BT Renewable Contract - my challenge succeeded

inclement

JustPassingBy wrote: »

Yes, I understand your view but it was the idea (not from you) that the terms of the contract were unknown which was puzzling.

When the contract is entered into it is known that:

• The calls plan will be renewed automatically after 12 months without the customer needing to do anything about it.
• The customer needs to request not to renew before the renewal date.

Part of your argument relies on not receiving a letter from BT. The letter serves to remind you about something you already knew about - an existing contract whose terms you were aware of, not a new contract with the same or different terms and conditions. The offer had been made the previous year (please see above). BT's letter is a reminder about it.

Not receiving BT's reminder is unfortunate but it doesn't offer anything you had not already agreed to. There is no new offer. You agreed to tell BT if you did not want to stay on the deal. You didn't. BT kept their side of the bargain and continued to give you the Evening and Weekend calls plan under the same conditions. At no stage is a new contract proposed. You have the same contract (which, to remind you, is known about) for another term.

Incidentally, with a few adjustments the arguments in your letter to BT could be used by someone who admitted receiving the letter from BT but had ignored it.

Brian,

Surely for someone to be tied into a further 12 months, there must be a new contract ? The new contract may be on the same terms and conditions but it must be something that comes into existence and for it to come into existence there must be an offer, acceptance etc. If this wasn't the case then why do BT send a letter to the customer 1 month prior to the new contract ? If the case was as you say, BT would have no need to send a letter at any stage. I think that we agree to differ on the interpretation.

I fully understand the BT standpoint and you put their point of view very well, however I am still of the opinion that with BT being the large corporate entity and me being the poor, defenceless consumer it would be interesting to see if their arguments stand up in court. At the moment this is a differing of opinions in a conversation on a forum but I don't think BT will want a firm legal challenge to their auto-renewable contract, especially as they are the only leading telecomms provider to have this system in place.

Regards,

Inclement

JustPassingBy

inclement wrote: »

Surely for someone to be tied into a further 12 months, there must be a new contract ? The new contract may be on the same terms and conditions but it must be something that comes into existence and for it to come into existence there must be an offer, acceptance etc. If this wasn't the case then why do BT send a letter to the customer 1 month prior to the new contract ? If the case was as you say, BT would have no need to send a letter at any stage. I think that we agree to differ on the interpretation.

The contract is renewed not replaced. As I understand it the letter BT send is a part of the contract. From the one I received:

. . . ., we promised to write to you before the renewal date to let you know what to do next.

And from my new contract (it really is new because I negotiated a change to the T&C!):

We'll write to you a month before to remind you of this.

Anyway, Ofcom would be very upset if they didn't and they have the legal means to change such behaviour.

You got a good result from your letter but I doubt it had BT's crack legal team bothered. More than likely whoever dealt with it was sympathetic and took the path of least resistance. Maybe they even discovered a letter had not been sent to you from BT. Personally. I wouldn't advise anyone to use your argument as the basis for their own appeal. But, hey, it worked once and could work again.

Heinz

In summary then, anyone agreeing to one of these contracts would be best advised to put a reminder in their diary for 11 months hence (Google calendar will send you an email) so they can write to cancel in plenty of time if that is what they want to do.

JustPassingBy

Heinz wrote: »

In summary then, anyone agreeing to one of these contracts would be best advised to put a reminder in their diary for 11 months hence (Google calendar will send you an email) so they can write to cancel in plenty of time if that is what they want to do.

Definitely. And listen carefully to the conditions which are read to you when taking out the contract, sometimes the infomation is read very quickly. It may be exasperating for the advisor but ask for clarification and repetition.

If you were really wary you could even email them the day afterwards telling them the contract is not to be renewed and specify the date when you wish it to terminate.