Moving abroad from Germany

[greenzie]

Dear Sir/Madam

I have terminated my cable contract several days ago on 29 March 2021 because I am moving to Switzerland on 30 April 2021. Since I gave a full 3-month notice period, the contract should end on 30 June 2021 and not 31 July 2021.

I know that Vodafone is trying to charge 3 months from the moving date and not from the notice date but this is unlawful! According to TKG, it has a notice period of 3 months from the end of the month which is obviously counting from the end of the month that the notice is given like everything else..

Telekommunikationsgesetz § 46 Abs. 8 Satz 3 (https://dejure.org/gesetze/TKG/46.html😞
"Wird die Leistung am neuen Wohnsitz nicht angeboten, ist der Verbraucher zur Kündigung des Vertrages unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende eines Kalendermonats berechtigt."

Please end my contract on 30 June 2021 or otherwise I will involve a lawyer on this issue.

[Thomas]

Hi greenzie,

the period always starts from the day of the move. The background to this is that the non-provability only occurs on the day of the move. The wording of the Telecommunications Act leaves this open, which is why it is applied in this way. A lawyer can certainly tell you more about this, but unfortunately this is not the right forum. From our side, there will be no change to the already confirmed cancellation.  

Regards

Thomas

[reneromann]

And to be more precise - there have been already lawsuits filed for this matter. And the ruling from all the courts was that the 3 months period starts by the day of the notice - but not earlier than the day of the move.

You may also see the ruling filed at the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf from 21st December 2017 at reference I - 20 U 77/17 and the ruling filed at Oberlandesgericht München from 18th January 2018 at reference 29 U 757/17. I doubt that other courts will come to different rulings.

[greenzie]

Hi Thomas

That is a very very sneaky way of Vodafone and it's really a shame for you as a huge company. I have lived in many different countries and I have never had a notice period starting from the moving date. Notice periods always start on the day that the notice is given. If you say the reason is non-provability then I can easily say that my moving date is changed into 31 March 2021.

I would like to file an official complaint about this. The more people complain about this the better and hopefully Vodafone will change its shameful way. Please tell me how to file an official complaint and I will never use any Vodafone service again in my life and I will advice other people to avoid Vodafone as well!

[greenzie]

Hi @reneromann, thank you for your reply. I am glad there have been a lawsuit on this already. So the question is now: how do we make Vodafone accept the court ruling and apply the 3 months period from the day of the notice? As you can see from Thomas' answer below. He still said that it is from the moving date.

I appreciate your help here!

[reneromann]

@greenzie 

The court ruling was -in both cases- that the period starts the earliest by the day of your move.

So it's you that has to accept that you'll have to pay for 3 months from the day of your move and not -as you insist- only for two...

Main problem is that you don't have a right to prematurely cancel until the movement date - therefor any notice period can start the earliest by that movement date. And that's also what the court rulings were in both cases.

By the way: Be happy that there has been this change to the telecommunications law - before this paragraph was added, you had to pay until the end of the contract as a move was no reason for a premature cancellation at all.

[Thomas]

Hi greenzie,

from our side, everything has been said on the subject. We cannot and will not discuss the legal background here. This is simply not the right platform for that.

Regards

Thomas

[greenzie]

@reneromann , thanks for the clarification. Sorry I misunderstood your previous message. I have lived in multiple countries before and everywhere there is always a way to break a contract when moving abroad. Honestly, that's just normal and so I am not going to be 'thankful' for something normal. Germany is so way behind in flexibility, it's painful to think a developed country is this inflexible.

Moreover, before I had this cable contract with Vodafone, I called them and asked the question if I can break the contract if I go abroad and they said yes with 3 month notice period. The start of notice period in 99% of the cases depends on the notice date and they didn't inform me otherwise back then. This is why I think it's really shameful of Vodafone to be this sneaky!

Anyway, I am done with Vodafone and will never use their service again anywhere. Thanks again for your help. 

[Salman]

I have a similar situation I moved out of Germany on 28th February 2021. I gave notice 27th February, and I send them the document from the deregistration office from Germany after two month which have the date of moving out clear 28th of February.

But they didn't accepted it they said they need my address abroad and that is the only way they can prove it.

I didn't check that reply because I receive lots of junk emails from vodaphone and now after I sent my address they want to consider moving date from now. is that leagal?

[reneromann]

@Salman 

The question is:

Do you have proof that your movement notice was received by Vodafone?

And do you have proof that your deregistration letter was received by Vodafone?

And did you provide your new address?

And was it a landline contract -or- was it a mobile contract?