New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
Netcup updates Cancellation Policy for Contract Periods
neon_orange
Member
in General
Netcup has updated their cancellation policy for end of contracts. Now, after the end of the contract, the product becomes monthly and can be cancelled anytime.
News: https://www.netcup-news.de/2022/04/08/neues-verbraucherschutzgesetz-zu-mindestvertragslaufzeit/
Good News for BF Sale Owners like me, who change to new servers every year on BF. No need to worry about the contract getting auto renewed.
Thanked by 10nick_ AlwaysSkint pbx shadowban brejski pullangcubo angstrom JasonM Hotmarer kalimov622
Comments
looks like i'll finally get something from them after all
Good news finally
This is due to recent changes in legislation: https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/177003/netcup-contracts-a-rant-but-maybe-some-insight-for-those-who-agree-to-these-contracts/p1
that is really nice!
Interesting move! Regarding the specials, long term contract wasn't really a problem in my opinion though, given that it's really easy to transfer services to another user, when not in need anymore it was possible to resell the server to somebody else. Not difficult if it was an interesting deal as many people look for these.
Just in time for their Easter egg hunt, nice. But how would the price be calculated? Say, there's a server with 12 month contract period and 12 month billing period. Would it be just 1/12th of the price one would usually pay, paid every month?
not quite. their text clarifies:
so the billing period will stay as it was before... you could have products already with 12 month contract but 3 or 6 month billing anyway.
they do this refunding stuff with their (hourly billed) vserver range already.
Seems like existing contracts doesn't count?
Not really a "move" but rather forced upon them through legislation change.
"Zudem können auch bereits bestehende Kunden von dieser neuen Regelung profitieren."
This means that existing customers can benefit from this new regulation, but it's not clear to me that this means it applies to all existing contracts. (So I'm not sure why they even write this.)
I've just checked my active services with them, and I don't see any option to cancel within the next month. All of mine have a cancelation date will into the future, as they always have.
So, I guess the answer to your question is yes, existing contracts aren't affected.
Exactly.
It's sad that German law has to force companies to have sane policies regarding contract renewals, but so be it. Many German businesses like to be in a perpetual war with their customers.
Customer-friendly companies have already adopted these policies voluntarily.
Well glad the law was able to make this happen, mind you this should have been done years ago.
I think that existing contracts are affected (because netcup say that they are), but not retroactively.
What this means is that once your current contract period ends, then you'll be able to cancel at any time one month in advance.
For example, I currently have a vServer whose 12-month contract ends in November (this contract was renewed this past November), and I can't cancel before this coming November, but after the next 12-month contract period begins, then I'll be able to cancel at any time one month in advance.
In any case, the crucial point is that netcup will still be able to sell services with an initial unbreakable 12-month contract period.
Well, they say that existing customers are covered by this regulation, but I don't see anything about the contracts specifically.
I suppose you can argue whether a renewal is a new contract term, or if only the original contract date is the one that matters for the purpose of this legislation. I'm not clear on what German law proscribes here, but I know that many companies are treating existing contracts the same as new ones (i.e., all of my subscription services that once renewed on a yearly basis are suddenly able to be canceled monthly, even though the original contracts were started years ago.)
That would make sense, and hopefully this is what will happen.
However, both of my contracts renewed very recently (after 1 March 2022), and yet I still don't have the option to cancel them on a monthly basis in the netcup control panel. Perhaps this hasn't been implemented yet.
Indeed, netcup don't go into detail about existing services, so it's my interpretation of what netcup mean (and my interpretation may be mistaken).
Again, just for clarity, here's my interpretation of the situation, taking a 12-month contract for a VPS as an example:
Your ( @aj_potc 's ) case falls under 2 despite the fact that you renewed your service after 1 March 2022 for another 12 months (because it's a service that you originally purchased before 1 March 2022).
This is why I said that netcup aren't (or at least don't seem to be) applying the new law retroactively, because if they did this, then they would take your previous 12-month contract period into account.
(But perhaps I'm mistaken about this, and netcup simply haven't changed the option to cancel in the billing panel, as you suggest!)
If my interpretation is correct, a simpler way of putting this would be (again, assuming a 12-month contract for a VPS as an example):
That does indeed make sense (even if it isn't the most client-friendly interpretation), and I'd be willing to bet that you're exactly right.
Asked support, and this was their answer.
TL;DR : any existing contract that renewed after march 1st is also affected by the change.
Yay, I guess?
In my case, to revise what I said earlier in this thread, this means: since I renewed my service this past November for another 12 months, if I decide to renew my service this coming November for yet another 12 months, then it won't be until after November of next year (= November 2023) that I'll be able to cancel my service at any time with one month's notice.
I'm not sure about "Yay",
but it confirms my interpretation. 
this. in case of renewals the 'next renewal' after march 1st will most likely be considered the "initial" contract term of e.g. 12 months and only after that it will switch to monthly.
so I agree with @angstrom... worst case: you renewed in february for 12 month. you're earliest cancellation date will be feb next year. if you do not cancel and renew agin next february, this will actually kick off the 'initial' 12 month runtime till feb 2024, and only after that it will switch to monthly.
in other words, everything existing contract you renew from now on will again run one full time for the agreed contract term. and only after that it will switch. so, have a renewal upcoming in november? then on renewal it will still be another year.
if you'd close a new contract instead you'd be in the same situation anyway. and of course you now can still put in a cancellation for november as well.
TL;DR; no monthly cancellation option on new or existing long running contracts andy time soon ... let's speak again next year.
I wonder whether netcup will introduce 24-month contracts at some point. I don't think that they would do this in the very near future, but they might at some point.