Unfair BT Contract Terms

briggsa30

Hi all
This is my first post but wanted to mention about 2 issues I have with BT.
Firstly I joined BT on 8th February 2016 (Big Mistake)
I have had problems all year with broadband speed slower than my previous sky box and so decided to switch as soon as my 12month contract was up. I contacted Sky on the 14th of January and they made arrangement with BT to take over the line. This was scheduled by these 2 companies to happen on the 30th of January.
Since then I have been told because I am 1 week still in contract I need to pay £55 for the router despite that they had taken all the money out of my account for the full month.
My final Bill has arrived and they have refunded me some money for February and then rebilled be at a higher rate and also charged me the £55.
I have tried on many phone calls (quite a few cut off) to get this removed but they will not even discuss it with me in a civilised way.
Happy to pay the service charge but feel that I shouldn't pay for the router as there's been no loss of revenue for them.

My second issue is that at the beginning of the contract there was supposed to be a £50 reward Visa card which I had never received. They told me last month that I had to claim it online but I never received any instructions and it's only in December when I was checking through my paperwork have I remembered that I was supposed to have had it.
When I called them to discuss they said that I should have had instructions but acknowledged that I was not given them. The guy on the phone said they could probably get that resolved. Having spoken to them again today they say that I missed out and it's my fault.

So is short I am being charged for a router that I don't want and is worthless and also conned out of £50. Despite many conversations with non-UK call handlers I am no further forward and will soon be threatened by debt collectors. What should I do?

mije1983

If you leave before your initial term is up, then BT charge for their router. As you left before you had completed the 12 months, they have billed you for it. You could try and appeal to them about it as it was only 9 days, but you have broken the agreed terms so they are able to charge you.

About the gift card, it is down to you to remember to claim it when your broadband goes live. BT don't actually send out reminders to do it, and it's also a point made when MSE mentions BT offers:

You can claim a £100 prepaid Mastercard AFTER installation. Annoyingly, BT won't remind you, so diarise............

MoneySavingNovice

Your not alone in having huge problems with BT. Your experience seems to be similar to mine....except I got most of my money back.

I signed up with BT with the contract starting the 24th January 2016. That where my problems started. They enabled my telephone line on the 24th as contractually agreed but due to their incompetence did not also enable the broadband on the same date, eventually getting it going on the 28th Feb.

I did make a claim in time for the £50 Love to Shop vouchers as per the MSE instruction, they basically fobbed me off for six months repeatedly telling me that they would send it to me, and then the next day I wasn't eligible etc. In the end I sent them a Letter before Action, which they ignored. Cutting a long story short I was so annoyed with them I took them to the Small Claims Court. They decided not to contest my claim and sent me the money and court costs.

I also had other problems with BT, including slow broadband, incorrect billing (they tried to double charge me line rental despite the fact that I paid upfront for a year) and various loss of service issues throughout the year. Basically they were incompetent at best and at worst, well let's say I don't want to offend anyone with my bad language!

I decided at the earliest possible moment to move elsewhere, hence I also signed up for the Sky deal, starting on the 27th January 2017, a few days out of my contract period.

Unbelievably because they had been late in connecting my broadband they had, without my agreement or knowledge, unilateral changed the contract start date to the date they had actually managed to get the broadband going. If I had been aware of that I would have worked around it, but I didn't even suspect that this might be the case. Hence they also wanted to charge me £55 for the kit and an early contract terminated of £3.87.

I had a couple of conversations with them which culminated in me giving them a very politely ultimatum. Either they solve the problem while I was on the line, or I would send them a letter before action and if they didn't respond commence an action in the small claims court. I got the money back during the call.

Don't bother talking to them again, they will just try and fob you off. Send them a letter before action, followed up with a Small Claims summons. My guess is they will settle out of court and give you back your £15 court costs.

For me BT have shown themselves to be useless from beginning to end. On the other I have not had any problems with Sky and I am now getting 5meg with Sky as opposed to 2meg with BT.

Good luck

briggsa30

When I got this offer I was never given any instructions on how to claim it. Was on the understanding that it would be posted to me.
BT have confirmed that too. But today its now a different story.
The 12months says that it's from order acceptance which I placed in early January so I am well after that date.
If they want to be pedantic about wording then so shall I.
I think I will chat tomorrow armed with a lot more knowledge and if I get nowhere will do what somebody has suggested - taken THEM to court.
Thanks for your response.

briggsa30

Short story is that BT is the worst company I've had to deal with and will NEVER be using their services again.
They should be ashamed of their selves and perhaps it's time for BT to close down.

boatman

Router price when new was probably £84 ish, so worst case, you owe them £7 for a month. Write official complaint to their CEO, Mr Pattison.

http://www.sky.com/shop/offers/broadbandswitchers/v1/

Look at this link, see if you can get money back from. Sky.

[Deleted User]

briggsa30 wrote: »

it's time for BT to close down.

That's hardly likely.

I certainly wouldn't be bothering with court action over this, if I were you. A well-worded written letter of complaint should have a similar and far quicker result.

MoneySavingNovice

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

.....I certainly wouldn't be bothering with court action over this, if I were you. A well-worded written letter of complaint should have a similar and far quicker result.

In my experience BT don't take any notice of letters of complaint. I still think a Letter before Action would make it clear that you mean business. But if anybody wants to go down that line they should be prepared to actually commence action.

That said I am inclined to agree with you that it could be considered overkill for a small amount, except if you take the view that companies should not be allowed to rip people off like this.

Personally I’ve never gone down this line before......In the past I have been very careful with whom I have done business and if there has ever been a problem managed to reach a settlement without resorting to threats. I’ve never seen the need to issue a Letter Before Action or actually commence court action before. For me BT is the exception which proves the rule.


My view is that BT have no interest in their customers and refuse to act in a professional or reasonable manner, thus being their own worst enemy.

littleboo

The deffered payment for the router is in the T's & C's. It's not clear why the OP chose to end the contract before the minimum term was up, but delaying a week or two would have avoided the issue.

boatman

littleboo wrote: »

It's not clear why the OP chose to end the contract before the minimum term was up,

Its because Sky no longer allow you to choose when they take over the line. They used to have a web page on your account where you could change the date but that's gone, you now need to call them, but even if you do they ignore you and try and give you some sort of offer instead.

mije1983

boatman wrote: »

Its because Sky no longer allow you to choose when they take over the line. They used to have a web page on your account where you could change the date but that's gone, you now need to call them, but even if you do they ignore you and try and give you some sort of offer instead.

Having said that, Sky do clearly state on their broadband page that

Around two weeks after you've ordered, your Broadband and Talk will be switched from your current provider to Sky.

I believe the standard time for a switch to most ISPs is now 2 weeks.

Hoepfully the OP will come back with some good news though. And a good learning that in a years time they don't place an order with a new compmnay too early on!