hello

regarding the charge to activate the line, I moved house, gave BT the required notice i left them no problems there.

I had sky broadband and TV at previous address. New address had no,line. It took about 4 weesk for sky to arrange line activation (as i moved my phone with them) but it was all free (unless you missed the BT engineer, in which case you get charged 125 for second visit). It was annoying to wait with no phone or internet for 4 weeks, but my iphone and call18866 number for mobile (cheap 0845/0800 calls for mobiles) saved my life during those weeks;

Broadband Speed is great (as it always was with sky) and phone works much better then before, happy customer; and entire move of services with sky was free of charge, with polite calls and text reminders about essential dates (like when Bt engineer was coming). My box didn't work in the new place, but the sky instalation technician had a spare in the van, and got changed after 1 phonecall to sky he made, again free of charge. faultless service overall at a time a great stress (moving house). Must be a reason why sky is a popular company

BT is a nightmare to deal with:

I signed up in June 2010 for a 12 month contact: landline, broadband and BT vision paid £50 for bt vision box

received the equipment some days later, got them connected, service and speed was crap.

i called them several times to cancel the bt vision only, as they never advised that i needed an aerial to actually get live TV all though i did tell them when i signed up that i didn't have one (i know it sounds unbelievable but i lived at a conservation building at the time, no aerial was allowed on the roof!). The wanted to charge me the whole year fees for something that i couldn't use. I returned the box and asked for a refund.

Finally in october 2010 they accepted their mistake. finally refunded the £50 in May 2011! More than 10-15 calls up to an hour to get that sorted.

I called up in May 2011 to give notice to cancel the service in June 2011 as i was moving house. I was told that there would be cancellation charges up until october when my contract expired! Remember i signed up in june 2010 not in october. They kept telling me that I was on an 18 month contract... i argued and argued till finally someone accepted it was a 12 month contact and that there won't be any charges. I specifically told them to cancel the service by the 15th for june which was my move out date. 5-6 calls to get that sorted

I moved, thought everything was fine, went on holiday abroad from the 25th of june till the 17th of july.

5th of october i get a call for a debt collection agency asking for £80 on behalf of bt.

They never cancelled the line when i asked them to. they kept the line working for another month, someone else moved in started making calls to australia. They charged me a bogus £30 for cessation of the broadband and another £27.45 cancellation charges + plus the calls to australia. I argue and argue 4 calls later after hanging up on me, refusing to speak to me because as it was !! "OUT OF THEIR HANDS AND I SHOULD CONTACT THE DEBT COLLECTION AGENCY INSTEAD"!! i finally get through to someone in India who admitted that i was on a 12 month contract and the charges and calls would be waived. I asked for a call back from a manager, which that never happened. The debt collection agency is still chasing me. I called up yesterday 13 of october, spoke to india again... guess what? I am on an 18 month contract again. I gave notice to cancel on the 12 of July (while i was out of the country) and they had no record of a cancellation request in May. they contract was cancelled on the 26th of July.

the manager of the Indian CS said that the previous guy was wrong, charges will not be waived. I asked him to explain why the cancellation charges were £27.45? he said its £4.99 charge per month till december (LIES 4.99 x 6 = £29) their TCs state its £8.50 so its should have been more. My guess is that they are charging me again till october £8.50 x 3 months.

I just want to pull my hair off my head, the lie lie and lie, they are clueless and every time you speak to some different you get a different answer.

Believe i can afford the £67 pounds but i will not give them a penny. I will never ever use BT again, I hope they go bust.

Hi If I had seen the amount of complaints against BT I would never have gone with them I have just signed up for an 18 month contract They told me I could keep my existing email address (lies) they advertise up to 10Mb speed (lies) My speed is HALF a MB!!!!! When I spoke to an operative they said. Yes you can cancel but there will be a charge of OVER £300-00. I have contacted OFCOM they state that new rules coming into force next month will bring the cancellation charges down But this does not help me with 1/2Mb and a lost email address.I cannot put the down the words I want to when refering to BT.....

chuan:The roling contract scheme came into play in 2008.

I have cancelled BT to go to Virgin Media in Aug, but BT notified me on Aug 16 that as I was leaving when I am still in Contract which was automatically renewed in July 2010, I have to pay a cancellation fee. They adviced that a end of contract notice was sent 30days prior in June 2010. (which I have never seen).

I wrote to refute stating that I have not agreed to sign for this contrct in 2008, have not agreed to renew in 2009, nor in 2010.

I was not aware of such a contract.

BT's response :
1. In my Bill, it is clearly printed the type of contract (Free Evening & Weekend, Automatically Renewalable Contract). So it's my fault for not reading my bill.

2. BT does not have any proof of delivery of the 30 day notice but they do not need to.

3. I had the chance to stop the cancellation when I received the 16 aug 2010 letter but did not. So it's my choice to leave with the understanding of a cancellation fee payable.


I rang BT this morning with the following response:

1. In the bill no start date or end of contract dates were printed.
2. Since there was no proof of delivery of notice, either by email or letter and nothing printed on my bill, How am I to know when my contract was due.
3. Please provide the contract BT claimed I agreed to in 2008. BT said there is no written agreement.

No matter what I said, the call center staff refuse to accept the fact that an agreement needs the consent of 2 or more parties. In this case, I was never made aware of the 'contract' Have not agreed to be bound by it, but the main thing is I have never received any notice warning me of the end of my contract.

This contract is essentially one-sided!

I urge all of you who are affected by this to cancel your direct debit immediately at least they will have to chase you for payment and not you for the refund.

Please make a complain to OfCOM at 020 7981 3040.

Please also email BBC Panorama at panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk
asking them to investigate.

Twit, Blog and email all your friends warning them of such dishonest practise. spread the word.

Please if there are any lawyers out that. Please advice.

The roling contract scheme came into play in 2008.

I have cancelled BT to go to Virgin Media in Aug, but BT notified me on Aug 16 that as I was leaving when I am still in Contract which was automatically renewed in July 2010, I have to pay a cancellation fee. They adviced that a end of contract notice was sent 30days prior in June 2010. (which I have never seen).

I wrote to refute stating that I have not agreed to sign for this contrct in 2008, have not agreed to renew in 2009, nor in 2010.

I was not aware of such a contract.

BT's response :
1. In my Bill, it is clearly printed the type of contract (Free Evening & Weekend, Automatically Renewalable Contract). So it's my fault for not reading my bill.

2. BT does not have any proof of delivery of the 30 day notice but they do not need to.

3. I had the chance to stop the cancellation when I received the 16 aug 2010 letter but did not. So it's my choice to leave with the understanding of a cancellation fee payable.


I rang BT this morning with the following response:

1. In the bill no start date or end of contract dates were printed.
2. Since there was no proof of delivery of notice, either by email or letter and nothing printed on my bill, How am I to know when my contract was due.
3. Please provide the contract BT claimed I agreed to in 2008. BT said there is no written agreement.

No matter what I said, the call center staff refuse to accept the fact that an agreement needs the consent of 2 or more parties. In this case, I was never made aware of the 'contract' Have not agreed to be bound by it, but the main thing is I have never received any notice warning me of the end of my contract.

This contract is essentially one-sided!

I urge all of you who are affected by this to cancel your direct debit immediately at least they will have to chase you for payment and not you for the refund.

Please make a complain to OfCOM at 020 7981 3040.

Please also email BBC Panorama at panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk
asking them to investigate.

Twit, Blog and email all your friends warning them of such dishonest practise. spread the word.

Please if there are any lawyers out that. Please advice.

I recently cancelled with bt and they attempted to slap a suprise 43 pound fee on me (not mentioned at time of cancellation) So I rang and informed them that they had been less than up front and after holding for around 10 mins, the fee had been removed.

You've gotta be a chancer with these chancers!!

My advise is call them and give it a go.

after spending 30mins on the phone to bt saying that i wasn't going to pay any cancellation charges because i was mislead on actual broadband speeds, they finally caved in and agreed to waiver any charges but my advice is if you want high speed broadband stick with cable broadband from virgin or if your a heavy user get 50mb from virgin on fibre optic thats what im going for....

well hello forum, flipping heck reading this forum just fits in with my hell of atime with bt, i signed up for bt total broadband only yesterday, oohhh speeds up to 8mb ye right, well after having everything installed i did 6 tests at various times of day and got readings of 1.2mb download and 376kb upload, it turns out i'm 3.2 miles from exchange, i lagged out on my first evening of xbox live with my buddies and ended up leaving the game and switched off after it had happened 3 times. i rang bt today to cancel and was asked why i wanted to cancel i said the speeds are rubbish compared to my previous virgin media. she then said you should have been told the speeds of your line at time of ordering, so i said how would the bt person know my speed when the line isnt even in yet, they just sell the product. i said to her their must be a cooling off period, no she replied, well i said cancel the broadband and telephone line cause i aint using it, i said to her the engineer had to put a whole new line in so how could anyone from bt have possibily know the true speed of my line. she said then to cancel would cost me up to £400 as i would be charged for the line and broadband package, so i said well cancel it and when i get the final demandc i'll write to them explaining whats gone on. i'm disabled and my main form of enjoyment is xbox with my friends, i cant even enjoy that with bt, oh and i paid them a £50 deposit as well before they would install anything.. anybody with any ideas on how i deal with this and bt please let me know, i have gone back to virgin on cable a far better service... as far as i'm concerned bt broadband at any speed is crap..... avoid bt thank goodness for virgin media a company which serves it's customers well....

Hi

Situation resolved.

I received a phone call off bt, and the guy appologized and admitted it was an error on their part. I had the full amount wiped and the account is now clear. Such a relief, yet it should not have happened in the first place. How is it I feel greatful when I have gone through sleepless nights about this? Strange but at least thats one thing off my mind. I also asked for it in writing and received an email, confirming this, although I would prefer a letter.

Thanks for the posts that included the emails of the ceos of companies as this is the route I took.

Anybody else in this situation, do not take the attitude off some of the sales/customer service staff. They will not accept that there is an error no matter how often or logically you explain it to them. Go to the heads of companies.

Oh yes, another possible organisation to turn to is CONSUMER DIRECT and if they can't help you they might put you through to someone who can. Email them. They helped me to get a year's free electricity when Southern Electric cocked up my bills and FORGOT to charge me for a year when I'd even given them my DD details! I refused to pay for a year's electricity in hindsight. Got through to a senior person who just wrote it off. Brilliant!

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

Thanks for the reply.

I have just emailed the bt ceo. I am waiting for a reply but expect they will force me to pay. They are already threatening legal action even though I only changed my phone line a month ago and the final bill was the only time that they had said I was in a contract even though I am not aware that I was. When they speak to you they try to talk you into saying that you to agree that you were in a contract and that by discussing a package makes it a verbal contract, I said to him that bt rang me up one night and I told him I was with sky. He insisted that I was in a verbal contract, I told the guy I was not and I did not have any contract. He would not have it and cut the call.Nobody at BT had informed me of any contract prior to the final bill, or any cancellation fee.

They treat ex customers like crud they will not accept calls from my line and said I cannot use the customer service line.How then,do they expect me to tell them that they are wrong?

Bizzarely now they will probably harrass me umpteen times a day with calls to go back to them, like they did when I switched calls to sky. Like that is going to happen after this fiasco. They have had my money for the last 7 years but they will not get any more out of me. They even disrupted my line when I changed over and made it fuzzy. They still have not explained that one either.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT THEM ALL, that's what I say!!!

I had a total nightmare with BT and with Talk Talk which went on and on for a year. I had been totally clear about what I wanted to do from Day 1, which was: move house, find out the new telephone number, stay with Talk Talk. Simple? Ooooh nooo.

I ended up spending at LEAST 50 - 60 hours of my time chasing my tail. At LEAST 40£ in internet cafes because of no broadband. At LEAST £200 paying BT's connection and disconnection fees for a service I never wanted but was forced to get, even though I was told that Talk Talk should be able to just transfer my service from old to new number. Never ANY paperwork from either BT or Talk Talk.

In the end, I paid all BT's fees and couldn't be bothered to fight them, I didn't have the energy. But in order to get a service from Talk Talk, my phone calls to their call centres didn't make any impact at all, so I reccomend this strategy, and this ONLY.

Keep a diary from Day 1. Get names of people spoken to and solutions promised. Never believe anyone in a call centre.

Write to Charles Dunstone, CEO of Carphone Warehouse, which owns Talk Talk, stating your case. no more than 1 side of A4 paper. Include an INVOICE - a proper, professional-looking one, for around £2500 or whatever you think they owe you. Be clear. Eg: My time - 50 hrs @ £ 50.00 per hour, plus £40 internet cafe fees, plus etcetc.

I had a call from Charles Dunstone's top team at 9am the following morning after I sent this invoice. They grovelled phone calls to me every week until the TT service was working, and they paid me £150, which I said was not enough as I believed they owed me £2500 - but I knew I wouldn't get that. Although I seriously believe that's the amount they SHOULD have paid me in terms compensation of my wasted time etc. Anyway, invoicing for an extortionate amount is the ONLY way to get their attention.

Now that it's all working, I'm glad I'm with Talk talk, but BOY they should have rewarded me £2500 for fighting so hard to get their service!!!!

Hi, I have just been charged £161.46 for switching from BT to sky for line rental. I was not under any contract with BT although they are insisting that I was. The only information I recieved was a final bill. I am with sky for tv and broadband and they offered me free line rental for 3 months.So I took it as I was not on a contract with BT. One of their sales team phoned me in January asking if I wanted to go back with BT and I said no as I was in contract with Sky, they continued to pester me for weeks until one night after being at the hospital with my son I had a call and I said to them send me information in the post, I said I do not want to be tied in a contract with anybody, I did not agree to anything I am also on the TPS service which is supposed to stop these calls.I also recieved silent calls off a BT number all the way through my sky contract for the last 12 months.I know it was them as I looked up the number online.I had been a customer for over 7 years and cannot believe how they treat customers who they have had so much money out of.I rang them up to be told by the automated service that as I was no longer a BT customer I was not allowed to use the service. How the heck are you supposed to ring them then. I went online to discover that my online account had also been barred.Yet another way they stopped me contacting them. I finally got through to them by ringing bt and pressing the wrong buttons, by saying I was not ringing about the number I was calling from. The man I spoke to was extremely curt and cocky and made out I had a verbal agreement which I had not then said he was unable to help, did not offer me to speak to a supervisor when I asked and said that I would hear from them within 3 days and put the phone down on me mid conversation. It took 2 week for them to correspond, but only with a final reminder. I was not under contract with them yet they seem able to pull stupid figures out of the air and demand payment just for you changing provider. Who stands up for the public on this matter. I have just emailed a complaint. It is rediculous £161.46 for what exactly. They will not even say what it is for apart from its a one off figure. I will never go back to BT ever again. They rip people off for nothing and get away with it. Does anybody know if or why they are allowed to do this. I am really annoyed. Can anyone advise?

Sorry for the essay.

If BT think they're getting £70 off me when i finally get a broadband connection with another company, they've got another think coming. They're not getting anything off me, since they tricked me into becoming their customer in the first place.

I would like to say thanks as the charge was dropped by half, which is a result. I have since emailed the ceo at talk talk seeing if they'll refund the £70 charge left behind. Well if you ever need to get in touch with CEO's of any organisation there is a good site. Their address is www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html which has most companies email for the top brass and also gives some good advice on how to write your email.

shawny:

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.

Good News - After ringing 0800800150 etc, trying to get to the complaints department. I finally sent an e-mail to cceo AT bt.com requesting that my charges to be refunded promptly. The following day I received an e-mail confirming that the charges would be refunded.

Bad News - After waiting ten days without a sign of the refunds - I found that they were sent to a BT Office in Aberdeen - due to the fact that this address is used when a customer has left BT (as their address is no longer in the system !)

Good news - I eventually received my refunds - £74.50.

If I was anyone leaving BT, and your 'sorry to see you leave' letter doesn't state the charge (my letter stated you may be charged) - then hold your guns, and request the refund - if charged.

My refund, was due to the fact that the only paperwork sent to me was my bills - no T & Cs or anything.