Cancelling BT - what are my rights.

CraigieDD

I bought a BT Vision Phone/Broadband/TV package eight weeks ago.

Since I received and paid for the equipment the following has occurred.

1. Since day 1 I had no dial tone on my phone line.
2. Since day 1 the additiona channel I requested - ESPN has not worked
3. Since yesterday Currently my broadband doesn't work.
4. Since today My BT Vision box is "bricked" i.e. red power light and doesn't boot up.


I e-mailled BT twice using their online system, and called twice about the no dial tone and the no ESPN.

They fixed the dial tone after about 2 weeks and I could make calls. They promised they'd call to fix the ESPN issue - nothing has been done.

I called twice about the ESPN issue and no engineer was sent out.

Last night my broadband was down and is still down.

I called and an engineer has been arranged for saturday.

But today my vision box won't even turn on. So I've had enough.

Given that I've made four communications about the ESPN issue and I've now had four faults in 8 weeks - one of which is still not fixed - am I within my rights to cancel without charge?

chanz4

afraid not, you will just get back line rental for the down period. Your not having much luck

Enterpriser

You dont have many rights these days.

Having_a_good_day

There is light at the end of ... BT! :mad:
I had similar problems to you with my Vision Box.
Could not receive programmes and broadband etc.
After lengthy communications it transpired that my Broadband connection was on a different electrical ring main to the Vision Box and TV! A requirement BT forgets to mention when signing up to lengthy contracts you are not supposed to come out of.
Result = all moneys refunded
Result = my Broadband and line rental business, and others, now with someone who is not dictoral to their customers.
Result = Cheaper tariffs etc. Thanks to MoneySavingexpert. Happy customer! :beer: :j :T

Mark_In_Hampshire

Have you got anywhere with this?

Rejecting "services" is a bit less clear-cut than rejecting "goods".

However there is a requirement for the provider to act with "reasonable skill and care", and that would not appear to be the case given what you've experienced; what you ordered with respect to BT Vision has not been delivered, so there's some case for rejecting that outright. But it will help greatly if your correspondence with them is in writing (email will do) since you can then point to that; if all is done verbally, only the supplier - if anyone - ever has any record of the conversation that took place.

esuhl

I would have thought that BT would be in breach of contract for failing to supply you with the service you are paying for and for failing to resolve the problem within a "reasonable" amount of time.

What terms did you agree to? Is there any mention of the provision of their service? Are you able to legitimately threaten to sue them for breaching the terms of your contract?

sohocentral

Hi, newbie here. I also would like to share my experience with BT.

I order BT Infinity unlimited package from BT which promised up to 40mb speed, but so far I am getting between 7- 20 mb. It is very disappointing.

As they say they cannot do anything for the first 10 days, I have to wait till that period end before calling them. I have now been promised a change of my speed profile and should see an increase in performance tomorrow.

My fears is, this could drag on and already I am reading various bad experiences from Users on BT which does not fill me with a lot of confidence.

I have always asumme there is some canncellation / cool down period with ordering online, but have been told I have now entered into a 18 months contract with a large cancellation fees.

Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to redress this? Many thanks

Mark_In_Hampshire

The so called ten day stablisation period has come up for some debate. The profiles don't seem to alter significantly during or after that.

The speed for BT's fibre connections is between 5Mbps and 40Mbps downstream (actually, there's one poor character only getting 2Mbps on the BT forum, but that's another story!)

"Infinity" is a brand name for the same service, but the service is only allowed to be branded "Infinity" if it's capable of 15Mbps+

But nobody including BT can reliably say what line will do what speed until it's activated.

I've seen one person get 50% off their bill because the speed wouldn't go past 14Mbps because the last bit of phone wire back to the cabinet is aliminium not copper. The other 26Mbps vanishes into the ether along that bit of wire.

But as your already outperforms that in that you have seen that 20Mbps is possible I suspect you're going to have to wait until the 10 days is up and then see how it performs.

Bear in mind that the amount of available bandwidth is restricted to what the exchange has to offer, and also by what's at the other end serving out what you asked for, so the actual throughput attained will go up and down, even if the line is theoretically capable of 20Mbps it doesn't mean the ISP will deliver 20Mbps all the time either due to congestion either at their end, or the other end. Between 7 and 20Mbps is "up to 40Mbps".

There is something you can do to redress this, though, which is covered in OFCOM's Code of Practice. So if the speed doesn't improve to the estimate you were given then you may be able to cancel. However that estimate isn't the "Up to 40Mbps", but the estimate you were given at sign up e.g. we should be able to do 20Mbps on your line. The ISP is held to the 20Mbps, not the theoretical maximum, and is required to give you that estimate under the same Code of Practice.

BT_company_representative

Hi sohocentral,

Welcome to MSE.

How many days are you into the 10 day stabilisation period? If you're approaching the end of it (e.g. two or three days to go) and your speed is still low I'll be able to take a closer look for you.

If you want, send in your details via our "Contact us" form (it's on my profile page) and we'll get back to you.

Thanks,

Stephanie