bt automatic contract renewal

tinacuci

Being BT customer for two years now, I've called BT to get information about notice of both service cancellations (braodband and telephone line) as I am moving to friend's flat in June this year. I was told that broadband cancellation fee will be applied of £25.00 plus cancellation of unlimited weekend and evening calling plan contact termination which was apparently automatically renewed on 14th Apr 2010! I was told at first by BT that for every month I have to pay £7.50 until this contract ends on 14th Apr 2011! On second occasion with different BT adviser I was told I have to pay £12.50 a month until contract finishes! How can one possibly get two different information about the same issue? After spending almost an hour being on hold and transferred from one dept to another BT adviser said I have been sent a letter to tell me that renewal will take place. The fact is I have not received any BT letter since June 2009! Since I have not been sent any letter and BT employees neglected to mention that the contract was renewable I refuse to pay such a penalty. I believe that the company's behavior breached UK distance selling regulations.
As am I being misled about ‘renewable contract and it is not just renewable, it is auto-renewing, does anyone know where in the "terms and condition" is BT in right to renew the 12 month contract automatically? Again, it is deceit to call it renewable, when it is auto-renewing, I was largely unaware of what happens after the year and BT don't seem to go out of their way to inform people.
Do you think I BT is in breach of contract and do I stand any chance taking this issue further?

Premier_2

tinacuci wrote: »

... How can one possibly get two different information about the same issue?...

Ever heard the phase about what happens when one pays peanuts?
BT use Indian based call centres for much of their first response . presumably because it's cheap.

tinacuci wrote: »

Do you think I BT is in breach of contract and do I stand any chance taking this issue further?

As you don't seem to be aware of the terms & conditions of the contract, I'm not sure why you ask if anyone thinks they are in breach of that contract? :huh:

I suggest you obtain the terms & conditions which should be available from their website and then see for yourself whether they are indeed in breach of those terms.

Mark_In_Hampshire

tinacuci wrote: »

Being BT customer for two years now, I've called BT to get information about notice of both service cancellations (braodband and telephone line) as I am moving to friend's flat in June this year. I was told that broadband cancellation fee will be applied of £25.00 plus cancellation of unlimited weekend and evening calling plan contact termination which was apparently automatically renewed on 14th Apr 2010! I was told at first by BT that for every month I have to pay £7.50 until this contract ends on 14th Apr 2011! On second occasion with different BT adviser I was told I have to pay £12.50 a month until contract finishes! How can one possibly get two different information about the same issue? After spending almost an hour being on hold and transferred from one dept to another BT adviser said I have been sent a letter to tell me that renewal will take place. The fact is I have not received any BT letter since June 2009! Since I have not been sent any letter and BT employees neglected to mention that the contract was renewable I refuse to pay such a penalty. I believe that the company's behavior breached UK distance selling regulations.
As am I being misled about ‘renewable contract and it is not just renewable, it is auto-renewing, does anyone know where in the "terms and condition" is BT in right to renew the 12 month contract automatically? Again, it is deceit to call it renewable, when it is auto-renewing, I was largely unaware of what happens after the year and BT don't seem to go out of their way to inform people.
Do you think I BT is in breach of contract and do I stand any chance taking this issue further?

Three things here.

Firstly, don't deal with BT by phone. You will get different answers to the same question depending on who you talk to. This is well documented.

Second point: you were on an auto-reneweing 12 month contract. You say you should have received a letter notifying you of renewal - there are many instances of this letter not arriving documented on here. It is however irrelevant to the contract whether it arrives or not. Cancelling at the end of the renewable term is your responsibility, not theirs;

Third and most important point: Was the contract mis-sold? Did you ask explicitly for an auto renewing contract? Were the terms explained to you two years ago or whenever it was?

That question has also come up on here and the balance of evidence appears to support BT in that they do state it renews at the time of sale, but most people forget 2 years on.

The £25 fee for cancellation of the broadband without a MAC is just a rip off, so you'll want to bear that in mind at your new place when you choose supplier.