MikeBz:

Could we have taken out a line rental only contract? Didn't even consider that since it's £10.50 a month whatever and we knew we were committed to paying that. Charging an extra £14.XX a month on top of that £10.50 just to not have something which was free anyway is robbery whatever the T&Cs say. It's a fact that putting whatever you like deep in the small print of your T&Cs doesn't mean that by definition it's OK, fair, legal, or good business practice.

The icing on the cake? To get out of the line rental contract, should you wish to, it costs a max of £70 even though a year's line rental is £126.

Mike

If you were to move your line rental within the first 12 months then the £70 fee kicks in. This was introduced to stop customers using BT to install a new line then to go to Talktalk who won't install new lines. Same goes for the Call Packages where you could get cheaper calls via Tiscali or Talktalk or Primus CPS.

With BT you have to take a call package although the "Unlimited weekend Plan" and "Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan (with 12 month rolling contract)" are both free with minimum terms.

Not sure about being hidden, the BT website is covered in T&Cs asterisks etc..

If you had gone with The Phone Co-op for instance line installation is cheaper and although there is still a 12 month line rental contract for new lines their call packages seem to be only 3 months minimum. The Post Office doesn't seem to have a minimum line rental term for new installs as far as I can see.

fnarrr:

Leave Tiscali within the minimum term and you pay the full amount of any outstanding charges due for the remainder of the Minimum Period plus any outstanding Additional Charges accrued up to the date of termination.

What's the difference?

The difference is that with the 'free' calling plan there are no "outstanding charges due for the remainder of the Minimum Period plus any outstanding Additional Charges accrued up to the date of termination". That is a very big difference.

You are right that we didn't spot this in the T&Cs. I wish we had. Could we have taken out a line rental only contract? Didn't even consider that since it's £10.50 a month whatever and we knew we were committed to paying that. Charging an extra £14.XX a month on top of that £10.50 just to not have something which was free anyway is robbery whatever the T&Cs say. It's a fact that putting whatever you like deep in the small print of your T&Cs doesn't mean that by definition it's OK, fair, legal, or good business practice.

The icing on the cake? To get out of the line rental contract, should you wish to, it costs a max of £70 even though a year's line rental is £126.

Mike

If you want BT to install a phone line for you then yes.

Can't think why you expect to be able to break a contract without charge just because you didn't read the terms and conditions.

Leave Tiscali within the minimum term and you pay the full amount of any outstanding charges due for the remainder of the Minimum Period plus any outstanding Additional Charges accrued up to the date of termination.

What's the difference?

So you have to have a free calling plan which costs you up to £173.40 to get out of? As the saying goes, at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

Mike

All new BT lines, minimum term 12 months, come with a Calling Plan, minimum term 12/18 months. Terminate an "Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan" , within 12 months and the charge is £14.45 for each month left in the term. When you sign up for Tiscali broadband only this notice appears "I understand that with this package Tiscali will provide my telephone calls as well as my broadband" hence you break the T&Cs of your BT calling plan. Also the "Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan" is free so you wouldn't notice any change in your BT bill.

Again, it's not only BT who will install a BT line - those wanting say Talktalk should be aware that they could if they wanted to approach Openreach on your behalf to install a BT line, they choose not to. The Post Office, Plusnet, Madasafish, The Phone Co-op and Utility warehouse are a few who do provide a line installation service, of course they won't go to the trouble of doing this just for customers to swan off to Talktalk free gratis as soon as they get a new line.

That is absolutely disgraceful but typical of BT

We've just been 'had' by this one as well... No 'phone line at the property, wanted broadband. Got BT to put the line in and accepted that we have to pay them £10.50 a month line rental for 12 months. Signed up for Tiscali Broadband which does not include line rental so we keep paying the BT line rental. Have now had a bill from BT for £166.92 because the Tiscali Broadband package includes free evening and weekend calls so BT consider that we have 'cancelled' our calling plan even though we are continuing to pay the same monthly amount to BT. We were completely unaware that this was how it worked. We were aware that we were tied in to BT line rental for 12 months but thought that was the limit of our tie-in. Needless to say we are very unhappy about this. It'll be bye-bye BT at the first possible opportunity and will never use them again.

Mike

There is virtually nothing anyone can do at this stage - they still control all the telephone/broadband etc. Their ' customer services ' for want of a better description, is based in India so it is difficult to find anyone who actually understands English, as opposed to speaking it and I have spent what seems like a lifetime trying to get the situation properly resolved. In my case I had to give in, transfer my rental back to them in order to get broadband from my chosen supplier (O2 actually and first class). Stuck with BT for 1 year but will be off again as soon as the year is up. Went for the Option 1 so am only paying rental to them and keeping my original cheaper supplier for calls. Being bombarded, almost on a daily basis, by letters from them begging me to go for Options 2 or 3 (longer contracts), or offering their latest ' cheap ' offers that I just ignore. Another ' scam ' they employ is charging extra for a paper bill - I've gone paperless - and only accept 3 credit cards of which mine is not one even though it is from a major bank, so have opted for a monthly debit direct to my bank account. Not at all impressed by this as it's MY account and money, NOT theirs, but fortunately it is for the same amount each time as only the rental and a quarter of the year has gone already.

Hi, I am in the exact same situation as you have expained, what was the outcome as I've tried complaining but don't seem to be getting anywhere!!

Hi I posted on here previously with an almost exact problem (cancellation fee of £243). Just to let you know that since December I have recieved two letters threatening to had this case over to the debt collection companies but nothing has come of them as yet. I have been onto the Offcom website and have followed their procedues regarding lodging a complaint, I have written a staight to the point email regarding their lack of making customers aware of these fees and well as my opinion regarding their pushy operators and their tarriffs - this was over 3 weeks ago now and haven't heard a peep from them. To stop BT handing my case over to the debt collection company I did state in the letter however that on a monthly basis I would make a small contribution - since you are attempting to pay the bill they cannot had you over the debt collection companies - or so I was told. However I'm not going to pay what they are asking me as it is totally unjustified so I will therefore be sending them a chase up letter and on no correspondence on that I will be stopping my small monthly contributions.

Hope this helps, I did an internet search too and there are a lot of people in the same situation.

£277 for a cancellation charge is robbery !

I just received a final reminder for a final bill from BT requesting £70. So puzzled by this bill as (a) I never received the first nor the second bill from BT and (b) I had only signed up to BT in October 2007 after paying for a hefty bill to check the line was OK and the other 3 months line rental charges, etc., (won't even go into that one as it has extortionate in itself) I called and eventually got through to a polite Indian CS. I asked for an explanation of this final reminder and pointed out that I never even received the original bill.

This was his version of explaining this final reminder final bill:

"You took out the service with BT on October 2007 and terminated it in December 2007. You made $5.70 worth of calls. This was taken into account and offset for January's line rental (or something like that). You now have to pay a £70 BT cancellation charged."

I pointed out that I was not made aware that there was a cancellation charge and that BT ought to make this cancellation charge very clear plus that I was shocked by it. To which the Indian CS said he understood but that the contract is a 12 month contract and if you terminate before that period you have to pay a £70 cancellation charge.

So the whole exercise in just trying to get a broadband connection and then moving over to the broadband provider for telephony services to SAVE MONEY has proven to be an expensive exercise because BT are making clost charges and cancelation charges and by the time poor old avarage Joe gets to find out about it BT would be raking it in.

I did a quick internet Google search to find out how many others have been smacked by these BT cancellation charges and it looks like loads have and compliants are going to Ofcom.

Well, no doubt BT have calculated that by the time anyone in authority takes action to tell BT to MAKE IT CLEAR BT would be raking in MILLIONS £.

I'm a bit angry over this whole extortion by BT and to make it worse I have 10 days to pay before they pass it over to a Debt Collection Agency.

Just thought I'd post this experience here so that others get to find out what BT are up to but noticed others have already posted before me. Just goes to show.

It's common practice for BT !!! My earlier posts tell a similar story - all I wanted was a new number. The people on this forum who are defending BT and, in one case, accusing me of wanting a " freebie " at his/her expense clearly either cannot properly absorb what was said in the posting or have ' vested interests ' in BT. I wasn't aware that you needed to pay BT as most ISP's offer line rental for the necessary BT line and without the iniquitous 1.50 per month fee for not paying through a direct debit, one of the reasons I transferred my rental originally. You can pay BT via a credit card account IF you have the ' right ' card - they only accept 3 cards, another scam ! Actually, I was under the impression that TalkTalk require you to pay them - have a look at their website to see what it says. As far as not being able to contact Bt, yes, I agree. Am STILL awaiting my new number and spent 21 minutes and 10 seconds holding on one day this week, with no success of course, only answered once and it had put me through to the wrong section who transferred me to the correct one and still I had to join a holding waiting list. Gave up and if the number is not issued before I move house then I will use a mobile and go to the public library for Internet use. BT IS A DISASTER.

I signed up to a Talk Talk plan having moved into a new property. I was advised that i needed a BT line to do this. I thought, ok i've just moved in so i don't know if its a BT line or not. Talk Talk sourced a telephone number for me and instructed of when i'd be connected.

The next thing i know i receive a BT bill consisting of rental charges for 2 monthly periods, Oct-Nov and Nov-Jan. It seems the charge is £11 per month as the charges total £33. There is also a £4.50 payment processing fee. I note that the date that the rental charges start from is the same day i signed up to Talk Talk.

BT are useless and having attempted to call them, ive had no joy at speakign to someone for weeks now. I sent an email to them but again no response.

I have now received another bill with a cancellation charge of £70 following receipt of a letter saying that BT have been instructed to switch my line to Talk Talk.

1. I wasnt aware that i was going to get these BT bills and am not best pleased.

2. Does this sound like common practice to anyone? I was only trying to sign up to Talk Talk for crying out loud!

Cheers in advance for any light that you can shed.

Evelyn

I haven't asked for a line to be installed - the previous occupant had a line. All I want is a number and this should not cost £108 to issue. Perhaps you work for BT ?

I had a phone line and broadband with Tiscali and I wanted to join Virgin, I have been told that I needed a BT line to get Virgin, so I Join BT option 1 £10.50 per months and I join Virgin bundle two for Broadband and Call plan.

When I joined BT the sale rep said to me that because i was coming back to BT they would offered me the Option two at the same price of the Option 1. When I received the letter confirming the starting day of the contract I have noticed that the offer was only for 12 months but the contract was for 18. I called the Customer Service and I spoke with a kind person and I explained that it was not said during the sale that the offer was for only 12 months. So she kindly put me back to Option 1 £10.50 ( I do not know why they are charging me £11.00). I set up a direct debit and start the contract, bare in mind that when I phoned i was still whithi the 7 days time to cancel the contract.

After the first quarter the new bill shown: £277 for cancellation charges, £ 40 (approx) for line rental at £11.00 per month, £ 1.50 call to mobile (never requested).

When I asked clarification on the cancellation charges, as I have never cancelled anything, the Indians (CS) told me that because I cancelled Option 2 and downgraded to Option 1 I have to pay the cancellation charges!!!!!

Now you tell me if this is not pure extortion????

I pay Virgin for the Bundle ad I have not problem with them.

Hope this explain, I have applied for a court proceeding against BT for the reversal of the charges as per my opinion are illegal. I hope to get an advice for someone expert here.

Thanks