We joined talk talk after being told by the sales rep in carphone warehouse, that talk talk would take care of all our problems with Bt, and there'd be no charge to us. This seemed to be going fine, as we recieved a bill for £0 from BT, then the next day we recieved a second bill for £137 as apparently we were under contract with BT and talk talk should have told us that there could have been a possibillity of this happening, but they are too intrested in making a sale. We are now in debt because of talk talk so be careful what you are actually signing up too and make sure your not under contract with BT

Hello

I would like to share my experience with providers so it may help you all.

BRITISH GAS
Some time ago, when I moved to a new place I was in charge of the electricity bill, so I call british gas and changed the name of the bill. A few month later they sent a letter to me asking for around 300 pound for a period over a year.

Since the people in the house regularly paid the bills and we had the receipt, I sent an email to BG explaining the issue and asking them to correct the bill. After 1 or 2 hours wasted on the phone they said they were going to send me a new letter....and surprise! they sent another warning with a surcharge of 60 pound and saying that they would come to my place to disconnect the electricity with the police.

I called them again and the same again: waste of time and money. I put a complain through the independent watch dog and I sent the same complain to them with the people from watchdog on copy. Some days later, the people from watchdog called me asking me about the situation and saying that they would contact BG to see what happened.

Some days later, I got the right bill, which was just 40 pound.

**** Advice for BG complains ****
Do not waste time and money calling them. Contact the http://www.energywatch.org.uk/ and explain the situation.
Also send your complain to BG with the energywatch people on copy (I even included some European organisms on copy) and keep copy of all your emails and bills.

BT

I moved to a new place and I needed to activate the line in order to have internet at home. Since BT is the only provider who can do this I had to call them to activate this service. I was informed about the set up fee of 125 pound, which you cannot avoid, and they offered me some other packages that were interesting (international calls, etc). I told them that I wanted the line just to connect to internet and refused their offers. I said that I preferred to have a look to the market and then decide which offer was best for me.

Some weeks later I moved to Talk Talk, whose package of phone, broadband and international calls was much better than any other offer in my area and it wasn't much more expensive than just the line rental of BT.

A few months later I received a letter from BT with the final bill of around 300 pound. In the details of the bill they said that it was due to the cancellation fee.

As I had never been informed of this, I did some researches on the net, read a lot of similar stories about BT and decided to put a complain.

I sent an email to BT, also a copy to the guys from http://www.otelo.org.uk and to some other organisations (www.ofcom.org.uk , that help the consumer.

I got a few replys but none of them saying something that could help me. BT said something like this

Dear Mr Gates,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding cancellation charges.

In response to your e-mail, I have looked into your account and found that your account has been terminated and there is an outstanding amount on your account for £289.25 . Further, the cancellation charges are the held to term charges for cancelling the services before the term which you have agreed for.

Further, after checking your account I can conferm that the cancellation charges are correct and needs to be maintained.

If you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us again via e-mail.

Thank you for contacting BT.

**** I've put in bold something they said I agreed but that I never did. I contacted BT over the phone, I signaled them that I needed a line because I wanted to set up internet and I couldn't go with any provider unless they activated my line. Later on, they never sent any contract or T&C to me so I didn't sign anything.

Some time later I received a remainder for the cancelation charges and I decided to call them to explain the issue and clarify the situation. I don't know if they listened to my recording and found that I was never told about any cancellation charge, but they cancelled the cancellation fee and let me go with no charges. They even refunded me some money.

**** Advice for BT complains ****

Review the information you received from BT, verbally or written. If you contracted your services over the net have a look and see if they say something about the cancellation charges in the T&C.

Call them to explain the situation. I don't know what information they verify on their end, but if you are lucky like me that I hire the service on the phone and I wasn't told at all about the cancellation charges and didn't sign any contract, then you'll resolve your problem.

SOME USEFUL LINKS TO COMPLEMENT THE ABOVE

http://www.berr.gov.uk/consumers/buying-selling/sale-supply/unfair-contracts/index.html

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

http://www.berr.gov.uk/

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/19992083.htm

http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/39contactingotelo.php

I have just received an e-mail from BT regarding the cancellation charge.

"Regarding Cancellation charge of £70.00, I would like to inform that From 01 May 2007 the minimum term of 12 months applies for all line provision and takeovers. Customers joining BT on or after the 01 May 2007, and subsequently ceasing within this term are charged the remaining line rental up to a maximum of £70.00.
You can get more information about this in the welcome letter from BT which you might have received from BT "

This welcome letter that I have not yet received outlines the cancellation charge, but as BT states 'the welcome letter from BT which you might have received from BT' , how would you know of the charge if the letter 'might' not have been sent !

I have requested a copy of the script used, but have not received it.

I was with TalkTalk and moved home. As I wished to contuinue my TalkTalk phone/broadband services at my new address, I telephoned TT. They stated that it was BT's responsibility. BT stated it was TT's !
Finally, I was told by TalkTalk that I had to have the active line at my new address registered in my name with BT, and contact them again once completed.
This took BT two weeks to complete, and the only information that I received was a bill for three months line rental (in advance). TalkTalk was informed and they completed the transfer a few weeks later.
I have just received my BT bill, and was expected to see a refund, but was charged £70 for termination minus my advance line rental payments.
So my pleasure for moving house and staying a customer with TalkTalk, I have had the honour of paying BT, line rental, call charges, & £70 termination fee !
Hardly fair !
Any ideas on how I can recover my £70 charge ?

Thank you Jason. I finally decided not to go with BT. I have read as many bad reviews about other providers. But for me it came down to whether I want to give any more of my money to BT and I definitely never want to pay BT another penny if I can help it, not after the trouble I have had getting through to their customer services (I still haven't managed to get through, have waited hours and hours in total).

So I went with Be Broadband in the end. It hasn't been connected yet and I realise that I may have as much trouble with them too but at least I don't feel mugged by BT again. I doubt BT cares about my £18 a month, but I do. I rather pay someone else double that amount.

Hi Peyman

You've just opened a big can of worms in relation to contracts for broadband providers.

Basically as regulation is 'light touch' then providers can get away with whatever they like at the moment including adding hidden charges.

Ofcom are not doing anything about this and I'm afraid the best advice I can give you is share experience with other consumers out there and by doing so make a more informed choice.

In relation to cancellation policy - with BT if you're not happy I would cancel now, there are some providers that offer a 30 day moneyback guarantee during which you can cancel anytime - Vodafone at Home and O2 Broadband offer this.

Cheers

Jason

I have decided to take out BT broadband mainly because I read as many bad reviews and horror stories about other providers. But I spoke to a BT salesperson last night and it appears that it takes them a week to deliver the equipment which is long enough, but then she said I have 5 days from the day I sign up to cancel if I wish! The only reason I'd want to cancel is if the service was no good and I can only know this when I activate the account after a week. So what good is the 5 day cancellation policy that BT gives you? She then said that I could cancel after I have activated my account but it would cost me £40!

I am really baffled by all this. Why does it cost them £40 to cancel an account? Is this how much it actually costs BT if someone no longer wants their service before the contract expires? 

I also want to know if I have any rights if there is a fault and my broadband doesn't work after a week. Seeing that they will be charging me for this, do I have any rights if I cancel my direct debit payments until the problem is resolved?