MSE News: BT reveals price rises - but you can escape the hikes

w81

Just to confirm I apparently managed to get the broadband, line rental and telephone cancelled free of charge, but to be honest the line rental was originally paid up front at the beginning of the term (line rental saver) so this is money lost. With keeping the number this was done through Virgin who organise the request (and apparently this is something respected by BT). MAC codes won't come into it because physically this will be a new phone line via cable. Hope this helps

sergeant_cookie

Just be vigilant with them. Bt do NOT make cancelling easy. Just rell them to read their own terms and conditions. It took me 2-3 online chats and 4-5 calls to them but it all worked out in the end. And thanks to them telling me to ring sky over the cheap line rental on offer and sky screwing up I also have 12 months free line rental. So factor in the free line rental, £3.75 for broadband AND the £25 m&s voucher, the internet for the year is £20 - happy days

teddysmum

I was told (correctly?) not to cancel with BT but to let Sky sort the changeover, in order to keep my number; which I have. I only moved phone from BT and was lucky that the price rise notice coincided with my line saver renewal letter, from BT. After I got the notice (can't remember whether from Sky or BT)to say the migration was to go ahead, I rang BT, to say I was leaving because of the price rise, so expected to be penalty free (except for pre paid line rental, which is not refundable).

pmcguigan

followed the advice and process of will.moindrot and apparently my £71 charge for leaving will not be applied. i just need to provide 30 days notice. this was all confirmed by the billing team on live chat (saved as a pdf too). I will be moving to sky who have this note in their line activation notes:

"To transfer an existing phone number to a new Sky phone line you'll need to let us know your existing phone number and the name of your existing phone provider when placing your order. Don't cancel your phone service with your existing provider as we may not be able to transfer your existing number."

If I dont tell BT im leaving, they will charge me im sure, and If i do tell them, im sure I will get a charge. If I am charged I will quote the billing live chat agent and hopefully that should be it. Just hope they dont terminate my number before Sky can migrate it. Has anyone done something similar.

teddysmum

pmcguigan wrote: »

If I dont tell BT im leaving, they will charge me im sure, and If i do tell them, im sure I will get a charge. If I am charged I will quote the billing live chat agent and hopefully that should be it. Just hope they dont terminate my number before Sky can migrate it. Has anyone done something similar.

See my post above. I agreed to join Sky on October 6th and called BT the next day.

Mergic

What BT's T&Cs say:-

54. Except in the circumstances detailed in paragraph 53, if we let you know about a change to the price or the terms and conditions of a service which is to your material disadvantage, you will not have to pay a charge if you decide to end that service early, unless the Tariff Guide says otherwise. However, once we have told you about such a change, using one of the methods detailed in paragraph 52, you must let us know within 10 days that you want to end that service by giving us the written notice set out in paragraph 21. Only the services that are directly affected by the changes we make can be ended without paying an early termination charge for that service and this agreement will continue to apply to any other services that are not affected by those changes.

21. Once we have provided the service, you may tell us to stop providing it at any time by giving us 30 days' notice. We will accept notice via a range of methods including phone, e-mail, online chat and in writing. You can contact us to give notice using any of the contact details set out on your last BT bill or any other means of contact we have given you, for that purpose. If you are switching to another provider through an approved process, the notice you must give us will be 14 days. We can stop providing the service to you by giving you 28 days' written notice.

So this says if they raise their prices (which they have), they will let you know in writing (that's the email everyone has received at some point in the last month or so). You then have to 10 days to let them know that you want to end your service (not actually cancel, just let them know that you don't plan to continue the service).

It says 'written notice', but then in para 21 it gives other methods and the only contact method on my bill is the phone number and if you use Chat, they often want you to speak to the Options Team on the phone. On their website under cancellations it only gives 2 phone numbers, no written methods of contact. (I spoke to the options team on the phone and then backed this up with a letter to their customer service/complaints department for good measure).

The terms then say you need to give 30 days notice to cancel (which would also include going to Virgin as they can't transfer the service) or 14 days to switch using an approved process (using a MAC or where another provider contacts them as with Sky).

It says that you can only cancel the services that are directly affected by the changes. Line Rental and call charges are going up for all (although they could argue that Line Rental Saver means your line rental isn't, but this is only until the end of the 12 month pre-paid contract). Lots of people are being told their broadband package isn't going up, but the price checker provided through the link on the email shows they are going up by 6.5%. If people have taken a TV package in addition to this, you need to check whether this is going up. If there's any part of your contract that isn't going up in price, they maybe able to charge you a fee for cancelling this. Whether the ombudsman will agree with this if you can't keep this part of the contract and cancel another part is still to be seen.

I think the important thing is to build up a collection of evidence:- that they have told you prices are rising; you've told them within 10 days that you plan to leave; you've given them 14/30 days notice before transferring/leaving; each part of your BT package is going up in price so you have a contractual right to leave. If you've got evidence of all this, you've got a good case to argue if there is any comeback (i.e. BT try to charge you additional fees).

pmcguigan

teddysmum wrote: »

See my post above. I agreed to join Sky on October 6th and called BT the next day.

I just signed up with Sky. When you called BT, did they tell you that you could migrate without a charge, or terminate your contract without charge (and lose your number)? Did you mention that you were going to Sky?
Or do I just need to tell them that I plan to leave and will leave Sky to do the rest. Did you

anna2007

It's been mentioned on here that the prepaid Line Rental Saver is not refundable, however since contacting the CEO Office at the weekend, they have emailed me back, confirming that I can cancel my services without incurring early cancellation charges, and that the remaining line rental saver (around 7 months' worth) will be paid back once the final BT bill is produced.

I was prepared to argue that losing the line rental saver would effectively amount to a penalty for cancelling, but they agreed to my request for a refund straight away. For anyone who has been told by Customer Services that they will lose the remaining line rental saver, it may be worth contacting BT's CEO office to request a refund.

pmcguigan

anna2007 wrote: »

It's been mentioned on here that the prepaid Line Rental Saver is not refundable, however since contacting the CEO Office at the weekend, they have emailed me back, confirming that I can cancel my services without incurring early cancellation charges, and that the remaining line rental saver (around 7 months' worth) will be paid back once the final BT bill is produced.

I was prepared to argue that losing the line rental saver would effectively amount to a penalty for cancelling, but they agreed to my request for a refund straight away. For anyone who has been told by Customer Services that they will lose the remaining line rental saver, it may be worth contacting BT's CEO office to request a refund.

It might be worth uploading a template email that you sent to the CEO so that other users can use it (including their details) for reclaiming costs and avoiding penalties. Could you do this please?

anna2007

pmcguigan wrote: »

It might be worth uploading a template email that you sent to the CEO so that other users can use it (including their details) for reclaiming costs and avoiding penalties. Could you do this please?

I've copied my email to the CEO below (gavin.e.patterson@bt.com)

Dear Sir,

I have just received the email shown below from BT's online support centre, in response to the notice I sent yesterday to cancel my BT account, following notification of your proposed price increases and changes to the contract terms. As you can see, I have been sent a generic response, which does not in any way address my cancellation request.

I would therefore be grateful if you could arrange for a member of staff at your executive office to deal with my request; I have copied my original email below, as it has been omitted from the eCustomer Services Team's email:

Account No. GBxxxxxxxx

Telephone No. xxxxx xxxxxx

Following your email of 22 October 2013, giving notice of your proposed changes to the prices and terms of contract on the above BT account, I wish to terminate my telephony and broadband services with BT. As stated in your email, and BT's terms and conditions of service (specifically paragraphs 21 and 54), I understand that I am permitted to cancel my account without incurring a termination charge, if I give notice within 10 days of receipt of your email.

The changes that I object to, and that give rise to my notice to cancel, are:

The increase to the telephony standard monthly line rental, from £15.45 to £15.99 per month. Although I have prepaid my line rental via Line Rental Saver for a period of 12 months from June 2013, I entered into an 18 month contract in June and will therefore be affected by the price increase once the Line Rental Saver period expires. I had no intention of renewing this option for the remaining 6 months of my contract, given that it effectively ties me into a further 6 months beyond expiry of my contract.

I currently benefit from a free service for "BT Privacy with Caller Display", for which you will now charge £1.75 per month.

Also, I do not accept the changes to the agreed terms of our original contract, relating to early termination charges, as detailed in your email.

I would appreciate it if you could confirm receipt of my notice to cancel, along with confirmation that this will be processed by BT on a penalty-free basis, in line with the terms of our contract. Please also confirm that you will issue a pro-rated refund for the remaining prepaid line rental period following cancellation of the telephony service.

Once I have received confirmation of the above from BT, I will make arrangements to transfer the services to another provider.

Regards,