o2 offered me free broadband now charging me to leave...

St_Marco

Hi guys. New to the site and thought this was the best place to ask for some advice.

Basically last November (2010) my broadband and phone line contracts were about to expire. My broadband was with o2 and my line with BT.

Trying to save myself a bit of cash I decided that maybe moving them to the same provider would be a good idea.
So had a look around at some various places and got some offers.
O2 said that "IF" I moved my telephone line to them they would offer me 12 months free broadband. Sounded a good deal to me and the other companies couldn't match it.

Spoke to a customer advisor over the phone and went through the usual process of giving the information i.e. names etc..
Then about a day later I got an email saying my application had been declined. I thought this was strange so phoned o2 and asked why it had been rejected, especially considering I already am with them for the broadband. The customer service person said he had no idea why and would escalate it.

Finally got a phone call a few days later from someone at o2 who said that I had failed a credit check and that is why it was rejected.
Now I shouldn't have bad credit so again I found this odd. I asked the guy how I failed a credit check and he couldn't answer. He told me to write to the o2 credit referral team asking them to re-consider and explain the rejection.

So I wrote to them asking why and explained that the deal was only offered if I have both phone and broadband. I even went so far as to say I would be happy to pay for the full 12 months line rental up front.
A week later they email me saying the reason it was rejected was because they think I owe them money from a time when I had an o2 mobile phone contract with them. The amount they think I owe was £20. Now this is totally separate, I don't owe them the money as I moved from o2 to orange AFTER my contract had expired. They eventually agreed they had made a mistake.

Now the thing is after speaking to someone again at o2 they said I have free broadband for 12 months but the telephone line can't go through as he didn't know what to do. After losing patience I decided to renew my telephone line with BT and then a year later sort it all out once and for all.

Sky phone me up today and offer me a deal to move broadband to them and the telephone line and I will have 6 months free and then pay just £7 a month after that because I have the full sky TV package.
This would be good for me because I save money and get the sky anytime+ thing. With the way o2 and BT are I decided it was a good time to move.
Rang BT and said I want to move even though I have a couple of months left and they said no problem, your pay a £6 termination fee, good luck. I thought fair enough.

Ring my free broadband provider o2 and ask for the Mac code so I could start the broadband move.
Get a lady on the phone who then tells me that to move would mean I’d have to pay the remainder of my contract. I said fine, seeing as it is free I owe nothing, no problem. She then informs me that it isn't free and that I will be charged a fee of £48....

She tells me that when I took the 12 months free broadband it was a "RENAWL" of the contract. The offer only applies if I stay for the full 12 months. If I decide to leave the offer no longer counts and will revert back to the terms of the contract the year before.
I state that the original offer was for a telephone line and by moving it I would then receive FREE broadband. I only agreed to that deal because I thought I was getting a telephone line with it.

She responds saying we sent you an email confirming the renewal etc.. I ask what the email address was because I never received it. She then tells me she doesn't know the address as it isn't on record, could she also please take a new email address from me....
As you can imagine at this time I am starting to get the impression they won't let me leave unless I pay them the £48 even if they have no way of justifying it.

I explain to her it is unfair and that the contract was only agreed if the two things were together. She implies that I agreed to only the broadband. I attempt to explain to her why would a company just offer free broadband to someone for 12 months for nothing? They would only offer it if it was alongside something else.

At this point we go around and around until I have enough and say fine I want my Mac code, if you think I owe you money then write to me explaining how.
She agrees. Then orders my Mac code. She then tells me that if I use the Mac code within 7 days of receiving it I will be charged £28 because they require 7 days to "prepare"......

Now I am fuming by now and know the best thing to do is just get off the phone and get the wheels in motion. To stay on the phone and try and argue my case is pointless.

So I have now received the Mac code and have not given it to Sky yet. I will wait the 7 days as that will obviously clear one hurdle.

But with the £48 fee should they be able to charge me that considering the contract should have been none and void? The fact they didn't pick up on it earlier is not my fault. And on top of that the old contrct i was paying £10 a month. With only 2 months left wouldn't it be £20 tops?

The terms actually say "If you want to cancel after the guarantee but before 12 months has passed, you'll have to give us 30 days' notice . And pay for the rest of the time on your contract."
As I pay nothing that would make the final fee 0. At least that is what you would think.

If I cancel can they revert back to the old contract from which they think it was "renewed"? Should i pay the fees? Are they just trying to make excuses to stop me from leaving?

As you can see it is a bit of a mess! Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

visidigi

The broadband is free if you remain in the contract, you break the contract normal fees apply therefore I am afraid the fee does stand if you want to leave - in saying that I actually think its quite a reasonable amount - most are alot higher than that.

The idea that because you pay £0 it should be £0 to break a contract is a little too far fetched - thats like saying because you took out a 0% interest deal and you want to break contract you should be allowed to return used goods for no cost.

It simply doesn't work like that...

Guys_Dad

If you are getting free broadband, why not hang on to it, pay BT a year up front for their discount? It would avoid the hassle and save you money.

Not sure you would get broadband and line rental from Sky for £7 per month even with the free offer. Very willing to be proved wrong, though.

Gordon_Hose

They are a pain to leave. I requested my MAC code the day after my Broadband contract ended, they gave it to me and I gave it to Sky. My phone & broadband were transferred to Sky, all was well.

A week later I get a bill from O2 for £150. So I ring up and say "!!!!!! dudes?!!!"... they explain, get this, that because I didn't call them AGAIN to cancel AFTER I had given my MAC code to Sky that they would charge me for cancelling whilst in contract. The adviser told me that I definitely WOULD have been told to do this by the advisor I spoke to when I requested my MAC code, I categorically stated that I had not been told and he smugly said he would listen back to the recording of the call.

An hour later I get a call back by a sheepish advisor informing me that "as a gesture of goodwill" (LOL!!) they would waive the £150 charge.

St_Marco

Guys_Dad wrote: »

If you are getting free broadband, why not hang on to it, pay BT a year up front for their discount? It would avoid the hassle and save you money.

Not sure you would get broadband and line rental from Sky for £7 per month even with the free offer. Very willing to be proved wrong, though.

No what i meant was that i would get 6 months half price broadband for £3.50 a month then afterwards would be £7. The line renatl would be half price for 6 months so would be £6 then £12 after that.
So basically for the first 6 months it would be £9.50 for line rental and broadband. Then £19 for the final 6 months. There is a similar deal on their website with the 6 month offer but this was an over the phone deal.

Obviously paying for the broadband when i get it free currently would be silly but i only have 2 more free months left. The actual thing that does the most damage yo my wallet is the BT account. With the line rental and call add on's it is around £22 a month before call charges. On average i'd say about £30 a month. If i can save around £10 a month even by paying for broadband then that is a bit of a saving.

Another option is as you mention to go for the BT deal where i pay £120 for the whole year. But then after that i will still pay about £5 a month for the phone package. So that would be an additional £60. Taking the 12 month total to £180 before call charges. Plus i would then also have to pay for broadband as only 2 months remaining.

Where as the Sky deal would see me spend £9.50 for the first 6 months for both line rental and broadband. Meaning £57 for the first 6 months. Then £114 for the final 6 months. Making a total of £171 for the broadband and line rental for the year.

Which would see a saving of £9 and whatever the broadband would cost (maybe £10 x 10 months = £100) so could be a saving of £109 a year. If that makes any sense?

What i have decided to do is to just wait out the 2 months and see what my options are then. Having Sky TV already put's me in a good position to get a good deal from them.

My concern though as explained was the way O2 seem to invent things to try and keep you. Like for example they also mentioned if i didn't return the equipment to them in 10 days they would fine me around £30. So to leave them with 2 months remaining would cost me £48 termination fee, £28 mac code fee if used in the first 7 days. And £30 if i fail to return the equipment within 10 days. A potential fee of £106 just for leaving.

Now my point above was is it fair to charge someone for leaving when the original deal was for a telephone line and broadband. Do they have the right to change the terms and remove the telephone line from the deal and make it about just the broadband?

I don't think so. I think that if the package was for broadband and telephone and one fails then the deal should of been withdrawn. After all if you do package deals at other places you would expect that to happen.

As far as i am concerned O2 dropped the ball and are trying to punish me for trying to leave.

Ofcom recently said that charges should be no more then the monthly price x the months remaining. Which as stated above even if we revert back to the old deal should make it a £20 termination fee. When i said that to the advisor they simply said it doesn't matter as it is their company policy.

Either way i will wait the two months and leave as i feel i should have the choice to move. BT take a lot of flak but they would of charged me only £6 and i pay them as mentioned around £30 a month. You would of expected them to be the ones demanding the big fees to leave.