BT Broadband Cancellation Charges

jintymcfee

Hi, Just a quick post to see if anyone has been stung by BT broadband when cancelling there services?.

1 month ago i took out a new contract with BT for BT Infinity. I was told my services would be activated on the 13th July. However, This was not the case as there was a fault at the exchange. I was given a new activation date and the same happened again. This happened a total of 4 times and as of mid-day today the service was still not active. (Customer service has been shocking to say the least!)

I have just phoned to cancel my contract and BT have just tried to sting me with a charge to get out of my contract.

BT have a 14 day cool off period which starts from when the contract is first signed. In my case i fall out of this cool off period as it has been almost a month since i signed the contract.

However, BT has not officially activated my line due to Faults at their end and as such i have had no service in which to pay for.

BT State in their T&C's

10. You can cancel a service and any equipment we supply that is needed to use that service, anytime up to 14 calendar days starting from the day after the day we accepted your order. If you do cancel you must return any equipment already supplied, within 14 days of telling us that you have cancelled your order. If you cancel after we start to provide the service, you must pay the service subscription charge for any period that the service was made available to you and for any use of that service not covered by the subscription charge, up to the date that you told us you wanted to cancel. You will also need to pay any connection or activation charges associated with that service – including the full cost of charges that were discounted or advertised as free as a condition of taking the service on the terms that you agreed when we accepted your order.

Therefore surely they cannot hold you to a charge to buy out of contract. I have argued this with them and fortunately I HAVE WON!! resulting in no cost to myself.

Has anyone else been stung without realising??

BT = Bad Trading - wouldn't recommend to anyone based on my experience.

Thanks

guillaume66

This is exactly what I've been looking for - good spot, thanks.

Also in a similar situation (I won't bother going into the details, suffice to say that in the 2 weeks I've been their customer I've developed a deep-seated hatred of them, and a nervous tick whenever I hear the acronym "BT"). The only way I can rationalise their service is to imagine that they're not a telecoms provider at all, but engaged in some kind of elaborate modern art, where they'll submit audio-clips of the agonised death-throes of customers waiting in their customer service queues to the Turner prize.

Exmoor_shepherd

I rang bt to see if there was any penalty to leave them for another broadband provider they confirmed we were out of contract but said they could reduce my fee by a pound a month , i accepted but said i would look elsewhere . I then transferred elsewhere only to be hit with £250 cancellation fee for 2 years rental . Have tried speaking to them but they are non commital and dont come back . What can i do

JJ_Egan

2 years rental why is my question as line rental is not sold in a two year package .


By the way you accepted a new contact so is the cancellation fee for breaking the new broadband contract .

cammc6

I have recently sold my house and contacted BT to cancel the Phone & Broadband package. As my new house is not ready for another 6 months, I have moved in with a family member, because of this I cannot take my BT contract with me. I now have a final bill to pay of almost £400 which includes £30 cessation charge, £65 hub charge and over £250 for the remainder of my contract. I find this extreme to say the least, but BT assure me that I can only cancel the contract within a 14 day cooling off period without being charged the full contract term. I would appreciate any advise on dealing with this. I hope to let others know about this before they sign up with BT.

mije1983

cammc6 wrote: »

I have recently sold my house and contacted BT to cancel the Phone & Broadband package. As my new house is not ready for another 6 months, I have moved in with a family member, because of this I cannot take my BT contract with me. I now have a final bill to pay of almost £400 which includes £30 cessation charge, £65 hub charge and over £250 for the remainder of my contract. I find this extreme to say the least, but BT assure me that I can only cancel the contract within a 14 day cooling off period without being charged the full contract term. I would appreciate any advise on dealing with this. I hope to let others know about this before they sign up with BT.

Why? It's not exclusive to BT. You agreed to pay £x a month for a minimum period of time, and now you want to renage on that contract. More often than not, if you break a legally binding contract then there are penalties to pay.

The equipment charge is detailed in the terms if you leave before you minimum term is up, and the £30 cessation charge is levied on the ISP by Openreach if the line is being stopped.

If you are paying around £40 a month for your line and BB, then £250 is about right for 6 months left of your minimum term. It would only be extreme if the £250 was more than you would have paid in the remaining months.

It's a shame you didn't cancel a month ago after the price rise notification. You could have left for no cost then. But isn't hindsight a good thing!

robin255

Yep after being with Plusnet for over 4 years, they now want to charge me a £30 cessation to leave because my new providers internet comes through a fixed cable instead. I've been a very loyal customer, annoyed that i have to pay this fee, anyone found a way to aviod it?

cajef

robin255 wrote: »

annoyed that i have to pay this fee, anyone found a way to aviod it?

No way round it, it a fixed fee charged by BT Openreach to all ISP's for disconnecting the service at the exchange, most pass it on to the customer.