Terminating bt broadband contract early

rachelsabina

I live in a small village and am with BT since August 2023. My speed is 8-16mb and I can’t get any faster as no bt fibre available here, my work meetings are regularly slow and freeze. Another company have installed fibre in our area and speeds are 300mb, and its £36 a month compared to £55 with BT. BT quoted me £755 to end contract early as I’m signed up until sept 2025. They said faster speeds aren’t a reason to leave them but I could dispute my final bill once it arrives. Has anyone successfully left BT for this reason? 

Brie

I haven't but I wonder what the terms were that made you go with BT in the first place.  Did they promise something that they couldn't deliver?  That would be cause for you to complain and possibly grounds for having no or low termination fee.

Wonka_2

Which service are you signed up to with BT ? And do you have a Speed Guarantee as part of it ?

Neil_Jones

rachelsabina said:

I live in a small village and am with BT since August 2023. My speed is 8-16mb and I can’t get any faster as no bt fibre available here, my work meetings are regularly slow and freeze. Another company have installed fibre in our area and speeds are 300mb, and its £36 a month compared to £55 with BT. BT quoted me £755 to end contract early as I’m signed up until sept 2025. They said faster speeds aren’t a reason to leave them but I could dispute my final bill once it arrives. Has anyone successfully left BT for this reason? 

If your work meetings (presume Teams or Zoom or similar) can't cope on 8Mb connections then you have other issues.

This sounds more like a wi-fi/capacity issue.

If you're able to get a wired connection from your router to your device, and if connection issues with your meetings goes away for the most part on that wired connection, that issue will not be resolved by changing provider...

littleboo

"They said faster speeds aren’t a reason to leave them but I could dispute my final bill once it arrives. Has anyone successfully left BT for this reason? "

What do you mean by this? Are you suggesting that because another provider can offer faster speeds, you can leave you existing provider penalty free? That would be a no. If you mean that the speeds you get are below the minimum speed guarantee, then if BT have been given an opportunity to resolve the issue, but cant, there is a process for exiting the contract.

iniltous

It’s ridiculously optimistic to expect BT to say ‘OK you can leave for a competitor penalty free’  if BT are supplying what they said they would. Presumably you were OK with the deal when you signed up  ( otherwise why did you agree ) and if this Alt Net wasn’t available you would not be looking to leave BT .

Some of these Alternative Networks offer to pay early termination charges to get customers onto their network ,  they don’t have to, but you could ask.

If you are only 4-5 months into a 24 month commitment then the ETC is obviously going to be substantial as you are not even  a quarter of the way through the minimum term, so your choice is pay up the ETC , or have both services ( get the Alt Net installed and keep BT , if the ETC is about the same as letting the contract run and they you have a back up if the Alt Net turns out to be unreliable ) or stick with BT until the minimum term as ended and consider your options then.

Lastly , if you are on ADSL ( as you say there is no ‘fibre’ ) then £55 a month is way more that the list price for that product, so have you have added other things ( inclusive calls , TV , whole home WiFi etc ) if you have missed these off , then your price comparison is misleading , basic broadband from BT is around £25 not  £55.

M25

Just let the BT service run its course or pay the final bill. I'm assuming the other company don't want to remove that cabling.

Sounds like you're getting a new excellent service so BT can be a good backup for now.

You could choose not to pay the BT bill they will chase you for it obviously and it will be difficult to get a service off them in the future (you never know what's a round the corner).

Farway

M25 said:

Just let the BT service run its course or pay the final bill. I'm assuming the other company don't want to remove that cabling.

Sounds like you're getting a new excellent service so BT can be a good backup for now.

You could choose not to pay the BT bill they will chase you for it obviously and it will be difficult to get a service off them in the future (you never know what's a round the corner).

Not just chase, the credit agencies will be informed of non-payment and eventually getting any financial service from anyone will get difficult