BT cancellation charge - advice needed

kingeric_3

Hi all,

I recently switched my phone line rental from BT to Sky (in december). I recieved a termination letter from BT stating my final bill, including termination fees, is 36p - so i went ahead with the transfer. I have now recieved a bill from BT (yes - 3 months later) for a cancellation charge of £70. I have called BT and they said it is in my terms and conditions that there is this charge for cancelling the line within 12 months (i was 6 months in).

The reason i switched to sky was that they told me i would not get charged by BT. I am not totally naive and thought there may be some charge but 'd go thought i'd go ahead and see what my final bill was. I got the bill for 36p and thought "great, sky were right" and finished the transfer of the line.

I personally feel my termination letter is enough to mean i shouldn't have to pay the £70 charge. Am i right? I obviously now cannot go back 3 months in time and cancel the line transfer, so i think BT are out of order to make me pay it. Since the phonecall (waste of time - they didn't listen to my argument), i have e-mailed them a couple of times. They have said a system error meant no cancellations charges went through from 1/12/08 to 28/2/09 and that is why the charge is so late. They have ignored my point that i cannot go back in time and stay with them. Why should i be made to pay for their system error?

Any advice on whether anyone thinks this is worth fighting would be greatly appreciated. Also, any tips on where to go from here would help. I'm considering calling ofcom for advice and know i can try otele after 12 weeks. I have twice asked them for info on the official complaints procedure and been ignored.

macman

All BT contracts are 12 months minimum. If you leave before the end of the contract they will bill you for the balance to make the contract paid up, as will any telecoms company. Sky should not have told you otherwise, as how could they know how many months you were into your contract, and what contract you had signed up to?
3 months is a excessive amount of time to bill the termination charge, but it does not make it invalid-indeed it works in your favour, as you have had 3 months extended credit. So they are paying for their system error, not you. When you received your termination letter, you had already cancelled!
You will not get anywhere with Oftel, because you have broken your contract and BT are entitled to bill the balance owing.

kingeric_3

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Fortunately, my persistance has paid off. After 3 e-mails to BT, i have had a reply saying my complaint has been raised to a manager so that the charge can be waived. They have given me the benefit of the doubt (their words) and accepted that they have billed me too late for me to do anything about the charge (i.e. cancel the line transfer to avoid the charge).

Fair play to BT for actually understanding my point of view and also for the speedy response and resolution. I raised the issue through the website on the 24th, got a first reply on the 27th, a second reply on the 29th and the 3rd one this morning.