Issue with BT package

Hillwalker17 · 18 April 2017 at 8:29PM

Hi guys,

I have a problem which I will explain.

I've been with BT for 2 years. The first year we paid our line rental in advance and we were only paying £8 a month for internet. The second year we paid the line rental and the broadband together at about £25 a month.

Anyway, on 28th March 2017, I logged into my BT account and saw that the 2 latest bills were about £38.99. I noticed that my fixed contract had ended.

I logged in and had a look at the BT packages. At this time there was a mega online sale on and the price of all packages had been reduced.

I selected a package which was showing as £25.99, having been discounted from £40.99. It came with a £75 reward mastercard. When I went through the checkout, the discount would not apply. I tried to do this several times, but it wouldn't work. I read somewhere that the discount would be applied on the bills for the first 12 months and then it would revert to the higher price.

I thought that as I had had no problem in the last 2 years with BT, I would continue with the package and expect the discount to be applied on the bills. Once I completed the checkout order, I got an email saying I had signed up to the package at £40.99. Again I thought the discount would be applied in the bills for the first 12 months.

Tonight I checked the bank and saw that the bills had not been reduced as expected. I went on to online chat with BT and explained the situation, however they have fobbed me off saying as its the price I signed up for, there is nothing I can do. They also stated that as the 14 day cooling off period has ended, I have no option to cancel the package, unless I pay the £254 cancellation fee.

Do I have any case. It's not like this is just a £1 or £2 a month, its £15 which is alot of money to pay extra when it's not the price I intended to sign up for.

Any advice appreciated.

Witless · 18 April 2017 at 8:32PM

Are their offers not just for 'new' customers?

Hillwalker17 · 18 April 2017 at 8:47PM

No i'm positive it was a general online sale. It had the sale marketed all across the website.

mije1983 · 19 April 2017 at 12:26AM

Did you go into the 'existing customers' section of the site, or just the general BT page. If the latter then the offers are just for new customers and appear even if you are signed in. If the former, then you have more of an argument as they are offers for existing customers.

It does seem however that it was a new customer only offer and you just mis-read it, which is backed up by the fact you checked out at the higher price, and the confirmation email also stated the higher price. Unless you can find some goodwill from BT (or wait for the next price rise!), it looks like you are stuck unfortunately.

JJ_Egan · 19 April 2017 at 9:07AM

(I selected a package which was showing as £25.99, having been discounted from £40.99. It came with a £75 reward mastercard.)

That was a New Customer offer .I was looking at prices end of March .The reward card is the clue as its not offered to existing customers .
Similar offers / adverts published at the time in papers and TV . Current adverts the same new customers only .

macman · 19 April 2017 at 10:47AM

The reason the discount wasn't applied is because at the point you were asked the question 'do you have an existing line?' or 'do you require a new line?', you would have answered with the former, and then typed in your existing number. The system would then identify you as an existing customer and so cancel the new customer discount. Since you then knowingly went through checkout with the full price displayed, and ignored the confirmatory email, you can't really expect BT to cancel it without penalty.
If you were concerned, which you surely were, you still had 14 days to contact them and check.

Hillwalker17 · 23 April 2017 at 8:20PM

Thanks for your replies. I'm gutted as it now means we have to pay £40 a month for 12 months. That's £15 extra than what we wanted to pay. I real lesson learned. Why do BT advertise the discounted prices even when customers are signed in - surely thats false advertising?

mije1983 · 23 April 2017 at 9:41PM

If you look at the terms there are quite a few occasions BT mention 'for new BT Broadband customers' or similar.

They also, more than once, informed you of the price you would be paying. Unfortunately you decided to disregard that.

You can still have a BT login without having an account with them (I know this as I left them last year but could still login), which is why the prices are displayed as they are. It is at the point you enter your phone number/address when it shows if you are a current customer and if so displays the correct, more expensive price.

Issue with BT package

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