Whether in the press or on social networks, it regularly happens that consumers complain about their telecom operator about the (procedure for) return of one or the other device included in their subscription. For example: “My telecom operator invoiced me a hundred euros for late fees for a modem when I returned it via a package on time and I obviously no longer have the ticket for depositing the package at bpost. What to do? “
To prevent this type of mishap from happening to you when your operator asks you to return all or part of the equipment he has made available to you (because you have decided to cancel your subscription or because it is updating your subscription). your disposal of more recent equipment or because the services of your operator were cut for unpaid), here are the steps to follow.
Proximus
A Proximus customer has the choice between returning the equipment to a Proximus store or to a bpost relay point. If it is a termination, the customer has a period of 21 days. In fact, this operator will charge late fees (99 euros for a modem and 149 euros for a decoder) if his material is not returned to him after 28 days. In principle, the transfer between bpost and the Proximus logistics center takes two days.
“If a customer does not have a printer, they can request to receive their labels by post.”
However, it happens thata package gets lost. If this is the case and a customer can no longer get hold of the proof of deposit of his parcel, Proximus recommends contact their customer service and specify the date and approximate time of the return. In this way, the operator can check with bpost whether the customer has returned his equipment as announced.
“And if a customer does not have a printer, he can ask to receive his labels by post, or he can show the digital version of the return label in a bpost point”, specifies Haroun Fenaux, his holder. word. “In this case, bpost will print the return label on site.”
In Scarlet (the low cost brand of Proximus), the customer has a period of 30 days, and the penalty for a modem not returned is 50 euros.
VOO
For its part, the Walloon cable operator only accepts returns in store or at one of its dealers. This return must take place within a period of 15 days. After this period, a non-return penalty may be billed to you on the basis of the rates in force: 99 euros for a modem, 112 euros for a VOOcorder, 200 euros for the Evasion box and 99 euros per wi-fi pods. A flat-rate compensation of 15 euros is also provided for per canceled file.
At VOO, a flat-rate compensation of 15 euros is also provided for per canceled file.
VOO also specifies that if you wish to avoid additional invoicing, also return the equipment that comes with your modem or decoder: cables (HDMI), remote control, etc. The operator also specifies that the VOO equipment will be deactivated and that it can never be activated again. “It is therefore unsaleable.”
Orange
Customers of this operator must simply go to bpost and specify that they are coming to return equipment to Orange. The postal service will then print the return label itself, as well as the proof of return. “This must take place in the 40 days schedule “, specifies Younes Al Bouchouari, his spokesperson.” If this deadline is exceeded, the equipment will be invoiced 60 euros for a modem and 200 euros for a decoder. But before getting there, a customer receives two reminders on D + 10 and D + 20. “
Telenet
The equipment of the Flemish cable operator can be brought back to a Telenet point of sale or to a “return point” listed on its website. This is for example a bookstore or a DIY store (which collaborates with PostNL). Like Proximus, Telenet can send the label to be affixed to the parcel by post. for customers who do not have a printer.
The return time will depend on the customer’s billing cycle. Without going into details, it is not impossible that this operator will charge a fee (between 55 and 90 euros depending on the type of modem or the residual value in the case of the decoder), but that these are then automatically credited to the customer.
The same goes for Tadaam, the Telenet spin-off.
Finally, Note that if your operator charges you fees for not returning their equipment on time, they will reimburse you if you still return their equipment to them after the fact. You might as well know it!