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BT borderline fraud

Mike T

Member
BT Broadband fees getting out of hand so joining TOOB at end of contract.
Called to cancel and told a load of lies about poor reliability and low quality of other ISPs.
Forced to pay addition month past contract expiration due to arbitrary 30 day notice rule. Have raised a complaint since I was not notified about contract end in time to cancel without incurring an additional month at the higher price ... sharp practice, shame on you BT.
 
I wouldn't call it arbitrary 30 day notice rule since it's standard in the services industry. Pretty much all companies do it. It's therefore up to you to set a reminder for 30 BEFORE your contract ends to be able to give notice without having to pay out-of-contract rip off fees.
 
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Whilst we should all read every single word of the terms and conditions of every agreement or contract we enter into, how many people actually do this in reality?

For example, joining this forum requires agreement with a sensibly short set of terms and rules (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/help/terms/). Anyone that's running Windows has agreed to a monstrous set of terms and conditions running to16,525 words (I doubt anyone ever reads it).

Pointing out that everyone should always read every word of every agreement they enter into might be absolutely correct, but is also akin to the excuse given by Prostecnic Vogon Jeltz when the Earth complains about not knowing it was to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace express route:

“There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now. … What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.”
 
Whilst we should all read every single word of the terms and conditions of every agreement or contract we enter into, how many people actually do this in reality?

For example, joining this forum requires agreement with a sensibly short set of terms and rules (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/help/terms/). Anyone that's running Windows has agreed to a monstrous set of terms and conditions running to16,525 words (I doubt anyone ever reads it).

Pointing out that everyone should always read every word of every agreement they enter into might be absolutely correct, but is also akin to the excuse given by Prostecnic Vogon Jeltz when the Earth complains about not knowing it was to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace express route:

“There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now. … What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.”
While what you said it’s true this is by far one of the least secret tactics of service companies. I have dealt with 30 days notices in service companies for decades. Even my daughter’s swimming lessons wanted 30 days notice when we cancelled. So yeah nobody reads T&Cs but that’s not a good excuse for something that should be common knowledge by now for anyone dealing with service companies. And even if you didn’t know all you had to do is ask customer services when you trying to figure out how to cancel one contract while the new one starts and they will tell you. So lack of planning as well...
 
FWIW, I was wholly unaware of the 30 day notice thing until reading this thread, which is what prompted me to reply.

That may be because I rarely ever change providers (out of laziness mostly), but it's not something that's ever caused me to pay a penalty.
 
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FWIW, I was wholly unaware of the 30 day notice thing until reading this thread, which is what prompted me to reply.

That may be because I rarely ever change providers (out of laziness mostly), but it's not something that's ever caused me to pay a penalty.
If you rarely changed providers you are already paying a penalty because you are not getting the best value for your money. Multiple studies have shown that you get the best value when you switch providers. You can claim you never heard of the 30 days notice rule but you already acknowledge you do this out of laziness mostly so again this points to something that you should know and you don't not because not because you read T&Cs but because you don't loolk for the best value in your services which you really should. And finally the 30 days notice is not a penalty, it's just that, a notice period. You pay no extra fees for it other than your monthly fees. The issue is that if you leave your notice period to run AFTER your contract ends you will likely have to pay monthly fees that are HIGHER as they have no discount applied as you are not under contract.

It is fairly reasonable for service providers to discount plans when customers are under contract as it commits them to a longer term contract which assures the service provider revenue in the future. It is pretty much the same as buying a larger quatity product or a subscription to a prouct. What it is not so fair is to make these discounts unrealist like some service providers do. For instance my Virgin MEdia bill comes out at £52.37 but the "undiscounted" price in the bill £164.50 which is more than 3x what I pay. It's a total rip off and if I were to forget to renew or cancel on time I will be hit with more than £ 100 extra charges. On the other extreme you have Community Fibre which clearly spells that their out-of-contract prices are simply £ 2 more a month which is totally reasonable.
 
I help people swap interment providers regularly, it's normal to have 30 days notice.


By way of contrast we've had three ISPs in the last 23 years. Last time I changed was in 2016 when we moved house. Until reading this thread I was unaware of this 30 day thing.

I don't doubt that this may now be normal, but as the OP hadn't come across it before, and as I hadn't either until now, then that indicates that at least a proportion of the population might not know of it.
 
If you rarely changed providers you are already paying a penalty because you are not getting the best value for your money. Multiple studies have shown that you get the best value when you switch providers. You can claim you never heard of the 30 days notice rule but you already acknowledge you do this out of laziness mostly so again this points to something that you should know and you don't not because not because you read T&Cs but because you don't loolk for the best value in your services which you really should. And finally the 30 days notice is not a penalty, it's just that, a notice period. You pay no extra fees for it other than your monthly fees. The issue is that if you leave your notice period to run AFTER your contract ends you will likely have to pay monthly fees that are HIGHER as they have no discount applied as you are not under contract.

It is fairly reasonable for service providers to discount plans when customers are under contract as it commits them to a longer term contract which assures the service provider revenue in the future. It is pretty much the same as buying a larger quatity product or a subscription to a prouct. What it is not so fair is to make these discounts unrealist like some service providers do. For instance my Virgin MEdia bill comes out at £52.37 but the "undiscounted" price in the bill £164.50 which is more than 3x what I pay. It's a total rip off and if I were to forget to renew or cancel on time I will be hit with more than £ 100 extra charges. On the other extreme you have Community Fibre which clearly spells that their out-of-contract prices are simply £ 2 more a month which is totally reasonable.


To be clear, I do check every time a fixed deal runs out, and have always got onto another deal without paying over the top. I think I've renewed our Plusnet deal three times since we moved here, each time I've got a reasonably OK deal. They send an email when the deal comes to an end and I then have to ring them to negotiate a new price.

Only bloody nuisance is that I have to haggle like dealing with a shady used car dealer with them whenever this happens, as the scumbags always try it on with a ludicrous price at first. Annoys the living daylights out of me having to behave like this every couple of years, but it's just the daft way they work.
 
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The 30 days notice applies to most service contracts not just ISPs. I had it on TV contracts, mobile phone plans, pet insurance, paid bank accounts, car breakdown, swimming lessons, gym memberships, dance classes, you name it.
 
The 30 days notice applies to most service contracts not just ISPs. I had it on TV contracts, mobile phone plans, pet insurance, paid bank accounts, car breakdown, swimming lessons, gym memberships, dance classes, you name it.


I've never had a TV contract, we don't have pets, I've never paid to have a bank account, paid separately for car breakdown cover (always comes "free" with the cars I've owned over the last couple of decades), never had swimming lessons, never been a gym member, never taken dance classes and never had a SIM contract that lasts longer than a month (always used PAYG until very recently), so that may well be why I've not encountered this 30 day thing.

The only ongoing service contracts (longer than a month) we have are with our ISP and electricity supplier. Don't have any others.
 
I've never had a TV contract, we don't have pets, I've never paid to have a bank account, paid separately for car breakdown cover (always comes "free" with the cars I've owned over the last couple of decades), never had swimming lessons, never been a gym member, never taken dance classes and never had a SIM contract that lasts longer than a month (always used PAYG until very recently), so that may well be why I've not encountered this 30 day thing.

The only ongoing service contracts (longer than a month) we have are with our ISP and electricity supplier. Don't have any others.
All your energy suppliers also require minimum 30 days notice with some needing up to 120 days. But I guess you never switched energy suppliers either?
 
All your energy suppliers also require minimum 30 days notice with some needing up to 120 days. But I guess you never switched energy suppliers either?

We've switched electricity supplier a few times over the years. Never had a notice period. Just checked with our present supplier and there's no notice period stipulated by them. Usually seems to take two or three weeks to switch anyway in my experience.

Our most recent switch was earlier this year, from Utility Warehouse to EDF. No notice needed, switch took 17 days start to finish.
 
Agree, energy and water supply in GB requires no notice period, you can let them know the day you're moving out. Not sure if it's the same in NI as their market is regulated differently.

Virtually every other service comes with a notice period.
 
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Once you are out of contract there should be no cancellation period, however you would normally be paying in advance so would loose the remainder of the month you've already paid for.
If ISPs and Mobile providers are really charging an extra 30 days in lieu of notice that is indeed a rip off!
 
"You'll be required to provide at least 30 days' notice, even if the minimum term of your contract has ended, during which time we'll continue to provide you with our service. At the end of the notice period, we'll terminate your number and stop billing you."

"
How much notice do you need?

To stop your BT products (such as phone, broadband, TV, Calling Features), you'll need to give us a minimum 30 days' notice.

If you want to stop the service before the 30-day period ends, you'll be charged for the remaining days."
 
Once you are out of contract there should be no cancellation period, however you would normally be paying in advance so would loose the remainder of the month you've already paid for.
If ISPs and Mobile providers are really charging an extra 30 days in lieu of notice that is indeed a rip off!
You do realise that as per your proposal giving notice on the second day of your monthly contract has nearly the same effect of the 30 days notice do you? I think people should stop moaning about this. 30 days notice contracts are reasonable and used in most service contracts. So plan ahead and get over it.
 
People need to realise that businesses need to be able to plan ahead and have a minimum window of time to react to customers leaving. While you might think that if they stop your servide there will be no costs for the business in providing service to you it doesn't work like that. In a lot of cases businesses have signed to longer term commitments to service you. So it's only fair they get some notice to adjust. It will be like having a letting agreement that no notice either way. It's crazy.
 
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