BT Locked Into 18 Month Broadband Contract

k2150

One week ago I signed up for BT Broadband, the contract was for 18 months. To cut a long story short I'm not happy with the service, and 7 days later I want to leave. I have been told by BT staff that there is no cooling off period and that the contract is binding from the day the service was activated. This seems to be flaunting the Office of Fair Trading's Distance Selling Regulations and I'm wondering what steps to take next, I have written to them saying I want to leave, they have not replied.

Ypaymore

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=13408

k2150

Ypaymore wrote: »

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=13408

This is not in accordance with Distance Selling Regulaions as set out by The Office of Fair Trading,


The key features of the regulations are:

• you must give consumers clear information including details of the goods or services offered, delivery arrangements and payment, the supplier's details and the consumer's cancellation right before they buy (known as prior information)
• you must also provide this information in writing
• the consumer has a cooling-off period of seven working days.

BT do not give the consumer a 7 day cooling off period


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steveE2

The key features of the regulations are:

• you must give consumers clear information including details of the goods or services offered, delivery arrangements and payment, the supplier's details and the consumer's cancellation right before they buy (known as prior information)
• you must also provide this information in writing
• the consumer has a cooling-off period of seven working days.

BT do not give the consumer a 7 day cooling off period

BT do give the consumer a 7 day cooling off period as they must, however the cooling off period starts from the date of order BUT ceases when the service starts.

(3) Subject to regulation 9, prior to the conclusion of a contract for the supply of services, the supplier shall inform the consumer in writing or in another durable medium which is available and accessible to the consumer that, unless the parties agree otherwise, he will not be able to cancel the contract under regulation 10 once the performance of the services has begun with his agreement.

It may not be fair,(and I agree ,how do you know how a service will perform until you can actually use it)but unless the company offers a trial period, as Talktalk O2 sometimes Sky and others, there is no choice other than to continue with the service or pay a cancellation fee,you dont say which BB pack you ordered but cancellatioin fees are here.
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=26746&s_cid=con_FURL_termcharges

k2150

What BT are offering could never be considered a cooling off period, it is simply the right to cancel a service before the service begins. This is not cooling-off where the user has tested the service, found it unsuitable and wants to leave. This is the way I interpret the Office of Fair tradings DSR and I would question BT's right to deny the subscriber the right to leave within 7 days. BT's contract is clearly a way for them to avoid DSR, locking the consumer into an 18 month contract.

I was with O2 broadband before this who had a 30 day cooling off period before being committed to a contract. Then moved on to Virgin Media who also had a 30 day cooling off period. As far as I know BT are the only UK ISP to pull these kind of tactics,

I did read somewhere that one subscriber who wanted to leave their contract after 7 days told BT "I'm not paying you, so take me to court", BT didn't persue the matter, he was released from his contract. Maybe I should do the same thing, because I certainly have no intention of paying BT for a service I dont want for the next 18 months ...


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Mark_In_Hampshire

I believe the above is right too. This has nothing to do with Distance Selling Regulations.

Virgin Media has a 30 day happiness guarantee, as it were, which is in addition to your statutory rights, but nobody needs to offer that.

Your plan therefore should be to wait for any material change to the terms and conditions (e.g. the price) which means you can reject that change to the terms and have the contract nulled without penalty.

k2150

Thanks, that may be something I can use in the future, but I want out from BT now, I ordered their broadband service online so I'm pretty sure it does fall under the DSR?

Maybe a visit to my local CAB can tell me what's what!

k2150

I would prefer talking about how I get out rather than why, listing my grievances with BT would only cause this thread go off-topic, I'll just say I'm not happy with the quality of their service, thanks.

HappyMJ

k2150 wrote: »

I would prefer talking about how I get out rather than why, listing my grievances with BT would only cause this thread go off-topic, I'll just say I'm not happy with the quality of their service, thanks.

You could as you say refuse to pay then defend it in court if they decided to take you to court and they usually don't. I wouldn't expect that they would welcome you back as a customer for a good few years but there's plenty of other providers.

k2150

espresso wrote: »

Well to quote you from another thread:

"Always read the small print, and always read the fair usage policies of any ISP before signing up ..." here

You are bound by the contractual terms that you have agreed to.

The service has been provided now and you can't simply say that you want to get out now without pay the penalty!

This is not about reading the small print, this is about whether the small print is legal & binding, I may be wrong but I don't think it is.

My contention is that BT's contract contravenes the Office of Fair Tradings Distance Selling Regulations. If the contract contravenes DSR it is not legal & binding. Im have no intention of paying BT beyond my first month, what they choose to do after that is up to them ... my next stop is my local Law Center.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Do keep us updated. Personally I'm not convinced this is a DSR issue, but, if that legislation applies from the data service starts, this has some quite major implications - for example, you could have a choice of say 3G, cable and ADSL broadband. If you go with ADSL and it proves to be pants, then you could exit for nothing and have 3G or cable instead - that would be an enormous advantage to the consumer.