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Advice on IONOS contract
At the end of last year, I purchased a VPS from IONOS since they were offering a 2 core and 2gb memory system for £2/month for the first 6 months and then 4/month after that. I thought that this was a good deal at the time and didn't realise that it was a contract that I couldn't cancel before 12 months had passed (£36 total excluding VAT). I decided recently that I no longer wanted to use their service which is when I realised that I was bound to this contract and that is what brings me to making this post.
If I don't continue paying for the service (I removed IONOS from my authorised 3rd parties on PayPal), will they take action? I have tried to cancel the contract but I have to wait until the end of this year which means I will have to pay the remaining amount for something that I am not using. Also, to confirm the cancellation of the contract, I have to call them which I think is ridiculous and if you don't, the contract will renew and I will be bound to yet another 12 months.
I have looked around a little and have come across a few posts on here that tell people to stay away from IONOS due to these stupid practices and I only wish I knew about LET before using IONOS. I like to be efficient with what I spend money on which is why IONOS seemed like a good option but it just isn't worth the hassle if you plan on cancelling since you are locked in.
TLDR: Will IONOS come for me if I stop paying for a VPS that I am not using? I will pay if I am threatened with legal action of course however I just wanted to ask and see if there are ways of getting out of their ridiculous contract scheme before it has ended. It is only ~£28 to pay it off so it's not the end of the world but I would rather not pay for something that I have no use for.
Comments
I’d just pay up and make sure to cancel for real.
I’m unsure how these things work, but I imagine, if they at one point do take action (or their collection agency, rather), they might be able to have you pay the small amount above + additional fees + their legal fees + interest.
I’m not saying that they will, I’m also not saying that they’ll win anything like that, but they might try still.
Now, MOST LIKELY, nothing at all comes from you not paying, but is it worth the risk? Considering you’d be in the wrong anyway?
At the end of the day, you agreed to those terms. You’re obligated to honor the contract.
And yeah, fuck IONOS.
You should be able to cancel the contract now, without having to wait until the twelfth month, even if the cancellation only becomes effective after the annual contract expires.
Other than that, it seems from what I've been reading in this forum that German companies tend to have this type of annual contracts as par for the course, and are stringent regarding contract enforcement. I can't speak for IONOS specifically.
According to this thread someone got their renewal prices reduced after performing a cancellation: https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/3913837/#Comment_3913837
YMMV of course
Tough spot, but you're not alone. Had a similar run-in with Netcup myself. Seems like a lot of German providers lock you in with these kinds of contracts.
About stopping payments, they're probably not going to chase you down for £28, but expect some emails nagging you to pay up, maybe with some extra fees tacked on. What worked for me: just shoot them an email back saying you didn't know about the contract trap and can't pay for something you're not using. They might just drop it to avoid the hassle over a small amount.
Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!
I had an experience with the Ionos debt collectors back in 2008 (i'm old). A company called Arvato finance came after a relative for the unpaid sum of £4.68. I wrote about it at the time here:
https://elpassoblog.com/why-1-1-internet-suck/
So to answer the question of will they come after you for an unpaid bill of £28...if history is anything to go by they probably will.
ionos debt collectors are like the bounty hunter from the gummi bears. better pay
Well, you signed a contract.
If you are in Russia, surely not, however its likely cheaper to cancel the contract now, pay the rest and let it run out.
IONOS actually provides a solid and stable service, especially for the 1 or 2€ servers.
Also not paying will influence your credit score at some point too, keep that in mind.
Dam cheap, considered what some of the collection agencies trying to charge here.
They sometimes double or triple the amount, can easily go to 3 figures.
You know, it's not so hard to understand: when you signed up for that deal, you committed yourself to paying for the first 12 months of service. If you didn't understand this, then you weren't paying attention
The right thing to do would be to honor the commitment that you made to pay for the first 12 months of service and to cancel your service for after the 12 months
I would have to agree with the idea that you would honour the 12-month commitment, they in fact make it very clear when ordering that to get the 6 months at X price you have to commit to 12 months, it is very common for companies to do this in fact even OVH does this that if you commit to X time you get X discount.
That being said I can understand that if you did not see at the time it was a 12-month commit you may see this as bad practice, I myself have a few VPS from Ionos (I like uk more as they have their own DC) and I take advantage of the discounts, I have cancelled in the past and just paid up the 12 months because its still a very good deal for what you get but not everyone will agree.
In short honour your contract, you agreed to it being it knowing or not in the eyes of the law you committed to that 12 months to get 6 month discount.
Thanks all, I figured I would have to just pay it off and like I said it's only ~£28 so it's not too bad. I didn't realise that I was bound to a 12 month contract with no early cancellation option but I agree that I will have to honour that and just pay it. From having this experience I will now make sure to check what I am signing myself up to before I go through with using a service.
The IONOS system that I have been using has been stable so it's not a scam and I have been getting what I paid for, it's just a scummy practice that they have in place which forces you to pay regardless if you need it or not. I will call them and make sure it gets cancelled and I will be avoiding them along with any other contract-based hosting providers.
Once again, I appreciate all of your time spent replying to my post and I hope you all have a lovely day/night.
Contracts are common in Germany. Almost every service I subscribe to last 12-24 months x)
In the past, if you didn’t cancel in time (1-3 months before old contract ends), they simply renew your contract by another 12 months
When I first stumbled onto monthly subscriptions outside of Germany I was stunned. The experience of freedom was unforgettable haha.
PS: Maybe you can transfer the VPS to someone else who might need it for a small amount
Or give it to friends/family for them to experiment with that instance.
Do those contracts auto-expand on end? I mean what will happen of 12 months pass and on a month I cancel? Contract should convert into monthly after 12 months.
If you don't cancel a month before it will auto renew for 12 months.
What you think a contract should do doesn't matter, it will do what is written and what you agreed to.
IONOS does have these VPS on monthly contract terms, but there is a setup fee.
@Wraithy actually they should run a 50% off promo right now.
Go to your contract and select terminate, then they offer you 50% off if you keep it for 12 months.
So you pay half, if this is through, mark it for termination again.
Hi,
You’re basically stuck as you’ve signed a contract, if you don’t pay them. They proceed to send Scottish or German debt collectors after you for as little as £4…
My advice is just pay and give notice
I have used Ionos before and I cancelled the contract and then they sent the debt collectors after me and I forwarded them the cancellation notice and both of them said it was neither of their problem and that they didn’t care. All over £20 for a domain… that they actually didn’t renew when I paid them to get rid of the debt collectors
If your contract is for one month, you owe them for one month.
If your contract is for 12 months, you owe them 12 months.
Unless THEY broke the terms of their contract, which they didn't. You're the one who wants to break the contract.
And IONOS tends to follow the letter of their contracts. Stop thinking about it, just follow their EXACT cancellation instructions, get a written confirmation of exactly when your contract is terminated, and then whatever you owe them for your contract, pay them so the contract is fulfilled, and be done with them forever.
And by forever, I mean, never use them again. And NEVER fall prey to these special partial discount yearly BS offers again. They suck you in, and they will try to enforce it. Not to mention it was YOU who agreed to the contract.
And ALWAYS understand the terms of your contract in the future before you sign up for something.
Most services in Germany are only to be extended by one month every month after the initial contract duration by law(!). For example you start with 12 months the next contract will be renewed for another month every month until you cancel it. Some want cancelation 30 days before renewal others are fine with 1 day (or few hours before).
This practice is applicable on all CONSUMER contracts. However if it is business/commercial related those consumer laws don't apply per sec and it's the service providers decision to allow enterprise customers the same contract options as consumers or not.
Usually b2b are looking for mid/long-term contracts.
There is no scam or scummy methods involved at all. It's been the way contracts have been made in Germany and other European countries as well all the time.
You can always look out for prepaid options wherry our service simply terminates if you don't pay to extend. Usually comes with a higher price or less what you would get for with a contract.
Overall it makes it easier for businesses to calculate income and expenses for a larger time frame.
First shoot them mail so you don't have use of service any more and want to discontinue and see what they say. Also, since you have small amount, better pay and be done with it. I had similar thing but with Ovh, had paid few hundred $$, cancelled short after, never got refund because of so called contract was there which (like you) I didn't pay much attention.
They only recently implemented this after the government forced them to do so. In the past, forgotten cancellation = 12 more months x)