceptions for people who have used this service for business use and would not make any offer of compensation as a result of a breach of terms & conditions

*The Tesco Internet Phone service is a retail service that is made available to you only for personal, residential use and not for commercial or business purposes. All commercial or business use is considered by us to be not in accordance with fair use. You may not, nor allow anyone else to, install the Tesco Internet Phone software or use the Tesco Internet Phone service for auto delivery, continuing or extensive call forwarding, telemarketing, solicitation, polling, fax or voicemail broadcasting. If you do use the Tesco Internet Phone service for business or commercial purposes in breach of these Terms & Conditions, you will compensate us for all liabilities, claims, damages, losses and costs (including legal costs) which we may suffer because someone (other than you) makes or threatens a claim against us because the Tesco Internet Phone service is faulty or cannot be used by them.*

Thank you for contacting us, if you require any further assistance please call us on 0845 300 2020 *free from your Tesco Internet Phone* (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm & Sun 10am-4pm)

Kind Regards,

Michael A
Tesco Internet Phone Team

So I responded with:

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

Business cards does not imply ‘Business Use’ merely that I have invested in 2000 cards with my contact details on which are now surplus to requirements because you (not you personally) have decided to close the service with what I assume is the minimum of notice (para 4.2)

Kind regards

Mike

To which he responded:

Dear Mike,

Thank you for your most recent reply.

As you have made a personal decision to produce 2000 Business cards with the telephone number printed on them. This decision has been made by yourself after agreeing to our terms & conditions, aceepting that the below applies:

4.2
We may end your Service Agreement at any time by emailing you and giving you 30 days notice. We may also end our Service Agreement with you immediately if: (a) you breach an important term of these Terms & Conditions (for example, you do not comply with paragraph 8.3 and we determine, at our sole discretion, that your use of the Tesco Internet Phone service is, or at any time was, inconsistent with normal residential use patterns), (b) you breach any other term of these Terms & Conditions and do not put it right within 7 days of us asking you to, (c) you fail any credit or fraud prevention check or where we reasonably suspect fraud or money laundering by you or someone using your account(s), (d) you give us information about yourself which we reasonably believe to be false or misleading, (e) you are the subject of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, or if you do not make a payment under a judgement of a Court or fine, or you make an arrangement with your creditors or a receiver or administrator is appointed over any of your assets, or you go into liquidation, or (f) we are no longer able to provide the Tesco Internet Phone service to you despite making all reasonable efforts to do so.

After reading these terms & conditions I would hope that you would take the advice that we are not held responsible for any financial loss resulting from any use of Tesco Internet Phone. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused, however the decision not to offer compensation stands as previously advised.

I do apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of these decisions made and thank you for contacting us, if you require any further assistance please call us on 0845 300 2020 *free from your Tesco Internet Phone* (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm & Sun 10am-4pm)

Kind Regards,

Michael A
Tesco Internet Phone Team

Getting all contractual on me My response to this was:

Thanks for your response.

I think it is reasonable in the eyes of ‘The Man on the Clapham omnibus’ that section 4.2 would be seen to apply to an individual rather than your whole customer base, I’m sure you will agree?

I am more than happy with the fact that if I
(a) you breach an important term of these Terms & Conditions (for example, you do not comply with paragraph 8.3 and we determine, at our sole discretion, that your use of the Tesco Internet Phone service is, or at any time was, inconsistent with normal residential use patterns),
(b) you breach any other term of these Terms & Conditions and do not put it right within 7 days of us asking you to,
(c) you fail any credit or fraud prevention check or where we reasonably suspect fraud or money laundering by you or someone using your account(s),
(d) you give us information about yourself which we reasonably believe to be false or misleading,
(e) you are the subject of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, or if you do not make a payment under a judgement of a Court or fine, or you make an arrangement with your creditors or a receiver or administrator is appointed over any of your assets, or you go into liquidation

You may terminate the service because that is by my own volition and or actions, where as

(f) we are no longer able to provide the Tesco Internet Phone service to you despite making all reasonable efforts to do so.

is outside of my control is it not?

I am particularly interested in ‘despite making all reasonable efforts to do so’

Please define your reasonable efforts?

As I see it a decision was made, at some point before 26 March when you gave me notice that the service was being terminated, so at what point was that decision made and what ‘reasonable efforts’ were made by Tesco & Freshtel to provide continuity of service to your client base?

If, as I suspect the decision was made at any point before 26 March then it would have been prudent to notify your customer base that Tesco were looking to move away from the VoIP market rather than just giving 30 days notice would it not?

In closing I think that you have not made any reasonable efforts to keep continuity of service to your clients and your failure to do this has now left me out of pocket and I require this to be compensated. This compensation can be either by allowing me to move the number to another supplier or compensating me for the printing.

I must also point out that it is my belief that despite your personal assurance on 28 March “Please be assured that we will be in contact shortly with more information.” , if I had not contacted you yesterday you would have not taken the time to contact me to tell me that there is ‘no workable solution, (which I very much doubt) but merely closed the service.

You may have noticed that I am not going to go away and accept this particularly poor service, I’m sure that you have neither the discretion nor the authority to resolve this issue, so please can you supply me with the contact details of a senior manager within Tesco who I can take this up with.

Kind regards

Mike

I’m not sure where this will end up, but I suspect it will involve me chucking 2000 business cards away and getting a new number from Skype or someone. I don’t expect any more responses tonight as it is past 2100.

Anyone got any suggestions?