MSE News: Escape BT contracts & beat price rises

NittyGritty

its correct sadly, as you paid the line rental off for the full year no increase will apply to you,(you can of course leave at the end of the contract) you cannot cancel broadband without paying penaltys as the price isnt increasing

you can Only cancel your landline contract penalty free (assuming you havent paid it all upfront)

llpllp

Just got an e-mail from BT:

===
Your BT account number GB****4083

Hello,

We're changing our prices. But standard line rental, calls to UK landlines and the cost of our Unlimited Anytime Plan won't change again until 2013.

... etc ..
===

I would really like to switch to another provider. I checked my tariff and I should be allowed to cancel the contract without paying penalties. I gave a call to BT to request MAC code, but I was told that I cannot cancel now without paying penalties, but I should be able to do it in December and I should receive another notification. Now I'm puzzled. Are they lying?

richpw

As per the below, Broadband prices are increasing too..

[FONT=&quot]Broadband Pricing

Service / Products From (monthly) To (monthly)
Broadband Option 1 £17.00 £17.80
Broadband Option 2 £21.50 £22.50
Broadband Option 3 £25.60 £26.80
Infinity Option 1 £20.00 £21.00
Infinity Option 2 £25.60 £26.80
Broadband Option 1 and Unlimited Weekend Plan £14.50 £15.20
Broadband Option 3 and Unlimited Anytime Plan £28.00 £29.40
Infinity and Unlimited Anytime Plan £28.00 £29.40[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]Standard Calls and Line Pricing[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Standard line rental charge will go from £13.90 to £14.60 a month if you pay by Direct Debit.* (these changes won't apply to existing Line Rental Saver customers).[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Payment Processing Fee will go from £1.80 to £1.89 a month for those not paying by Direct Debit through a bank account.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Set-up fee for calls from landlines or with Broadband Talk will go from 12.5p to 13.1p a call.*†[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Rate for calls you make to UK landlines during the day will go from 7.6p to 7.95p a minute and for calls made in the evening will go from 1p to 1.05p a minute. *†[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]* These changes won't apply if you're on BT Basic.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]† Inclusive calls of up to an hour on calling plans will not be affected.[/FONT]

The following is taken from the terms and conditions, which shows that you can cancel without charge...

[FONT=&quot]Changing the terms (notification)[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot]Sometimes, we will need to change the charges or the terms and conditions of a service covered by this agreement. We will publish details of all changes online at [link removed][/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot]We will also let you know about a price increase or a change to the terms and conditions that we believe is likely to cause you material disadvantage at least one month before it happens.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] We will do this in writing (which may include by letter, email, with your bill or in any other permitted method). We will let you know about other changes to prices and our terms and conditions with your next available bill or by an alternative method if this is simpler.[/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot]Sometimes we may need to make changes to our charges or the terms and conditions of a service which are outside of our control – for example to meet legal, regulatory or financial requirements. If we need to make changes for these reasons, we will let you know as soon as we can, but we will not have to meet the timescales detailed in paragraph 50, and you will not be able to end any affected service early without charge. [/FONT]
4. [FONT=&quot]If we let you know about a change to the price or the terms and conditions of a service which is to your material disadvantage, you will not have to pay a charge if you decide to end that service early, unless the [/FONT][FONT=&quot][link removed][/FONT][FONT=&quot] says otherwise[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. However, once we have told you about such a change, using one of the methods detailed in paragraph 50, you must let us know within 10 days that you want to end that service by giving us the written notice set out in paragraph 21. Only the services that are directly affected by the changes we make can be ended without paying an early termination charge for that service and this agreement will continue to apply to any other services that are not affected by those changes.[/FONT]

philip

Had my email today,just phoned BT and cancelled contract and got MIG code.
Seems to good to be true.
Must get best broadband call bundle now.

grimlea

Hi there,
I'm wondering if anybody can advise me if I can get out of my BT contract
My current BT deal is as follows
Phone - Weekend Calls
Broadband - Option 2
Vision - BT Vision Bronze Package with ESPN & Sky Sports 1&2 (I seemed to get onto an old pricing package for the sports I currently pay £12.30 extra per month for the sports)

Here are the details of the price increases BT have quoted me (I'm not sure about the Vision will I be able to cancel my vision because of the increase to sky sports?)

The package I'm on for the sky sports 1&2 at £12.30 is the Total Sports Max package

Standard Calls and Line Pricing

• Standard line rental charge will go from £13.90 to £14.60 a month if you pay by Direct Debit.* (these changes won't apply to existing Line Rental Saver customers).
• Payment Processing Fee will go from £1.80 to £1.89 a month for those not paying by Direct Debit through a bank account.
• Set-up fee for calls from landlines or with Broadband Talk will go from 12.5p to 13.1p a call.*†
• Rate for calls you make to UK landlines during the day will go from 7.6p to 7.95p a minute and for calls made in the evening will go from 1p to 1.05p a minute. *†

* These changes won't apply if you're on BT Basic.
† Inclusive calls of up to an hour on calling plans will not be affected.
Broadband Pricing

Service / Products From (monthly) To (monthly)
Broadband Option 1 £17.00 to £17.80
Broadband Option 2 £21.50 to £22.50
Broadband Option 3 £25.60 to £26.80
Infinity Option 1 £20.00 to £21.00
Infinity Option 2 £25.60 to £26.80
Broadband Option 1 and Unlimited Weekend Plan £14.50 to £15.20
Broadband Option 3 and Unlimited Anytime Plan £28.00 to £29.40
Infinity and Unlimited Anytime Plan £28.00 to £29.40

Vision price changes

Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 pricing (these changes will not apply to customers on our 24 month Sky Sports special offers)
From 3 December 2011 we're putting up the price of our stand-alone Sky Sports viewing add-ons. If you take either Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports 2 on its own, the price will change to £12.90 a month. If you take Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 together the new price will be £18.20 a month.
Vision Value Pack customers upgraded to the BT Vision Unlimited Package.
If you're a Bronze or Silver Value Pack customer, we'll be upgrading you to the new Vision Unlimited package from 14 September 2011 onwards. This means you'll have access to more of our On Demand entertainment at no extra cost.

Gadgetman

NittyGritty wrote: »

yes i used the complaint email got a reply next day, stating i could leave without charge, but not until the 13th of nov, (when i get my paper bill) through post. am planning on moving to sky as i have broadband with them so will save £5 having both

I can't find an email address, only have phone, chat or postal address.
Can you let me know the email address please? Thanks!

Edit:
Don't worry about the email address thanks. I contacted them via chat and they immediately told me to ring their options team on 0800 800030, which I did.

It seemed to easy to start. Craig told me no problem, I would be issued a MAC code and would have no charges to pay at all!
I queried this with him and said I wasn't comfortable only having a phone conversation as a record of that. I didn't want BT coming back to me after cancellation insisting I owed cancellation fees. So he checked with a manager and changed his story, I can transfer line rental for free but not the broadband and call billing package. Tried the "bundle" argument to no avail.

At least I'll be saving myself around £30 by not being charged for the line rental transfer. But leaves a pretty bad taste.

WOW! As I was writing this, Craig rang me back. He told me he and his manager had discussed this further as they weren't comfortable with the reply they gave me. He said they've checked further and because I'm cancelling due to the 3rd December increases there will be no "Hold-to-term" charges incurred. I asked if that could be confirmed in writing and he told me I should get that with the email providing the MAC code, and that he'd made a note on my file accordingly. Well done Craig for being so conscientious.

I'll update once all resolved advising the outcome...

NittyGritty

Gadgetman wrote: »

I can't find an email address, only have phone, chat or postal address.
[EMAIL="residential.billing@bt.com"]residential.billing@bt.com[/EMAIL] this is the one i got reply from, good luck

this is the reply i had from them
Dear *****,

Thank you for your email.

I am so sorry that you have found it necessary to complain to BT.

I can confirm that you are able to terminate your BT account without charge due to the December changes. The time frame for you to be able to do this begins from the date of your next bill (13/11/11) for 10 days. You will need to contact us within this time frame to let us know you wish to transfer your service away from BT, we can then place the order for your service to be stopped. A final bill is issued to you 14 days after your service is stopped.

If you wish to transfer your service to an alternative supplier you can make arrangements for this during the timeframe I have explained, you would then need to contact us to let us know that you have done this so we can ensure that you are not billed early termination charges.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Yours sincerely,

Samantha Vickers

BT Resolution Team

Complaints Advisor

Lady_Spender

Grrr. I've just spoken to a very rude, ignorant CS adviser at BT. I can cancel my BT Line Rental as it's included in the price hike, but I'm stuck with the Broadband.
I was desperate to leave BT as I've found them generally rude, unfriendly & unhelpful.

I'm not going to make a huge saving by leaving BT Line Rental, but I'm going to leave all the same. I would rather pay a little bit extra and get decent service.

Lady_Spender

After the above call I thought I'd try emailing BT to see if I could get something in writing from them. BT called me back and put me through to the Customer Options Team. The adviser I spoke to spoke to the Superviser & they confirmed that I could leave BT Line Rental & Calling Plans as these are being affected by the price increase.
I can't leave the Broadband as this is not increasing in price, and if I wished to leave I would be 'held to term', ie, charged.
The adviser said I need to wait until I get an official letter from BT re price increases, and that I then have 15 (!!??) days in which I can cancel my line rental & calling plan.

It's worth saying however, that when i spoke to the Billing Team they regarded Line Rental as being the basis of the whole package, and as such I should be able to cancel the whole package.

Typical BT- don't know their you know what from their elbow.

Mr_Steve

Hi all

I have just informed BT that I wish to cancel (in view of their price hike) and will now be using Orange. Yesterday I told them that I was thinking of changing - they told me there would be a £128 cancellation charge, whereupon I told them about the Article on MSE - the BT rep put me on hold, came back a bit later and said there would be no charge. The man I spoke to today said there will be a cancellation fee of £84 for broadband but £0 for "telephony". I said I will dispute any charges and quoted the article - I will update here for anyone who is interested.