Legal Question in Consumer Law in Virginia

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Virginia

We are trying to change our hosted VoIP service now since they provide sub-standard service. We don't want to wait until June 2012, the date they claim our contract auto-renews. According to them we would have to give notice by March 2012 to provide the alleged 90 days notice.

We signed a service order in June 2006 for VoIP phone service. At the bottom of the service order it states, "This order is subject to acceptance by an officer of (company name) and is subject to the universal Terms and Conditions posted at (their web site) and Individual Terms and Conditions."

Their Terms and Conditions from 2006 state:

"1. SERVICE

1.1 Term and Termination

Service begins on the date COMPANY activates Customer�s

Service and ends on the date set forth in the applicable

Customer service order(s). Subsequent terms of the

Customer service order(s) automatically renew on an annual

basis for successive one (1) year terms, unless either party

provides the other party written notice of non-renewal at least

ninety (90) days prior to the end of the original or renewal

Term in which the notice is given. If Customer attempts to

terminate Service(s) prior to the end of the Term (including

any extensions), Customer shall be responsible for the full

Term's charges to the end of the then-current Term, including

without limitation unbilled charges, plus a termination fee, all

of which immediately become due and payable upon any

such termination."

We contend that since the Term Commitment is not indicated (blank checkboxes) that we are no longer under contract. They are trying to make the case that since the terms of service were updated in 2010 we are bound by those terms of service. The main difference between the TOS in 2006 and 2010 is the contract auto-renews yearly vs. the Term Commitment (which could be 2, 3 or 5 years).

Can a company legally enforce terms of service that we did not sign and are posted on a web site? How can we even know when the terms of service are updated unless they notify us? Are we supposed to visit the web site every day to see what changed?

I cannot fathom how terms of service that are only posted on a web site and are not signed can be legally enforced. Is there a precedent for this? It seems to favor a company as it can change terms and even make them burdensome to the customer, and the customer won't have a say in the matter since they are not signed by the customer.

Thanks for your help!

Tom

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Consumer Law questions and answers in Virginia

Looking for something else?