Phonely's Terms & Conditions

Your Agreement

(a) starts when we accept your first order for a service from us and ends as set out in paragraph 12; and

(b) consists of these customer terms and conditions

(c) the Agreement shall constitute the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the Services, and any former representations (of any kind, written verbal or otherwise) shall be superseded by the Agreement.

If you order services from us:
(a) you confirm you're at least 18 years old; and
(b) we may:
(i) ask for proof of identity and address; and
(ii) carry out credit and identity checks on you.

We try to complete orders as soon as possible but delays may occur, which we'll tell you about as soon as we can.

Certain services or specific features might not be accessible to you for various reasons. These reasons include if you are beyond our network coverage, lack connectivity to our network, if your location doesn't meet our minimum performance criteria for services, if providing services poses significant challenges (usually assessed after a survey), or when attempting to use a device internationally. We'll notify you if any of these conditions apply to your situation.

Tests may be necessary to determine service availability at your location. During these tests, there might be a need to temporarily deactivate your telephone line. We'll notify you beforehand if such an action is required.

If we transfer your service from or to another provider, you may experience a temporary loss of your services.

If you ask us to port your telephone number from or to another provider, we'll try to do this wherever possible. If we can't, we'll tell you your options.

You may cancel your phonely service by contacting us (see paragraph 16 below):

(a) In the first 14 days after our acceptance of the order

(b) if you've ordered equipment, such as a phone, or a VoIP adapter, in the first 14 days after receipt of such equipment.

If you do cancel, you must return any equipment provided to you within 14 days of cancellation. If you don't return the equipment, you'll have to pay the full equipment price.

We'll advise how to return equipment when you cancel. You'll be responsible for the cost of return.

If the returned equipment is worth less than its original value due to use or damage, your refund will reflect this. If you've opened the packaging, this may reduce its value.

If you follow the above cancellation procedure, you'll receive a refund:

(a) within 14 days of your cancellation; or
(b) if we've sent you equipment, within 14 days of us receiving the returned equipment.

If any part of the service has been provided for free e.g. a VoIP adapter, these still need to be returned otherwise you will be charged the full value of the item.

The service starts on the date it goes live and ends as set out in this agreement.

Our services have a minimum period starting from your go live date, which will be no longer than 12 months and which we'll tell you about when you order. This means you may be charged a fee to compensate us for our losses if you end the service before the end of that minimum period. If the service is cancelled before the end of the 12 month period you will be required to pay the full remaining amount owed for the remaining period.

If we agree to renew or upgrade any service, a new minimum period may apply from the date of your renewal or upgrade. We'll tell you if this is the case.

At the end of the minimum 12 month period we will continue to provide the service until cancelled in line with Paragraph 12.

You may not use your services, or allow your services to be used:

(a) for business purposes, unless otherwise agreed in writing;
(b) to send, communicate, knowingly receive, upload, download or use any material or make any calls that are offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene, menacing, cause annoyance, inconvenience, needless anxiety or are intended to deceive;
(c) to engage in criminal, illegal or unlawful activities;
(d) to violate or infringe the rights or property of any person, including rights of copyright and any other intellectual property rights, privacy or confidentiality;
(e) via a device allowing the routing or re-routing of such services on, from or to our network; or
(h) in such a way, or in such amount, that will have an adverse impact on our network (or any part of it), our customers or our brand or that contravenes any of our applicable acceptable use policies or general standards.

All of our services that enable you to make calls allow you to access the emergency services by dialling 112 or 999. Your identity and the location of your telephone number will be sent to the emergency services. The information provided when you set up your telephone line will be provided to the emergency services. It is your responsibility to make sure our service has the correct details.

You details will not be submitted to national directories and directory enquiry services.

To receive a service you may need to use certain necessary equipment provided by us.

All such necessary equipment will be owned by us apart from the following equipment which you will own:

(a) any equipment that you have paid for. If we choose to replace your hardware outside of any warranty period (which is usually 12 months) without charging you for it, we'll own such replacement equipment, unless we agree otherwise

You agree that in order to provide a service to you we can:

(a) install, keep and use any necessary equipment at your home;
(b) enter your premises for the connection, maintenance, modification, replacement or removal of any such equipment; and
(c) if applicable, connect remotely to any such equipment to manage, repair or upgrade it.

We only provide the equipment we tell you we'll provide. Other equipment may be available from us at an additional cost. If you want to buy such equipment, we'll confirm the price when you order.

We're only responsible for, and can only support, equipment provided by us during the period of the applicable contract with us. We can't guarantee that the services will work with other equipment and certain equipment may be restricted to use only on our network or with a certain package offer. We will tell you if this is the case.

You must look after our equipment and not tamper with it, keep all original packaging and store and use it in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. If you damage it or the packaging is lost, you may need to pay for it. You may need to return our equipment to us and we'll tell you if this is the case.

Equipment may be 'as new', which means it's been refurbished or repackaged but looks and operates as if new

We're under a legal duty to supply equipment that is in conformity with this agreement. Any equipment we send you will be as described. You must inspect equipment on receipt and tell us about any issues within 14 days. We'll tell you what to do next. If we ask you to return equipment, you must do so within 14 days of our request.

We may ask you to install certain equipment yourself, in which case we'll send you instructions.

If you need, or are required, to return any equipment to us, and are unsure how to do this, please contact us (see paragraph 16 below). You're responsible for this equipment until we receive it. If we don't receive it, we may charge you for it.

In the event of a power outage at your premises your hardware will stop working unless you have preventative UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) solution in place. This is your responsibility. The service is designed to work alongside your current communications provider (broadband/fibre provider) and in the event of a power outage we will not be responsible.

If you factory reset your device and we need to reprovision it, or if you interfere with the device and we need to repair it, there will be a charge of £60 inc VAT. In cases where the device cannot be repaired or a replacement device needs to be sent out, there will be an additional charge for the new hardware to be shipped to you. We will replace your device free of charge if it is faulty within 12 months of purchase.

We'll use reasonable skill and care in providing the services but, given the nature of the services, we can't guarantee that they'll be continuously available or error free (e.g. there may be geographical, atmospheric or environmental factors that affect the services).

We try to keep your data and communications secure; however, for reasons beyond our control, these may be unlawfully intercepted. If they are, we'll investigate and advise on next steps.

You must:

(a) comply with our, and our representatives', reasonable instructions about the services;
(b) have all necessary consents or permissions required for us to provide a service (e.g. permission to lay cables from the street to your home or, if you're a tenant, your landlord's consent);
(c) tell us if you change your name, your address, your email address, your payment details or anything else which we may need to know about;
(d) keep usernames, passwords and PINs safe; and
(e) use our services in accordance with any applicable fair use policies we tell you about, including our Fair Usage Policy, which may be updated by us.

We'll tell you the charges for the services when you order or they'll be as detailed in any applicable service terms and conditions or on our pricing page. These charges may include a charge for:

(a) installing a new line and/or equipment at your premises;
(b) connecting you to our network; and
(c) re-connecting you to our network if you've been disconnected.

Each year a price increase will be applied to your charges except when we've agreed otherwise with you. We'll tell you when the price increase applies for each service. The increase will be rounded to the nearest penny and will be calculated by multiplying your existing charges by the combined percentage figure of both:

(a) the Consumer Price Index rate figure published by the Office for National Statistics in January of the relevant year (but not including any negative rates); and
(b) 3.5%.

You're responsible for paying all charges that you, and any person accessing your services, incur.

We normally send bills in advance except for usage charges (e.g. call charges), which are billed after they're incurred. Charges for periods of less than a month are calculated on a pro-rata basis.

You'll receive bills in electronic form, unless you tell us you want paper bills. If you choose paper, we'll charge you an additional amount, which we'll tell you about when you request the change.

We'll collect payments on the date shown on your bill. If payment is rejected, we may:

(a) charge you a reasonable fee to cover our costs; and
(b) lower your credit limit with us.

All charges include VAT, unless otherwise agreed

If you think your charges are wrong, you must tell us immediately so we can investigate. You must pay all undisputed charges. We won't suspend or end a service whilst we investigate disputed charges.

If you don't pay any undisputed part of your bill by the due date, we may:

(a) charge a reasonable administration fee or interest on the overdue amount at 4% a year above the base rate. Interest shall accrue daily from the due date to the date of actual payment, whether before or after a court judgment; and
(b) notify credit reference agencies of your non-payment

At the end of a service, all outstanding sums and any cancellation charges, including those we may incur from a third party for disconnecting your service, will become immediately due and payable.

In the event of non-payment we will remind you (for example via SMS, Post or phone call). If we still do not receive payment within 10 days of our reminder we may:

(a) Add a late payment fee of £15
(b) suspend providing the service or end our agreement.
(c) as a last resort, ask a debt-collection agency to collect the payment on our behalf. If we do, you'll also have to pay the reasonable costs we have to pay the agency, which the agency will add to your debt on our behalf.
(d) You agree that providing us with ‘Trusted Persons' to our system that we will be able to contact them to inform them of any arrears on their account and you have their permission to do so.

We, or our representatives, may monitor or record your communications:

(a) for business purposes, such as quality control and training;
(b) to prevent unauthorised use of our systems;
(c) to ensure effective systems operation; and
(d) in order to prevent or detect crime

Whether or not losses could reasonably be expected to occur when we entered into this agreement, we're not liable for:

(a) loss of data or information;
(b) business losses, such as loss of profits or loss of revenue;
(c) loss of income;
(d) loss of your time;
(e) problems caused by other network operators/providers of telecommunications services;
(f) losses caused by third party services, applications, equipment or goods, content or viruses that you access or use through the services; or
(g) the failure of any alarm or monitoring (including health) system or any other services, applications equipment or goods not provided or supplied by us that you try to run over our network or services.
(h) power outages that affect your ability to access the service.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for anything we can't exclude or limit by law.

We may suspend, restrict or disconnect any, or all, of the services, including equipment or goods provided or supplied by us, if:

(a) our network breaks down or needs maintenance;
(b) you break or we reasonably suspect that you've broken any important term of your agreement;
(c) you fail to pay your bill or any charges within 7 days of our reminder;
(d) we're required to for legal or regulatory reasons;
(e) we're no longer able to provide a service (or any part of it);
(f) you're abusive or threatening, make unreasonable demands on us, including on our time, or abuse our processes;
(g) we suspend or restrict a related service;
(h) your usage of the services is in excess of what we'd expect from a typical customer; or
(j) we believe your services or your credit or debit card have been used fraudulently.

Where we suspend, restrict or disconnect a service, your agreement will continue and, unless we've suspended, restricted or disconnected under paragraphs 11.1(a), 11.1(d) or 11.1(e), we may require you to pay:

(a) our reasonable costs for suspending or restricting the services and resuming them; and
(b) your charges.

If you want to end a service or your agreement with us, please contact us (see paragraph 16 below). If any service is in its minimum period, you may have to pay a fee as set out in paragraph 4.2. If you want to cancel your order with us, please follow the procedure in paragraph 3 above.

If you want to end a service or your agreement with us outside the minimum period you will have to contact us in writing or by phone to give 30 days' notice; however, if you're transferring to another telephone or broadband provider, we'll accept that you've given us sufficient notice when we receive notice from them. Unless we tell you otherwise, we will give you 30 days' written notice if we want to end a service outside the minimum period.

You may immediately end your agreement by giving us written notice:

(a) if we break any important term of your agreement and don't fix it within 45 days of being asked to do so, subject to paragraph 17; or
(b) as set out in paragraph 12.2.

We may immediately end your agreement by giving you written notice if: (a) we're entitled to suspend, restrict or disconnect any, or all, of the services under paragraphs 11.1(b), 11.1(c), 11.1(d), 11.1(e), 11.1(f), 11.1(g) or 11.1(h); (b) we believe your services are being used fraudulently; or (c) you become bankrupt, enter into an individual voluntary arrangement or anything similar.

If either of us ends a service and/or your agreement:

(a) any equipment or goods provided or supplied by us may be permanently disconnected or restricted depending on the circumstances e.g. if you haven't paid your bill;
(b) any unused goodwill credits will be used to pay outstanding charges on your account. If any remain after we've accounted for all outstanding charges, the goodwill credits will be cancelled; and
(c) any positive credit balance will be used to pay outstanding charges on your account. If you still have a positive credit after the deductions for outstanding charges, we'll tell you how to claim it.

Where the account has been subject to clause 11.1(c) there will be;

(a) for a period of 1 month, no loss of service;
(b) after 1 months' non-payment for the service it will be suspended except the ability to receive inbound calls and the ability to make outbound calls to emergency services;
(c) after 2 months of non-payment the service will be cancelled completely

In the event of the death of the account owner;

(a) any outstanding payments due for the service will need to be paid;
(b) account ownership can be transferred to another household member who will take over all billing responsibilities or;
(c) upon receipt of a death certificate by post to our address within 4 weeks, we will be able to cancel the account;

We can send you a bag to return any hardware so that this can be responsibly recycled.

We may need to change your services, equipment, charges or agreement for legal, regulatory or business reasons. If so, we'll tell you about this in writing or by publishing a notice or updated terms and conditions on our website.

Except for any changes which are: (a) a price increase referred to in paragraph 8.2 above; (b) of an administrative nature and have no direct negative effect on you; or (c) directly imposed by law or by a court or regulatory body with authority to do so we'll give you at least 30 days' written notice.

If you're moving house and want to continue using the services, you must tell us at least 14 days before so we can update your account.

We'll try our best to transfer the services but, if we can't transfer some or all of them, and any are in the minimum period, you may have to pay the charges to the end of the minimum period.

We take privacy very seriously. We're committed to protecting and preserving any information you give to us and to being transparent about what information we hold and how we use it. We'll only use your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which you agree to by ordering or using a service.

A ‘Trusted Person' is a person that;

(a) you have obtained their consent to add their details to our service and that they agree to;
(i) receive service information about your usage of the Phonely service;
(ii) receive phone calls from the Phonely service that you may have requested
(iii) settle any outstanding payments on the account
(b) to share your account information with them and allow them to make decisions on your behalf;

If you can't find what you're looking for on our help pages or by chatting to our online chat agents, you can contact us by telephoning customer services on freephone 0800 112 5000 or Phonely Customer Services, c/o Liquid 11 Limited, Sea Lake Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 3LQ. We will need to verify your identity before we can speak to you about your account. If the person contacting us is not the account holder, we can only provide limited information.

If we need to contact you, we'll use your billing address, email address, mobile or fixed telephone number or any other method requested by you. If we have to give you written notice, we'll do so by email, SMS, hand or pre-paid post to the address or telephone number you've provided to us.

Any notice or document will be deemed to be delivered immediately (if delivered by hand) or 48 hours after posting (if sent by first class post). Notices given by SMS or email shall be deemed to be delivered when they're sent.

We may not be able to provide a service (or part of a service) due to, or your service may be affected by, something beyond our reasonable control. In this scenario, we can't accept responsibility for what's occurred and we may need to suspend or terminate your service or agreement. If we terminate under this paragraph 17, you'll only be charged up to the point of termination.

If you're experiencing a problem with your services, see our help pages. If this doesn't help, please contact us (see paragraph 16 above) as soon as possible. You must give us the opportunity to resolve your problems and continue to pay your bills whilst we investigate.

If you have a complaint, please get in touch with us directly. We're here to help and address any concerns you may have.

Nothing in your agreement or your right to compensation affects these legal rights.

You may not transfer the whole or any part of this agreement or service to anyone else without our written consent. We can transfer the whole or any part of this agreement or service to any third party.

Each paragraph in this agreement operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any paragraph is unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

If we fail to insist that you perform any of your obligations under this agreement, or if we don't enforce our rights against you, or if we delay in doing so, that won't mean we've waived our rights against you or that you don't have to comply with those obligations. If we choose not to enforce any of our rights, we'll tell you in writing. This doesn't mean we'll do the same in the future.

This agreement is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms except for our group companies.

This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales. We both agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

To take telephony services from us, you must take a fixed broadband line in place.

When you take telephony services from us, we'll:

(a) switch you onto our network;
(b) provide a telephone service to you; and
(c) provide you with a telephone number.

You don't own any telephone number allocated to you. We may have to change this telephone number for various reasons, including if:

(a) we're instructed to by a regulator (e.g. Ofcom);
(b) we need to provide a new telephone line to your premises; or
(c) you move house.
If this is the case, we'll try to give you as much notice as possible

Calls are:

(a) charged based on your agreed package and in accordance with our pricing page. Our pricing page contains other important information about what you can and can't do with the telephony services;
(b) calculated using details of calls logged and recorded by us and other operators, which can take up to 90 days; (c) charged based on the rate applicable when the call was made; and
(d) charged, and inclusive minutes deducted, in one minute increments (with any part minutes rounded up to the nearest minute). Individual charges are rounded to the nearest penny.

If your package has inclusive call minutes: (a) you can only call someone else for one hour at a time, after which standard charges will apply; and (b) any unused minutes from one month can't be carried forward.

We may place certain restrictions on your telephone line (e.g. in relation to premium rate telephone numbers, or on international telephone numbers). If you want restrictions removed, please contact us (see paragraph 16 above).