Can a company tell you the wrong cancellation fee?

l14m

I recently rang BT and asked for a price to cancel my service. They said £149. I then signed a contract with Sky and two days after being told £149 rang to cancel. They said that the fee was actually £375. After lots of arguments and two complaints I followed it up with an email direct to Sir Ian Livingstone the director. He passed it on to his senior team and someone confirmed that I had been told £149 in my first phone call. However said they would not honour this price and it remained at £375.

Is this allowed?

I remember hearing on an episode of watchdog once that if a company gives you misleading information that affects your financial decisions then they must honour their word.

I would also like to mention that I have offered to negotiate on the price however the BT representatives that are prepared to give me an answer have said no. Others put me through to a different department. One of them hung up the phone. For a communications company they don't like to communicate.

Guardsman

Cancel what service ?

agrinnall

Do you have confirmation in writing from them that they did indeed tell you the fee would be £149? If so, I would pay that and let them take you to court for the rest, if they are stupid enough to do so I can't see how they could possibly win.

bod1467

And why would you cancel a service and pay (even) a £149 cancellation charge? What drove you to cancel with BT and move elsewhere?

molerat

bod1467 wrote: »

And why would you cancel a service and pay (even) a £149 cancellation charge? What drove you to cancel with BT and move elsewhere?

Because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

l14m

bod1467 wrote: »

And why would you cancel a service and pay (even) a £149 cancellation charge? What drove you to cancel with BT and move elsewhere?

There was a good reason for cancelling. I was 6 months into a 12 month contract and was moving house. The place I was moving to was on a 6 month contract and I wasn't sure if I would be living their longer than the contract length. BT said they would let me use their homemove service but the condition is I sign a brand new 18 month contract. I explained my position to them and they weren't interested. So cancelling 6 months into a 12 month contract made more sense than risking cancelling 6 months into an 18 month contract.

Someone also made a remark about the 'grass being greener' which it is. BT pride themselves on their internet which due to the area I live in I can't get internet faster than 2MB so BT's service is redundant to me. When it comes to TV most would agree that Sky and Virgin offer much better services. As I am a rugby league and F1 fan Sky TV really is better. And given how cheap I now get my internet for I have a much better service for the same price as BT.

I've digressed- It does seem unethical for them to quote me over the phone one cancellation price (which they have written to me and confirmed this). And they have now tripled this cost and said they made a mistake with the original price. But have they broken a law?

somethingcorporate

No, I don't think they have broken a law.

If you did not agree to cancel when they offered you the £149 price they can change this at any time, which it appears that they have.

Takeaway_Addict

somethingcorporate wrote: »

No, I don't think they have broken a law.

If you did not agree to cancel when they offered you the £149 price they can change this at any time, which it appears that they have.

As above, the offer of £149 was for there and then. So unless you specifically stated when you cancelled that you had agreed £149 then I would expect their standard terms to come into effect.

transient

Surely if they admitted it was £149 and they paid it then it has been formed? They cant come back after the fact surely? Not my area but I would have thought this is some way binding.

somethingcorporate

If you read the OP they didn't pay straight away. They phoned back 2 days later.

Unless this £149 was in the contract then there is nothing they can do to force the company to accept it.

Guardsman

I would not expect the quote to remain the same forever but surely they would give you some thinking time.