BT termination fee

HM1966lb

Hi All,
Can you help please? I have been with BT for years, rang them just now to say I'm moving to France in July. I have home phone,tv and BB. The response was ok but you are in contract until January 2023.
Termination fee is £275. I fell off my chair !. Is there anything I can do not to pay or pay less or am I stuffed?
Many thanks for any advice
Howard

DE_612183

BT seem to do this - when you come to the end of a contract, they offer you a new one ( maybe slightly less ) but you get tied in for 12/18 months.

littleboo

All ISP's do this, you either pay monthly and pay higher fees, or you have a contract and benefit from a lower prices for a minimum term. If you have taken a contract, and now want to exit the contract early, there will be charges

iniltous

The OP states they are inside a minimum term and have phone, bb, and BTTV , if inside a minimum term until Jan 2023 that’s 7 months , so that’s a payment of around £40 a month , which doesn’t seem unreasonable for leaving 7 months early on a bundle of 3 services……the moral of the story don’t sign up for minimum terms if you know you won’t see them out , obviously life can intervene, but presumably you don’t move to France on a whim.
The title of the post is a little misleading, as it’s not just a termination fee , which could suggest it’s a fee for simply leaving, it’s an early termination charge ( ETC ) for not seeing out the ‘contract’ that was agreed…it’s also industry standard, it’s not like it’s just BT that charge ETC, all providers would charge ETC if a customer left within a minimum term

Brie

I would question whether they made termination fees clear on renewal.  I had signed up for them at one point online and they never made this clear and so it got waved.

BUFF

iniltous said:

 all providers would charge ETC if a customer left within a minimum term

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10516223/Victory-Virgin-Media-ditches-unfair-exit-fees-movers.html

matelodave

Brie said:

I would question whether they made termination fees clear on renewal.  I had signed up for them at one point online and they never made this clear and so it got waved.

You should never ever sign up to anything unless you've read the T&C's.

They are available for you to download  BT have it al written out chapter and verse in their T&C's .Many if not most firms have a tick box asking you to confirm that you've read and understood the T&C's (even the firm I buy coffee from has it and my Vodafone Broadband contract had it as well).

If you've managed to get it waived then thats' good, but make sure you carry out due diligence in the future as you may not be so lucky