BT pestering to change contract

catnap53

I am so angry with BT and OH. We have been with them a few years when we got Sky TV.

We have had the free weekend calls, (used to be 5p/hour, till they changed it)
We make very few calls, most being made on inclusive mobile charges and had absolutely no wish to change.

For several weeks they have been trying to contact my husband (named, but I pay the bills), eventually catching him last week and offering a 'loyalty deal' of free evening and weekend calls for an additional 2.99. I managed to tell him to say no as I wanted to consider the extra cost and the call was ended.

They haven't given up and managed to get him again tonight. I asked him to get the terms and conditions sent in the post, which he did, but it was apparently after he had already agreed and was told that they would be included with the first bill. Well that's too late!

He has also said it is a new rolling 12 month contract, which I am not aware that we already had, I had thought that we were free to move anytime after the initial 12 months we signed up for.

Is it acceptable to agree by phone without seeing what it involves? I feel like cancelling the whole thing, but he was recently persuaded by AOL to have another 12 month contract.

I wish these companies would stop calling, surely they only do it for their own benefit, not for the customer's advantage.

Anyway, sorry, do we have any right to cancel bearing in mind that he said yes just to stop them calling?

Mark_In_Hampshire

You won't have been on the auto-renewing contract before and your original supposition - that your contract ended 12 months from the installation date is probably correct. Now, it never ends as such - it auto renews every 12 months, so you need to cancel it exactly on 11/06/2011 or you're in for another year. And another year... it's like car insurance. Of course you can cancel early, subject to termination charges for your breach of contract. In terms of seeing what it involves, it is as correctly described to your OH - nothing was hidden and the lock in was revealed to which he/she agreed.

I'd have thought you'd be able to have this change reversed under Distance selling regulations provided you act within 7 days, but I'm no specialist on that. Whatever you do, make sure you instruct that in writing and keep a copy. And tell your OH to be less polite and just hang up next time when calls are unsolicited - if he or she is named on the account then it's perfectly fair for BT to get him/her to agree to the changes as he or she is a party to contract.

When you write to BT make it clear you don't want to be contacted with er, marketing messages and calls in the future.