BT contract commencement

brianposter

I ordered BT broadband in May 2023 but they made such a mess of things that the line was not installed until about a year later. They are now telling me that I am still in contract because the contract runs from when the line was installed and not from the date the order was placed.

One can understand this if there was a short delay but for a delay of a year the contention seems to be nonsense.

Comments ?

Mark_d

Whilst you placed the order in May 2023, you start paying your monthly contract charge from the date the services commenced - which was May 2024.  You need to make your 24 monthly payments if it was a 2 year contract.

During your 1 year delay, I hope you raised a complaint and received some compensation for the poor service

MyRealNameToo

brianposter said:

I ordered BT broadband in May 2023 but they made such a mess of things that the line was not installed until about a year later. They are now telling me that I am still in contract because the contract runs from when the line was installed and not from the date the order was placed.

One can understand this if there was a short delay but for a delay of a year the contention seems to be nonsense.

Comments ?

You signed up to make 24 payments... have you made 24 payments yet?

Agree with them, the contract starts when the service starts. 

iniltous

Did you get or try to get compensation for the delayed installation, did you ultimately have to pay for the months while you had no service ? …as stated , if agreed to make 24 payments and receive services during those 24 months , the date you ordered is relatively unimportant apart from the compensation you probably received for the late delivery (if the original date was contractual, it often isn’t )  …..if you haven’t completed your 24 months , then you are still inside the minimum term.
You had the option to cancel at any time during the wait for service to be installed if the delay was unacceptable and if you thought a different provider would be quicker in providing service , no gun was held to your head .

JSmithy45AD

iniltous said:

Did you get or try to get compensation for the delayed installation, did you ultimately have to pay for the months while you had no service ? …as stated , if agreed to make 24 payments and receive services during those 24 months , the date you ordered is relatively unimportant apart from the compensation you probably received for the late delivery (if the original date was contractual, it often isn’t )  …..if you haven’t completed your 24 months , then you are still inside the minimum term.
You had the option to cancel at any time during the wait for service to be installed if the delay was unacceptable and if you thought a different provider would be quicker in providing service , no gun was held to your head .

From another thread that the OP started that yourself answered back in March (no reply from the OP though ). Sounds like they've been in contract for 12-15 months maybe:-

"I have a substantial credit on my BT account as a result of Automatic Compensation. If the BT contract is cancelled will this credit be paid out ?"

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6596794/automatic-compensation-refund#latest

iniltous

If the OP was substantially compensated for late delivery, to then expect not to have to fulfil  the minimum term and have the order date applied as the order  date rather than the service start date ( even though the compensation was for this period) shows the level of entitlement some people have,  frankly they are taking ****

brianposter

Compensation was indeed paid but only for a significantly shorter period than the delay - a delay that was completely unnecessary. And the compensation was only paid after BT made a further error and told me that the line was up and running.

One of the intentions of compensation is to persuade service providers to avoid the sort of stupidity that took place in relation to my phone line but it would appear that the mandated compensation is still not adequate to achieve this.

I can certainly see no reason why the compensation should be eroded by BT charging for a sevice which I did not order and cannot use.

As to having contracted to make 24 payments rather than for broadband over 2 years within a reasonable time scale, this becomes more and more absurd as the delay increases. Theoretically the delay could extend indefinitely without any compensation becoming payable.

 

littleboo

Seems to be a "cake and eat it" scenario. You have had "substantial credit" as a result of the compensation. Why would you expect the contract term to additionally be shortened in your favour?

brianposter

"Substantial credit" simply reflects the length and ridiculous nature of the delay,

The compensation only covered part of that delay, so shortening the contract term to reflect the order that was originally placed does not seem to be particularly unreasonable.

iniltous

You said ‘substantial compensation’  but now quibble about it , even if it were not for what you claim the compensation period should have been  , it was clearly a  ‘substantial’ amount you received (otherwise why say it ) that compensation was based on the time between order being taken and connection ….if you want to now leave , do so , I’m sure the compensation you have already received will more than offset any early termination charges you will be liable for (for not fulfilling your side of  the contract) will still put you comfortably in ‘credit’ …..frankly your sense of entitlement is staggering .
Hopefully BT will look at the fact that you have been handsomely compensated for the late provision and insist on ETC should you renege on your contractual obligation and deal with you accordingly if you fail to pay ….or see out the remaining term as you agreed in the first place ….as stated , you didn’t need to wait for BT to connect you , you could have at any point during that period cancelled and used someone else , you chose  to wait it out , knowing compensation was  accruing to know try and wriggle out of your obligation (something BT didn’t do ) doesn’t reflect well on you .

brianposter

The compensation is intended to compensate for a complete lack of service. It is not intended to be used to offset incidental charges.

And it is a very odd idea that an order placed with BT can actually create a contract substantially different to that which was envisaged when the order was placed.

You might also note that the compensation for late provision of service is for some reason significantly less than that for failing to repair an existing service.