I signed up with Tiscali in January this year, they rang me up with promises that they will save me quite a bit of money with their talk and speed up broadband package. Sucked in by the sales talk I signed up, at the last minute he said I was contracted for 12 months. Well I have had the service 6 months now, and have worked out its around £60 more than what I was paying before, and I am making less calls than when I was with BT. Having a part time wage, the charges have been crippling me, and have taken the decision to cancel my direct debit with them this week, as I can't cope anymore with the increasing costs of fuel, food etc. The thing is now I have cancelled what penalty charge amount am I looking at now for cancelling early? Can I possibly have these waved if I can prove its cost more to switch to their service?

Hi --- Unfortunately a contract cannot be legally terminated purely on financial grounds alone or the fact you may have found the same service cheaper, it can only be ended if they breach their terms of the contract with you i.e. they fail to substantially provide the service they should provide to you.

Therefore you cancelling your DD without any other good reason would place you in breach of the contract, this would mean that you were liable for the remainder of your unexpired contract plus any costs in recovering the money that they incurred or penalties written into your contract.

The best way is to contact them, explaining honestly..... that you're having great difficulty due to your new circumstances, to see if they are willing to reduce the cost or end the contract voluntarily.