UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
Agony Aunt
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Cancelling a BT contract
Karen (Kew) wrote: "I would be grateful for any advice.Hubby agreed to a new BT contract just yesterday, today he's found out that Talk Talk offer a better deal and wants to switch. BT are refusing to cancel the con..."
Has the contract becoming 'active' yet? (you should have been given a start date?)
Saw your post on Facebook Karen.Sucks!
You need to be persistent as you are in the right.
We will support you through this.
Try emailing the CEO of BT. Here is his email address:Warren.buckley@bt.com.
Sometimes Geoff makes me think stranger dangerAnyone else?
Louise-Lesley (Elle) wrote: "Sometimes Geoff makes me think stranger dangerAnyone else?"
Oh definitely.
Avoid all Geoff candy.
He accused my dead laptop of being addicted to s&m porn!
He makes me think 'Duck!!'
Does Geoff have some weird hit list of every CEO in the world?Hope things work out, Karen!
Oooh I just remembered Patti. When he was driving me to the airport, he offered me toffees....
Katy wrote: "Does Geoff have some weird hit list of every CEO in the world?Hope things work out, Karen!"
No. Geoff is weird. Which means he has access the world wide weird list.
Good friend to have, him. ;)
Thanks for all the support and advice, folks.
Katy, the contract started at mid day yesterday and hubby phoned at 5pm that same day!
Following advice from Geoff and also from a friend of ours who is a trainee solicitor, Bill emailed Warren Buckley this morning. We quoted the cancellation of contracts at home or work regulations 2008 and distance selling regulations. At first Bill got an automatic reply from Mr Buckley saying that he is out of the country, but then very soon after, he received a short email from Mr Buckley's secretary saying that she would try to get someone to reply to us soon. Bill also printed off a copy of the email which I've just posted from the Post Office and obtained a proof of posting. What we are hoping is that they will see that we are ready to fight and decide it's not worth the hassle to pursue. However, if they don't abide by the rules, we will contact offcom and the BBC. There is an excellent phone in program on Radio Cornwall by Laurence Reed who is good a tackling things like this. Also, I bet that if it got to Watchdog, they would find so many other people who have been cheated like this the they could make a whole programme about it and a massive PR fail for BT. I've been with them all my adult life and this is not the company that I used to know. Very sad...
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Katy, the contract started at mid day yesterday and hubby phoned at 5pm that same day!
Following advice from Geoff and also from a friend of ours who is a trainee solicitor, Bill emailed Warren Buckley this morning. We quoted the cancellation of contracts at home or work regulations 2008 and distance selling regulations. At first Bill got an automatic reply from Mr Buckley saying that he is out of the country, but then very soon after, he received a short email from Mr Buckley's secretary saying that she would try to get someone to reply to us soon. Bill also printed off a copy of the email which I've just posted from the Post Office and obtained a proof of posting. What we are hoping is that they will see that we are ready to fight and decide it's not worth the hassle to pursue. However, if they don't abide by the rules, we will contact offcom and the BBC. There is an excellent phone in program on Radio Cornwall by Laurence Reed who is good a tackling things like this. Also, I bet that if it got to Watchdog, they would find so many other people who have been cheated like this the they could make a whole programme about it and a massive PR fail for BT. I've been with them all my adult life and this is not the company that I used to know. Very sad...
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Hope you manage to get the contract cancelled Karen.Shameful behaviour from BT.
There's been no more response from them so far. Afraid they are just going to ignore us...
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We had a massive run in with BT years ago when my husband rang and asked the price of broadband. We got a letter saying our new contract was in place giving us free weekend calls and other options. As we had never asked for it he rang and was told HE must have misunderstood and he'd opted for it. To cancel it meant paying a penalty. Talk about red rag to a bull. He was passed further and further getting more and more annoyed. To cut the story short he got a manager to agree that he'd never asked for a change and therefore no penalty to pay and then he told them to take the line out.(He told them where to stick it!) We'd been customers for 30+ years and were really annoyed. It was a time when we spent quite a bit of it abroad so we didn't miss it. Our gas fitter came one day and gave us his mobile number and told us he'd stopped his land line for the same reasons. They obviously had a campaign at the time to 'sell' products. Sharp practice never impresses does it.
I love the irony of google ads. I have a BT advert on this page :)
Still nothing happening with BT. It's like they are just ignoring us hoping that we will give up...
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But that's NOT going to happen, is it Karen?
No, hubby cancelled the direct debit the day we sent out the letter - I expect we'll hear from them when they try to take some money. He's already sent two emails and a letter.
Atta girl.Have you contacted watchdog yet?
No, but that may have to come if we don't get anywhere...
Good. I'm sure Geoff has the contacts for that as well as other avenues for you to explore if required.Let us hope they're not required.
Bill did email ofcom on Friday but had no reply yet - more likely to get picked up today.
We had a letter and phone call yesterday when they realised that we had cancelled our direct debit. Bill talked to two different people, and someone else again today. They have offered us a better deal but refused to withdraw the contract - they said that when you take up a deal on the phone, the operative tells you that you have the chance to back out of the deal ONLY UNTIL THE PHONE CALL IS FINISHED! (sorry to shout, I would have used italics but don't know how to). So in effect once the phone has been put down you are tied in and they reckon that saying means that you can't use the Distance Selling Reg etc. Hubby has only a vague recollection of the salesman telling him that but does remember that the phone call was ended very quickly! We're still in discussion at the mo.
So to everyone who calls BT thinking about renewing contracts - don't agree to anything on the phone!! Ask them to email or write so they can't wriggle out of the distance selling regulations that every single other company has to abide by...
So to everyone who calls BT thinking about renewing contracts - don't agree to anything on the phone!! Ask them to email or write so they can't wriggle out of the distance selling regulations that every single other company has to abide by...
Oh - and we still haven't heard from Ofcom..
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I'm thinking a mass emailing from the group to the manager copiying in some major media outlets may be in the offing.Don't fuck with the UKAKF
I missed your message some how Patti...
I've just realised that I haven't updated you all on what happened in the end. We have stayed with BT, but they have given us a much better deal on our bill - unlimited broadband and phone calls for less than the deal we took out and wanted to cancel. The person in charge of our complaint was adamant that they would not let us out of the contract. We are happy for now with the new deal but in a year's time, when this contract is up for renewal, we will never again agree to anything on the phone. We will ask for the deal by email or in writing before we make up our minds, and we will ring around other companies at the same time.
So I reiterate what I said a few posts ago, DON'T agree to anything on the phone with BT ever - always ask for it in writing to give you time to consider. They completely ignore the distance selling regulations etc by telling you that you have until the end of the phone call to back out of the contract - and they are very quick to end the call while you are still getting your head around that!! I'm going to repeat this in the morning thread so that more people will see it.
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I've just realised that I haven't updated you all on what happened in the end. We have stayed with BT, but they have given us a much better deal on our bill - unlimited broadband and phone calls for less than the deal we took out and wanted to cancel. The person in charge of our complaint was adamant that they would not let us out of the contract. We are happy for now with the new deal but in a year's time, when this contract is up for renewal, we will never again agree to anything on the phone. We will ask for the deal by email or in writing before we make up our minds, and we will ring around other companies at the same time.
So I reiterate what I said a few posts ago, DON'T agree to anything on the phone with BT ever - always ask for it in writing to give you time to consider. They completely ignore the distance selling regulations etc by telling you that you have until the end of the phone call to back out of the contract - and they are very quick to end the call while you are still getting your head around that!! I'm going to repeat this in the morning thread so that more people will see it.
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Oh - and we never did hear from Ofcom....
Glad to hear it's sorted for you Karen... Can't believe the cheek of some to believe that they are above the law (I mean honestly, you have the right to cancel only until the phone call? And that supersedes the law??)
I know, it's ridiculous isn't it - they bank on your running out of time and energy to fight it. I'm going to tell every one I know about this and warn them not to agree to anything over the phone with them...
Maybe you ought to write to Watchdog, people should know, coming from a national company this is not on
I am considering that, and Martin Lewis too..
I'm sure they'd be interested to hear
I found news articles going back a couple of years saying that BT weren't honouring the regulations. I don't know how they've got away with it for so long...
Probably because half the Tories have shares in the company or they're mates with the boss!
I'm just considering moving my broadband package - in the light of Karen's problems I'm not telephoning BT, & will insist on dealing by email only. I'm considering plusnet - has anyone had dealings with them??
Who are you with now, Janet?
Sorry, don't know anyone who uses Plusnet. We were looking at talktalk, cos although we've heard bad things in the past about them, some friends who are with them now say that they are much better and that they are really happy with the service and costs.
Sorry, don't know anyone who uses Plusnet. We were looking at talktalk, cos although we've heard bad things in the past about them, some friends who are with them now say that they are much better and that they are really happy with the service and costs.
Karen (Kew) wrote: "Who are you with now, Janet?Sorry, don't know anyone who uses Plusnet. We were looking at talktalk, cos although we've heard bad things in the past about them, some friends who are with them now ..."
I'm with BT.
I'm with plusnet! They're always good with usBT told us we couldn't have broadband where we live, so we asked around, and plusnet did it straight away!
Bt is the only option we have out here in the sticks:@(
And we are stuck with Kingston Communications. Hull's own company. :(
Was that Hull or Hell?
We've just been looking to change our provider and plusnet looked pretty good but they put a cap on your broadband,so when you reach the limit they specify in the smallprint you start incurring extra charges.Before going back to bt last year we were with sky and they were excellent,never had any problems.
It is a toss up between talk-talk and plusnet. I believe plusnet have an unlimited download option - I need to look at that. I wouldn't have sky since I ditched them for the TV 18 months ago. And Virgin have black marks for continuing to send masses of junk mail when they have been asked not to, so they don't come into consideration.Funnily enough I did a survey last night about phone providers. I did enjoy writing down all the reasons I wouldn't consider using Virgin Media
My mum and brother-in-law are both with virgin media. BIL has been with them for years, but he's paying a high cost and they won't match any of the deals that they give to new customers - so he's leaving for sky next time his contract is up for renewal. Seems companies don't reward loyalty anymore..
Hubby agreed to a new BT contract just yesterday, today he's found out that Talk Talk offer a better deal and wants to switch. BT are refusing to cancel the contract unless we pay them £180! We have quoted the Distance Selling Regulations to them which allow a 7 day cooling off period, but they are having none of it. Is there any way to force them to abide by those regulations? Anyone else had probs with them like this?
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