Cancel BT contract when moving countries

Nj04

Hello,
I tried to cancel my BT phone and broadband contract as I am moving out of the country but I got quoted £500 for cancellation fee! Has anyone had luck cancelling without paying a fee, if you are moving countries and not switiching providers? Thanks

Neil_Jones

Nj04 said:

Hello,
I tried to cancel my BT phone and broadband contract as I am moving out of the country but I got quoted £500 for cancellation fee! Has anyone had luck cancelling without paying a fee, if you are moving countries and not switiching providers? Thanks

The agreement from the provider is to provide services at a specific address.  If you then decide (for whatever reason) not to live there any more and the provider cannot supply a new address, then you are terminating the agreement, and as per the T&Cs you joined up to, you are liable for cancellation fees.  If your fee is £500 you must have only recontracted relatively recently?

This is no different in principle to joining Virgin, moving house, finding out they don't cover your new address and then wondering why they charge you fees too.

Nj04

Neil_Jones said:

Nj04 said:

Hello,
I tried to cancel my BT phone and broadband contract as I am moving out of the country but I got quoted £500 for cancellation fee! Has anyone had luck cancelling without paying a fee, if you are moving countries and not switiching providers? Thanks

The agreement from the provider is to provide services at a specific address.  If you then decide (for whatever reason) not to live there any more and the provider cannot supply a new address, then you are terminating the agreement, and as per the T&Cs you joined up to, you are liable for cancellation fees.  If your fee is £500 you must have only recontracted relatively recently?

This is no different in principle to joining Virgin, moving house, finding out they don't cover your new address and then wondering why they charge you fees too.

We signed up in June and at that point we didn't know we would have to suddenly move countries.  So just asking if anyone had any experience of cancelling a service when you are not clearly going with another provider. Thanks

JJ_Egan

AS said above  via many posts . Break the contract and pay off the balance .

Farway

You could try sweet talk, reason why etc, you may find a sympathetic ear

If you are moving due to job then perhaps employer would cough up as part of the moving costs?

iniltous

Not clear why you think the reason you have (leaving the country) is reason enough to be excused the early termination fee, it’s not a penalty for leaving for another provider , it’s for not seeing out the minimum period agreed to.
Its obviously your choice, if you don’t intend to return, then apart from the moral obligation to settle your debt, then you presumably could just leave , if you intend to return then the debt could affect you in the future.
If it’s the case that you had no indication that your were going to be leaving the country, hence taking out a lengthy minimum term contract , perhaps whoever is instigating the move should contribute towards any moving expenses you have, after all the ETC is exactly that, the same as paying to move or store your furniture etc.

[Deleted User]

iniltous said:

Not clear why you think the reason you have (leaving the country) is reason enough to be excused the early termination fee, it’s not a penalty for leaving for another provider , it’s for not seeing out the minimum period agreed to.
Its obviously your choice, if you don’t intend to return, then apart from the moral obligation to settle your debt, then you presumably could just leave , if you intend to return then the debt could affect you in the future.
If it’s the case that you had no indication that your were going to be leaving the country, hence taking out a lengthy minimum term contract , perhaps whoever is instigating the move should contribute towards any moving expenses you have, after all the ETC is exactly that, the same as paying to move or store your furniture etc.

There are some countries where if you move country (you have to prove it) you can cancel the contract earlier by law without paying an early termination fee. Obviously moving country is reason enough for this. 

I did it in the US.