£80.08 to leave BT!?

FannyHill

This is very dodgy ground.

BT will write and advise you that the contract is almost up and if you don't contact them they will renew for a further 12 months.
If for some reason you don't get the letter you are tied in and if you then try to cancel a few months later you are penalised.

It's like car insurance companies or breakdown services that say they will automatically renew the policy after 12 months.

I believe companies should write and say you must advise us if you wish to renew and not do it automatically.

What if you are away on holiday for a month and the letter does actually come from BT so you don't get it until after they have renewed ?

They all seem to be trying different ways to be underhanded with the customer instead of upfront.

And as everything seems to be on DD now instead of Standing Order where you had some control over the money going out to these companies they are stringing you up like a kipper.

This whole attitude towards the customer now stinks.

winterrobin

BT_company_representative wrote: »

Hi winterrobin

I can confirm on the Evening and Weekend renewable deal if you take up the offer you are put on a 12 month contract. We send out letters to our customers when your contract is coming up to expire. On the letter it advises you that if you do not contact BT to cancel your contract your offer will automatically be renewed on a new 12 month contact.

If you do not want to stay with BT for another 12 months I would advise you to contact BT stating you do not want your contract to be renewed before your current contract expires. If you contact BT after the date your current contract ends and you have automatically been renewed you would be held to term for the rest of your contract if you cancelled your services with BT.

I hope this helps

Fionnuala

BT Support

Thank you for the above but as I have already stated, I have received no letter (or email) advising me that the "contract is coming up to expire".

In fact - being under the misconception that 12 months is a "minimum" term -a few weeks ago I phoned (as I could not at the time find the agreement letter to check the date myself) to check that I have fulfilled this minimum term.
I'm sure you can trace this call.

I hope you can help

Helen

FannyHill

One thing that sounds tempting about the Post Office Tel Service is there is no min contract.

There is if you also have their BB but not the tel line.

Haven't tried PO service myself.

espresso

winterrobin wrote: »

Thank you for the above but as I have already stated, I have received no letter (or email) advising me that the "contract is coming up to expire".

I would have expected the BT rep to have sorted this for you by now. Perhaps they should read the wording in their signature:

"I am the official company representative of BT. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues"

BT's Managing Director of Customer Service has stated that you can cancel your contract without incurring a termination charge, if you did not receive the renewal letter:

mima

espresso wrote: »

I would have expected the BT rep to have sorted this for you by now. Perhaps they should read the wording in their signature:

"I am the official company representative of BT. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues"

BT's Managing Director of Customer Service has stated that you can cancel your contract without incurring a termination charge, if you did not receive the renewal letter:

Thanks for the above espresso.

It seams that "the official company representative of BT" has done all that he/she can do.

Where do I go from here? Is BT's own forum likely to prove more helpful or should I just write to Mr. Nigel Stagg?


It is a little ominous that when I rung BT (after receiving the £80 demand letter) and following the usual "press 1; press 2; ....." (will they get to 101?) and 3 different reps, they never - as far as I am aware - mentioned the reminder letter which I should have received.

I say "as far as I am aware" because at the age when the hearing is past it's best and the memory is playing tricks, by the time you get through the hoops and eventually get to speak to someone who may have the answer, you forget what you rung them for in the first place.

Kind Regards

espresso

mima wrote: »

Thanks for the above espresso.

It seams that "the official company representative of BT" has done all that he/she can do.

One of the biggest problems with BT is that you get different answers depending on who you speak to. It seems that the BT reps on here cherry pick which posts that they respond to which is not very helpful. You could take it to the top and e-mail [EMAIL="ian.livingstone@bt.com"]ian.livingstone@bt.com[/EMAIL] who is supposed to be committed to improving their customer service.

mima

espresso wrote: »

One of the biggest problems with BT is that you get different answers depending on who you speak to. It seems that the BT reps on here cherry pick which posts that they respond to which is not very helpful. You could take it to the top and e-mail [EMAIL="ian.livingstone@bt.com"]ian.livingstone@bt.com[/EMAIL] who is supposed to be committed to improving their customer service.

Thanks for the link espresso, I will be writing to him today.

PS
In case anybody is wondering about the sudden change of signature, I've been having problem logging in so have asked a relative of mine to post on my behalf.

Helen

BT_company_representative

winterrobin wrote: »

Thank you for the above but as I have already stated, I have received no letter (or email) advising me that the "contract is coming up to expire".

In fact - being under the misconception that 12 months is a "minimum" term -a few weeks ago I phoned (as I could not at the time find the agreement letter to check the date myself) to check that I have fulfilled this minimum term.
I'm sure you can trace this call.

I hope you can help

Helen

Hi Winterrobin,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, PM me BT account details and I will take a look at this for you.

Thanks

Patrick

BT Support,

winterrobin

BT_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Winterrobin,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, PM me BT account details and I will take a look at this for you.

Thanks

Patrick

BT Support,

Thank you Patric but I have already contacted Ian Livingstone and my problem is now been delt with by the Executive Level Complaints departament.

Not up on the procedures but I presume I now have to leave them to deal with it.


espresso appears to have been spot on when he said that BT support here is a lottery!


Helen

NonGeographicalMan

mima wrote: »

Thanks for the link espresso, I will be writing to him today

Just to point that the BT CEO's email address is actually ian.livingston@bt.com

Emails to this address on customer service issues are then usually escalatated to the highest possible level in the customer service department and are often looked at more favourably than by standard first line BT customer service staff.

You might also want to copy in the CEO of BT Retail, Gavin Patterson, as shown at https://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Theboard/index.htm

N.B. That Gavin's email address is gavin.e.patterson@bt.com