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

anna2007

Scrounger wrote: »

Fantastic work Anna, you're the first person on here that has managed to negotiate a refund of LRS.

'Robbie' the BT company representative had told us it wasn't possible:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/63372503#Comment_63372503

This should be a great help to those with BT locked into LRS and who wish to cancel.

Scrounger

Thanks Scrounger - do you know if it's in BT's t&c's that LRS won't be refunded if you cancel due to the price increase? I had a look before sending in my cancellation on Friday, but soon gave up as there are so many terms that seem to apply to my account! I did read the 'legal stuff' on the BT website re LRS and it says at the end that you won't get a refund if you cancel, but that exclusions apply (that's all I could find though).

Losing your prepaid line rental when you're within your rights to cancel without charge seems like a penalty to me. I was still surprised that BT so easily agreed to refunding the LRS, as I'd read on here that it wouldn't be refunded, but I'd have stood my ground if they'd refused

I couched my request for cancellation as being on a "penalty-free" basis, i.e. no early cancellation charges AND refund of the LRS - maybe that's what made the difference? Or maybe it just comes down to who at BT is dealing with your cancellation...

Quentin

Scrounger wrote: »

Fantastic work Anna, you're the first person on here that has managed to negotiate a refund of LRS. ....

More praise to Anna for reporting this.

The main reason why no-one else has reported this is that very early after the price increase was announced the BT Rep Robbie posted this:

BT_company_representative wrote: »

.....We have asked for information on this for you and LRS is a non-refundable product as you state, so we are very sorry but you would not get a refund pro rata if you chose to cancel your contract. Our price change does not affect your agreement with LRS as it is already pre-paid, LRS is not going up in price in January.......

Robbie

We had no reason to believe he was misleading us (he had already told us we could leave "without penalty", and after we had been told by BT staff this was wrong and LRS was non refundable he retracted that!)

All this seemingly deliberate misinformation has meant that many of us with months of LRS to run didn't pursue an exit, as "losing" up to £140 in LRS wasn't worth the downside of having to pay the increases.

Some may have signed up for another 12 months contract to get "free" caller ID.

But now we know we have been mislead like this, all bets are off and the CEO's office looks the way forward.

People don't expect such treatment from a household "respected" name.

The BT rep says this in his sig:

....MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues...

Let's see if he can solve this big issue!

Scrounger

anna2007 wrote: »

Thanks Scrounger - do you know if it's in BT's t&c's that LRS won't be refunded if you cancel due to the price increase?

No, but as Quentin has quoted above; it was BT representative 'Robbie' who clarified to us that there would be no LRS refunds allowed because of the price increase.

Quentin wrote: »

The BT rep says this in his sig:

"....MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues... "

Let's see if he can solve this big issue!

I'm waiting with bated breath ... :rotfl:

Scrounger

brynhh

Just called BT, wow! She was convinced that my Infinity wasn't going up, the only price increase they have in front of her is with the phone and features. I said well the website asks for my specific account number and phone number and tells me it's going from 26 to 27.67, but she was having none of it.

So I asked about cancelling anyway, minute or so of silence then eventually they asked who I would go to, I said Virgin or Plusnet, she said they can cancel and the line would go dead straight away but Plusnet don't offer Fibre broadband so I couldn't get the same service with them and everyone else is putting prices up as well. Well it's funny how on their website they do Fibre and it's 20 quid cheaper for 9 months and 13 for the other 9 months.

They really will spin a lot of bull to keep you won't they. Now have to decide how to get by for the next 2 weeks before calling back to cancel.

g8sey

I got the email 3 weeks ago stating that my line Rental was increasing, i have phone and infinity, called up and asked for MAC code and leaving with no penalty. Moving over to Plusnet and saving 50% off my bill and having similar products and the customer service with Plusnet so far is exceptional.
Goodbye BT!

Quentin

jimmyhart wrote: »

........she said they can cancel and the line would go dead straight away.........

This looks another disgraceful scare tactic that the CEO should hear about.

brynhh

Quentin wrote: »

This looks another disgraceful scare tactic that the CEO should hear about.

How should it normally work? Should they cut the service off 30 days or some minimum period from when I make the request today/tomorrow? Or can I request a date for it to be stopped?

I don't need to transfer to a new provider as I'm moving house and will sign up with Plusnet for a fresh line there. I just want BT to finish here, ideally no earlier than Wednesday 27th as I need a connection here until then, which is when I move.

Quentin

Normally you tell them you want to leave, then arrange the new service to take over.( Get a MAC if you need one)

In your case you don't look to be concerned about transferring the service, so 30 days notice should suffice.

brynhh

Yeah I don't need to transfer as by the time I transferred at this house, it wouldn't be long until I move (a matter of days) so would then have to arrange a home move with plusnet, so it's easier just to sign up fresh.

Thanks for your advice, that's really helpful. As my 10 days is up Saturday, I plan to contact them later today or tomorrow, would you say it's best to now go to the CEO email address, or try and call them up again, to give the 30 days or however long notice?

Quentin

It's your call. I would tell the cancellation dept first, and if they still tell you they will switch you off immediately, then get name etc and tell them no, then pass it up the line.