bt and their oh so wonderful customer service

[debt4get]

i received an email from bt yesterday telling me my 'deal' for broadband was coming to and end and they had 'special offers especially for me' on looking all the deals were more expensive than the one i had so did a price comparison check and booked broadband with another supplier to change on 8 mar....then had an email from bt saying i had broken the contract by leaving early!!! despite the email saying my deal was ending...anyway it transpires it is ending a month early 8 mar instead of the 8 may...now i dont mind paying for month which seems reasonable but they also want me to pay 55 quid for the router which i never wanted....offered to return said router but no...now does anyone think that this price is disproportionate and i should stand my ground and not pay it or pay it and say never again!!!

[BazzaS]

i received an email from bt yesterday telling me my 'deal' for broadband was coming to and end and they had 'special offers especially for me' on looking all the deals were more expensive than the one i had so did a price comparison check and booked broadband with another supplier to change on 8 mar....then had an email from bt saying i had broken the contract by leaving early!!! despite the email saying my deal was ending...anyway it transpires it is ending a month early 8 mar instead of the 8 may...now i dont mind paying for month which seems reasonable but they also want me to pay 55 quid for the router which i never wanted....offered to return said router but no...now does anyone think that this price is disproportionate and i should stand my ground and not pay it or pay it and say never again!!!

 

Have you actually breached your contract with BT?. If not, there is hope

 

You can cancel / move provider with no early termination fee as a result of the price increase, BUT

1) You must have been notified formally of the increase, and

2) You must inform them of your wish to leave with no penalty within 30 days of their notification of the increase.

 

See:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?474458-BT-increasing-prices-while-in-contract&p=4994861#post4994861

 

In particular :

1) don't bother with online chat (they'll just tell you to call an 0800 number when they realise you can't be persuaded to stay)

2) don't use 0800 800 150 : they too will just tell you to call a different 0800 number or transfer you to the 030 number, and you'll have to start explaining from scratch........

 

call them on 0800 800 030. Record the call.

 

You'll be told all the wonderful reasons to stay with BT BT Wi-fi (we've got a fonera box....), BT Sport (Never used it), BT Cloud (Never used it), BT SmartTalk (might have been a reason to stay a few years back, now replaced by Skype/Messenger/TuGo).

 

Persist. Get them to agree you can leave without early termination penalty.

Assuming you want to transfer both your BBand and phone line to the new provider : Stress you don't want to cancel your line but migrate it to a new provider (so they don't stop your line preventing the new provider taking it over!)

 

Hopefully this should get them to "set the flag" on your account that you will be leaving penalty free. The only potential glitch will be if they decide that you've already breached your contract by not giving them the notice before arranging the move.

 

This subject has reminded me : time to check if my BT services have ceased, and if they have, if the new providcer's services have started .......

I called BT to give them notice of my intent on the 9th, and arranged with the new provider after speaking to BT ...... swap over day is today!.

[obiter dictum]

My contract was up with BT and they refused to negotiate so i went with SKY

[Consett26]

BT are putting their prices up so should allow you to leave early without penalty. This is from the email I got from them on 10/02/2017.

You don't need to do anything but if you want to change something or leave, and you're within your minimum contract term, you'll need to contact us within 30 days of receiving this email to avoid paying a charge for leaving early. You'll need to give us 30 days' notice to leave (or 14 days if you're switching to a new provider). We won't charge you for any increase in price during that time.