Bad Faith?

Mr_Singleton

Was wondering if you sign a 18 month contract with BT for Broadband would it be considered as bad Faith if BT then raised the price 2 weeks later?

If so what would the legal remedies be?

JJ_Egan

Not if its in the contract and it is .

waamo

What does the contract say about price rises? There is usually a clause that lets you leave in the event of a price rise.

DoaM

If the rise is more than inflation (can't remember which variant they reference) then you can usually cancel without penalty; if it's no more than inflation then you usually can't. (This is a fairly recent change, from memory ... it used to be that any price rise allowed you to trigger the release clause).

But ... is there not a clause that allows you to cancel and leave within 30 days? (or is it 14 days?)

Mr_Singleton

Just to clarify my understanding of 'Bad Faith' is to negotiate/enter into a contract with no intention of honouring the terms of it.

If that's the case no contract is formed so any terms within it are null and void.

steampowered

English law does not have a concept of 'bad faith'. This is a concept in European legal systems. 'Bad faith' does not render a contract null or void.

You will have to read the contract to see what it says about price hikes. It may be the case that you are entitled to terminate your contract early if there is a price hike.

macman

Same answer as always: it is not a fixed price contract. So they can increase the price a day later if they wish. Your remedy remains the same.

JJ_Egan

The BT contract includes this below be it a month or a year before a price rise .


<Our prices and terms may change at any time while you're in contract with us. We'll let you know about any important changes before they happen. >>

MikeWhite

When they put calling prices up last year/start of this year they sent me this:

"You don't need to do anything but if you want to change something, please give us a call. If you want to leave and you're within your minimum contract term, you'll need to call us within 30 days of receiving this email to avoid paying a charge for leaving early. You'll need to give us 30 days' notice to leave (or 14 days if you're switching to a new provider). We won't charge you for any increase in price during that time. "

Ectophile

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Was wondering if you sign a 18 month contract with BT for Broadband would it be considered as bad Faith if BT then raised the price 2 weeks later?

If so what would the legal remedies be?

Your legal remedy is to phone them up and tell them you wish to cancel the contract, or take your business elsewhere, whichever you prefer.

The latter is usually less hassle for you.

unholyangel

DoaM wrote: »

If the rise is more than inflation (can't remember which variant they reference) then you can usually cancel without penalty; if it's no more than inflation then you usually can't. (This is a fairly recent change, from memory ... it used to be that any price rise allowed you to trigger the release clause).

But ... is there not a clause that allows you to cancel and leave within 30 days? (or is it 14 days?)

Other way around. They used to only allow you to cancel if the price increased significantly (although they'd then argue a 12% increase wasn't significant). Now - due to ofcoms rules they need to allow you to cancel without penalty for any price increase no matter how small.


https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2013/protection-for-consumers-against-mid-contract-price-rises

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2014/protection-for-consumers-against-unexpected-mid-contract-price-rises