BT Cancellation Charge

Bart C

I've received a bill from BT after cancelling an order for a phone service
because they did not provide the service (this on an existing domestic
line).

The bill was for £337 including £381 cancellation charges (£257 to cancel BT
Together before term, and another £124 for BT Together Option, whatever that
was). Some 'balancing charges'(?) brought down the total.

Can anyone shed any light on where these figures come from?

I thought the charge for cancelling before term was £70, not £381. And
anyway I did not cancel the service, only the order, as I had not received
the service. Besides how can the charge for cancelling before term be 3
times what the line rental would have been for that term (£130 for 12
months)?

A search for "cancellation charges" on bt.com produced 0 results.

Obviously I will dispute the bill and have posted to uk.legal for that
aspect.

Thanks,

Bart

Arky

Ouch!!!

kkm@w3.to

In article <%x5Xi.199918$.blueyonder.co.uk> , Bart C
<> writes
>I've received a bill from BT after cancelling an order for a phone service
>because they did not provide the service (this on an existing domestic
>line).
>
>The bill was for £337 including £381 cancellation charges (£257 to cancel BT
>Together before term, and another £124 for BT Together Option, whatever that
>was). Some 'balancing charges'(?) brought down the total.
>
>Can anyone shed any light on where these figures come from?

Cancelling is a dangerous game with BT, I cancelled after approx. 20
years of service earlier this year and they billed me £2927.36 plus VAT
in cancellation charges alone.

Where do their figures come from, somewhere towards the lower middle of
their body I suspect.

Apparently they decided I had to pay the line rental through to 2020.
Despite all the practice they've had with cancellations they aren't very
good at it, and I suspect they just make the figures up.

Needless to say on querying said bill, BT withdrew it completely
including the bits I did actually owe them.

--
Kevin

Peter Crosland

Bart C wrote:
> I've received a bill from BT after cancelling an order for a phone
> service because they did not provide the service (this on an existing
> domestic line).
>
> The bill was for £337 including £381 cancellation charges (£257 to
> cancel BT Together before term, and another £124 for BT Together
> Option, whatever that was). Some 'balancing charges'(?) brought down
> the total.
> Can anyone shed any light on where these figures come from?
>
> I thought the charge for cancelling before term was £70, not £381. And
> anyway I did not cancel the service, only the order, as I had not
> received the service. Besides how can the charge for cancelling
> before term be 3 times what the line rental would have been for that
> term (£130 for 12 months)?
>
> A search for "cancellation charges" on bt.com produced 0 results.
>
> Obviously I will dispute the bill and have posted to uk.legal for that
> aspect.

Deal with them in writing preferably by Recorded, or even better Special,
Delivery and make it clear that you will not pay penalty charges that are
unlawful. The maximum they can lawfully charge is for their loss of profit.

Peter Crosland

Owain

Peter Crosland wrote:
> Deal with them in writing preferably by Recorded, or even better Special,
> Delivery and make it clear that you will not pay penalty charges that are
> unlawful. The maximum they can lawfully charge is for their loss of profit.

They may not even be able to charge that - AIUI the *only* things that
BT can charge for are what is in their official Price List as approved
by Ofcom.

Owain

Capn Jack Sparrow

"Owain" <.uk> wrote in message
news:.clara.net...
> Peter Crosland wrote:
>> Deal with them in writing preferably by Recorded, or even better Special,
>> Delivery and make it clear that you will not pay penalty charges that are
>> unlawful. The maximum they can lawfully charge is for their loss of
>> profit.
>
> They may not even be able to charge that - AIUI the *only* things that BT
> can charge for are what is in their official Price List as approved by
> Ofcom.
>

And how many people have actually looked at and read the pricing manual?
From experience, I would say very few.
And before you ask, I use it at least a couple of times a week.

Cap'n Jack

Rev Adrian Kennard

Capn Jack Sparrow wrote:
> "Owain" <.uk> wrote in message
> news:.clara.net...
>> Peter Crosland wrote:
>>> Deal with them in writing preferably by Recorded, or even better Special,
>>> Delivery and make it clear that you will not pay penalty charges that are
>>> unlawful. The maximum they can lawfully charge is for their loss of
>>> profit.
>> They may not even be able to charge that - AIUI the *only* things that BT
>> can charge for are what is in their official Price List as approved by
>> Ofcom.
>>
>
> And how many people have actually looked at and read the pricing manual?
> From experience, I would say very few.
> And before you ask, I use it at least a couple of times a week.

I had a paper copy, before the internet, and updates posted to me as
they came out. Any BT customer could ask for this free of charge. It was
a couple of big binders worth...

--
Adrian Kennard, on his Mac...
Andrews & Arnold Ltd. Communications spe******ts.
New UK Wide 03 phone numbers available now.

Owain

Capn Jack Sparrow wrote:
>>They may not even be able to charge that - AIUI the *only* things that BT
>>can charge for are what is in their official Price List as approved by
>>Ofcom.
> And how many people have actually looked at and read the pricing manual?
> From experience, I would say very few.

Agreed.

But asking them to justify their charges by citing the appropriate
sections can be a useful way of getting charges cancelled very quickly.

Owain

Capn Jack Sparrow

"Owain" <.uk> wrote in message
news:.clara.net...
> Capn Jack Sparrow wrote:
>>>They may not even be able to charge that - AIUI the *only* things that BT
>>>can charge for are what is in their official Price List as approved by
>>>Ofcom.
>> And how many people have actually looked at and read the pricing manual?
>> From experience, I would say very few.
>
> Agreed.
>
> But asking them to justify their charges by citing the appropriate
> sections can be a useful way of getting charges cancelled very quickly.
>
> Owain
>

Agreed, if the charges were wrongly applied or calculated I would cancel or
amend them if I was involved (I work for BT - but fortunatly now have little
to do with anything involving direct pricing) . However, when they are
correct - as per pricing manual, etc, I would normally maintain them. Never
a popular move, and often countered with 'well I did not have a copy of the
price list so how could I know'.

Cap'n Jack

Cap'n Jack

Capn Jack Sparrow

"Rev Adrian Kennard" <> wrote in message
news:472f5172$0$514$.uk...
>
> I had a paper copy, before the internet, and updates posted to me as
> they came out. Any BT customer could ask for this free of charge. It was
> a couple of big binders worth...
>

Oh happy memories, the A4 or A5 Green ones for internal use, and a Blue (I
think it was - could have been white) one for the public to examine on
demand.
The paper we went through updating them weekly probably killed a small rain
forest each day.

Much easier now its on the web - IMHO anyway.

Cap'n Jack