Advice needed, please help!! BT forcing me to stay!!

Virgo_Girl

I've been paying almost £25 a month to BT for '2mb/20gb' broadband for years and years... and phone rental with them (around £11).


On the weekend I decided I wanted to enquire about Sky Broadband as well as getting Sky+ and Sky Multiroom, so I phoned up and was offered a reasonable deal, and I took the opportunity to have the phone line with Sky as well.. and was given to the 27th Oct to cancel if I decide against it.

So I phoned BT for my MAC code.. and of course they wanted to know why so I told them i'd been offered a 8mb/40gb for £17 a month deal with sky and I get free eve & weekend calls and the line rental is £10 per month, and free caller display.. so then BT offer the same for £15.99 a month and say i've got til the 20th Oct to cancel the order if I decide I don't want it, so I say OK i'll stay with you.. and then phone Sky to cancel the order...

Then Sky say.. how does the same deal but FREE line rental for 12 months as well grab you? So 8mb/40gb broadband, free eve & weekend calls, free caller display AND line rental.. all for just £17 a month.. Sounds great to me!! So I phone BT again to get my MAC code and cancel my order...

and BT smugly says.. but you now have a 12 month phone line rental contract with us now.. (due to the phonecall the other day) so I can't take avantage of the free line rental with Sky anyway, so I say "hang on I was given until the 20th October to decide against the offer though!! and she replied "Yes that was for the broadband, NOT the line rental" I was furious and of course I protested and said I didn't agree to renew my phone line contract etc.. and she offered to have the phone call investigated to see what was said.. but I can't remember exactly what was said.. but I was mainly discussing broadband and assumed the phone line rental would stay with them but I don't remember verbally agreeing to the phone line contract starting immediately!

Does anyone have any advice on what to do about this, i'm so angry I just don't even want to stay with BT anymore even if they offered me cheaper! I've been paying £25 a month for only poxy 2mb/20gb broadband for years, not once did they offer to upgrade me, even when last week my wired ADSL had problems they had a 'tough luck' attitude.. they didn't say 'Oh well we can upgrade you and send you a free wireless hub as you've been so loyal to us for years paying top whack for such low broadband'

I'd be greatful if anyone could give me advice on how to get out of this so called line rental contract I 'supposedly' agreed to.

Thanks for reading

bristolleedsfan

Just stick by it that you didnt agree to a new 12 month rolling landline contract, in fact how could you possibly have done so when the reason that you phoned was because you were thinking about moving both broadband + line rental to sky.

This is why i try and avoid dealing with organisations by phone, best to put your case through the contact us facility within your online BT account and demand immediate ability to be able to migrate away from BT without any penalty charges. Just put the case that you phoned because ...... and that it was left with you that ......., then when you phoned back you were told that you agreed to ...... which was not possible because either both services would stay with BT or both services would move to SKY.

BT are going to every extreme measure to try and protect its line rental income.

You could point out that other people on MSE forum have had reported same experiences and that its not possible for everyone else to all be wrong all the time.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1204147

Virgo_Girl

Thanks for your advice bristolleedsfan but unfortunately BT are still messing me around bigtime.. i'm getting so angry with them!! :mad:

an update

I phoned BT back this morning and asked to be put through to someone who deals with complaints, but they refused saying there isn't anywhere for that and that they could deal with it, so I spoke to the guy explaining what has happened, and I told him that I am angry that i've suddenly been put on a 12 month line rental contract when I assumed it would be going ahead on the 20th, along with the broadband service and that it was part of the whole deal, he seemed a bit confused about it, all so I said "here's how it's going to be.. if you don't cancel the whole contract then I will be complaining to OTELO and OFCOM about it, and if you force me to stay the whole 12 months then I will never ever come back to you as a customer again after the 12 months is up"...

So he went off to speak to his 'coach' and came back saying OK no problem we will cancel everything including the 12 month phone line contract, so I was pleased with that..

Then this evening I phoned up for my MAC code again and the guy looks at the screen and says "Oh you have an order in place though" so I explain about all the phone calls i've had and how the guy earlier said that he was cancelling it all.. and he looks though all the notes and says "Nope can't see anything here about that" so I felt all deflated again and had to explain all over again about how I feel i've been forced into having a 12 month line rental etc.. and he says I can cancel it but i'll still have to pay them 12 months line rental, then he says they'll have to listen to the phone call where the order was made and tells me to hold the line.. then he cuts me off!!!

I'm getting really sick of this, it's like i'm going around in circles, no one at BT seems to know what they're talking about, I feel like i'm constantly repeating things to them but they're just not doing anything, I thought it was all sorted out after the phone call this morning, but it turns out it isn't!

What can I do???


*edit* I just tried phoning them again and they cut me off yet AGAIN!! :mad:

*edit* and AGAIN.. that's 3 times tonight!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Incisor

Write to their Registerd Office, using recorded delivery and tell them that there is no deal. Keep copies.

bristolleedsfan

Virgo_Girl wrote: »

What can I do???

quote]



http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_afdpage.php?p_sid=zqTUqqgj&cat_lvl1=770&cat_lvl2=980&p_cv=2.980&p_cats=770,980&p_param=p_afd_subject=My%20current%20service&p_afd_inc_router=Kana&p_afd_kana_target=residential.services@bt.com&p_afd_form_id=contactus_send_complain_service&p_afd_customer_classification=complaint&p_afd_customer_category=Complain%20Current%20Service&p_afd_cat_lvl1=&p_afd_cat_lvl2=&p_afd_cat_lvl3=&p_source=helpandsupport

syko29793

without lookin at your bt account i cant say what contracts are showing but my advice is that when a new service is ordered on your account the contract starts there and then however thats just the system putting it on there and then you have 7 days from that going on to cancel without charge. i do work for bt and i work in customer options (please dont hate me ) so i know all the cancellation process. so bottom line is if you agreed to a new contract and called back within 7 days to cancel then you do have the right to do so WITHOUT charge . if it after 7 days then your out of your cancellation period and will get charged to cancel. in your case you may be now over 7 days but the incoming calls are recorded and if you requested to cancel within 7 days your ok to cancel. make this clear and please dont scream shout or be rude to advisor just state your case and be firm but fair. if i got you on my next call id cancel your contract.

bristolleedsfan

syko29793 wrote: »

so i know all the cancellation process. so bottom line is if you agreed to a new contract and called back within 7 days to cancel then you do have the right to do so WITHOUT charge . if it after 7 days then your out of your cancellation period and will get charged to cancel. .

And what about those who didnt agree to a new contract. :huh: Those who contacted BT for advice as they were considering possibly migrating elsewhere or who like in my case were in their own home getting on with their own business, rarely make any phone calls and were cold called by someone from Scotland whos job it was to get people on new contracts. :huh:

People phone and phone BT about the same thing without achieving satisfaction, yet I put my case once in writing and the matter was sorted quick. ( not "good to talk" to BT:rotfl: )

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1204147

syko29793

the person who posted on that forum agreed to have the package. It was there own fault for not reading the contract and not listening at point of sale to the terms.
This post is for a customer says was mis sold and wants out. and so they should they were clearly mis sold.

Virgo_Girl

syko29793 wrote: »

without lookin at your bt account i cant say what contracts are showing but my advice is that when a new service is ordered on your account the contract starts there and then however thats just the system putting it on there and then you have 7 days from that going on to cancel without charge. i do work for bt and i work in customer options (please dont hate me ) so i know all the cancellation process. so bottom line is if you agreed to a new contract and called back within 7 days to cancel then you do have the right to do so WITHOUT charge . if it after 7 days then your out of your cancellation period and will get charged to cancel. in your case you may be now over 7 days but the incoming calls are recorded and if you requested to cancel within 7 days your ok to cancel. make this clear and please dont scream shout or be rude to advisor just state your case and be firm but fair. if i got you on my next call id cancel your contract.

Ahh thanks for that piece of info, Yep I placed my broadband order last Sunday (12th Oct) so yep it's within the 7 days even now (thankfully!!), and i've phoned loads of times since trying to get it cancelled, The operator must have just added the phone line onto the order and made it a 'new' 12 month contract, not sure why it had to be renewed, i'm quite sure she didn't tell me it was being renewed anyway.

What i've done now is clicked the link that bristolleedsfan posted and made a complaint via that service, as everytime I phone there seems to be some confusion or they hang up on me and it always seems to be back to square one! They haven't cancelled anything at all even though I keep asking them to, and they keep saying they will! They keep saying i'll be charged for the 12 month contract! I'm hoping that in writing it'll make it perfectly clear to whoever reads it rather than me keep trying to explain the whole again and again story over the phone!

Are you 100% sure i've got within 7 days to cancel a line rental contract and NOT just broadband? I'm sure you must know as you work for BT, but I just want to be totally sure, so that if they don't resolve anything via email I will phone up armed with that information, and say i've been told that I have 7 days to cancel (obviously I wont tell them where I got the information so don't worry!! I'll just say someone 'in the know' told me)

Thank you for letting me know this info!! There's some great helpers on this site (and in my thread!)

1jim

when I have had the problem of being cut off when trying to make a complaint/get things sorted out I have called back and advised the customer services agent (at the start of the call) that due to previous problems with customer services that I am recording the call as well, I then ask them to repeat their name or id number and then proceed,,,,, you would be suprised how often this works and the problem is resolved quickly (ps....I have no way of recording calls but they dont know that ;-) )

kimberley_2

Hiya, we are having same problems with BT aswell. We moved house in January and moved the line rental broadband to our new address, they never told us its a brand new contract they did when they moved all details over. I phoned up the other month to cancel BT for this month and they said no you cant as you have taken a new contract out. I went mad and then my husband phoned them and went mad too! So we have to wait till december to change broadband and january for the phone. BT take the monkeys.