BT Sport fiver a month

helenk1810

It would seem that both the two people I spoke to got the rules wrong. I can downgrade to BT sports lite without having the end date of my broadband contract changed. It is getting sorted out now. Pity it took a letter to the BT chairman to get it sorted.

VisionMan

The advisors in the call centres have it wrong. BT BB only customers will have to pay £5 a mth but with no renewal of contract.

BT BB & TV customers pay nothing and that is also with no renewal of contract, or loss of discounts either!

The legal - any provider can change the terms, conditions and prices of a users current contract providing they offer users the right to cancel without penalty. That includes advanced line rental saver.

What BT cannot do is force people into a new contract from the one they already have, but as above, they can change the terms, conditions and prices (in this case £5 a mth), as its Ofcom that gave providers the power to do it.

Northern_Mum

I have BT phone/broadband/BT TV Entertainment package including free BT Sport which I took out on a 12 month contract in February. I too got the e-mail. I tried to renew online and got a reference number but it didn't seem to complete the transaction and I didn't get a confirmation email.

I phoned BT this morning and spoke to helpful UK based advisor. She said the transaction hadn't gone through and I DON'T need to renew my contract to get the new BT Sport channels for free.

As I have BT TV with a BT box I will continue to get BT Sport free, including the European matches, until contract end date, then if I renew my contract I will continue to get it free.

She said the email has been sent to everyone who has BT broadband, but in some cases (like mine) it isn't relevant.

Mickygg

VisionMan wrote: »

The advisors in the call centres have it wrong. BT BB only customers will have to pay £5 a mth but with no renewal of contract.

BT BB & TV customers pay nothing and that is also with no renewal of contract, or loss of discounts either!

The legal - any provider can change the terms, conditions and prices of a users current contract providing they offer users the right to cancel without penalty. That includes advanced line rental saver.

What BT cannot do is force people into a new contract from the one they already have, but as above, they can change the terms, conditions and prices (in this case £5 a mth), as its Ofcom that gave providers the power to do it.

That's wrong about bt bb and tv having no renewal of contract. I have this and just got off the phone and I have to renew for 18 months from today in order to not pay the fiver a month. Whether or not that's in agreement with ofcom is another matter.

Utter disgrace as I only joined bt 3 weeks ago and I'm already being asked for more money. I don't mind extending to 18 months but the last 6 months is at their full £18 broadband a month fee, and so far they have refused to discount this.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Northern_Mum wrote: »

As I have BT TV with a BT box I will continue to get BT Sport free, including the European matches, until contract end date, then if I renew my contract I will continue to get it free.

Or ... you will continue to get it free in your new contract, but if BT then decide to change their rules and you will have to pay from month two, you will be up the swanny without a paddle.

That's what is happening to many people currently - myself included.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

VisionMan wrote: »

The advisors in the call centres have it wrong. BT BB only customers will have to pay £5 a mth but with no renewal of contract.

The above is correct ONLY if they want BT Sport Europe. If BB only customers downgrade to BT Sport Lite (i.e. BT Sport 1) then they will not have to re-contract and will pay nothing extra.

VisionMan wrote: »

The legal - any provider can change the terms, conditions and prices of a users current contract providing they offer users the right to cancel without penalty. That includes advanced line rental saver.

From BT's point of view, this is incorrect. They are maintaining the line that you can only cancel BT Sport altogether if you aren't happy with the change. But they are saying that you cannot cancel your phone and BB.

I would argue that the whole thing was taken as one bundle and that a change affects the whole bundle and so you are eligible to cancel the whole thing without penalty..... BT will never concede this and so I think anyone would have to take the case to the ombudsman - as I am doing.

LebaneseMo

BEWARE IF YOU DOWNGRADE YOUR CONTRACT WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE RENEWED FOR ANOTHER 12 MONTHS!!! This is how you can avoid this from happening...

I received a notification email last week, just as many of you who have BT Broadband, a calls package, and free BT sport.

I opted to downgrade my BT Sport package as I don't use it anyway and I am not interested in the Champions League, etc.., especially for an additional £5 a month.

BUT when you downgrade, your contract is automatically renewed for another 12 months and there is no way to avoid this when downgrading.

HOWEVER I went ahead anyway and then called into BT customer service, advising them that they had put me in a position where I would either have to accept the price hike of £5 a month for something I did not want or downgrade and automatically have my contract renewed for another 12 months, which I also did not want. Advised this was effectively them holding me at ransom and putting me in a corner... they then agreed very quickly to reverse the 12 month renewal as well as having the downgrade on the BT sports package remain in place so I will not pay the £5 a month.

It's ridiculous that they are doing this to their customers and actually quite underhanded, but a quick call should be able to resolve it.

I think we should all report BT to trading standards for such underhanded tactics though!

Milky_Joe

Apologies for joining late but, having read through the various threads and having contacted BT myself, I'm confused. I have BT BB and BT TV, with around 6 months left to run on my original 18 month contract.

However, BT says those with BT broadband and BT TV who currently get BT Sport 'free' can't cancel their contracts penalty-free because their prices won't change – BT TV customers will be entitled to 'free' BT Sports from 1 August.

Having just had a chat session with BT, this does not appear to be the case. It's either a misleading or inaccurate statement - my monthly payment is going up by £5 unless I make a change. As outlined elsewhere, the options are:

1. Cancel BT Sport
2. Downgrade to BT Sport Lite (an inferior product, and forced to enter into a new 12 month contract)
3. Pay an extra £5/month

I'm obviously not happy with the situation, as I'm being forced to change the package I originally subscribed to (albeit by either loss of features or a price hike).

I can't believe this is not deemed a significant enough change that I can't cancel my contract!? I hope I missing something...

Lifes_Grand_Plan

LebaneseMo wrote: »

BEWARE IF YOU DOWNGRADE YOUR CONTRACT WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE RENEWED FOR ANOTHER 12 MONTHS!!! This is how you can avoid this from happening...

I received a notification email last week, just as many of you who have BT Broadband, a calls package, and free BT sport.

I opted to downgrade my BT Sport package as I don't use it anyway and I am not interested in the Champions League, etc.., especially for an additional £5 a month.

BUT when you downgrade, your contract is automatically renewed for another 12 months and there is no way to avoid this when downgrading.

HOWEVER I went ahead anyway and then called into BT customer service, advising them that they had put me in a position where I would either have to accept the price hike of £5 a month for something I did not want or downgrade and automatically have my contract renewed for another 12 months, which I also did not want. Advised this was effectively them holding me at ransom and putting me in a corner... they then agreed very quickly to reverse the 12 month renewal as well as having the downgrade on the BT sports package remain in place so I will not pay the £5 a month.

It's ridiculous that they are doing this to their customers and actually quite underhanded, but a quick call should be able to resolve it.

I think we should all report BT to trading standards for such underhanded tactics though!

I think when people post information such as yours, they need to be very careful to give the correct details and not scaremonger....

I have downgraded and was not forced to renew the contract - I think it did give an option to re-contract but I just deselected it / chose a different option and that was that....

LebaneseMo - are / were you within your minimum contract term? I suspect not and I suspect that was why they might have tried to tell you that you must recontract.....

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Milky_Joe wrote: »

• Downgrade to BT Sport Lite (a inferior product, and forced to enter into a new 12 month contract)

See my post above yours - AFAIUI, you will NOT have to re-contract if you downgrade.

Milky_Joe wrote: »

I can't believe this is not deemed a significant enough change that I can't cancel my contract!? I hope I missing something...

IMHO it IS significant enough to enable you to cancel your contract and BT agree with this. However the difference of opinion is that BT say it is only a change to BT sport and therefore all you are entitled to cancel is BT Sport itself.....

I would argue that, in my case at least, I took phone, broadband and BT Sport as one package and therefore the change to BT Sport affects tha package price and therefore I am eligible to cancel the whole lot without penalty, not just sport.

BT will never agree with me on the above - if they did then it would open the floodgates for everyone cancelling - so that is why you have to either like it, or go to the Ombudsman....

Unfortunately 99% of people will just not bother..... which means BT wins.