Virbal contract

[Bigbay21]

I made a verbal contract with BT over the telephone For a 1 year subscription of their services. All was good for the first three months, after that the Internet was really poor and had bad connections and I could hardly ever make phone calls so I decided I did not want the services any more because they were so poor. BT have now got a debt collection agency to force a two year contract out of me which I only thought was a one year contract, and when I signed up over the phone they set the direct debit all in somebody else's name and bank card without their permission what can I do about this and do I have any grounds. please help

[raydetinu]

Has the DD been cancelled then!

you cannot set up a DD over the phone, the payee has to sign and send to their bank; so the payee must have been aware of it!

If not they should complian to the bank and get their money back.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Has the DD been cancelled then!

you cannot set up a DD over the phone, the payee has to sign and send to their bank; so the payee must have been aware of it!

If not they should complian to the bank and get their money back.

 

How odd I have just set up 2 DDs this morning by phone and have

been doing this for many years.

With a DD form it is sent back to the creditor for a standing order the

payee sends it to their bank the creditor signs nothing.

[Bigbay21]

Has the DD been cancelled then!

you cannot set up a DD over the phone, the payee has to sign and send to their bank; so the payee must have been aware of it!

If not they should complian to the bank and get their money back.

Yes dd has gone. They won't me to pay For the rest of a 2 year contract witch is over a £1000 when I through was only a 1 year. They done all the contract on the phone an looks like they put an exter year on top of what I agreed to

[Bigbay21]

Can I get out of the verbal contract. And they have put an exter year on top what can I do

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

They may well have a recording of the conversation.

The way forward is a formal complaint to the CEO of

BT.

[Bigbay21]

They may well have a recording of the conversation.

The way forward is a formal complaint to the CEO of

BT.

Thanks for that. Can I get out of the verbal contract. And how long do u think they keep recording for.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Thanks for that. Can I get out of the verbal contract. And how long do u think they keep recording for.

BT routinely record complaints I believe.

Do you know the date of the conversation and a approximate time

the call was made.

[raydetinu]

How can they prove a contract exists?

If you have not signed anything or made the application on line.

I guess the copy of the contract would have gone to your friend with the DD form. check they have not got it.

No record of contract then it does not exist; tell them to go take a hike!

Have you asked them for proof of the contract?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

How can they prove a contract exists?

If you have not signed anything or made the application on line.

I guess the copy of the contract would have gone to your friend with the DD form. check they have not got it.

No record of contract then it does not exist; tell them to go take a hike!

Have you asked them for proof of the contract?

 

It is common for large companies to routinely record all calls, they

could produce the recording.

The route is the complaint to the CEO.

[raydetinu]

also a SAR request would work to see what they have at a cost of £10.

[assisted blonde]

A contract except in a few exceptions (property,shares and intellectual property rights) does not have to be in writing to be legally enforceable. A contract is offer and acceptance between the parties. telephone contracts are quite normal especially with large companies, all large companies will record calls as a matter of course and they keep them for some while, ask for them to relisten to the recording, if it is clearly a contract and you have accepted the terms they can enforce them.

[dpick]

I have just amended my contract with BT for phone and broadband recieved both e-mail and snail mail conformation but did not have to sign anything. But being the now untrusting sole that I have become I recorded the phone call when I made the contract changes.

 

dpick

[whitetigerx]

I made a verbal contract with BT over the telephone For a 1 year subscription of their services. All was good for the first three months, after that the Internet was really poor and had bad connections and I could hardly ever make phone calls so I decided I did not want the services any more because they were so poor. BT have now got a debt collection agency to force a two year contract out of me which I only thought was a one year contract, and when I signed up over the phone they set the direct debit all in somebody else's name and bank card without their permission what can I do about this and do I have any grounds. please help

 

Hi Bigbay21,

 

1) BT: If you connection to BT has been poor and routinely bad, it probably isn't in breach of your contract as BT will state that they don't guarantee connection quality. However, recently it has been treated differently if internet service providers fail to provide an internet connection (i.e. frequent connection drop or unavailability for unreasonable period such as an hour or more regularly). If this is so, just advise BT that if they wish to claim in the County Court, you will be proving breach of contract (if it is in breach of contract) and therefore you terminated the contract due to frustration of the terms (which is where one of the parties to a contract underperforms on the terms). They would probably not want to spend the money on the case, as it will cost far more to go down this road than what you owe, and cost recovery would be unlikely on their part so they likely won't pursue the debt.

 

2) The Debt Collectors: will try to get the debt for as long as they can before it becomes to expensive. A very nice trick with debt collections agencies is to advise them that to meet with you, you will be charging a £500 arrangement fee because you've had to change other more important arrangements, and that if they wish for documents, statements, or to have any type of direct discussion, you will further be charging a £300 administration fee for that as well. Tell them that because you have offered to meet with them at their expense to resolve the matter, if they continue to contact you they will be guilty of an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. If it gets to the point where you do get called to court, then get a sick note from your GP due to stress and show how much they have harassed you, causing ill health, when you have offered several options to BT and the Debt Collections Agency.

 

The worst you could do is ignore them all together, as they will keep chasing you until you move house. Even then they could still find you (though recently this has been treated as illegal espionage). Let me know your thoughts.