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BT Cancellation charges.

hazcrew
Posts: 15 Forumite


in Phones & TV
My Son has just moved house and obviously wanted to cancel his landline contract with BT.
He originally had a 1 year contract which had ended so he did not expect a problem.
However, they are saying he needs to pay a £120.00 cancellation charge as he is still in contract.
Apparently if he continues past the first year he has 'implicitly agreed to another 1 year contract and effectively they are charging up until December 2010.
Surely this has got to be a dodgy practice
He originally had a 1 year contract which had ended so he did not expect a problem.
However, they are saying he needs to pay a £120.00 cancellation charge as he is still in contract.
Apparently if he continues past the first year he has 'implicitly agreed to another 1 year contract and effectively they are charging up until December 2010.
Surely this has got to be a dodgy practice
Nice to save.
0
Comments
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Which specific contract did he originally agree to?
There are some contracts that are simply for a minimum of 12 months. e.g. when you connect a new line.
There are other contracts that are auto-renewable, usually because it gives the subscriber ongoing discounts. There is nothing dodgy in this, as that was clearly spelled out in the initial contract. There is a opportunity to terminate an auto renewable contract at the 12 month period with no extra charge, but that must be done before the renewal date. BT also contacts the subscriber about a month before the contract ends to remind them of this (at least in some if not all cases)."Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
Hi all,
Not sure if will help but I've just had a torrid encounter with BT in regards to the dubious rolling contract for free evening and weekend calls....
A copy of the email I sent to BT complaints department outlines what has happened to me...
I am writing to complain about the £70 cancellation fee BT have imposed on my account. I signed up for the free evening and weekend calls on the dubious rolling contract. The contract started on the 28th January 2009 and ENDED 28th January 2010.
No letter was received to advise me that the contract was going to be renewed (although luckily I kept a note of approximately when the contract was due to expire!).
I contacted BT by telephone to confirm the contract had not been renewed. After being passed around several departments eventually I was put through to someone who CONFIRMED my contract had ended on the 28th of January.
At this time I decided that because I was no longer in a contract with BT that I would change my service provider. I initiated the transfer to talktalk.
I was then alerted to the fact of a cancellation fee by post from yourselves. I immediately rang BT. After being passed to several different departments (I was actually cut off twice) I finally got through to a customer services person who told me the contract was renewed on the 29th of January! This was completely contradictory to my first conversation with BT. I then explained the situation and was in the process of being transfered to another department when I was cut off AGAIN!
I rang BT again.... I had to explain the situation all over again (I hope you can appreciate my frustration by this time). Eventually after a long conversation with one of your customer service people they confirmed that a mistake had been made and accepted that this cancellation fee should not be charged to my account.
I was given a reference number (DQCN51) to confirm these charges would not be imposed. I also requested that this be put in writing and sent to me as by this time I had lost all faith in BT's ability to give me the correct information.
I waited more than a week before a letter arrived. This letter did not confirm that charges been removed from my account, it only stated that my bill was available to view online. I logged on to my account to view my bill to find:
"Thankyou for registering this account, the billing details for this account will be available to view within the next 3 working days.
If you have another account within your profile, you can view this by using the 'switch account' menu above."
I wasn’t able to view my bill. I waited the three working days as prompted by the website message but was still unable to view my bill (In fact I still cant view it!).
This aroused suspicion and prompted me to ring BT (again!!!!!)
I was informed my final bill left me with £10 credit (I knew this should have been more like £80) . I requested details on the final bill to be told that the £70 charges HAD been implemented!! I quoted the reference number given to me in the previous conversation with BT
I requested to speak to the floor manager who advised that I was liable for the charges even after explaining my previous conversations with BT. Further more I was advised that the reference number quoted in the previous conversation (DQCN51) did NOT exist!
I asked what details had been noted to my account and received the reply of "customer called regarding charges to account".
Unbelievable
She went on to state that action would be taken against the individual who advised me of this and there manager would be informed. This does not interest me in the slightest and doesnt stop the charges being unfairly imposed on my account.
I requested a full transcript of all the calls I have made to BT regarding this matter, the floor manager said it was not possible to write to me but was able to email me the details... I supplied my email address but have not received any email! (presumably another failed promise).
I would NOT have changed my phone provider if BT had confirmed that my contract was still ongoing!
Please respond asap
PS I have kept a copy of this email!!
Matthew Lowden
Thank you for your enquiry. We will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible. Please make a note of your enquiry reference number and use it in further correspondence.
Your enquiry reference number: 100322-014226
***I have received a full refund***0 -
Hello hazcrew,
Did your son arrange to have his services with BT transferred to the new address, or are they still at the old address? If he did request to have the services transferred he would have entered a new 12 month contract for the line, which is why he's been quoted a cancellation fee.
Or, as Premier said, it's possible he signed up to a renewable contract originally, which is why it auto-renewed... Let us know which one it is, I can check it on my end as well if you want.
Ta,
Stephanie“Official Company Representative
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. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
Yep I have found the same thing......I had absolutely no idea that I was on a "rolling contract" until I rang BT to cancel I think this is an absolute disgrace they say I have to pay £45 early cancellation for now til August. As this "rolling contract" was not made clear to me surely this is unfair. Also I recieved no literature when my first year was up. I have also heard that my contract could be made void by the fact that BT have changed their call times for evening and weekend calls. As what I orignially had agreed to was no longer valid into another contract now.0
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