MSE News: Escape BT contracts & beat price rises

Lady_Spender

Quick tip that's obvious, but easily forgotten - If you do speak to BT and they agree to cancel your package without any charges, make sure you get a note of the persons name & the date & time of the call. That way if you do find that you later get charged, you can give them the call details and they'll be able to listen to the call themselves ...and you can request a copy of the transcript.

ianeverton

Well got all my information to hand ready to give notice to not accept the price increase.
Stated the case gave all the info then was on hold for a good twenty minutes. When to CS came back he obviously had a manager sat on his shoulder as he was stumbling and would occasionally stop to hear her advice.
I am on BB Option 1 with unlimited weekend plan.
CS said i could ditch the landline as that was increasing but that BB option wasnt. I was adamant i was correct, rising from £14.50 to £15.20 he was adamant it wasnt. Bit of a mexican stand off but he offered me a reduction on both which would cost less than the original combined cost.
I said no thanks i will check my information and get back to them.
I have since been on the BT price change webpage
https://www.pricechange.bt.com/login
and put in my info and it comes up with the BB price rise as i had read elsewhere.
Any ideas of what action to take if they keep saying that there will not be a price rise? My ten days run out on the 26th Oct from my email notification.
I will not let it rest.

Ypaymore

Heres the Dec 2011 price rises www.bt.com/pricechanges including the broadband ones.

Greenow

Greenow wrote: »

I received notification of the price increase from BT yesterday.

I had this converstaion with them online:

You today notified me of a price increase. I advise you that I do not accept this increase and wish to exit my contract, penalty free. Please confirm that when an alternate supplier takes over my service, then I shall not be liable for any exit penalties from my contract.
Rahul: Hello. I'm Rahul. Thanks for that information, I'll check it and get back to you in a moment.
Rahul: Hello ****
Rahul: Good morning
****: Hello and Good Morning
Rahul: Please give me a minute, while I check the details for you.
Rahul: Sorry to keep you waiting.
****: No problem
Rahul: I have checked the account and can confirm that you are in a contract for the broadband. As per terms of the changes in the price, if you cancel the service within 15 days after the notification, the charges can be waived off.
****: Many thanks. That is the entire landline and broadband package?
Rahul: Sure.
****: Can you provide me with a MAC code please?
Rahul: Please contact the team on 0800 800 130 for closing the service within 15 days after you have received the notification.
Rahul: This team can only close the account and issue the MAC code for you. It is the customers option team, 0800 800 030 (sorry, not 0800 800 130).
****: Ok, I will do that. Many thanks for your assistance
Rahul: You are welcome.

I've just phoned for my MAC code and also sought additional confirmation that no charges will be incurred.
I have been told that:
- Because I pay the saver line rental (1 year in advance) my line rental price is not increasing (and they would not refund the unused portion anyway!)
- Because I have anytime calls, my call price is not increasing
- Broadband prices will not be increasing on 3rd December

Because of these factors (and despite what I was told in chat), BT insist that they will enforce the contract against me and charge me all the penalties if I switch

I filed a complaint about the contradictory advice, and made sure I got the phone call information down in writing that I had been assured that I will face no price increase on 3rd December for my landline or broadband. BT gave me the following reply:

Thank you for your email.

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

I have checked your account and I can confirm that your prices are not increasing. As you pay line rental saver you are unaffected by the line rental changes. Your broadband and calling package is a bundle offer, which is also unaffected by the change. There are certain stand alone service which are changing, however your services will not be affected.

I trust this clarifies the situation, if there is anything else I can help with please do not hesitate to let me know.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Yours sincerely,

Samantha Vickers

BT Resolution Team

Complaints Advisor

So they are totally clear that my Broadband price is not increasing. I still dont believe them though because....

ianeverton wrote: »

I have since been on the BT price change webpage
https://www.pricechange.bt.com/login
and put in my info and it comes up with the BB price rise as i had read elsewhere.

....when I put my details in here, it tells me that my Broadband will increase from £28 per month to £29.40 per month.

torialou

So my BT package is:
Unlimited weekend plan calling
BT total Broadband Option 2
BT vision bronze pack.

With the price rises I phoned to try and leave my contract without penalty (I have 12 months left out of 24). I am sick of not being able to watch on demand tv and my broadband dropping out. Phone call was awful. The woman claimed to have no idea about the section in the terms on conditions that related to being able to leave without penalty due to price charges. So was long and painful call with me reading out their terms and conditions and extracts from the MSE page and also involved me being on hold for the best part of 15 minutes. She eventually informed me that I could only cancel the line rental/call package part - which I was afraid would happen after reading this forum. So i Asked her what my buy out price would be (since I think I just want to leave anyway, whatever it costs!), which she then subsequently emailed me. I agreed to speak to technical services one last time to try and sort out my problems (she had investigated and had been told there that may be a problem with my line) which I agreed to, but when she tried to transfer me over, she cut me off. So that annoyed me even more. I have just written the following email complaint to BT. I guess I will see what I get back.
Was really hoping I would be able to leave BT's crappy service!

I called 0800800030 in order to request the cancellation of my BT package, without charge or penalty as detailed in clause 52 of BTs terms and conditions, due to the notification of price changes I received this week. I was informed that I could only cancel the line rental and calling plan as the other parts of package are not affected by the price rise. However, when I login to check my price change here: https://www.pricechange.bt.com/login the price increase is described as an increase to my package - not just my line rental. In fact, if I cease my line rental in line with your terms and conditions due to the prices rises, you will not be able to provide me with a service at all. BT sold me a 'package', not separate services, therefore I should be able to cancel the 'package' since the services are dependant on each other and all of my 'services' are therefore directly affected by the price increases. Please can you advise me on this matter. Could you
also please advise me of the minimum cost (early cancellation fee) if I choose to cancel my contract anyway? The lady on the telephone emailed me to advise that this charge would be 198.15GBP - however, based on the information on your website, I calculated it to be approx 171GBP. I explained to the lady that the service I am provided with from BT has been poor and that I will likely be leaving BT anyway, whether I can cancel with no penatly or not. I cannot watch on demand TV (I get constant VO4 error messages) and my broadband is constantly dropping out. She attempted to put me through to technical help for a last opportunity at sorting out my issues, and unfortunatley managed to cut me off instead. So I am fed up, would like to leave and would like confirmation of what my options are. Please provide this to me in writing by email, not via the telephone.
Many thanks in antcipation of your help.

annayeti

Hi all,

We decided to leave BT for o2 over the weekend because of this increase.

Rung up BT, they accepted it, but not before offering to knock 3quid off line rental. I was adamant we wanted to leave and pushed it through. Also arranged everything with o2.

Low and behold, OH phones me at work today and tells me BT are requesting 24quid termination fees. They had accepted I could leave without a fee when I rung at the weekend - the guy I spoke to was British.

Rung up now and they put me through to someone in India who informed me that the price rise was just the VAT increase and so all operators were increasing by the same amount.

I said, I don't care what the increase was for, after informing him I didn't think it was a VAT increase, but that I wanted to leave as per the Term cited here, without any termination fees, which had already been agreed at the weekend.

He then put me on hold, came back and told me no such term existed and he was looking at the TCs.

Being at work I said I will ring back later with the Term, even though he told me there is no point because the term doesn't exist.

Has anyone else had a similar situation? There is no way we're paying them termination fees when we don't have to.

Heinz

Unfortunately, Indian personnel are poorly trained (they're employed because they're cheap) and the one you have had contact from is talking rubbish.

One for the BT company represenative to take ownership of methinks.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Greenow

Summary of details I have posted so far:
BT tell me on live chat that I can terminate my contract penalty free.
BT tell me on telephone that I cannot terminate my contract penalty free because they are not increasing my broadband fees
I complain, and BT email me and again reiterate that my broadband fees will not increase and if I leave I must pay the penalty.
I dont believe them and email a further complaint.

New details
Today I had the following reply:

Thank you for your email.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in my response, I have been waiting for further clarification regarding your package. I must apologise for the information you have been provided as this was incorrect and I am sincerely sorry. Your price will increase to £29.40 as you were advised online. For this reason I can remove your contract for your broadband and telephone service, however as your landline is unaffected I cannot offer to refund the payment you have already made. Please let me know how you wish to proceed.

You are currently paying £28.00 for broadband option 3 and our unlimited anytime plan. I can offer you this service for £21.70 (increasing to £22.70 on 03/12/11) based on a new 12 month contract. If you would prefer to take this option please let me know.

Why do BT make their billing so utterly confusing that their staff cannot even understand what is going on and give false information, multiple times?

I dont want to ask BT, as I dont trust their replies at all any more. If I cancel my "broadband and telephone service" but dont receive a refund on my line rental (pre paid in advance), then do I need to pay line rental with someone else, or just broadband and calls?

resident

Hi everyone, just finding out about all this. My last bill was on the 17th of September it looks like the info about price hikes was in there but as others have said buried away so I was not aware and I have not had any separate e-mails about the change to line rentals. Obviously ten days have well and truly passed but will I be able to leave B.T when I get my next bill if the changes are shown in that one?

I_luv_cats

Is Paper-free discount £1.25 going for everybody or just newbies??

We're putting up standard monthly line rental by 70p, removing the paper-free discount, and changing some call charges, as well as changing the prices for broadband and some other services. You'll find all the details here. (BT email 7.11.2011)

It is also scrapping the paperless bill discount for new customers, although those who have already signed up will keep their discount. (Guardian Saturday 27 August 2011)