BE Pro Broadband cancellation difficulties

mollusc_2

Hello,
We recently saw a pretty good deal from talktalk for broadband and line rental which would cut our payments for these in half and give us unlimited anytime calls.

We filled in the talktalk web form on the 29th March and that part went really smoothly... a couple of emails, a letter or two, the modem arrived and kapow we were active on 12th April.

Talktalk said I would not be charged twice and everything would be handled.

On 30th March I had a strange email from BE who was the then broadband provider ( the line rental was with BT ) explaining the service was going to be terminated and if I wanted to reconnect I would have to pay a reconnection fee. I telephoned them and asked when the service was to be terminated and they said 12th April as that is when the BT line was to be disconnected.

I wrote to BE registered office on 30th March giving 30 days notice.

This week I have received an email from BE for next months bill for the full amount. As this seemed a little high I contacted them via their support chat console which was the best option as I have a pretty bad chest infection right now.

Their assistant said the service had not been cancelled and I had to call them. I told them I had a chest infection and I could not talk very well right now. I explained I had given 30 days written notice to their registered office address. Their assistant said they do not accept notice in writing and I had to call them. I ask for the chat console to be passed to their billing team. No, this cannot be done apparently but they could call be back. Still not much use to me as that would still involve having to talk.

After much pressing I now have an email address.

It seems to me BE are imposing unnecessary difficulties to prevent my departure. To my understanding written notice can be served on any uk limited company at their registered office.

Their claims seem to be a cop out to me and I do not see how they can avoid accepting notice in writing only accepting notice by telephone... I presume it's their way of a last attempt to keep you when they have you on the phone.

I always prefer to give notice in writing to any utility companies as it prevents the phone call offers of the triple minutes with the free ringtone offers... if they offered that in the first place then there would be no need to switch.

So has anyone else been in this situation with BE or have any advice on whether it is right that notice in writing can be ignored and wht the best way to proceed might be from here?

Thanks,
Shane

shifty27

In my experience it is always best to phone up and pretend to want to cancel when the 12month contract is up and moan about broadband being cheaper elsewhere, your a loyal customer etc etc.

They usually (depending on what department you speak to) offer you a lower monthly rate whilst staying on the monthly rolling contract.

If you wouldn't have been happy with what they offered you to stay as a customer you just say you want the mac code.

In you situation I'd wait until your healthy and give them a call, state that you gave the 30 days notice via writing to head office and would like any charges etc taken off. Usually it only rolls over to a monthly rolling contract after you contract expires and they can't legally automatically renew you a new 12 month contract without you agreeing in some form (in writing, over the phone, or agreed in original t&c's at time of signing contract)....


Hope this helps

mollusc_2

Hi shifty27,
you are correct in the contract now being on a monthly rolling, the online control panel states the contract as expired so there is no hold there.

It seems really a process that should be so much easier really

No doubt it will end in a phone call when I am better.

Best Wishes,
Shane

stilltheone

I hope that you don't regret moving from Be to TalkTalk. Perhaps you can also look at the O2 offers before committing.

mollusc_2

Hi stilltheone,
to be honest it was all down to money so if there are any regrets I will have to just bite them!

The pre-switch line rental and broadband was coming in at over £40 a month.

The current one is just under £20 a month for line rental, broadband and unlimited calls.

I accept it is a lot cheaper and there is a possibility of potholes ahead. For the last week its been spot on so hopefully it remains the same and the switch and savings made are worth it.

Best Regards,
Shane

shifty27

stilltheone wrote: »

I hope that you don't regret moving from Be to TalkTalk. Perhaps you can also look at the O2 offers before committing.

I agree with the above poster.

Be are pretty much the sister company of O2 but are a bit more expensive than O2 Broadband becuase they give Real unlimited internet, whereas O2 now have Traffic management and 100gb and 250gb Fair usage policy's in place.

If your an O2 mobile customer the all rounder for £17.50 p/m and get first 3 months free and £80 cashback on quidco... search google for "O2 broadband quidco".

or the cheaper option would be Plusnet, they have just picked up an award at uSwitch Broadband Customer Satisfaction survery as no.1 beating O2 and Be.

have a google for "plusnet" and have a look at their broadband only page.

Not trying to put you off but have a search of the forum for talktalk and see how many complaints there are about there broadband service.

I think you best option would be to ask for a discount on monthly line rental with BE and stay on a monthly rolling contract, then you can leave when ever you like without a charge and have more haggling room than being in a fresh 12month contract.

Hope this helps.

shifty27

mollusc wrote: »

Hi stilltheone,
to be honest it was all down to money so if there are any regrets I will have to just bite them!

The pre-switch line rental and broadband was coming in at over £40 a month.

The current one is just under £20 a month for line rental, broadband and unlimited calls.

I accept it is a lot cheaper and there is a possibility of potholes ahead. For the last week its been spot on so hopefully it remains the same and the switch and savings made are worth it.

Best Regards,
Shane

I think Talktalk (correct me if i'm wrong) are currently the cheapest provider for bt line rental, broadband and calls out of all different companies. However hopefully you don't have to speak to customer service as one would imagine they hire overseas customer service agents who are the cheapest, but have very little knowledge other than reading off screens and have very strong accents - which are hard to understand at the best of times let alone if you may have a problem with internet/phoneline.

but it should be fine as long as you are a casual broadband user e.g. just browsing websites and viewing emails, maybe youtube and facebook.

If you do heavy downloading like films, music etc then you may find the cheap broadband supplier not upto scratch.

Hope the change works good for you!