BT duped me into 12 month contract

catbunny

Hi all,

I recently moved to a new house and needed the phone line hooking up. Following the advice on this site I opted for Primus as they offered cheapest line rental. All I needed was an active BT line, which either Primus could do for me, or I could get BT to do. After trying the Primus phone line and not getting through I decided I'd let BT liven up the line for me.

I called BT and explained that I only wanted to activate the line and that I wanted to immediately sign up for another provider as BT were not the cheapest I could find. I made sure that I would not be tied in to any contract and that there would be no charges for disconnection, and as the sales guy assured me this was not a problem I consented to the connection.

Subsequently, I transferred my line across to Primus and now BT have said I signed up for a 12 month contract and that I owe them contract charges of around £80. I've tried calling them to explain what I was told when I signed up, but the customer service supervisor refused to escalate further than herself, saying that there was nothing that could be done and that I had to pay the charges. I therefore complained, and detailed everything in the complaint. Today they have called me and basically told me the same thing. In the mean time I have cancelled my Direct Debit as I don't want to pay for the fees which I don't think I should be paying (I have told BT I have done this).

Also, I initially received a letter advising of the coming early disconnection charges and the agent told me that he could see no reason for the letter and that I would not be charged the fee and that the letter had been sent in error!

I don't feel it's right that I should be paying for disconnection when I was told that I wouldn't have to. They have claimed that details of the minimum contract are all in the Ts and Cs that they apparently send as a welcome letter. They may or may not be, I don't remember seeing one, but in any case I was informed by a BT employee that what I wanted to do was fine, and now they want to charge me for believing what I was told.

They have said that if I do not pay they will pass the debt on to a debt collection agency, which of course I would rather not have happen. I'm trying to resolve this properly and am happy to pay for any call charges or other rental charges, but I'm not willing to pay for the contract charges.

Can anyone offer me any advice?
Many many thanks to anyone who can help.

Ypaymore

All BT new line or reconnections come with a 12/18 month contract i am surprised you were told otherwise.

macman

What did BT charge you for the reconnection?

catbunny

They did not charge to activate the line - there was already a line to the property, and in the past this has not been an issue.

@Ypaymore - Having been told this many, many times by all the BT people I have spoken to trying to resolve this, I am now painfully aware of this! It's obviously a surprise to them too, and they obviously don't believe me. They are going to speak to the agent who connected my line, but confronted with people from the complaints compartment asking, in effect, "did you do your job properly?" I don't hold out much hope that he will tell them he didn't. As it was around 6 weeks ago I'd be surprised if he remembers the call.

Having been mis-sold, is there anything that I can do here? I'm not a total idiot, despite appearances (!) - I would not have knowingly entered into a 12 month contract with the intention of ending it within the first few weeks! If I was entering into a 12 month contract, should this not have been made absolutely clear at the point of sale?

macman

Even if there is physically a line already there, BT still charge the same fee as for a new line if it has been disconnected (£130). So you must have already had a line with a dial tone on it?
Why would BT reconnect you for free (assuming they have to pay OR themselves for reconnection) just so you can immediately jump ship to another provider?

catbunny

macman Even if there is physically a line already there, BT still charge the same fee as for a new line if it has been disconnected (£130). So you must have already had a line with a dial tone on it?
Why would BT reconnect you for free (assuming they have to pay OR themselves for reconnection) just so you can immediately jump ship to another provider?

BT connect the line whether you do it through Sky, O2 etc or BT themselves - these are BT lines in BT exchanges.

The £130 fee is only applicable to hooking up brand new lines where none previously existed.

macman

catbunny wrote: »

BT connect the line whether you do it through Sky, O2 etc or BT themselves - these are BT lines in BT exchanges.

The £130 fee is only applicable to hooking up brand new lines where none previously existed.

BT Retail do not connect the line-it is done BT Openreach, who are entirely separate and charge BT Retail just the same as they would any other telecoms company.
BT charge exactly the same for a new line or reconnection, £130.00.

catbunny

From productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrders/control/termsandconditions?docId=25017&pageTitle=%20New%20line%20connection%20charge

One-off connection charge
Connection charge only applies in some cases – most of our new customers find they don't need to pay this charge.
If you do need to connect a new BT line, the charges are (incl. VAT):
£0 when you take either a TV, Broadband & Calls package or a Broadband & Calls package – reduced from £127.99
£29.99 when you take a BT line only (with no broadband or TV) – reduced from £127.99
We'll let you know whether you need to pay a connection charge when you enter your address and/or phone number during your order. If you do need to pay the charge, you'll see the full amount on your order summary before you check out – and you'll see a credit for your connection charge discount.
If your home has had a telephone service from BT in the recent past, and the wiring and socket is undamaged and the line still has a dial tone, it's likely you won't need to pay this charge. But where there's no suitable BT line available in your property, no dial tone on the line, or if you have been disconnected for non-payment in the past, the standard connection charge will apply.
Please note that some properties, for example new property developments, may have a white BT socket installed that hasn't been connected (ie no dial tone). In this case the standard connection charge will still apply.
The connection charge covers engineering work in your exchange or your property in order to connect the line and is subject to survey.
If the charge does apply it will be added to your first BT bill.

macman

catbunny wrote: »

From productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrders/control/termsandconditions?docId=25017&pageTitle=%20New%20line%20connection%20charge

The relevant line there is 'if the line still has a dial tone' If it has been disconnected, it won't and you'll be charged for reconnection.

catbunny

I had a dial tone. When you cancel a line they don't send someone to the exchange to disconnect the line, and then reconnect it for the next person, it's all done in software.

If possible, if anyone is still reading, I'd like to try to pull this thread back on track....

Heinz

But, if you "called BT" to reactivate the line, you would have been talking to BT Retail and, therefore, you would have agreed to a 12 month contract for line rental.

Breaching that contract will involve charges.