BT £30 charge to stop broadband

[caro]

I've finally got round to ditching BT and got a great deal with virgin. BT have sent a letter today about charges. I quote:-

 

"We'll send you a final bill with the charges you need to pay. These depend on how many services you have with us, will include charges up to and including 6 Feb and will be in top of your line rental and calls.

 

If you're moving before the end of your contract, you will need to pay a charge for the remaining months.

 

You'll also need to pay a £30 charge for us to stop your broadband."

 

I don't think I've got any months left on a contract but WTF are these charges?

 

Are they seriously going to keep supplying BB if I don't pay £30 and stop paying them every month?

[caro]

Oh and virgin is being installed in 29th Jan so BT will be paid to that date.

[Conniff]

Swops, I moving from Virgin to next week.

 

I will say that after 15 years with them, (well Eurobell then Telewest and then Virgin), there can be no doubt that cable is the only way to go and now that BT can give it to me at half the price, I'm offsi.

[caro]

BT want to charge me over 3 times as much as virgin despite being with them for nearly 30 years. Seems they all want new customers and loyalty counts for nothing.

 

Enjoy the call centres Conniff.

[maroondevo52]

I've been with virgin since Mars Bars were thrupence !!! don't ask me why, more than likely getting shafted

[caro]

I am sick to death of BT so when all of a sudden my broadband usage was double the usual last month for no apparent reason and it took 2 and a half hours of calls to India to get a refund, increased line charges, suddenly changing direct debit date so it's due before pay day and absolutely refusing to change it, increased 1571 fees etc, not to mention ridiculously slow bb, enough is enough.

 

£4 a month unlimited cable bb, and £120 for a years line rental. Bargain.

[stu007]

Oh I had a massive argument with Virgin last week £76 month for TV XL, Broadband 60MB, Telephone XL, went to retentions/cancellations told then about all other deals demanded to know why existing customers loose out and new customer are given all the discount benefits.

 

Would the budge NO so happily informed then OK I will play your game then, I wish from this phone call as my contracts have ended to cancel all my contracts and yes I am fully aware of the 30 days cancellation period.

 

I followed this with oh by the way as I will have no contract and will Virgin will be fully paid it going to be great rejoining Virgin as a New Customer to get all the New benefits as a New Customer and just to let you know I have recorded this call goodbye and I hung up.

[stu007]

I would also suggest writing to BT and asking for a breakdown of those charges and where it states in the T&C about these specific charges.

[odetter]

BT the Ryanair of Telecommunications.

You've got to pay for their fatuous football fantasy TV channel.

£2 Billion squandered already.

State Monopoly now a Private Monopoly.

[MaxxPower]

The charge is standard across all ADSL providers to end a broadband connection. I believe they have to send an engineer to the exchange to physically do something to disconnect it (which doesn't happen when simply changing ADSL providers, hence the reason you can get a MAC code for free) which is what the charge is for.

I had the same argument when changing from PlusNet ADSL to Virgin Cable, got a £25 charge to disconnect the ADSL broadband line.

[Conniff]

I've been with virgin since Mars Bars were thrupence !!! don't ask me why, more than likely getting shafted

 

I am sick to death of BT so when all of a sudden my broadband usage was double the usual last month for no apparent reason and it took 2 and a half hours of calls to India to get a refund, increased line charges, suddenly changing direct debit date so it's due before pay day and absolutely refusing to change it, increased 1571 fees etc, not to mention ridiculously slow bb, enough is enough.

 

£4 a month unlimited cable bb, and £120 for a years line rental. Bargain.

 

I can honestly say I have never had a problem with virgin. There BB is second to none. My only reason for change is price but retain the fibre cable speed with infinity.

[caro]

The charge is standard across all ADSL providers to end a broadband connection. I believe they have to send an engineer to the exchange to physically do something to disconnect it (which doesn't happen when simply changing ADSL providers, hence the reason you can get a MAC code for free) which is what the charge is for.

I had the same argument when changing from PlusNet ADSL to Virgin Cable, got a £25 charge to disconnect the ADSL broadband line.

 

Did you end up paying?

[havinastella]

Ask to see where that charge is listed Caro!

[Old Cogger]

I am sick to death of BT so when all of a sudden my broadband usage was double the usual last month for no apparent reason and it took 2 and a half hours of calls to India to get a refund, increased line charges, suddenly changing direct debit date so it's due before pay day and absolutely refusing to change it, increased 1571 fees etc, not to mention ridiculously slow bb, enough is enough.

 

£4 a month unlimited cable bb, and £120 for a years line rental. Bargain.

 

 

 

2 and half hours must be the norm then, (Ditto), and yesterday query charged for two broadband services and that took 1 half hours to sort out, ( with a bit of compensation = not a lot),

[caro]

Ask to see where that charge is listed Caro!

 

It's on their website apparently!! Well I didn't sign that!!

 

I phoned this morning to try and sort this. It seems that most providers use the same lines so you can migrate with no charge. Because virgin have their own, an openreach engineer has to physically disconnect the broadband at the exchange. Queried why BT have a later date for the change and has different stories from BT and virgin, although virgin will pay for the extra week.

 

I lost track of how many people I spoke to and how long it would take.

 

THEN

 

this afternoon we had a clap of thunder and lightning, the likes of which I've never heard in my life. Thunder doesn't bother men but me and OH jumped out of our skin.

 

There must have been a power surge because the settings on the heating timer all went to zero AND the hub stopped working. It's completely dead. Checked the socket and that's fine so it's the hub. Phone works ok. Phoned BT.

 

They tested everything and concluded it's our equipment and we need to buy a new hub!! I said it's not worth it so just cancel BB from today. To do that will cost £30 as we haven't given 30 days notice. I said you've had notice and you aren't providing a service now so why shoulda we pay. Because they're providing the service and it's "our" faulty equipment. I said you mean the equipment that you supplied that isn't working. They said but you admitted it was all right before the lightning but I pointed out that it was only what they supplied which wasn't working.

 

In all honesty I think it's just the fuse but it's a sealed plug.

 

I said I wanted to make a complaint and was told I need to do that online. I said ok but pointed out that I wouldn't be able to use BT BB so would have to be my mobile provider.

 

DD went out at midday and just got back. Said it looked like I hadn't moved as I was on the phone to BT when she went out and still was when she got back,

[locutus]

The charge was added a year or so ago and snook onto the back of a bill IIRC

[MaxxPower]

Did you end up paying?

Yes, I had little choice but to pay sadly.

 

This charge has been in existence for years and is a charge from BT Openreach I believe, who then pass that cost back on to the provider whoever they may be.

[fletch70]

Thunder doesn't bother men but me and OH jumped out of our skin.

 

Am I missing something? Oh and BTW thunder can make me squeal like a stuck pig and I am a man (allegedly)

 

I am with Talktalk and am just upgrading to fibre but they are waving the £30 connection fee.

 

Remember that you pay your line rental upfront so there should be some rebate on that but charges for any chargeable calls since your last bill. I think my mother got a similar letter when she left plusnet

 

IMHO you generally get what you pay for. Talktalk are cheap but the service is less good, same with plusnet. BT is more premium and as such costs more. My OH got a whole TV and calls package from Sky for what he was paying BT just for BB but that's cos he didn't have me to check it out before

 

I can not get (a)Virgin in my flat