BT nightmare

yevsk

Hi. This is my first post on MSE, but I've read a lot of posts on the forum over the years. I have a problem with BT and I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give. It is long and complicated, but please bear with me.

I had a phone line and broadband package with BT. I was really fed up with BT's incompetence after I had a fault with my line (a whole other story), so a month after my contract with them had ended I chose to move to Post Office Telecom. I chose a plan that costs ~£90 per quarter and this includes line rental and broadband.

The problem arose when the Post Office was transferring my phone line and broadband from BT. They moved my phone line provision and then some time later they moved my broadband service. It was an absolute muddle, and The Post Office and BT blamed each other for not moving my broadband service along with the phone line, but after DAYS on the phone with both, I managed to get it sorted. Or so I thought.

In the time between my phone line being moved and my broadband being moved from BT to the Post Office, BT signed me up for a new broadband contract! BT's explanation for this is that because I was on a package contract with them and only moved one element of that (the phone line), they had to sign me up to a new broadband contract so that my service would not be interrupted.

Now, hopefully someone will be able to help me with this. Signing someone up for a 12 month contract on the assumption that they will want it strikes me as very, very dodgy.

I spent almost a whole day on the phone with BT and the Post Office, and different people I spoke to at BT told me different things: one chap told me in no uncertain terms that I was legally obliged to pay a full cancellation fee if I wanted to end this new contract early. Another lady told me it was a mistake by BT caused by something their systems do automatically and I would not have to pay an early termination fee. Eventually I spoke to an Indian man on BT's support website (online chat) who told me he was going to make the arrangements so that I would not be hit with a cancellation fee when my broadband was moved to the Post Office.

So, after all that I thought that was the end of the matter. Until this week when I got an e-mail from BT saying that my "final bill" was due. Guess how much it is for. Yep. The cost of the whole contract, so they are charging me for early termination of a contract I did not sign up for.

I'm totally fed up with this mess. Can someone please help me?

yevsk

Just spent an hour on the phone. A man who I could barely understand told me that I had to pay the fee. I then told him about the online chat log I had with the adviser in July who admitted it was BT's error and I was not liable for an early termination fee. He told me he could not help me and to use online chat.

I went on the website and online chat is not an option for billing inquiries. I called the number again and spent another 15 minutes on hold and this time asked to speak to a manager. He was even more difficult to understand than the earlier adviser. He told me to hold the line while he checked my details. Then he hung up on me! :mad:

espresso

yevsk wrote: »

I'm totally fed up with this mess. Can someone please help me?

yevsk wrote: »

Just spent an hour on the phone. A man who I could barely understand told me that I had to pay the fee. I then told him about the online chat log I had with the adviser in July who admitted it was BT's error and I was not liable for an early termination fee. He told me he could not help me and to use online chat.

I went on the website and online chat is not an option for billing inquiries. I called the number again and spent another 15 minutes on hold and this time asked to speak to a manager. He was even more difficult to understand than the earlier adviser. He told me to hold the line while he checked my details. Then he hung up on me! :mad:

e-mail their CEO [EMAIL="ian.livingstone@bt.com"]ian.livingstone@bt.com[/EMAIL]

[EMAIL="ian.livingston@bt.com"][/EMAIL]

BT_company_representative

Hi yevsk,

Welcome to MSE.

I can look into this and get it sorted for you, so if you want send in your details via our "Contact us" form, which you can find on my profile page.

Thanks,

Stephanie