Dear Age Concern Bristol,
I read recently that the government has announced plans to ensure that all UK homes have access to broadband Internet by the year 2012, but I have to wonder how this target is going to be reached if some broadband providers won’t allow you to sign up for their services?
I am 77 years old and up until recently used a pay-as-you-go dial up service to access the Internet, but as I have started to use the Internet more often, I felt that I should try and seek an alternative. Adverts in magazines, newspapers, and on television, tell us how simple it is to get access to faster and cheaper Internet through broadband connections, and I thought that I could benefit from this.
I happened to be shopping with my wife in Broadmead when I noticed a stand inside one of the shops in the Galleries for a company called Talk Talk. I spoke to the salesperson about the costs involved, what it was I would receive for my money, and how easy it was get connected. My questions were answered fully and I felt confident about signing up for the package that they were offering. Then I was asked a question myself: “How old are you?” Well, from previous experience I am aware that age restrictions apply to a number of things, but usually they are along the lines of “over 18’s only”. I thought perhaps it was a formality, just being sure that I was not a teenager disguised as an OAP, so I thought nothing of answering. “Oh,” came the reply. “I’m sorry, I thought you were younger. You have to be under 75 to sign up for our broadband.” Usually, such a compliment is nice to hear, but in this case I was a little confused. “Why is that?” I asked. “That’s just our policy,” came the reply. “You have to be under 75 to set up a direct debit.” This was news to me as a number of my bills are paid by direct debit and I have never had an issue with setting one up due to my age. In the end, it was my wife who signed up for the broadband.
I had never really thought of myself as being a victim of age discrimination, but that is what I felt having spoken to the sales people. It was a few days later when I thought once more about the incident and decided to look into it further. I went to the Talk Talk website and looked up their policies. In the General Provisions Relating to the Services section, under the heading of Eligibility, they write: “1.2: To place any Order you must be at least 18 years old and you agree that the details that you provide to us on your Order shall be true, accurate and complete.” There is no mention of an upper age limit at all. In the next part they write “1.3: Our Services may not be available to a small number of customers in certain circumstances. We will tell you if this applies to you.” If being over 75 is one of their circumstances, then their services are unavailable to the 4.5 million people around the UK who are, according to government statistics, over 75.
I became interested in this subject and wondered if there had been any other cases, and with another search on the Internet, I found one. According to a report written for AGE: The European Older People’s Platform, a 70 year old woman was refused a broadband contract by Carphone Warehouse, and was told that she would have to be accompanied by a younger member of her family if she wanted to register. The report went on to say that the Carphone Warehouse has told staff not to sell broadband contracts to customers aged over 70, as they believe they will not understand the contract.
If this is a recurrent problem among the providers of broadband Internet, how can the government’s targets possibly be met? And why is there an assumption that just because a person receives a pension, that they will not be able to understand the contents of a contract? Being older does not necessarily mean that you are incapable. I think that more needs to be done to address this issue at both a local and national level.
Yours Sincerely
Mr X