Breach of Contract.

jrterror_2

non provision of services
Hi, I have edited and reposted this in the hope that I will get some useful answers. Just wondering what your thoughts are on a situation I have found my self in. On 23 Sept I rang BT and spoke to a man called Gary. I explained to Gary that we were in the process of moving home and would need to set up a landline at our new address. I asked a number of questions revolving around the fact that we really wanted to continue our subscription with Tiscali, but could not transfer our service to our new address. My original intention was to set up a landline with Bt and then transfer the service to Tiscali. However, the BT sales operative tried to tell me that Bt provided a better service than Tiscali and proceeded to tell me why. I then proved that Bt did not provide the services I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. These services were:

• Phone line. line rental included. (Free weekend and evening calls).
• Unlimited Broadband.
• Tiscali TV

The total monthly cost for this package was £19.99. When hearing these facts the BT Sales operative tried to find a way of reducing the monthly cost of their equivalent package. He finally was able to offer me the following:
1. Calls (free weekend and evening), but with a line rental of £11.20 per month.
2. Unlimited broadband.
3. BT Vision with the Movie Package. Plus a reconditioned + Box for an additional one of payment of £15.

I agreed reluctantly to this offer and awaited the connection of this new service. However, I later received a letter that was supposed to confirm my order. It did not. Not only was there no details of the BT Vision within this letter, but also the details of the Broadband were inaccurate. According to this letter, I was going to receive the Option 1 Broadband not the Unlimited Broadband that I had agreed to during my previous phone conversation with Gary the sales operative. I promptly rang up BT and this time spoke to man called Brian. He traced the details of my initial conversation and said that he did not understand why the promised package was not showing upon my confirmation letter. He also added that although he did know about the £15 reconditioned boxes, he did not see how Gary could offer the deal that he had. I explained that I was less than happy with the service I had received up to this point and was not willing to pay for the BT Vision at the price showing on the confirmation letter. Brian told me that he understood and would then cancel the BT Vision part of the package. I was left to believe that I would then be receiving a Calls and Unlimited Broadband Package. When I received my first bill on 7 October it turned out that not only was I being billed for BT Vision that I did not have, but I was being charged the full monthly rate for Broadband Option 1, instead of the 3 month introductory rate of £7.34. And this was for the Option 1 Broadband, not the Unlimited Broadband that I originally agreed to. I once again rang BT to explain my predicament. This time I spoke to Lee, he promised to amend my bill and ensure that I paid the introductory rate.
As I am sure you can understand the level of service that I have received during such a short time has been much less than satisfactory. And would I be wrong to say that I have not been provided with any of the services to which I was promised and agreed to? I ask, because I really do want to go back to Tiscali, they are still by far the cheapest for all three packages. The only problem is When I asked about early termination charges, I was told that I would have to pay around £220. Do you think there are any grounds for breach of contract by BT? Because they failed to provide the services at the prices and levels to which I originally agreed.

Fire_Fox

Have you written a letter of complaint yet?

BT_company_representative

Hi jrterror,

I've sent you a PM in relation to this matter. Please respond when you get a chance and I'll look into this for you.

Many thanks,

Robbie

Buzby

Did their letter also confirm the MINIMUM service period of 18 monthe....?

annei_2

Whatever their contract said about minimum periods it doesn't apply if they've failed to deliver the contract agreed - you could walk away, the ball is then in their court if they want to enforce the contract. However if they take this route then you simply counterclaim for breach of contract, submitting your evidence as to the contract you agreed with Gary and any amendments to that you agreed with Brian. (You didn't subsequently sign any written contract which varied from your agreements with Gary or Brian did you???)

My guess is that if you tell BT that you will counterclaim any proceedings they issue against you on the above basis .... I was going to say "you'll hear no more from them" but I don't actually think that's correct as their internal communications systems are non-existent so the fact is that you'll probably have to have this conversation with a huge number of their people before they finally get the message but make sure that you put it in writing to them, keep a copy and make a record of any calls you have from them chasing you up for payment when you've already told them that if they want to enforce the contract they'll have to issue proceedings because you consider that they've breached the contract. After the second call threaten them with the protection from harrassment act - I've found that has worked in the past (not with BT but with another company with appalling internal communication systems).

Let us know what happens.

Good luck and don't forget .... you don't fight this battle alone, from reading these boards there are legions of individuals standing with you in the battle against this monolith.