Wanna leave BT but huge Cancellation Fee!

andypomf

It's not only BT who have auto renewing contracts. TalkTalk's subsidiary Opal Telecom have the same rolling contracts that auto renew for a further 12 months if you don't cancel within a 28 day window each year. What I find amusing is that an offficial of TalkTalk said this in March this year. -

“We believe that rolling contracts are a sharp practice at any time, but particularly so in the current credit crunch and with given the riches available in the market,” said Andrew Heaney from TalkTalk.


I think TalkTalk need some joined up thnking!

If you go to TalkTalk Press Centre you'll find his full statement. As a new user it seems I'm not allowed to put a link into that press center web page.

puddy

oh, i put a query about this on here yesterday. i was told yesterday about our 'contract' for the phone line auto renewing. we have not received a letter and we checked last night, when we got our line in june 09 (after moving in) there was no indication that the phone was on a contract, let alone a rolling one, we thought we had signed up on a broadband contract, not a phone one. i am very confused. we've wanted to change our broadband for some time because of the price, but thought our broadband was on the contract until dec 10, yesterday bt (a really idiot woman who kept changing what she was telling me) said that there is no contract for broadband but we were on one for the phone!!??

Trow

BT are reducing the charges for cancellation from October, to £2 per month (depending on line rental option), so maybe wait till then to cancel? Or see if you can cancel effective from 1st october to pay the lesser fees?

Trow

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/get-the-best-deal/landline-phones/punish-bt-for-increasing-its-landline-charges-5337.aspx see here for more details

shortchanged_2

Personally I would query the legality of an auto renewal of a contract with tie ins. When you signed up to BT you signed up for either a 12 or 18 month tie in contract. That is how they are advertised. After that period you should be free to cancel without any penalty if you so wish, particularly if you have not changed the product in any way.

Trow

A quick update on this: I am currently contemplating changing from BT but am in contract as I only got my line in February.

I phoned BT and spoke to someone in (I suspect) India. He was very nice but knew nothing of the change in cancellation of contract charges. I suspect that they will only get changed from 1st October (I was trying to find out if I cancelled effective 1st October would my charges reduce, rather than cancelling on 1st October effective 15th as they need 14 days notice, IYSWIM).

I have had nothing but trouble with BT - could not get broadband activated even a month after the initial date they said they would do it (I went elsewhere and they did it in a week), and I was planning to go down the line saver rental plan - they couldn't get my order for that right either, and I tried both over the phone and online.. can't wait to leave!

Trow

Oh, and a quick tip as I phone the company I want to migrate to as well - when you cancel with BT, cancel your contract rather than your service - this will ensure you get a smooth transition from one company to another. (You may well know this, but I didn't!)

beverley1296

I rang BT this afternoon for my MAC number, had a long chat with some lad and he explained I had so many days to cancel both broadband and phone packages (been with them over 20 years) never had any deals, last quarter bill £140 for broadband free calls?????
Anyway talked to SKY and decided gonna go to them, anyway rang back said can cancel Broadband but locked into 12 month contract with phone?? I was never told I was locked in any contract, woman at BT totally unhelpful sat waiting for manager to call me as I had phone on loudspeaker and no one heard anything to say I was locked into anything? How can they do this, they say I will be charged £8 a month for cancelling????

aharr

VenusInFurs wrote: »

aharr: I'd have her to go to the main BT site. Type 'complaint' in the search box and email them a complaint detailing everything.

She'll get a response within 24 hours and if she's still not happy after exhausting their external complaints procedure (on the site) she can go to the Ombudsman.

I did this yesterday, got a callback today apologising for the terrible customer service I received yesterday. I'm now putting everything in writing in a formal letter and sending it by post. If that doesn't resolve my problem I'll be straight on the phone to the Ombudsman. It's in their best interests to resolve the problem once the Ombudsman take it up as they charge a hefty fee for their time when looking into a case.

Emma

Hi Emma
thanks for your info, we emailed BT and advised we would go to the Ombudsman, a letter was sent to them last week and we received a reference number, in the meantime yesterday we received an email from BT apologising and a full refund issued. :T

aharr

andypomf wrote: »

It's not only BT who have auto renewing contracts. TalkTalk's subsidiary Opal Telecom have the same rolling contracts that auto renew for a further 12 months if you don't cancel within a 28 day window each year. What I find amusing is that an offficial of TalkTalk said this in March this year. -

“We believe that rolling contracts are a sharp practice at any time, but particularly so in the current credit crunch and with given the riches available in the market,” said Andrew Heaney from TalkTalk.


I think TalkTalk need some joined up thnking!

If you go to TalkTalk Press Centre you'll find his full statement. As a new user it seems I'm not allowed to put a link into that press center web page.

I'm with TalkTalk and I received a letter advising me the contract was due for renewal and a couple of days later received a phone call from them asking if I wanted to renew so at least they let me know before rolling the contract