Terms and Conditions 2008

1. Service

This Agreement sets out the terms on which Continental Telecom agrees to provide services ("Service") to you. This Agreement commences on the date that Continental Telecom first accepts your order. This Agreement comprises (i) these Terms of Service; (ii) our Privacy Policy which is available at www.continentaltelecom.co.uk; and (iii) our pricing options which are available at www.continentaltelecom.co.uk. Orders for the Service are accepted at our sole discretion. The expressions, "Continental Telecom", "we" and "us" and "our" mean Continental Telecom Ltd (company number 05710953), whose registered office is at 15 Gilliam Grove, Purley, Surrey. CR8 2NT. The expressions "you" and "your" mean you the customer.

2. Wholesale line rental (WLR)

WLR means that Continental Telecom will bill you for line rental of your BT™ line and BT Openreach™ will continue to maintain your line and fix any faults that may occur. You acknowledge that in order to avoid delays occurring in the ordering process, Continental Telecom will need to be notified by BT™ of any products or services presently in use on your line that are incompatible with the WLR service. BT™ is under a strict duty not to disclose information about a customer’s telephone services to a third party unless the customer has consented to such disclosure. In signing this agreement you give consent to BT™ to disclose such information to Continental Telecom. You also give Continental Telecom authority to act as your agent to arrange connection onto Continental Telecom services. If Continental Telecom is unable to take over the billing of your line rental, for whatever reason, you hereby authorise us to carry your phone calls only through CPS (see below).

3. Carrier pre-selection (CPS)

Carrier Pre-Selection is the routing of your phone calls through a carrier other than BT™. Your phone line(s) are still maintained by BT™ engineers but the calls are carried on another network. We may select and at any time change any carrier or other service provider for the purposes of providing the CPS service. You hereby irrevocably authorise us to give all notices, nominations and other authorisations necessary for us to provide the CPS service.

4. Duration

This agreement will have the duration of 24 months and will be automatically renewed on an annual basis unless and until either of us gives the other written notice of termination at least 90 days before the relevant anniversary. The agreement may be ended immediately by you if we break a term of this agreement, which after written notice has not been rectified within 14 days. Either of us may end this agreement without notice if the other stops trading or becomes insolvent or wound up. We may end this agreement without giving you notice if you break any of your obligations under clause 6 & 8. On termination of this agreement for whatever reason, you will:

a. Immediately pay any outstanding invoices.
b. Be responsible for any required engineering reprogramming costs for you to use an alternative supplier. In addition, if you terminate this agreement prior to the end of the period specified on the application form and after your account has been provisioned (except if you terminate, in accordance with the provisions of this agreement, as a result of our breach or insolvency or winding up), you will:
c. Reimburse Continental Telecom for any costs incurred in releasing you from your contractual obligations with BT™ prior to transferring you to the Continental Telecom service (if applicable).
d. Pay us (in addition to clauses 4a and 4b) your monthly line rental of your contractual agreement date or a minimum disconnection fee of 199 + VAT should you terminate your contract within 3 calender months of your legal termination date.

5. Charges

Continental Telecom charges you for using the services covered by this agreement. Initially you are charged at the rates specified on the application form or published in our price lists online at www.continentaltelecom.co.uk. Please note:

a. Charges are calculated from data recorded by us and not from your own records.
b. Where a direct debit is unpaid due to insufficient funds or cancellation, a £10 administration charge will be included on your next monthly bill.
c. A charge of up to £20 will be added to your next bill to reinstate services barred due to non payment of invoice. We may lower our prices and will endeavour to inform you at least 14 days in advance of any such change. If, during the first 12months of this agreement, we are forced to increase our call charges to an extent greater than the increase in the Retail Price Index for the relevant period, you may end this agreement without paying the disconnection fee. Your service will be transferred back to BT™ without interruptions and at no cost to you. All Continental Telecom charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate (currently 17.5%).
d. Line rental, service charges and call packages are billed one month in advance.
e. Continental Telecom will charge £109.99+ VAT to reinstate lines that have been ceased due to non payment.
f. A Charge of £10 may be charged for restricting out going calls due to late payment of an invoice.

6. Payment terms

a. Monthly variable Direct Debit is the only means of payment of Continental Telecom invoices and Continental Telecom reserves the right to refuse customers not wishing to pay by Direct Debit.
b. You will be notified of any problems with your payments or direct debit instruction. Arrears and/or unwillingness to maintain payment by direct debit may result in your lines being restricted. .
c. Cancellation of the direct debit does not constitute notice of cancellation of the contract.
d. You are protected at all times by the Direct Debit guarantee as detailed below.
e. Continental Telecom will charge an Administration fee for payments tendered by means other than direct debit. Continental Telecom reserves the right to increase this amount without notice. Business Customers £2.95 + VAT.
f. Continental Telecom reserves the right to perform a credit check with no prior given notice on any legal entity, and to pass the entity’s credit history with Continental Telecom on to other credit agencies and/or County Court.
g. Continental Telecom reserves the right to at any time request a deposit, paid in advance, from the entity should periodical credit checks reveal insufficient credit scoring or County Court Judgments or if unusual usage and call charges are incurred. Should this request not be met within 30 days of notification by us we reserve the right to terminate the contract and to demand full and final outstanding balance settlement with immediate effect.
h. Continental Telecom may, at its sole discretion and at any time, impose a credit limit on your account. Any credit limit imposed can be amended without prior notice. If you exceed any such credit limit we may demand immediate payment of the Charges and/or suspend the Service; and you will still be responsible for all Charges incurred including those exceeding the credit limit.
i. Continental Telecom will charge a £199 (business customers)+ VAT disconnection fee should your contract be terminated due to non payment.
j. Continental Telecom will charge £2.95 + VAT fee for bills sent by means other than E-billing.

7. Pricing

a. Calls will be charged and inclusive allowances deducted in one minute increments (with any part minutes rounded up to the nearest minute) individual charges will then be rounded up to the nearest penny and your total call charges rounded up to the nearest penny. In addition, and notwithstanding the preceding sentence, there is a per call connection charge and the details of these call connection charges appear in our price list which is available on our Website.
Fair usage policy applies to all unlimited call packages. Continental Telecom reserves the right to switch customers with excessive call volume (e.g. telemarketers, call centers etc.) to a more appropriate tariff at any time. The customer will have the option to cancel the service at no extra charge if switching to a new tariff is not acceptable.
Local & National calls are numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 only and do not include Non-geographic numbers (0845, 0870 etc) and Internet access numbers.
Mobile call rates refer to calls to T-Mobile, Orange, Vodaphone and O2 only.
International rates charged under the calling card package are billed per minute.
A five pence set-up charge is applied to all calls except mobile calls. A nine pence connection charge is applied to all mobile calls.

8. Your responsibilities

We agree to provide you with the service as specified on the online application form subject to the provisions of this agreement. You agree:

a. To use the services in accordance with this agreement, any instructions given by us from time to time and any laws, regulations and licenses which apply to the use by you of the services.
b. Not to allow an alternative supplier to override or bypass our service either through the installation of equipment or through the BT™ local exchange.
c. To be responsible for any engineering reprogramming costs or equipment removal costs that may be required to terminate the service of any previous supplier.
d. Not to use the service to transmit any material which may be abusive, offensive, obscene, indecent, menacing, defamatory or which might cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to anyone or to commit a fraud or other criminal offence.

9. Repairs to service

a. BT™ Openreach will continue to maintain your line and will continue to fix any faults that may occur. We will use our best endeavours to correct any defect or fault in the services provided to you as rapidly as possible. Fault Notification 0208 392 1664.
b. Continental Telecom reserves the right to apply £85 +VAT engineering call out charge if a fault is found to be on your own equipment or caused by accidental damage. Additional time related charges may also be added.

10. Suspension of service

We may suspend the service (without being liable to compensate you):

a. in the event of a local or national emergency
b. to comply with a request from a government or other competent authority
c. to protect or provide service to rescue or other essential services or otherwise
d. to maintain the quality of our services
e. if we reasonably believe that you will fail to pay any amount due to us (whether or not we have issued you an invoice)
f. if an event occurs which is beyond our reasonable control
g. If you break any part of this agreement.
h. If we have good reason to suspect fraudulent activity or misuse of our services or any other breach by you of this agreement.

11. Liability

a. neither of us will have to compensate the other for any detrimental event beyond the other's reasonable control
b. In this agreement, ‘beyond reasonable control’ includes any act of God, reduction or failure of power supply, other telecommunication operators and suppliers or their equipment including access lines, act or omission of national or local government authority, war, act of terrorism, military operation, riot or delay, employee dispute, or supply of equipment by third parties.
c. In any event, we will not have to compensate you for any harm to your business, lost revenues, loss of anticipated savings, lost profits or other indirect, consequential or special losses nor for any charges incurred by you with another call carrier.

12. Fair usage policy

If during any monthly billing cycle you exceed the fair usage limits set out below, we reserve the right to switch your tariff to the pay as you go calling tariff for that month only.

The service is subject at all times to a limit of 1000 minutes in aggregate during each monthly billing cycle for outgoing calls when calling UK landline numbers starting with 01, 02 and 03.

13. General

You may not transfer this agreement or any rights under it without our prior written consent. If any provision or condition of this agreement shall be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining terms shall continue to apply. This agreement and the documents referred to in it represent the entire contract between us, to the exclusion of any terms subject to which you may accept, or purport to accept, the service. Any variations (other than changes made in accordance with this agreement) shall be accepted by both of us in writing. If there is any inconsistency between this agreement and the application form, the application form shall take precedence. Any failure by either of us to enforce any right shall not be deemed a waiver of any such right. The English Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction for the purposes of determining any dispute or other matter which arises out of or in relation to this agreement.