BT Evening and Weekend changes

[greigster]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can offer advice.

My daughter moved to a rented house in rural East Anglia last August. The house is about 4.5 miles from the nearest exchange. She wanted BT broadband so had a BT phone line re-connected at the house. The BT broadband web site said she should get 2 mbps and she went ahead and ordered BT broadband. It took several visits from BT openreach, each time saying that she was connected to BT broadband when in fact she was not. After much help from the BT MDs office, BT openreach finally conceded that the phone line would not support broadband. She was fully refunded for her advanced broadband rental.

My daughter rarely uses her BT phone line as she always has plenty of free minutes on her mobile.

My question is, can she use the change in BTs evening and weekend terms to terminate her phone contract.

[SillyMoo]

Sorry I cannot help on the question asked.

 

But would this not do

 

 

Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan

 

FREE for 3 months

 

 

£4.99 a month thereafter

plus £11.54 line rental

(12 month contract)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a decent price to pay per month, and she could use her mobile for all the free minutes to just other mobiles.

 

 

just a suggestion if she cannot cancel

[greigster]

Thanks for that, I am on the BT anytime plan myself and it works great for me but she would really like to cancel. Had she known that she could not get broadband in the first place, she would never have taken on the BT phone contract.

[SillyMoo]

Is she still within the 28 day period.

 

Also would it not be good enough to write into customer services and complaints department explain all, and asking for a cancellation, and only paying for services used so far.

 

I did it with virgin after 28days explaining my problems, and I got it all canceled along with all cost's and charges wiped out

 

Must be worth a try a least, BTW I did mine on line, from their site, but also emailed them

[greigster]

Unfortunately she joined BT August 2009

[brown1950]

Because BT have recently changed their Terms & Conditions in relation to Evening & Weekend phone changes your daughter is entitled to cancel her contract with BT.

[greigster]

That is good news thanks.

How does she go about cancelling especially as she is not going to another phone company.

[brown1950]

Can I get out of this contract?

The short answer is yes. On Tuesday, BT stated that if a customer can show that they are "significantly disadvantaged" by the change, then they will be permitted to leave their contract even if it still has months left to run.

We understand that if a customer states they are "unhappy" with the change, then they will be allowed to leave - and they will not be asked for lots of evidence about how they will suffer from the change.

BT is likely to do its best to try to persuade you to stay, perhaps by making a new offer. But if you want to leave, you should be able to.

How would I go about leaving?

Call BT on their customer service number: 0800 800 150.

[buzby]

Be prepared for them to dissuade her - and to stick to her guns. I'm assuming that there is now now BB on the line, as this would need to be cancelled and the get-out of BT's charge changes would not apply here.

[Surfer01]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can offer advice.

My daughter moved to a rented house in rural East Anglia last August. The house is about 4.5 miles from the nearest exchange. She wanted BT broadband so had a BT phone line re-connected at the house. The BT broadband web site said she should get 2 mbps and she went ahead and ordered BT broadband. It took several visits from BT openreach, each time saying that she was connected to BT broadband when in fact she was not. After much help from the BT MDs office, BT openreach finally conceded that the phone line would not support broadband. She was fully refunded for her advanced broadband rental.

My daughter rarely uses her BT phone line as she always has plenty of free minutes on her mobile.

My question is, can she use the change in BTs evening and weekend terms to terminate her phone contract.

 

The main reason for getting connected was to have broadband which she cannot get now so she may have a good chance but will have to press the point home.

[MARTIN3030]

Thread moved here.

[Surfer01]

BTW what are the changes as we are on the Anytime and hardly ever take advantage of it? Most of our calls are to 0870 and 0844 numbers plus broadband of course.

[greigster]

Thanks for everyone's help. Will let you know the outcome.

 

Regards

Greigster

[buzby]

The changes only affect those who are NOT on an Anytime plan - the Off-Peak time band is being massaged, currently from 1800-0600 Mon-Fri. to 1900-0700 Mon-Fri (and Sat-Sun all day).

 

In only disadvantages those who receive free off-peak calls, insofar as the start time is pushed back 60 minutes. So the number of cheap hours remains the same, but the number of people benefiting from cheap calls from 0600-0700 won't be the same as those missing 1800-1900.

[greigster]

Be prepared for them to dissuade her - and to stick to her guns. I'm assuming that there is now now BB on the line, as this would need to be cancelled and the get-out of BT's charge changes would not apply here.

 

Broadband was never installed as she is to far away from the exchange.

Just spoken to BT asking them to cancel the phone line and the customer support lady by the name of Tanya has said that she can cancel the evening and weekend calling plan but she cannot cancel the line rental as it is two separate contracts, therefore my daughter is tied into BT line rental until July 23rd. She said that this has all been agreed by OFCOM and she would not tell me lies as it is more than her jobs worth. But she did offer me £36 off my next bill!!! So now I am confused as to what to do next.

[buzby]

Now I'm confused. WHY would she have opted for the free evening and weekend calls package if in your words; "she rarely uses her BT phone line"?

 

The only reason for BT releasing you from the contract is because it disadvantages you. Anyone on an Anytime package could not claim this - because they get all standard calls included, the shift in the Peak/Off-Peak rate will have no effect.

 

HOWEVER if he only has the free weekend OR free off-peak AND weekend package, then she CAN cancel, as she'll be forced to pay for calls that would otherwise be included from 1800-1900. IT all hinges on the package she has.

[Surfer01]

I guess the argument could be that if she knew she would not get broadband she would never have had the telephone line connected. I think Ofcom may a regulatory body with no powers whatsoever like most regulatory bodies.

However when she left her former residence and if she was not going to get another BT line she would have been subjected to a disconnection fee so maybe the £36 is a bonus.

If at the end of the 12 month contract she disconnects please be aware that she may incur a disconnection charge. She will need to check on this.

[buzby]

OFCOM is not a consumer-facing regulator, it is an industry watchdog (and a sleepy one at that) so on both counts not much assistance to consumers.

 

An argument based on consequential issues (I need this to do that) involves different rules. Call BT Broadband and ask for a connection. They'll certainly arrange for a line to be installed and cancel BB if it isn;t to your liking, but since there's nothing wrong with the phone line itself, this won;t be cancelled.

[Mark_Blackpool]

I guess the argument could be that if she knew she would not get broadband she would never have had the telephone line connected. I think Ofcom may a regulatory body with no powers whatsoever like most regulatory bodies.

However when she left her former residence and if she was not going to get another BT line she would have been subjected to a disconnection fee so maybe the £36 is a bonus.

If at the end of the 12 month contract she disconnects please be aware that she may incur a disconnection charge. She will need to check on this.

 

The only way that will work is if the telephone line and the broadband were ordered as one, as a 'package'. Then the supplier has to fulfil both for the contract to be fulfilled. If they can't supply the broadband, then the contract is voided; they are not technically in breach of contract as bb is "subject to survey"

 

Of course for the survey to take place, the line has to be working first. Bit of a shambles really, but that's the network we have in the century we live in. ADSL doesn't work over long distances (more than a couple of miles and it's doubtful, more than three miles or so and it's very unlikely)