Sorry if this seem to be a long post , but please bare with me

My Daughter signed via the internet for basic 11gb BT broadband ,

she has yet to receive a hard copy of the contract or “Welcome pack “,only an email confirmation

About 10 days after applying she received (by post ) the BT hub , and a day later put it into service .

She was horrified 3 days later to receive a warning email telling her she had exceeded the download limit by almost double .

Horrified due to

A) The high cost of excess data charges

B) The fact that even though devices were connected all were set to not update unless the relevant ok was clicked ,

she had not carried any downloads or film watching and could not understand how so much data could have been downloaded

She then disconnected all connected devices , went out ,

and 3 hrs later when she checked it was showing and additional 10gb of data had been downloaded ,

this on an up to 8mb service

Then the first of many calls to BT “customer service “

Various assurances were made , ignored , denied , forgotten

She was talked down to as though she was a silly school girl ,

talked at , talked over and hung up on ,

in the latest call , witnessed by my OH , she had to tell the BT person he was rude ,

and to stop talking over her when she was trying to get her points across

.The first BT person had said they would look into the downloads and tell her how and when .

BT , as yet have failed to provide this data , and are deny ever saying this was possible ,

lets hope a review of recordings of telephone calls will show who is telling the truth

She / we then decided we had had enough and to exercise the 14 day cooling off period .

That is when the sting in the tail came .

We consider the cooling off period start date is when you actually start to use the service .

O no say BT it starts when you sign up.

So you sign up get the service , find it wanting , go to cancel and get stuck with a £204 cancellation fee ,

because you have passed BT cooling period .

We are refusing to pay the cancellation charge , only offering to pay any outstanding data charges ,

so BT said they would send a deadlock letter ,

this they have not , instead , a standard cancellation email has arrived .

The standing order to this account has now been closed ,

and BT informed to only communicate by letter ,

as my daughter has limited ability to connect to secure and safe internet ( essentially ours at our house )

A letter of formal complaint has been sent .along with an offer to settle only outstanding data charges .

My Daughter is a special needs care assistant on National Minimum wage , with a school age child ,

and is attempting to live independently , there is no way she could afford this cancellation fee

So over to the experts

Is this an unfair contract condition

What chance do we have going up against the might of BT

Last sum up

,For 3 days internet , BT want £204 as well as the initial charges !!

Hi

Unfortunately BT are correct when they say the cooling off period is 14 days starting the day after she signed.

There is another way to cancel but it is a long road to do so. If your daughter was quoted a minimum line speed and she isn't getting that BT should investigate and if they can't allow the customer to leave without penalty.

As this order was made over the phone, BT should keep a copy of the recording in case of dispute. I would make sure that they keep all call recordings. If you or she needs to ring again, record the call.

If a router is disconnected, there should be no other data usage and as you say more data was used, BT should investigate this.

You could SAR BT and see what comes back. Alternatively, email the boss.

[email protected]

Thanks for that , most certainly will involve the boss

I have been doing some checks and I think I may be wrong. According to a problem listed on the daily mail the cooling off period starts at the same time the connection is established so assume the router appeared on day 10 and was connected on the 11th day, the cooling off period would then start so by the 23rd/24th day the cooling off period would have ended and she would be stuck with the contract.

Just because the BT terms and conditions say the opposite does not make it true.

All I have to do now is find the relevant clause in the Consumer Rights Act 2015

This prompted me to look around myself

I found on the CAB web site an information document

And ... BT appear to be wrong ,

we can cancel based on service starting date ,

not sign up date ,

so I think we have them

I thought I would resurrect this with an update , essentially little has happened in over a year .

BT refused to accept that their terms are in breach of consumer regs and will/would not move from their position .

Their only concession was to tell us to contact Offcom , for mediation.

That ,we did around a year ago , and despite numerous written , email and telephone prompts nothing has happened ,

the offer of paying for the usage and nothing else has been ignored ,

BT have not communicated directly ,

Offcom will only say the enquiry is ongoing , .

Is it normal for a complaint through Offcom to drag on so long ?

Do we still nag for resolution ,

or just hope the paperwork in buried ,

never to surface again ?

Offcom will only say the enquiry is ongoing , .

 

Is it normal for a complaint through Offcom to drag on so long ?

When I had need to file a complaint with Ofcom about Tiscali, it was investigated and settled within a couple of months as I recall. This was quite a few years back, so things may have gone down hill since.

let OFCOM know informally that you will be asking for a SAR as you believe that they have the relevant info but you want to see what they do have. A phone call to do this may make them actually get the file out and wipe the crumbs from it and have a look.

Time to resurrect this thread

Today my Daughter had a visit from Lowell wanting almost £400

It seems BT have gone to the County CT and got a CCJ judgment for £175 plus Lowell costs .

So far as we know ,

having periodically called OFCOM ,

the matter is still under review and in the hands of OFCOM .

But It would appear sly BT have just gone ahead and got a judgment.

What is curious ,

is that there has been absolutely no communication from either the County CT ,

BT or Lowell ,

the Lowell letter the first we knew of it .

I have spoken to Lowell ,

but they will not speak to me ,

Data Protection !!

so my daughter is emailing them an authorisation for me to speak on her behalf ,

they will only put the action on hold for a short while ,

as it is the weekend and we are unable to get things sorted

BT didn't get the CCJ they sold the debt to lowells.

you'll have to wait till Monday now

ring northants bulk

ask for a copy of the claimform and the CCJ by email PDF

lets see where the Claimform has gone to?

unless she has moved since this debacle started

I doubt it was lowells at your door

if they have a CCJ they would contact the court and get court bailiffs to visit.

SURE it was lowells.

dx

retitled and moved to legal forum

dx

The letter is headed

HM Courts and tribunals Service

Address

Kent Warrant and Payment unit Canterbury County CT .Law Courts , Chaucer Rd Canterbury

It goes on to name an amount , then Final Notice

And suggesting she failed to pay an outstanding warrant

Strange thing is some details , such as her name , warrant number, and Lowell Portfolio and the amount are hand written in , the rest is what looks like a pro forma printed letter with a £500 fee if they return to seize goods , some chance , she hardly has 2 pennies to rub together .

I am right in thinking this is might not be an official letter ?

then that's from a court bailiff not Lowells

Could you scan and redact and upload this letter ? Does it have a claim number ? Details of the judgment ?

Is it like the following...?

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?168-Bailiffs-and-High-Court-Enforcement-Officers/images/HMCTS%2520Warrant%2520Example_Page_1.jpeg&imgrefurl=https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?168-Bailiffs-and-High-Court-Enforcement-Officers/Distress-Warrants.htm&h=1053&w=744&tbnid=mGM1hsPQa10EaM:&q=warrant+of+control&tbnh=160&tbnw=113&usg=AI4_-kQ6Gs084DP6wOmtgLAWy_nTuu18zg&vet=12ahUKEwjfoeWp047fAhWOsKQKHU5kAlIQ9QEwAHoECAYQBg..i&docid=EAoixa6hkeUMiM&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfoeWp047fAhWOsKQKHU5kAlIQ9QEwAHoECAYQBg

Have you checked on the registry trust to see if she has a CCJ ?

https://www.trustonline.org.uk/

Andy

Not like the image suggested ,not able to scan until Sunday ,

the only info is claimant : Lowell

Case Number xxxxx

Warrant Number xxxxx

All hand written

Printed signature Mr xxxxxxxxx Baliff

And email [email protected]

Off shopping Calais tomorrow , so , will reply further Sunday

Thanks for interest so far

you mean HMCTS

her majesty's court and tribunals service

so def from a court bailiff then.

you'll have to wait till Monday now

ring northants bulk

ask for a copy of the claimform and the CCJ by email PDF

lets see where the Claimform went too?

I would assume she has moved since she took this out?

Excuse my lack of computer knowledge , I know I have to creat a pdf of the redacted document , how ?

She has been at the same address since this affair started

Have a read of the upload guide, sparkey.

HB

The Letter

Lowell.pdf

And that is the only letter?

So she is still at the address this bt account was opened at?

Should have quite afew other letters

Before the ccj

And after

Firstly , she has been at the same address all the time

The latest communication was a deadlock letter from BT June 2016 ,following 3 letters and 5 telephone conversations referred to above , the deadlock letter which totally misrepresented the facts leading to deadlock , ignoring the simple maths , that it would be impossible to download the amount of data in the time scale , and rejecting the calculation of a “cooling off period” being from the start of service , insisting it was when the hub was delivered

We rejected the deadlock letter and asked for it to be re written , properly representing the dispute .this was 10 June 2016 .

Also we said we would escalate to a complaint against BT with OFCOM , which we did ,

My daughter periodically call OFCOM to enquire the progress of the complaint , and the answer was always the same , still under investigation .

My daughter is adamant that she has since , not received ANY communication either BT as LBA , Courts , or Lowell until the above delivered by hand .

Mondays task is to contact Northants Court so get the suggested details sent, and to ask to have the case reheard and check that they have the correct address and details , OFCOM to see if the investigation ever reached a conclusion , and finally to tell Lowell that she is going to ask for the case to be reheard so she can defend it , and call off the dogs

just get a copy of the claimform AND the CCJ from northants bulk for now by email PDF.

scan if up to pdf and post here please

THEN we will decide your next course of action.

don't go contacting the world and his master YET.

seek the right advice from here

THEN we will tell you who to contact and how.

which is certainly not ringing anyone bar the court, let alone lowells!!

writing of letters later to come to unravel this

dx

Thanks for that , she will follow advice to the letter !!( well not a letter

Although not a member of this forum , I have linked it to her , so she can follow ,

Donation in the post

just one final point to clarify as you appear to keep getting slightly confused I think.

the CCJ is NOTHING to do with BT

they wont have a clue nor have been involved at all

its been done by lowells after they bought the debt from BT for pennies to the pound

Too right I am confused , so Lowell would have bought the debt without knowing the back story ?

If this is the case , will challenging the Lowell action be a problem ?

Not knowing OFCOM rules , can BT circumvent the process by selling the alleged debt ?