5 year rolling contract?? How do I cancel Elite Calls?

thistledome

macman wrote: »

You don't have to have said 'I agree to a contract'. You implicitly agree to the contract when you agree to sign up. The terms will be whatever they choose them to be at the time, these presumably would be in the small print on whatever confirmation you received from them.
Do you not know when you signed up for the original service?

No I don't. Daft partner did this in 2005 and I'm fruitlessly searching for any documentation that Lo-Rate may (or may not) have sent us from then. I did find a letter from Elite Calls (dated August 2008) saying they had taken over our account from Chess, but all it had was the "welcome" letter and a leaflet with their charges in it. No small print, no T&C, not even a mention of their T&C being on a web site etc.

I must say I had no idea that it was that easy to make a contract. You just say yes to a call centre twit offering cheap calls and you're deemed to have agreed to anything they choose to impose on you? Sounds rum to me.

Edinburghlass, I will go and have a read of that, thank you.

macman

So if it was 2005, the earliest you can get out is sometime next year. If you've put up with them for 4 years it might just be worth sitting it out until the end of the contract. Checked your old bank statements for first payments to Lo-Rate?
I'm afraid a contract is that simple. You agree to get goods or services in exchange for a payment, and a contract exists. You may have bought your morning paper today from the corner shop-did you ask what the contract terms were? No. But a contract was still made in law.

KimYeovil

thistledome wrote: »

I must say I had no idea that it was that easy to make a contract. You just say yes to a call centre twit offering cheap calls and you're deemed to have agreed to anything they choose to impose on you? Sounds rum to me.

I would say you have more rights with a contract arranged by telephone. You have a period of time (14 days, probably,) to look up and study all the terms and conditions. If you don't like them then you can reject them and get out of the contract.

If you had signed a printed form in person then you would not have any time after signing to review your decision - it is presumed that you have read and agreed to the ts & cs before signing. Your only escape would be if they were unfair.

stevepalm

macman wrote: »

So if it was 2005, the earliest you can get out is sometime next year. If you've put up with them for 4 years it might just be worth sitting it out until the end of the contract. Checked your old bank statements for first payments to Lo-Rate?
I'm afraid a contract is that simple. You agree to get goods or services in exchange for a payment, and a contract exists. You may have bought your morning paper today from the corner shop-did you ask what the contract terms were? No. But a contract was still made in law.

Credit law is different though to buying goods cash from a shop. For reliable info tell all this to ofcom who regulate the telephone industry. Do a google search.

thistledome

Hello moneysavers
I know this sounds really feeble, but I'm confused about how to go back to BT and it's turning into a bit of a saga. Please be patient and read the following if you think you can help....

We used to be with BT and my partner changed to someone else over the phone against my wishes, but he pays the bill, so..... The other company has had various names over the last 4 years or so. Lo-rate/Chess/Something else I can't remember and now Elite Calls.

I have been trying to persuade him to go back to BT for ages and finally he agreed, but Elite Calls wanted approx. £400 cancellation fee. They said we had a five year rolling contract (news to us) and we didn't want to pay the cancellation fee. I posted on here when that happened and got some advice (thanks).

We got a letter from them saying our contract is due for renewal in February next year. However, I'm getting more and more confused about how to go about changing to BT.

I've always thought that our line was still owned by BT as they are the people who physically put it in, but now I've been told that's wrong. Also have been told that Elite Calls only do business lines, not residential. So here are my questions:

1. Will BT want to charge us for a new line?

2. Will BT accept us as residential customers (my partner does run a business from home, but we were listed as residential with BT).

3. Elite's T&C say,
"This contract may be terminated in writing by either you or us for convenience by giving notice within 30 days of the end of minimum period or any renewal period, this request must be sent by Royal Mail recorded delivery".

When they say "within" 30 days does that mean I can't cancel until 30 days before the contract ends or what? Does it mean I have to give at least 30 days? Sorry if this sounds brainless, but I don't understand what they mean*.

The next clause in their T&C is:
"If the customer wishes to completely terminate their contract with Elitecalls they must pay the early termination fee of £395 + VAT per line, the customer will also forfeit any service charges and line rentals paid in advance."

Does this mean you have pay that no matter what? Even if you are within the renewal period?

Also, assuming the above is possible does the line switch from one company to the other without a break in service or does the phone get cut off for a while?

*I know the obvious answer is to ask them, but they won't talk to me and my partner won't ask them.

Any thoughts?

macman

You don't make it clear who you currently pay your line rental to-BT or Elite Calls? If the latter, then you may have to pay a fee to return to BT.
My reading of it is that you may cancel by giving 30 days notice within the last 30 days of your contract. So if it ends 28/2, give your notice commencing 29/1. Just make sure you do it by recorded delivery, and then cancel your DD once the last payment has been taken.
BY should accept you as residential if that's what you declare the line to be for.

BT_company_representative

Hi thistledome,

Technically speaking we should be able to take over the existing line however this is not always the case and sometimes a takeover is not allowed and a new installation is required. Also is your line currently registered as a business or a residential line with your existing provider? You have said in your post that you believed that your line was owned by BT. Do you pay line rental to BT for the line and just have calls with this company? If you would send me an email to btcare@bt.com with these details plus your name,landline telephone number, full address & postcode and a contact number I will get back to you. Please include your forum username and a link to the thread above. In circumstances such as these we can usually take over the line without you having to contact your existing supplier but again I will know more when I have checked the line.

Many Thanks
Donna
BT Support

thistledome

We don't pay BT anything at the moment, I don't know why but I assumed that the new company paid them out of the payment we send to them, or had some kind of arrangement like that.

Donna, thanks I will send an e-mail to you tomorrow.

I don't know if we signed up as a business - as far as I know we have always been listed as residential, but I was told that Elite Calls only take Business Customers (?)

Told you I was confused

thistledome

UPDATE EDIT:
Sat down to write suggested letter of complaint and after poring over the documents realised that we owed them £1 and we were partly to blame for misunderstanding. Telephoned them to discuss and (hopefully) have now sorted out problem. Fingers crossed.

OldGreyFox

Put your complaint in writing to them. Send it by recorded delivery.