Switching on contract end date?

james0807

Hi,

My broadband and calls package with BT ends on the 8th November, I'm trying to work out if I arrange a switch for the 8th, whether that will trigger some kind of "early termination" charge. There is very little info about this online, with no one really going into any detail about the specifics of switching very close to an end date.

I've spoken to BT who told me I needed to give 30 days notice to leave, which we all know is rubbish as long as I'm switching, in which case it's 14 days and is the reason the switch can't happen in less time than that.

My sister has recently switched from BT to Now and was charged for the BT package on the switch date, as well as the Now package, so my assumption would be that switching on the end date is fine because BT will charge me for that day anyway. But assumption is the mother of all ____ ups so I thought I would check

Thanks in advance,

James

Neil_Jones

Well if you're out of contract on the 8th don't apply for a new provider until the 9th. That problem is solved, yes?

Of course you would still have to pay BT for the 14 days or so between the 9th and whenever the new provider goes live.

james0807

Right, so that's confused me even more.

Why wait until the 9th to apply for a switch?

This comes down to how you interpret the meaning of the minimum term, because surely as long as the actual switch takes place on or after the 8th November, then I have not ended my BT contract early? (Since BT would provide service until the date of the switch)

Your suggestion would mean paying higher BT prices for 14 days after the 9th? Why would I do this?

James

iniltous

Why the need to switch on the exact date of the contract minimum term expiry ?, if you do happen to switch a few days before that date the early termination charges will be tiny, if you switch a few days after then you get refunded the days you paid BT after the new provider has taken over.....no one gets charged for the same day by two providers, if you were switched on the 8th (for example) your old provider charges you for that date and your new provider charges should start on the 9th, this is the date the actual changeover is done, not the proposed /target date you are given ( although more often than not, the target date is the date the changeover is done)

The only potential problem if a changeover is done a few days early is if the current deal includes 'free' equipment on the basis that a minimum term is completed , that's why is better to err on the side of caution and target the switch a few days after the expiry of the minimum term rather than on the exact date.

If you stil want to try to get the job done on the exact date, then it's 10-14 days for a migration, ( so 25th ish to 29th ish of October) that in itself makes judging the date to apply to the new company difficult, and as its Openreach who do the changeover, if the date the work is done is 'late' , then you pay up to the date the changeover is done anyway.
You could , presumably , call your chosen new provider on the 25th and if they say the changeover will be 8 Nov you proceed , if they say it will be earlier , you don't proceed and call them again the day after ( they may be able to chose the changeover anyway rather than what the system offers )

If you currently pay ( for arguments sake ) BT £30 a month, and after the minimum term the price goes up to £45 , and the changeover is done 4 days after the 'official' minimum term end date , then it's cost you the princely sum of £1.97 more than the optimum changeover date, hardly worth worrying about is it ?

[Deleted User]

And you cannot guarantee that the switch over date will not be put back in time as an Openreach engineer will need to be available to action the switch.
Looking at the Plusnet community, that is a very common and real event and can add a week or two to the switch.

james0807

Thank you both for your responses. The provider I'm looking to switch to provide a "proposed" switch date while placing the order so I don't think it should happen earlier than that since presumably they give the earliest date they can.

I take your points and I'll probably wait until Friday to place the order so that 2 weeks away is the 9th and definitely after the minimum contract term.

In terms of "why the need to get the switch done asap", it's basically because I've found what I think is a pretty awesome deal and I don't want it to have gone by the time I get to placing an order.

For those interested, Now TV are currently offering their fab fibre unlimited (36mb avg.) and unlimited landline and mobile calls for £25 p/m including line rental! Which is very very good value compared to my current "new customer" deal at BT.

Also regarding the comment about not being billed twice. I've seen the bills and for a switch that took place on the 6th September, her BT refund was for 7th - 5th October, and the new contract billing period was 6th - 5th, so there was a double up on the 6th. Maybe she should have chased BT? But like you say, we're talking about pennies here and life is probably too short.

iniltous

If the date your sister was switched was the 6th then the BT bill should include the 6th ( and the refund from the 7th) and the Now TV bill should start on the 7th, so if anyone should be chased for the double charged day it's Now TV as it appears their bill has started 1 day early, not BT charging for a date they didn't supply) it's assumed the changeover is done at midnight regardless of the actual time, so if the changeover was 3pm, it doesn't matter , BT are considered the provider until midnight on the 6th and Now TV are the provider at 0.01am on the 7th, but as you say life is too short ....

james0807

iniltous wrote: »

If the date your sister was switched was the 6th then the BT bill should include the 6th ( and the refund from the 7th) and the Now TV bill should start on the 7th, so if anyone should be chased for the double charged day it's Now TV as their bill has started early, not BT charging for a date they didn't supply) , but as you say life is too short ....

Gotcha! Thank you