Confirmation of BT Cancellation Charges

lenny007

Morning all

Just a quick Q to see if anyone can confirm how much the cancellation charge will be to get out of a BT Together Option 2 before the end of a 12 month contract?

I understand that the standard cancellation charge is £70 but are there any more costs to be incurred?

I can't find anything on my letter from BT to state what the charges would be other than "if you tell us you want to tend this service after 7 days and before the end of the 12 month term , you will incur a termination charge". I've also checked he BT price list (user friendly!!) and the only mention of termination charges under the "Option 2" part concerns the "Home Highway", which it states was withdrawn in September 2005!

Any info you could give me would help a lot - BT are trying to hit me with a final bill of some £213.92!!! I was expecting a £70 charge but this is ridiculous!

Cheers in advance.

utilitybroker

Did you by any chance sign up for a 18 month contract Option 2 Evening and Weekend Call Package,as well as the 12 months line rental contract.

lenny007

Nope, just the 12 months.

After speaking to an "advisor" (huh!) this morning, i was informed that i shouldn't have been charged the £70.00 and will be credited it. When i asked where in the terms and conditions the termination charge was noted, i was told it wasn't and that i would have been told when i signed up for the contract about it.

I asked if they had the call on record, was told not all calls were recorded, and when i asked "how do you know i was told then", i was informed "you would have been". When i asked how do you know you are crediting me the correct amount, i was told "because i'm telling you".

I asked who i should speak to in order to complain and was told "the charges were correct" and it was inferred that no complaints would be considered. It was only at the end of the call when i was asked if there was anything else i needed and i responded "the address to complain to" was i informed it was on Page 2 of my bill (which i don't have to hand seeing as i'm at work).

So BT comment that there is a termination charge but unless you are told at the outset, there is nowhere it is in print. Then, they overcharge you and when you ask why "this" part of the overcharge is being refunded and not the other, they say "because i'm telling you it's correct", even though the bill is wrong in the first place.

The other "belter" of a comment was when i commented i was being charged line rental after i had switched suppliers. The "advisor" stated there was a 14 day notice period. I commented that i wouldn't have thought they would have swapped the call charges over and not the lines at the same time, he said they do.

So in effect, for 14 days i'm paying both BT and Talk Talk for line rental!!!!

Next course of action is to write to them and complain. I'm not taking this lying down!!

darrinm81

lenny007 wrote: »

Nope, just the 12 months.

After speaking to an "advisor" (huh!) this morning, i was informed that i shouldn't have been charged the £70.00 and will be credited it. When i asked where in the terms and conditions the termination charge was noted, i was told it wasn't and that i would have been told when i signed up for the contract about it.

...

So in effect, for 14 days i'm paying both BT and Talk Talk for line rental!!!!

When did you sign up to BT? And is the "BT Together Option 2" just phone or is it Broadband as well?

I am in a similar situation and am trying to recoup the cancellation charges and line rental charges.

What BT support number did you call? How long did you need to hold for?

AlexisV

Sorry to butt in, but I'm in the same situation.

I joined BT in June and signed up to Option 2. Three months ago I got a bill for £213. An hour on the phone and I was told it was a mistake and that it would be sorted.

A month later I got a letter demanding £207. Another hour on the phone and it was sorted I thought.

Next month another letter for the £207 and rather than spend another hour on the phone, I emailed a complaint. I received this:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the cancellation charges.

In response to your e-mail, I would like to tell you that you have down grade your BT together Option and that is why you have been charged for £213.70.

If you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us again via e-mail.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Yours sincerely,

Arvind Rawat

I have never cancelled anything and have been on the same option 2 since I joined BT in June. I never even mentioned a cancellation charge in my email as nobody has ever told me what the £207 / £213 was for. It also keeps changing between £207 and £213.

Throughout this I've been paying the normal call and rental bills I've been receiving, none of which mention this £213.

Any idea what I can do? Their phone service is unbelievably appalling and it takes around an hour to speak to anyone.

cufc_mike

Blimey, only 1 hour to speak to somebody. Count yourself lucky. It used to take me 4-5 hours on hold before I got through. Are you suprised I cancelled my service after just 7 days (within the cooling off period).

No suprise I was hit with a £130 cancellation fee, despite cancelling within the allowed 7 days. I rang up and finally got through to talk to somebody, and after an age, was told they would refund £60 because I was an unhappy customer. Disgusting I thought so asked to speak to the line-manager. Suprisingly enough there was nobody free to talk to.

I asked for a call back from the Customer Services manager the next day, and in the mean time had sent a letter out to the Customer Services manager and Ofcom/Otelo. The next day, an Indian lady phoned me and told me if I had any queries to ring their freephone number! I was absolutely appalled.

Have just checked my online bill today, and suddenly my outstanding bill is £460. BT better answer my call tonight/tomorrow because I am absolutely sick to death of them. Their customer services team are hopeless. They take hours to answer calls, and then when they do they transfer you from department, to department, whilt you explain everything 3 times over!!!

Edited - Just to add, oh yeah and I was told the cancellation fee was explained in their terms and conditions on the Internet. I'm accessing this from work, and don't have the Internet yet at home. Do they expect everybody to have home Internet Access, and if not, it's tough luck?

Drunkstar

No suprise I was hit with a £130 cancellation fee, despite cancelling within the allowed 7 days

There is no 7 days to cancel a line once its active, only up until 4pm the day before it goes live. What exactly did you order?

manrow

Lets start with a simple question what has gone wrong at BT?

Drunkstar

manrow wrote: »

Lets start with a simple question what has gone wrong at BT?

Well, the issues with WLR3 have been a HUGE thorn. Add to that the constant mis-information being given out by other providers (Yes they CAN start a line. No, we DONT have a monopoly) and you get a culture of stres amongs advisors.

Those IN MY OPINION are the big issues right now.

cufc_mike

Drunkstar wrote: »

There is no 7 days to cancel a line once its active, only up until 4pm the day before it goes live. What exactly did you order?

That's not what my letter from BT says, and that's also not what the Customer Advisor told me when I made my order, but then they cocked that up along with many things that have made the last 2-3 months quite unbearable as a young, first time buyer.

Can I ask 2 questions:

1. Why have I been hit with a £130 cancellation charge for Call Mobile Option, which I didn't want, but was given free for 12 months?

2. Why have I been charged a further £350 cancellation charge for ending my service early?

I'll just type out something from the BT terms & conditions:

"From 1st May 2007, for customers ending their service early, we replaced the existing charges with a policy that requires customers who have ordered a line on or after 1st May to pay the outstanding line rental for the 12-month minimum term of their contract, up to a maximum of £70 (incl. VAT)."

Firstly, I'm not paying a cancellation charge for something I didn't bloody order, yet was given free to me against my wishes, for 12 months. Secondly, I do believe the minimum amount of £350 and £70....is in fact (despite what those mathematicians at BT might think) £70.

I'm waiting to hear from the BT Escalations Department today (for the 4th time) but at least this time I actually have a reference number.

No phone call today and I'll be forwarding on a 2nd complaint to Ofcom.

Drunkstar, if you really do work for BT, and have the ability to help me, then I am willing to (privately) explain every single little thing that has gone wrong during my brief 7 days with BT, and I will appreciate that.

I'm no longer a BT customer, and never will be again, but I won't be happy until they !!!!!! off asking for the £460 that I supposedly owe them.

I can't explain everything here and now because I'm at work, and don't have the facts, and will probably miss out some essential information, but i've letters, bills, reference numbers, terms and conditions, small print, recordings of my telephone calls to BT, etc all as proof that I have been wrongfully charged, at home which I can pass on to you at some point, all of which might I add have been passed on to Mrs Lewis (Customer Services Director - or something like that), who I'm not even convinced actually exists, and also Mr Verwaayen whom I believe is the Chief Exec.

Regards,

System

they tried to get a large cancellation fee from me but i told them i wanted to here the recording were i was told i was entering a 18 month contract, they rang a week later to say the fee had been waived because they could not locate the recording