Chaos has broken out at GreatXscape after the ISP admitted it "cocked-up" today when it announced it was set to cap the amount of free time users could spend online. The letter -- which was sent to all GreatXscape subscribers -- should only have been sent to those people who are about to join the service. It informed them that as of 9 December they would only be entitled to 20 hours of toll-free off-peak access a month instead of unlimited toll-free off-peak access. Apparently, the capping only applies to those people who join GreatXscape after 9 December. Those who are using the service are unaffected by the change in terms and conditions. The U-turn has come too late for many people who've already contacted GreatXscape to cancel their contracts. A red-faced senior executive at GreatXscape -- who earlier today confirmed the story -- has subsequently said it was all a mistake, blaming it instead on an internal error within the company. "There was a cock-up with our database," admitted financial director Steve Stylianou. Not everyone is swallowing Stylianou's buck-passing excuse. There's much speculation that GreatXscape's hastily conceived U-turn was the result of a tirade of abuse from hacked off GreatXscapers looking for a quick exit from the ISP. After today's little fiasco, who can blame them? ® Related story: GreatXscape caps off-peak free Net access