Moved to BT, awaiting refund from Fast

Howlinbob

In August we moved from Fast.co.uk broadband to BT fibre-optic broadband. We are already on BT for phones so we got a good deal. We emailed Fast and told them we were moving. They wanted us to stay with them but could not compete with the new fibre-optic service and the price we were getting from BT together with the phone package.

So I asked Fast for the MAC (migration) code. They said it would officially take 5 days to arrive, but should be more like 2 days. In the event, it was nearly 10 days before we got the MAC code, so some feet-dragging there.

The BT engineer came and new modem etc was installed OK.

Then in October I noticed Fast was still taking our monthly DD payment for broadband from our account. We had made 2 unnecessary payments. I contacted Fast and they said yes we are still taking payments because you have not cancelled your contract with us. What??? Is telling them verbally that we are leaving and thanks very much for the good service, not enough??? Is asking for and chasing up the MAC code not sufficient to be taken as a contract cancellation? Apparently in the small print it says I should have sent them an email saying I was cancelling our contract, and without that they cannot cancel the service from their supplier...BT. Fast is not going to refund me until they have got a refund from their supplier, and this could take months, apparently.

Are they taking the mick, or are they within their rights? It seems pretty unreasonable to me. The monthly payments were £20.39 by the way, so I'm chasing a refund of £40.78.

macman

Asking for and obtaining a MAC does not automatically cancel your contract. A MAC is simply an 'option to cancel' that expire after 30 days if unused. But it is always advisable to cancel in writing after you have got your transfer date in writing from the new supplier-though if this is the case with Fast then they should have told you. What I am not sure of is whether the MAC system applies to switches from ADSL to a fibre-based product?
Remember that the minimum notice period (usually 30 days) still applies even if you are no longer in your minimum term contract.
But did you not cancel your DD after you had received what you thought was your final bill from Fast?

Howlinbob

Thanks for your reply. Fast did not advise me to cancel my contract in writing during any of my phone conversations about the MAC and moving. But they said it was in the t&cs in an email sent to me with the MAC code, which I of course missed, not expecting to have to do this after our conversations. I thought that they knew perfectly well I was moving, since I had told them so verbally, and because of my request for the MAC code, and my chasing up of the MAC code. It did not occur to me that I might need to send them a separate email spelling out what we had already discussed verbally, but more fool me!

As for cancelling the DD, of course I should have done that as a matter of course, but again, I assumed that as I was no longer a customer of theirs, that they would stop taking money out of my account.

Lesson for me in this, I guess! :mad::o

macman

As I stated, asking for and obtaining a MAC code does not cancel your contract. Did you actually state 'I am givig you 30 days notice to end my contract'?
Don't ever rely on a new supplier who promises to 'sort everything out' with the outgoing supplier-it's not their job and they will invariably screw it up.

Howlinbob

Fast.co.uk took another payment in November - two weeks after I had notified them properly that I had cancelled, and had started to chase them to refund the Sept and Oct payments. Turns out my payment is not via direct debit - they just hold my card details and manually take a payment every month. They had no excuse whatsoever to take a November payment and when I complained, they begrudgingly said they would refund it.