BT Broadband. Charging me £25.00 to leave

fruitpie

Hi all,

I want to leave BT Broadband to go with O2 BB. Just rang BT and they cant give me my MAC code as their system is down. They will e mail it to me within 5 days.

When I asked her to confirm there will be no termination charges as I am no longer on a 12 month renewal contract, she advised me that BT will charge me £25.00 for "the removal of BB from my acount" ?? Is this correct ?

Thanks

macman

Not if you migrate using a MAC. That charge is only made if you terminate your broadband without going elsewhere.
They are allowed 5 days to send you your MAC, no doubt you were told that the system was down in order that you might still reconsider moving. Don't.
Make sure that you are migrating to one of the 02 LLU services, not O2 Access.

flossy_splodge

macman wrote: »

Not if you migrate using a MAC. That charge is only made if you terminate your broadband without going elsewhere.
They are allowed 5 days to send you your MAC, no doubt you were told that the system was down in order that you might still reconsider moving. Don't.
Make sure that you are migrating to one of the 02 LLU services, not O2 Access.

Can you explain the difference please macman?
It took me forever to get broadband and have only had it for about 15 months now fromBT who seemed to be the only provider able to connect us. now we have been connected that long (at 1/2 GB !!) are we likely to have any better luck moving to a cheaper provider?
Thanks

fruitpie

macman wrote: »

Not if you migrate using a MAC. That charge is only made if you terminate your broadband without going elsewhere.
They are allowed 5 days to send you your MAC, no doubt you were told that the system was down in order that you might still reconsider moving. Don't.
Make sure that you are migrating to one of the 02 LLU services, not O2 Access.

MACMAN - you are sooooooo good - thank you and also for repsonding so quick.

When I questioned the lady that surely it wasnt correct a I was migrating somewhere else - she said yes, "maybe there would be a £25.00 charge on my final bill but then I could dispute it with the Billing Dept" yeah right!

Why is it we now spend half our lives in argument with all these Utilities... !!!!!
Thanks again Macman

macman

flossy_splodge wrote: »

Can you explain the difference please macman?
It took me forever to get broadband and have only had it for about 15 months now fromBT who seemed to be the only provider able to connect us. now we have been connected that long (at 1/2 GB !!) are we likely to have any better luck moving to a cheaper provider?
Thanks

The difference? If you ring BT and just cancel your broadband (let's say you are moving abroad) you will be charged £25 (cease charge). If you just move your broadband to another ISP, then you will not be charged, as long as you migrate using a MAC from BT (which you then give to your new provider). Using the MAC means that you should get only minimal downtime between ISP's.
Where did you get the idea that only BT can supply you with broadband? There are dozens of ISP's you can use. But broadband is exchange specific, so either post the name of your exchange, or go to:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php
Look for the LLU operators on your exchange, these will be the best deals.

spenderdave

Sadly even with a MAC you often get charged. In my case it took a month for the fact that I had used my MAC to get back to BT (if it actually did). So I was not only charged the 25 quid but also another month of BT broadband I didn't have. By that time I was pretty fed up with BT and couldn't be bothered to chase it.

So be warned, you may well see the charge...

fruitpie

spenderdave wrote: »

Sadly even with a MAC you often get charged. In my case it took a month for the fact that I had used my MAC to get back to BT (if it actually did). So I was not only charged the 25 quid but also another month of BT broadband I didn't have. By that time I was pretty fed up with BT and couldn't be bothered to chase it.

So be warned, you may well see the charge...

Thanks for your input spenderdave, in light of what BT did to you - should I advise BT that my MAC code will be used by o2. ?

O2 have text me to say that I will be up and running/activated with their service on 10 March.

I can not afford to let BT off for extra months charge they feel fit to charge me.

Thanks

spenderdave

I suggest you do nothing until your O2 broadband is up and running. I did actually tell them I was 'thinking' of O2 when I rang for the MAC and they tried to offer me the O2 cheapest rate for my BT broadband.... The problem seems to be that the MAC information takes quite a while to get back to them after it has used so you will expect 10 days or so at least before they acknowledge you have terminated so you will always end up paying some overlap - in my case even though they (eventually) sent me a letter stating the broadband was ceased with a date, they still charged for another fortnight even after then.... And being on 3-month billing cycle I didn't see the full charges till 3 months later. I know I should have complained, but by then I was just glad to be away from them.

Did you get 2 or 3 months free with O2 (or cashback?), which would make the pain a bit less.

You won't regret moving to O2, after BT's peak time capping it was a big relief, full 8Mb 24/7.

flossy_splodge

macman wrote: »

The difference? If you ring BT and just cancel your broadband (let's say you are moving abroad) you will be charged £25 (cease charge). If you just move your broadband to another ISP, then you will not be charged, as long as you migrate using a MAC from BT (which you then give to your new provider). Using the MAC means that you should get only minimal downtime between ISP's.
Where did you get the idea that only BT can supply you with broadband? There are dozens of ISP's you can use. But broadband is exchange specific, so either post the name of your exchange, or go to:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php
Look for the LLU operators on your exchange, these will be the best deals.

Thanks for the response macman.
The reason I said only BT could provide Broadband was that that was the reality.!!
Every other provider I tried said yes, then checked the line and said we were too far from the exchange and they could not in fact offer it.
Even BT took a while to get it sorted.
My exchange is Kineton, by the way.
Others nearer to the exchange have other providers but i am told as I am over 7 miles (?) away it is a problem.:eek:

macman

flossy_splodge wrote: »

Thanks for the response macman.
The reason I said only BT could provide Broadband was that that was the reality.!!
Every other provider I tried said yes, then checked the line and said we were too far from the exchange and they could not in fact offer it.
Even BT took a while to get it sorted.
My exchange is Kineton, by the way.
Others nearer to the exchange have other providers but i am told as I am over 7 miles (?) away it is a problem.:eek:

Your exchange has no LLU providers, but that means that you should still be able to get your service from any other non-LLU provider, not just BT-since the service is still coming over the same BT network.
Which other non-LLU providers turned you down?
7 miles from the exchange is certainly going to put you at the outer fringe of broadband availability.

mrsJeckyl

Just received the same charge myself. I have changed from BT (mainly because they couldn't seem to merge my broadband account and phone account). I have just been on the phone to them and when I said that virgin dealt with it all, they said I need to speak to virgin and if they requested the mac code I can get my money back! Had "discussion" with man on the phone about how they can justify a cancellation charge.