BT to Sky swap, Bt charging £55 for equipment

OrangeBunny

I've just signed up to SKY via the MSE link, despite my contract with BT ending on the 18th April.
I assumed there would be only a small charge for the remaining 18 days as I'd paid upfront for line rental.
BT emailed me to state they were charging £55 for equipment plus £12.37 for the remaining 18 days, which is higher than the monthly payment.
Is this legal for them to do so? Would I still be charged this for leaving BT at the end of the contract?
The cheap SKY offer is now not so cheap given the £67.37 charge for leaving BT. Can I cancel?
Any useful advice would be appreciated!

Just spoken to BT, who spent 30 minutes trying to talk me into staying with them at £80 a year more than the SKY bill plus the £67.37 charge. Unimpressed with their service!

mije1983

OrangeBunny wrote: »

I've just signed up to SKY via the MSE link, despite my contract with BT ending on the 19th April.
I assumed there would be only a small charge for the remaining 19 days as I'd paid upfront for line rental, & the change over date of 30th March.
BT emailed me to state they were charging £55 for equipment. Is this legal for them to do so? Would I still be charged this for leaving BT at the end of the contract?
They're also charging £12.37, which is higher than the monthly payment.
The cheap SKY offer is now not so cheap given the £67.37 charge for leaving BT. Can I cancel?
Any useful advice would be appreciated!

Last BT contract I had said there would be a charge for the Home Hub if I left before 12 months is up. I assume it's still the same (was about 3 years ago now) but you'd need to check your agreement. If it is the same, then yes it's legal as you agreed to it when taking out the contract.

If you wait until your minimum term is up then no you won't have to pay the charge.

Regarding the £12.37, your bill will list what the relevant charges are.

lee111s

You need to wait until the contract is finished before moving, otherwise you're liable for the charge.

Vbus

You can either wait for your contract to end before making the change to avoid the swap (so contact SKY and ask them to change the go live date, the date your service becomes active with them, to the date after your contract ends). The other alternative, if they can't do this is for you to request a credit note from SKY to cover the cost of early termination from BT. So they may kindly credit your account with £67.37 to cover the fact that they can't move the go live or activation date.

As you can imagine, getting that credit note will depend on trying to get Sky to understand that it is their fault for not moving the go live or activation date.

Highly early termination charge is one of the annoying things about BT and unfortunately it is in their contract.

Good luck with the quest for cheaper Broadband.

System

mije1983 wrote: »

Last BT contract I had said there would be a charge for the Home Hub if I left before 12 months is up.

In Feb when I jumped ship less than 12 months in I was sent a bag for my BT Youview box and if I didn't send it back I would be billed so that comes as no surprise.

mije1983

Tarambor wrote: »

In Feb when I jumped ship less than 12 months in I was sent a bag for my BT Youview box and if I didn't send it back I would be billed so that comes as no surprise.

Surely it wouldn't come as a surprise anyway as you would have been aware when you read the terms before you signed up origianlly?