Can I claim for the withdrawal of my Dfax service?

I have been a Demon broadband customer for many years and I am under contract with the internet service provider (ISP) until July 2012. However, it has now withdrawn its Dfax service. This allowed me to receive an email if any fax messages were received on a number Demon provided me.

I want to know if the withdrawal of this useful service invalidates my contract.
John Pearson

Again this is a case of carefully reading the terms and conditions of contract. To cancel his broadband service, Mr Pearson would have to prove Demon was in breach of its contract with him.

We have not seen the company’s terms and conditions, but Demon is bound to have some clause stating it can cancel certain services that are additional to the basic package.

So although Mr Pearson found this fax facility useful, he has a home package and not the ISP’s business service. This means it is unlikely to be seen as a core part of his home broadband package.

We contacted Demon and the company told us that as part of its upgrading process it was unable to carry on supporting the Dfax service.

“The network infrastructure it is provided over no longer meets the levels of stability, security and service we expect for our customers.

“We have looked into alternative services, but were unable to identify a viable replacement in line with the development of our products, services and network going forward,” the company said.

However, the company did allow people transfer their number to another digital fax provider before 29 April when the Dfax service was shut down, but of course this new service will not be free.

Although legally we don’t believe Mr Pearson has any right to cancel the contract because of the withdrawal of this service, he could try contacting the ISP to see if they could come to some form of alternative arrangement; it’s always worth a go.