@btcare BT want to cancel brodband instead of fixing faults

[Hunda67]

BT have provided us internet for the last 5 years. It is a slow connection (0.5->1.0Mb/s) because we live 5 miles from the exchange. These speeds we have always accepted as we live in a rural area. In the last few months the internet keeps dropping out and slowing to 50Kb/s. At this speed the internet becomes all but unuseable. BT can fix this temporarly by "resetting profile" at exchange but problem always takes several days to resolve then comes back again in 2-3 days. Now they are saying line has degraded and they will not repair the line and offer to terminate my service. This would leave us with no internet connection at all. Can they do this i.e. not repair a service they have provided for 5 years?

[fkofilee]

Hunda, can i have your Location please (Town) ... I might beable to help you out

Im not going to stalk ^__^

[Hunda67]

Hi, based in Shetalnd near the village of Walls. Very near the end of the line and that's why I'm guessing they don't want to fix the line - not cost effective for them.

[fkofilee]

Ouch.. The Shetland Isles... Not much we can do here... Availability will be slim and also as you say, probably not cost effective... :/

[Hunda67]

Back to original question. Can BT just cancel broadband because it is too difficult / expensive to repair the line?

[locutus]

I was under the impression that if they say they will supply the service they are bound to do so... Write to the CEO [email protected] and ask for an explanation.

 

Any alternatives with mobile broadband in your area? Search http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search for your closest mast.

[Hunda67]

Thanks. I will try the CEO of BT but don't expect to get anywhere. The view seems to be money will only be spent if there is a profit in it so as equipment wears out in rural areas - tough.

 

No mobile signal here either.

[CraigMcK]

Have a look at satellite broadband it's not cheap. But if you limit your use it's not too bad. Google tooway as a start

[Hunda67]

Thanks. Satellite was my thinking too but as you say its not cheap. Trying to see if I can force BT to do something first rather than just give up. Just trying to find out if BT can just get out of contract just like that.

[locutus]

Have a read http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/RegulatoryandPublicaffairs/Codeofpractice/Consumercodeofpractice/BTResidentialCodeofPractice.pdf at their complaints code of practice.

 

Escalate your complaint at every turn

 

Your "line rental" is for the upkeep and maintenance of your line... My argument would be that BT have not done this.

[big1636]

hello could some one give me some advice, I have had on going battle with bt over broadband never working, in the end I refused to pay the bill,

I have complained so many times I have lost count, I am not quite sure were to post this, bt have now washed there hands of me, as I have refused to

pay, I received an email from them now advising me they have handed my debt over to clarity , and bt advise me they have added 25% of the outstanding

to the bill to cover there costs of doing this, and I am to deal with clarity directly and no longer them, please help,

[big1636]

copy off my letter received from bt. if any one can advise me,

 

Hello Mr

We've passed your debt of £272.88 to a collection agency.

We've sent you several reminders but you still haven't paidus what you owe. So we've now passed your debt to Clarity Credit Management, anauthorised debt collection agency, to get in touch with you about paying itoff.

We've also added a charge of 25%, included in theoutstanding balance above, to cover the cost of us handing over the debt.

If you want to stop this going any further:

• visithttps://paymentsplace.com/clarity to make a payment, or set-up regular payments(you'll need your BT account number which you can find on your bill or anyreminder letters), or

• call 0844561 1715 to make a payment, or to talk about your financial circumstances andagree what you can afford to pay regularly until you settle your debt, or

• contactthe agency writeto them at Swan Court, Lamport, Northamptonshire NN6 9EZ

If you don't pay, or make an arrangement to pay what you oweover time, we might recommend legal action to recover your debt. Legal actionwould mean extra costs to you, and might affect your credit rating.

If you've paid us in the last few days, you can ignore thisemail.

Thanks,

Warren Buckley

Managing Director, Customer Se rvices

[ericsbrother]

Well, they cant add 25% to the debt as that isnt a contractual obligation or a cost they have incurred. Look at your credit reference agency reports and see if the debt appears there and who is reporting it-BT or Clarity. If it appears as Clarity then BT have sold the debt on but I would bet that isnt the case and they ahve just contracted them to collect the money on their behalf. If this is the case you can pay BT the correct amount and Clarity can go whistle. If BT refuse to accept paymant then they have no entitlement to use the courts to recover their debt later (mitigating their loss).

[big1636]

hi many thanks for the reply, my argument is with bt, as my broadband was never working correctly

after having there tech people round for 6 months, they could never fix it, my argument has always been while the service I am paying for does not work, why should I pay, they just refer me to the contract stating I have to pay, I made a complaint in writing they never replied, after further threats

of action by bt, I got in a panic and out of goodness offered them £100 , and no more offered this via

the phone and in writing, they declined the offer , and demanded the full amount,

[2Grumpy]

Refer them to the contract where it says that they have to supply and that you would only pay for what they supply

 

Give them a kick for referring an account in dispute to a DCA

 

You could still be waiting for the revised bill excluding broadband and with compensation for lack of broadband

 

Remind them of your previous written complaints and tell them that you require a response, re-billing for lack of service (or agreed credit), compensation for not providing the service and the service fixed.