Problem with BT - advice please

AlatMartins

On returning from a year abroad I needed internet access.
Only BT was available at my rented address.
At the time (a year ago) BT was pushing 18-month contracts, but as I knew the house I was renting was up for sale, I got BT to agree that if I moved within the 18 months, BT would transfer the balance of the 18-month contract to my new address without penalty.

One year on, the house I'm renting has been sold, so I have to move, I called BT who agreed to waive the £156 penalty by transferring the service to my new address.

But on checking my new address BT found there's no line there, so I must pay a new connection fee of £130 AND take out a new 12-month contract.

This is the third time in a 5 years that BT has forced a connection fee out of me, I'm sick of it when all it involves is a plug at the exchange, and I want shot of them.

Is the best way to simply cancel my direct debit and let them chase me for the £156 penalty, OR, pay the penalty then sue BT in the small claims court for failing to live up to their promise? Or has anyone any other suggestion?

Heinz

It's not known as rip-off Britian without good reason!

DVardysShadow

So how much of the 18 months does your contract have left to run? And if you paid the penalty and started afresh at the new property what would the deal be - £130 connection and 12 months contract?

It does not look too bad to me - if you would have to pay £130 connection, that is fair enough, given that there is no service. If you have to take a 12 month contract for a normal connection, then you are not being treated unfairly in relation to any other customer. It is only if the remainder of your 18 months gets lumped on top of the 12 months that you start to become hard done by. I am assuming that the 12 months and the remainder of the 18 months would be concurrent.

AlatMartins

Six months out of the 18 to run.

My "problem" with BT is they got me to accept the last deal only because BT agreed I could move the service before the end of the 18-month contract without penalty and without reconnection fee.

To repeat myself, knowing I'd be moving before the end of the 18 months, I accepted their deal ONLY if I could move without penalty and without reconnection fee.

Now that I am moving, they've chosen to forget that and are trying to hit me with a new reconnection fee and a new (12 month) contract.

This is ESPECIALLY unacceptable because not only have BT reneged on the deal, but also I'm in the UK only another 6 months before returning abroad.