A hole in BT broadband T&Cs?

Estelle77

Hello folks. I am surely not the only one who got charged unexpectedly for a FREE hub when leaving BT just before the 12 months have expired. However, nowhere in the T&Cs and my initial invoice is mentioned that I will get charged for the hub (in my case £55). I would need to click on one of the links in my pdf T&Cs document or specifically seek this information online. It was nowhere highlighted that I will need to pay 'early exit fee' as it is with energy companies. Is that OK?

The associated problem is that there is hardly a choice. To leave by ending the contract, you have to give 30 days notice. When switching, it comes down to 14 days. So I decided to switch in about 18 days before the contract ended, just to make sure I do not forget. Those 14 days are a minimum, not a target, I think. If I failed, I might be rolled into a new, more expensive contract, for following 12 months. If I ended the contract, before getting a new service from a different company, I risk having disrupted network service. When I asked my new provider to postpone the activation date, which happened to be less than a week before the end of my old contract, they said it was not possible, that they only have two such dates and it would be two weeks until another date. That means, I assume, I would be without the internet for about two weeks if I ended BT contract with 30 days notice and joining a new company separately (i.e. not switching).

Is there any other way out?
I feel fooled by not being told clearly enough that I will be charged this hub fee for actually a FREE hub and also that I am squeezed between the stones of 'options' which give me no space for manoeuvring and getting out clean.

System

Estelle77 wrote: »

Hello folks. I am surely not the only one who got charged unexpectedly for a FREE hub when leaving BT just before the 12 months have expired. However, nowhere in the T&Cs and my initial invoice is mentioned that I will get charged for the hub (in my case £55). I would need to click on one of the links in my pdf T&Cs document or specifically seek this information online. It was nowhere highlighted that I will need to pay 'early exit fee' as it is with energy companies. Is that OK?

Do you mean this bit in the main body of the broadband T&Cs?

Deferred Payment for Equipment

1. In some cases we will allow you to defer payment of the full price of the equipment we supply for use with the service. If you then end the service within 12 months of BT accepting your order and you did not pay the full price of that equipment when you placed your order, then you will be liable to pay the balance – that is the price of the equipment as set out in the Tariff Guide, less any amount which you paid upfront when you placed your order, unless you end the service within the cancellation period (as detailed in paragraph 10 of the Residential Standard Terms). The deferred payment is no longer payable after you have received service for 12 months or more from the date that your order was accepted by BT.

Estelle77

it is on the page 55 of their residential T&Cs

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/lib/pdf/BT_PhoneTariff_Residential.pdf

This was not in the 8 pages long pdf T&Cs document I downloaded when starting the contract (and which other companies send initially as a booklet with T&Cs). It is on the web site but you have to look for it or click on a link 'Tariff guide' via the pdf I downloaded a year ago. I was not interested in the tariff guide, nothing made me to seek this information. I was happy with my landline rental and monthly charge, not knowing from the readily available documentation that I will pay for the hub.

I consider this a hidden charge.

Estelle77

To be more precise, that piece of text is nowhere in my 8 pages T&Cs and I do not remember any update about this. There are chapters about Ending the service, but NO mention about paying for the hub in full or in part whatsoever. The only place within this chapter when they mention that link with additional information is in the clause when somebody ends direct debit, which is irrelevant.

Estelle77

Or to put it this way: In the documentation they provided me when joining, there was nothing about payment for an equipment. NOTHING.
Do they expect the customers checking their new or different T&Cs on the website just to be up to date?

mije1983

Estelle77 wrote: »

Or to put it this way: In the documentation they provided me when joining, there was nothing about payment for an equipment. NOTHING.
Do they expect the customers checking their new or different T&Cs on the website just to be up to date?

When I signed up, in the confirmation email was the following text:

If you keep BT Broadband or BT TV for at least 12 months, you won't need to pay for the equipment we've sent you. But if you cancel within 12 months, you'll need to pay any outstanding equipment charges for what's left of the 12 months. Have a look at bt.com/tariffguide for more information.

Pretty clear and upfront as I see it.

Estelle77

Maybe they have updated it, but I have nothing like this in my documentation. I checked every e-mail I have from the beginning, did ctrl+f with word equipment. The only e-mail that contained this word was an e-mail making me aware that the equipment is on its way. Nothing else.

JJ_Egan

Free at the end of the contract as i understand my old contract .Likewise the You View or other boxes .

I have had about 15 routers over the years from ISPs and that was always a condition .

fingerbob7

Cancel the new service and start a new request for service from another provider when your BT contract has ended, to be on the safe side. I don't believe you will be forced into a 12 month contract with BT. You should check this with them.

pc1271

But you then end up paying for an extra month of service that you don't want. I'm in the same position now. I want to dance BT TV, but they said I can't give notice to cancel, I have to wait until 8th Feb when my contract actually ends then call them, where they'll presumably insist that It's 30 days notice.

Tigsteroonie

pc1271 wrote: »

But you then end up paying for an extra month of service that you don't want. I'm in the same position now. I want to dance BT TV, but they said I can't give notice to cancel, I have to wait until 8th Feb when my contract actually ends then call them, where they'll presumably insist that It's 30 days notice.

When we ditched BT TV, we didn't have to wait until the end of the contract before giving notice. I'd phoned a couple of months earlier to have the Sports stuff removed, and I asked them at that point (1) when my contract was due to end and (2) when I could give notice. For the latter, they gave me a date 4 weeks before the end of the contract, which I duly noted on the calendar to remind me. It worked.