BT Cancellation Charge

k_l7x

You just gotta love BT! I’ve missed two payments in a row and when I got home from holiday there was a letter from BT asking me to pay my outstanding balance immediately or there might be restrictions placed on the line and if the bill continued to remain unpaid it could result in full disconnection, by the time that I got home from holiday there was already a partial restriction on the line in that the phone didn’t work but the broadband did so I paid the bill straight away and explained to the lady that I had just been on holiday which was why I hadn’t paid earlier and she said that that was fine and that the restriction should be lift within 24 hours. 24 hours later the restriction was still in place so I phoned them again only to be told that they had closed my account and that I had to wait for a final bill to be sent out and then once I had paid that I could apply for an other account. Well, the final bill has just arrived and it’s £126.47, £118.97 cancellation charge and £7.50 late payment charge!

Does anyone know if they can get away with it or is there anyway to avoid payment as I never wanted to cancel the account and I don’t want to pay just so that I can open a new BT account (my landlord specified that we have to use BT!).

normanmark

Well questions need to be asked of why havent you got a direct debit set up? This would have solved the problems of missed payments.

You need to call BT & find out why they've closed the accounts and get them to re-open it again. The reason why the cancellation charges is so high is down to you paying the remaining months of the contract.

k_l7x

So I've got no choice but to pay up?

Heinz

k_l7x wrote: »

So I've got no choice but to pay up?

You're in this position because you 'missed' 2 previous payments and then, because you were away, missed a follow-up letter demanding prompt settlement of the debt. As normanmark has said, DD would have avoided the problem but, now, there's not a lot you can do but settle up and learn from the experience.

If you do the head in the sand bit, you'll just get bad markers on your credit rating.

normanmark

k_l7x wrote: »

So I've got no choice but to pay up?

You have two choices. Call up BT and discuss why they've closed the account & see if you can come to some arrangement with them in order to carry on the telephony service (if thats what you want)

The other alternative is that BT don't want you as a customer as you didn't pay your previous bills, so all you're left with is settling the final bill with them & ensure whoever you use for your communication services in the future you set up a direct debit with them.

dexterlevi

Why does the landlord say you have to go with BT. Not sure he is in a position to stipulate who you use.Yes he may not want other cables coming into property but even with BT line running into house, you can consider other suppliers who provide you with package which includes line rental you would normaly pay to BT.

I recently signed up with Orange with line rental included. Orange therefore rent line from BT rather than me.