BT Cancellation-I'm feeling ripped off, and confused

bev21

I have been with BT a couple of years, through necessity (I needed a phoneline, they are the only company in my area that supply them) and have never found them all that great customer service.
At the beginning of the year when my broadband contract (with O2) was up for renewal I decided to shop about, and settled on Talk Talk (don't boo, they were the cheapest combined package (home phone + broadband), and so far, customer service has been much better than BT!).
I phoned BT about a month ago after noticing my Direct Debit had taken a jump, and after sorting that out on the phone, asked to be put through to the cancellations so I could ask about charges etc, before I signed up to Talk Talk. The lovely Customer Service rep on the phone advised there would be no charges, I wasn't under contract and I happily put the phone down.
This week, I ordered my new service from Talk Talk, get a phonecall from O2 to advice me about returning equipment etc, fine. Today, i get a letter from BT saying due to 'termination charges' I will be owe them £26.90?
I've just had two conversations with two different BT cancellation advisers. The first thought that if she shouted at me, I might understand better, I told her I would call back. The second had me in tears after telling me it was my own tough luck for not checking my contract that I signed up for (about 3 years ago, by phone, my memory is not that fantastic I'm afraid).
My main issue, is that they are saying in October 2010 I 'renewed' my contract with them, but this was by ignoring them? My minimum term was up, and according to BT, I would have received 'either a letter or email' (although they couldn't tell me which) saying I was tied in for another year. How can this be legal? As for as I can see, if you 'agree' to a contract for 12 months, there must be some sort of conversation take place?
I know that for £26.90, it maybe seems like small fry, but I'm a student, I can't afford to pay that on top of a normal phone bill in a month.
Can anyone help? Its totally got to me, and I'm not generally one for writing on forums, but I really feel like I've been done by BT (and judging by other threads I'm definitely not the only one).

Bev

Heinz

If I'm reading your rant correctly, you're on BT's Unlimited Evening & Weekend calls plan having previously agreed to take that via a renewable contract (in order to get it free instead of for £2.99/month) and that is the aspect making you liable to early termination charges.

As part of that contract, you should receive a letter from BT about a month before the contract is due to auto-renew each year inviting you to make contact if you did not want it to be renewed (this is the 'ignoring them' aspect of your post).

I cannot say whether you did receive such a letter, whether one was sent or whether one was lost in the post. That (you say) you did not receive such a letter is the aspect to concentrate on. If you are adamant about that and wish to argue your case, I'd suggest you adapt inclement's letter accordingly as a starting point.

Buzby

Afraid, NOT receiving the letter (advising the renewal) is no grounds to dispute the renewal. It is up to the customer to Opt out of Free Unlimited Evening & Weekend calls, and always has been. If you do not, then the restriction renews. You were never 'out of contract' at any stage, so I've no idea why you believe this.

For those that took this issue firther (to OFCOM), they ruled that BT should - as a courtesy - advise the customer of the renewal, but stated non-delivery of this letter (if sent) were no grounds for appealing, as the onus remained with the customer to tell BT their requirements had changed.

Most complainants were looking for a 'get out' because they either failled to remember, did not read and/or understand what they were agreeing to, or simply wanted to get as much 'free calls' as possible and worry about the downside later.

I never took the 'deal' as the downside far outweighted the 'benefit' of Mon-Fri off-peak calls. If you did the same, you wouldn't be complaining now! I hate supporting BT's position, but they have always made that caveat clear, and OFCOM acknowledge this.

kirkychic

We are moving from BT to O2 as we are fed up paying top rate for a lousy broadband service advertising 20meg and giving us less than 2 (we already had to cancel BT Vision as the broadband speed consistantly fell below the 2 meg necessary to run BT Vision), A BT engineer came out after a complaint in writing and he got it up to 4 meg, sadly this dropped after a few weeks so we have moved to a cheaper phone and broadband option, we might not get a better speed but it will cost less. BT have charged us £137 for getting out of the broadband contract and £40 for the phone. I think that it is riddiculous that they should be allowed to keep you on rolling contracts after the initial 12 months is up it should be a month to month contract and not an opt out of a rolling 12 months all the time. We were never at any point told our phone was on a rolling 12 month contract because of evening and weekend calls either and have never had a letter regarding renewal. BT Total Broadband however do call annually to renew for another year and often offered a discount. However given that the service is poor and we have already had an engineer out to try and fix this and this has failed do we have a case here to refute these charges. I have been with BT for 6 year or more and feel that this is a out of order. The cant supply what I want so I have the right to go elsewhere for a better service surely.

Incidently we are currently getting 4 meg with 02 and anytime calls for half the price of what we were paying with BT Total Broadband with evening and weekend calls. I notice that there was an ofcom ruling on charges but doesnt seem to include bt total broadband.

Heinz

I doubt you'll get much improvement - the wires over which the broadband is supplied are the same whoever the ISP is (it's likely to be you're just too far from the exchange for decent speed ADSL broadband).

asbokid

Are there any LLU operators with kit installed at your local exchange?

The LLU operators are likely to be using DSLAMs that are newer that BT's own kit, supporting ADSL2+. This uses an improved modulation scheme, increased rate of bits per symbol, and likely a higher bandwidth for the end user.

You can find what services are available at your exchange from http://www.samknows.com

macman

bev21 wrote: »

I have been with BT a couple of years, through necessity (I needed a phoneline, they are the only company in my area that supply them) and have never found them all that great customer service.
At the beginning of the year when my broadband contract (with O2) was up for renewal I decided to shop about, and settled on Talk Talk (don't boo, they were the cheapest combined package (home phone + broadband), and so far, customer service has been much better than BT!).
I phoned BT about a month ago after noticing my Direct Debit had taken a jump, and after sorting that out on the phone, asked to be put through to the cancellations so I could ask about charges etc, before I signed up to Talk Talk. The lovely Customer Service rep on the phone advised there would be no charges, I wasn't under contract and I happily put the phone down.
This week, I ordered my new service from Talk Talk, get a phonecall from O2 to advice me about returning equipment etc, fine. Today, i get a letter from BT saying due to 'termination charges' I will be owe them £26.90?
I've just had two conversations with two different BT cancellation advisers. The first thought that if she shouted at me, I might understand better, I told her I would call back. The second had me in tears after telling me it was my own tough luck for not checking my contract that I signed up for (about 3 years ago, by phone, my memory is not that fantastic I'm afraid).
My main issue, is that they are saying in October 2010 I 'renewed' my contract with them, but this was by ignoring them? My minimum term was up, and according to BT, I would have received 'either a letter or email' (although they couldn't tell me which) saying I was tied in for another year. How can this be legal? As for as I can see, if you 'agree' to a contract for 12 months, there must be some sort of conversation take place?
I know that for £26.90, it maybe seems like small fry, but I'm a student, I can't afford to pay that on top of a normal phone bill in a month.
Can anyone help? Its totally got to me, and I'm not generally one for writing on forums, but I really feel like I've been done by BT (and judging by other threads I'm definitely not the only one).

Bev

Oh no they are not-you can choose from dozens of other providers, even if you do not have any LLU options on your exchange.

gree0115

Hi Bev21,

Did you use a MAC code to transfer to TalkTalk? This enables you to move providers and is not classed as a termination. When we moved to Plusnet we used a MAC code but BT still charged us the £25 for line termination which was incorrect as we had used a MAC code. A friend of mine also moved away from BT with a MAC code and also got the £25 charge. It appears they try to sneak it in and see if you notice. It may not be the £25 termination charge but the figure you quote seems quite similar.

Cheers,

David

Littlered81

Hi Bev,

I have had all sorts of nightmares in the past with BT, and also recently received a charge of nearly £30 for ending my contract.

BT charge you this if you don't request a MAC code from them. In addition if you request a MAC code but don't use it, you still get charged. I complained tirelessly about how ridiculous this was and couldn't really establish from anyone at BT exactly what it was they were doing to deserve £30, but after eight weeks of complaints about this and another issue, I have still had to pay the £30.
Unfortunately BT's way of allowing you to cancel their broadband is also terrible. They will just write and say "glad you're happy, we're extending your contract for 12 months unless you to tell us not to". Also had issues with them over getting the timing right of telling them I didn't want to renew my contract, when I first rang I was told I was too early, but that I had to do it one calendar month in advance or I'd be renewed anyway! Apparently they don't have to prove you received your letter or email about your renewal, just have to have something on their system to say they sent it to you.

adam918

Completely agree with everyone else! BT what a bunch of scamsters!

I've just moved over to o2 after being well over my 12 month contract point, i spoke to their cancellation dept and asked for my MAC address which after a bit of 'we can offer you discounts' eventually got it. Sorted out my o2 and was looking forward to a better service, cheaper monthly bills and quidco cashback!
Received a call today from BT confirming that i'm moving to o2 and then the "oh there will be a 57 pound termination charge to be paid"

Where do they get these magical figures from lol fair top say i will be questioning it once that statement arrives!