Terms and Conditions

1. About us and you

1.1 4th Utility Holdings Limited ("T4U") is a limited company registered in England and Wales, company number 11010880. Our registered office is C/O Uhy Hacker Young St James Building, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom, M1 6HT.

1.2 In these Terms all references to "we", "us" or "our" are references to T4U and all references to "you", "customer" and "your" are references to you, our customer.

2. Terms and Conditions

2.1 These Terms are part of your legally binding services agreement together with the other documents listed below which altogether form your Agreement with us ("Agreement"). We set out here how we supply broadband services to you and any other services that you order from us during the order process (we refer to all these as "Services"). The Services we provide you with will be dependent on the packages that are available for your home. You will be presented with a list of service options unique to your home when you order from us.

2.2 Your Agreement with us is made up of the following documents and includes any other document we refer to in them:

1. These Terms
2. Any order that you make, as set out and confirmed in your order confirmation email
3. The Contract Information and Contract Summary we send to you when you are placing your order
4. Any product specific terms and conditions for additional Services you take
5. Our other charges and fees that are identified at point of order at 4thutility.co.uk/pricing
6. Our Privacy Policy at 4thutility.co.uk/privacy-policy
7. Our Cookie Policy at 4thutility.co.uk/cookie-policy
8. Our Acceptable Use Policy at 4thutility.co.uk/acceptable-use-policy

3. Placing an order

3.1 You can order our Services on our website or by calling us.

3.2 If you place an order with us, you become legally bound under the Agreement when:

1. you tick the box next to 'I have read and agree this contract and the terms and conditions' on our website; or
2. you confirm to our call centre that you agree to place the order.

3.3 We can only supply our Services to an address that is connected to our network, and where we confirm that we can provide you the Services chosen at point of order. You will need to be at least 18 years old when you place your order with us.

3.4 If you purchase our Services, any agreement for broadband or telephone services you might already have with another provider will not automatically end. If you end the other provider's service, you might have to pay cancellation charges to them. We are not responsible for any charges you incur when cancelling any agreements with other providers.

3.5 We will always use the email address you give us to contact you, although we may contact you in other ways as well e.g. phone or post. Please keep your email address updated within the "My Account" section which you can access on our website, so that you can regularly receive emails we send to you. We will not be responsible for any costs, delays or interruptions to your Services as a result of you not receiving the emails that we send to you.

3.6 After you have placed an order you agree that we may instruct third parties acting on our behalf to carry out credit checks on you, which we will use to decide if we can provide you with the Services.

3.7 When you place your order, we may need to arrange with you the installation of certain equipment including our integrated ONT-router, cables, accessories, fibre optic faceplate and media converter (the "Equipment"). We can only install the Equipment if someone over the age of 18 is present in your home. Once we connect you to our network we will confirm by email your service start date.

3.9 You can upgrade the services you take from us at any time without notice through your "My Account" section on our website. When you do so you will commit to a new contract with us but you will not have to pay Early Termination Charges on your old contract. If however you then choose to cancel your new contract within 14 days of placing your upgrade order, we will revert you back to the previous contract you were on when you placed your order for an upgrade. if you choose to downgrade your services after your cancellation period (see below) we will charge you Early Termination Charges before transferring you to your new package. We will confirm these changes by email with you and they will be reflected in your first bill after the change has taken place.

4. Equipment

4.1 After we send you an order confirmation email, we will get things ready to connect you to the Services. We will confirm you already have, or send you, all the Equipment you need for us to supply you with the Services. We will let you know what Equipment we will provide and whether there will be an activation charge for your Services during the ordering process.

4.2 The Equipment is leased to you for as long as you are using the Services although we may replace it from time to time. The Equipment remains our property and you agree to keep it at the address confirmed by you during the order process. You will need to take good care of the Equipment - if it's damaged in your possession you may have to pay us charges to repair or replace it. The Equipment must always remain at your home, unless we ask you to return it to us. We may also require you to leave any Equipment in situ after your agreement with us has ended and/or you are no longer at the home where we provided you services (subject to any requirements that your landlord may have). If you cancel your Agreement with us we may charge you for the cost of replacing the Equipment unless you return it to us within 14 days of the date you cancel your order.

4.3 If we provide you with faulty Equipment we will repair or replace it free of charge provided that you have not damaged the Equipment deliberately or used the Equipment contrary to our instructions. We will send you instructions on how to return any faulty Equipment to us. We will test the returned Equipment to see if it's faulty and, if so, we will work out how the fault was caused. If we reasonably think that the Equipment isn't faulty or that you damaged the Equipment through improper use, we may charge you a fee for an engineer to visit your home and repair or re-install the Equipment and/or Services. For more details see 4thutility.co.uk/pricing.

4.4 Except as set out in these Terms we don't accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused by the installation or use of the Equipment or equipment from another supplier.

5. Access, permits and visiting your home

5.1 We may need to arrange with you for us to enter your home to:

1. Carry out any work required to install, connect, maintain, change, replace or remove any Equipment that is needed for us to supply the Services you've asked for.
2. Inspect any networking or other Equipment related to receiving and using our Services which you keep there.

5.2 As part of entering your home, we may have some reasonable instructions for you in order to help us carry out the required work in your home. Our engineers will explain any instructions and the reasons behind them if required.

5.3 We can only provide the Services to you if you are either the freeholder of the home or a tenant under a lease with legally binding permission from the freeholder to install items such as the Equipment at your home.

5.4 If you remove the Equipment, or damage it, we may have to charge you the cost of installation and/or replacement. We will let you know the amount you will be charged before carrying out any repair or replacements.

6. Installation and connection

6.1 If we already have working Equipment in your home that we can access, we will first try to use that Equipment to connect you to our network. There may be no need for one of our engineers to carry out any work in your home. Where we can, we will activate your connection as soon as everything else in your order is ready. If our Equipment is not already working in your home when you place your order, then our engineer will need to install it. When you place your order, you can choose an available date for this installation. We will need to agree this installation in writing with you before the engineer comes.

6.2 Our standard installation means our socket will be within 2 meters of your front door. If you want the socket in a particular place at your home, or you want to move or rewire an existing socket from us, our engineer will discuss this and agree pricing with you for installation. These fees will be communicated with you via email or phone call before payment from you is due. You agree to help and cooperate with us as reasonably required to connect you to our Services.

6.3 The actual speed and performance of your Internet Service will depend on various factors including the technical capabilities and limitations of the devices you use to connect to the Service and the Equipment you use.

6.4 We will make every effort to ensure that your line is capable of achieving the speeds of the selected broadband internet access product, but we cannot guarantee that these speeds will be reported on your devices when conducting your own speed tests which may be affected by external factors. If you are regularly (i.e. on a daily basis for at least 3 successive days) getting significantly lower speeds that are less than the minimum speeds of the selected product (which are 50% of the headline speed i.e. 25Mbps on a 50Mbps product) when using a CAT6 ethernet cable (rated to 1Gbps) connected directly to the Equipment we supplied, please contact us so that we can try to help improve your speed. We will provide instruction to try to fix the problem (including guidance on how to measure the relevant speeds on your line) but if after testing we still can't get the minimum speeds then we will provide you with a different product which may be a downgrade from your original service. In such a situation we will only charge you for the downgraded product.

6.5 For more information on what using the Equipment means for you please see 4thutility.co.uk/help.

6.6 From time to time, we may upgrade and supply you with new Equipment. However, we do not guarantee that our Equipment will enable Wi-Fi to reach every room in your property, or every part of every room in your property. If we need to supply you with new Equipment or change your Service Set Identifier (SSID) for any reason, you will be responsible for reconnecting your devices to Wi-Fi. More details about Wi-Fi connectivity and what you can do to optimise your home set-up can be found on our website help pages at 4thutility.co.uk/help.

6.7 We will end the Agreement after we receive your order or after we send you your order confirmation, but before we connect you to our Services if:

1. you fail a credit check, or the bank, debit or credit card details you gave us are invalid and/or incorrect, or there are charges you need pay before we connect you but you haven't paid these on time;
2. we cannot provide the Services to your home by the expected connection date for any reason.

6.8 If you use your own router or ethernet cable to connect to our Services instead of the Equipment we supply, we may be unable to support you or troubleshoot any issues you experience.

6.9 If your Services are disconnected or suspended for any reason, and you then request to reconnect to our Services, we may charge you a re-activation fee. For more details see 4thutility.co.uk/pricing.

7. Term of agreement, suspension, restriction and termination

7.1 Your contract for service with us starts on the date you place your order. We will endeavour to connect you to our network on the date set out in the activation email that we will send you.

7.2 You have the right to cancel the Agreement within the cooling-off period which is 14 days, starting on the day after we send you our order confirmation or you receive any equipment that we have sent you, and receive a refund of any charges paid for Services not used, if applicable. You will not incur any Early Termination Charges for cancelling in this way. You can do this by telling customer support about your decision to cancel within the cooling-off period. Upon receipt of your cancellation request, your Services will end immediately, and we will process any refund due promptly. If you specifically request us (when you place your order or by email, phone call or letter) to start work on your order within the cooling-off period, but then cancel your Agreement before the cooling-off period has ended, you may have to pay us any installation and Equipment costs we have incurred in provisioning your order.

7.3 You may have a "money back guarantee" period which if applicable will be specifically mentioned in your Contract Information and Contract Summary. During this period, you have the right to cancel the Agreement and receive a full refund of any charges paid, including installation costs, if applicable. You will not incur any Early Termination Charges for cancelling in this way. You can do this by telling customer support about your decision to cancel within the money back guarantee period. Upon receipt of your cancellation request, your Services will end immediately and we will process any refund due promptly.

7.4 If you do cancel the Agreement we will usually ask you to leave the Equipment in situ in the property. But in some situations, we may send you instructions for returning the Equipment back to us. If you do not return the Equipment to us following these instructions you will have to pay us the full cost for the Equipment in addition to any installation costs.

7.5 You can cancel the Agreement at any time by contacting us by phone on 0800 066 2833. If you are cancelling within your cooling-off or your money back guarantee period, your Service will end immedaitely, otherwise it will end 30 days after we receive your request to end it. Be aware that:

1. if you cancel your Service and it's part of a bundled package offer, then the charges for the remaining Services in your bundled package might increase, and
2. if you cancel your services before your Commitment Period has ended you will be liable to pay us Early Termination Charges. You can see how much these might be at 4thutility.co.uk/pricing.

7.6 We may have to end the Agreement, or restrict or suspend some or all of the Services, if:

1. you don't pay us, by the due date, any money you owe us or you cancel the direct debit for your Services without agreeing another form of payment with us (although we will endeavour to let you know by email before we do this);
2. you misuse any of our Services in breach of our Acceptable Use Policy;
3. we think you may have provided us with wrong or misleading information, either to obtain the Services and/or the Equipment or at any time during the ordering process;
4. we think you (or another person at your home) have committed, or may be committing, any fraud against us and/or any other person or organisation by using the Services and/or the Equipment;
5. you or anyone you allow to deal with us on your behalf acts in a way towards our staff or agents which we think is inappropriate enough to justify suspending or restricting a Service;
6. we are no longer allowed to connect, maintain, change or replace the Equipment;
7. we need to comply with an order, instruction or request of Government, an emergency services organisation or other authority that we are required to obey; or
8. if we are required to do so by a regulatory authority such as Ofcom or we reasonably think it's necessary for security, legal, technical or operational reasons.

7.7 We can suspend the Services if we reasonably believe you are using them in contravention our Acceptable Use Policy at 4thutility.co.uk/acceptable-use-policy. We will try to contact you before suspending the Services but will not accept any responsibility for any loss you suffer from the suspension. Once we have received a response from you that acknowledges the issue and satisfies us that you will no longer be in breach of our Acceptable Use Policy we will re-connect you Although we may require you upgrade your service bandwidth to the tier that reflects your usage.

7.8 You or we can end the Agreement by giving 30 days' written notice to the other when:

1. One of us seriously breaches the Agreement and doesn't put it right within the 30 days' written notice.
2. Something outside our reasonable control, prevents us from providing the Services for a continuous period of more than 30 days.
3. The other cannot pay its debts or becomes insolvent or bankrupt.

7.9 Sometimes we may choose to ignore it if you breach a term of the Agreement, or we may choose not to enforce a particular term of the Agreement. If we do this, we will still have the right to enforce or take action against you for breaching that (or any other) term of the Agreement in the future.

7.10 If we have to restrict or suspend your Services you will still have to pay all the charges for your Services. If we end your Services, then you will still have to pay the charges for your Services for another 30 days after we end them.

7.11 If the Agreement ends for any reason after the cooling off period then usually we will ask you to leave the Equipment in situ in the property. But in some situations, we may send you instructions for returning the Equipment back to us. If you do not return the Equipment to us following these instructions you will have to pay us the full cost for the Equipment.

8. Payment terms and charges

8.1 You must pay the charges that apply to the Services you're receiving from us, as set out in our confirmation of order email, unless we agree otherwise with you. All recurring charges are payable from your Services start date. One-off charges are payable as detailed below. We will collect all charges in advance for the period ahead. If you would like more detail on our fees and charges, they can be found at 4thutility.co.uk/pricing.

8.3 There are no charges for any Services provided by our customer support on telephone number 0800 066 2833.

8.2 You can agree any one of a number of payment methods with us when you place your order. When you place your order for our Services you will need to give us certain financial information which we will ask you for, to allow us to set up your preferred payment method.

8.3 All bills will be issued and held in your online account. You will need your username or your registered email address, as well as your password to view these.

8.4 If you genuinely think that we have made a mistake with the charges on your bill then still pay the amount that you agree you owe us. We will not suspend or end your Services while we look into the matter.

8.5 Where there may be a mistake with the charges, you must pay us all sums you owe us in full, unless there is a separate legal right not to.

8.6 We may have to charge you interest at 4% above the Bank of England base rate annualised on your overdue payments, if you are unable to fully pay us by the due date. This interest will be charged from the due date until the date we receive the full owed amount from you (which includes the full amount of any interest).

8.7 If you are unable to provide full payment for the Services we provided to you, we may have to suspend or end the Services, and take steps to recover the amount you owe us. You will be responsible for the full costs we incur in collecting this amount. We will contact you to tell you before we start to do this.

9. Service interruptions

9.1 Sometimes, we may need to carry out essential work to maintain, repair or upgrade our network or Services. This means we might have to:

1. interrupt all or part of the Services. If we do so, we will try to restore the Services as quickly as we can; or
2. change network equipment or service parameters in your home to allow for additional customers to be connected to our network. We will try to let you know before we make any such change or suspension, if it significantly affects your Services.

9.2 We will do everything we reasonably can to reduce the effect on you of any disruptions to our Services, but we cannot guarantee a fault-free Service at all times.

9.3 We're not responsible to you for disruptions caused by anything beyond our reasonable control.

10. Moving home

10.1 Please contact customer support if you're planning a move and we will try to reduce any difficulties this can cause to your Services. We can only provide our Services at your new home if this is already set up and connected to our network at the time you move. If we do provide our Services to you at your new home, we will usually treat you as a new customer. This means you will have to go through the ordering process again for those Services at your new home. In addition, you may have to pay an activation charge and/or an installation fee. You can get more information on the charges you will have to pay if we are able to provide our Services at your new home, during the ordering process. If we determine that we cannot provide our Services to you at your new home, you can cancel your Agreement with us without paying Early Termination Charges.

11 Your obligations

11.1 As part of your Agreement with us, we require you to do the following:

1. Make sure that you and anyone else using our Services through your account keep to the terms set out in our Acceptable Use Policy as updated and shown on our website.
2. Keep your security information safe and tell us immediately if you think that someone who doesn't have your permission is using our Services through your account.
3. Give us complete and correct information and make sure this information is always kept up to date and correct.
4. Tell us immediately about any fault or problem with our Services and/or any fault with or damage to any Equipment.
5. Make sure that your equipment and software used by you meets the terms of all applicable Laws. Any equipment you use to connect to the services must have the European Consumer Equipment Standards 'CE' mark on it and from January 1st 2022, have the United Kingdom Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark on it. You must also ensure that you have any necessary licences before you use your own equipment, making sure that it and any software you use is compatible with our Equipment.
6. Control the content that you (or anyone else using our Services through your account) upload or download using our network, as we have no responsibility or control for any such content.
7. Fully keep to your Agreement with us and any reasonable instructions we give you.
8. Fully compensate us for any reasonably foreseeable losses, expenses or costs (including legal costs) which we incur where another person or company brings a claim against us in connection with you (or someone else using your account to access our Services) using or misusing our Services or breaking your Agreement with us (this is called an indemnity and makes you 100% responsible for the full amount of any claim we have against you).
9. Not to use the Services for any commercial or business use.
10. Accept the ISPA Complaints Code of Practice at ispa.org.uk/about-us/ispa-code-of-practice which sets out how you can make a complaint about us or our Services and how we deal with this. Please note that if we are not able to resolve any complaint you make then you can refer the matter to CISAS (Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme), which is an Ofcom approved alternative dispute resolution provider. We will be bound by any decision they may make.

11.2 Sometimes, we may (with or without notice to you) check and/or record how you're using our Services. This might be because we're required to do so by law, court order or another authority which can make us do this, or for us to check that you're keeping to your Agreement with us. Please see our Privacy and Cookie Policy for more details on how we use your information.

11.3 We may record marketing calls and calls to customer support. We do this for training purposes, to help prevent identity fraud and to improve the quality of our customer support.

11.4 You're treated as having read any email which we may send to you, whether or not the email was successfully delivered to your inbox.

12. Our liability to you and the limits on our liability

12.1 We will provide the Services to you with the reasonable care and skill of a competent service provider. We don't warrant that our Services will be fault-free or uninterrupted, but we will try to fix any faults in the Service within a reasonable time of you telling us about them. We cannot guarantee that the Equipment we provide will never be faulty.

12.2 We agree that nothing in this Agreement will limit our liability for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or that of our employees, agents or contractors while acting in the course of their employment. We also accept responsibility for fraud, fraudulent statements, or any other liability that the law doesn't let us exclude or limit.

12.3 Apart from responsibility we accept under clause 12.2 we will not be liable for:

1. any loss that could not have been reasonably expected by you and us at the time of entering into your Contract;
2. any financial loss (including any loss of income, commercial or business loss);
3. any information which is lost or corrupted, or any damage or loss suffered or incurred by you as a result of:
   • Any use of the Service which breaks your Contract (including any use of the Service for commercial or business purposes);
   • Any alterations made to the Service or any equipment by anyone other than us;
   • Any fault in (or failure of) any equipment used with the Service (whether or not provided by us) or any antivirus software or other security features, except where this is a direct result of our fault or neglect;
   • Any use of the equipment for any purpose other than in connection with the Service;
   • Any use of the Service with any equipment which does not carry the "CE" mark (or the equivalent), which is not compatible with the Service or which is not connected to the Service and/or used in accordance with any published instructions and/or applicable safety and security procedures;
   • Our termination or suspension of the Service under clause 7.
4. events beyond our reasonable control e.g. network failures, war, terrorist activity, riots, malicious damage, fire, flood, storm, nuclear accident or compliance with any new law, rule, regulation or direction. We might have to suspend or terminate the Service (or part of it) as a result of events beyond our reasonable control, although we will try to avoid this. If we do have to suspend or terminate all or any part of the Service that you could not receive, we will refund any Charges which you paid upfront (see clause 3 for details).

12.4 If you have an agreement with another supplier, we are not responsible for any goods or services they supply to you, even if it is through our network.

12.5 We will not be responsible to you for any losses you may suffer if you've used the Services or Equipment we provide for business purposes.

12.6 If the Services or Equipment fail, and you divert your phone or internet to another communications provider, we will not be responsible for the cost to you of doing this.

12.7 You may have rights under the law which the terms of your Agreement. For example, the law may give you certain rights relating to Equipment which is faulty or has been described wrongly. As our residential customer, you may also have rights as a "consumer" (though this will not apply if you're a small business). For more details of your legal rights, you can either contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau, www.citizensadvice.org.uk or CISAS (Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme), an Ofcom approved alternative dispute resolution provider, or Ofcom.

12.8 You must always try your best to reduce any losses, damage or costs you may incur.

13. Other general provisions

13.1 The Agreement for our Services is only between you and us. You cannot transfer it or your rights to your Services to anyone else, or try to do so. However, we may take instructions from someone else we think, with good reason, is acting with your permission. We can transfer the Agreement, provision of the Services and/or our rights and obligations under it to someone else. If we think this might have a negative effect on your Services or your rights under the Agreement you may choose to cancel the Agreement instead without paying Early Termination Charges.

13.2 When you order your Services from us we may have to do a credit check on you. This means looking into your records with credit reference agencies like Experian and Equifax or with fraud prevention agencies. Whenever we have information about you, we will protect it and keep it safe, as set out in our Privacy and Cookie Policy. This may include sharing this information to prevent fraud or where the law requires us to do so. This might be because we have received a Court order about the information or someone has a legal power to demand it. We may also share information about you with other companies and organisations (including other communications companies). You can find out more about how we will deal with your information in our Privacy and Cookie Policy.

13.3 If you receive any information from us (or someone acting for us) which might reasonably be confidential to us, we will need you to keep it confidential. You can only use such information to carry out your obligations under your Agreement with us.

13.4 If a court, arbitrator or any government agency tells us that any part of the Agreement isn't valid, the remaining parts of the Agreement will still be valid and enforceable.

13.5 Each part or term of your Agreement with us is treated as separate. It'll still be valid even if other parts or terms of the Agreement are found to be invalid or unreasonable.

13.6 No-one, except for you and us, has rights under the Agreement or the right to enforce any of its terms. No others can use the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to acquire such rights.

13.7 We own any intellectual property rights associated with the Services and the Equipment and you will not acquire any such rights by using the Services.

13.8 Your Agreement with us sets out everything we're agreeing between us about our providing you with your Services. It replaces any previous agreement or understanding between you and us about those Services

14. How We Contact Each Other

14.1 You may contact us in any of these ways:

1. By phoning customer support on 0800 066 2833
2. Online at 4thutility.co.uk/contact

15. Complaints

You may need to contact us if you're having a problem with us or our Services. Our complaint procedure details how you can do this and what response you should expect. If you wish to make a complaint or need any further information about the Agreement, you can contact us at 4thutility.co.uk/complaints. You can also call our customer support line on 0800 066 2833. Please always make sure that you include a short description of why you're making the complaint, together with your name and full contact details. However, we will always need information about your complaint to be made in writing, so we can investigate properly. We will try our best to sort out any complaint or dispute you have. If we cannot, you can take the matter to an Alternative Dispute Resolution service (an "ADR Service").

The ADR Service we use is called Ombudsman Services. It helps resolve disputes we might have with individuals and small businesses (with 10 or fewer employees) who are the core base of our customers. It's completely independent from us and will be free for you to use. We follow the "ISPA" voluntary Code of Practice. One of these rules is that we have an ADR Service in place for customers like you. You can find these and other rules at ispa.org.uk/about-us/ispa-code-of-practice.

If you're reporting any illegal or unacceptable use of our services, please provide us with as many details and as much evidence as possible to help us understand and investigate the problem (such as a copy of the message and/or headers, the full URLs or log files showing unauthorised access to your account, depending on the type of misuse you wish to complain about).

16. Jurisdiction and applicable Law

16.1 Your Agreement with us is made under English law. If a dispute or claim arises that we can not settle between us, despite following our Complaints Code of Practice, it will be decided in the English courts.

17. Changes to our products, charges, these terms and/or the service

17.1 From time to time we may create a new product as part of the services we provide to you. For more details please log in to the "My Account" section on the website where products available are listed under Upgrades.

17.2 If we make any change to the Service other than a change which:

1. is exclusively to your benefit; or
2. is of a purely administrative nature and has no negative effect on you; or
3. is directly imposed by law,

We will notify you of that change at least one month before it takes effect. You will then have the right to terminate your Contract with us without paying the Early Termination Charges. To do this you must contact us by phone to say you want to end your Agreement with us and you must do this within 30 days after the email we send you about the change in order to avoid paying any Early Termination Charges that may apply.

17.3 If we make any other changes to your Agreement with us, we will do this by amending the relevant Terms or provisions of the Agreement on our website. Sometimes a notice or other provision on another part of our website might replace part of these Terms as well.

18. Date

These Terms are effective from 29 February 2024.