bsmaat

Hi guys,

I can't find anywhere better than here to ask my question.

I have lived in a rented flat since mid September. I'm a student and this is the first flat I have rented (other than university halls). Anyway, me and my flat mate decided we wanted internet in the flat so we ring BT to set up a phone line and within 2 weeks its ready. There's only one phone socket in the flat so we plug in a phone and hear no dial tone. Fair play. We ring BT and tell them and they run some quick checks on our line to find no problems. Next they offer us an engineer to come and check our line; if he/she finds the problem is because of the wiring in our flat, we'll get charged £20 for calling them out and £90 an hour!!! And since they'd already checked the lines from their end, it was a high chance it was from the flat.

Obviously we didn't want to pay that, it's ridiculous. So our next stop was our estate agents. We told them the problem and they said that under contract the phone line is none of their responsibility. Great. So an engineer costs £110 or more (from BT), and my landlord will not fix it.

Being the students we are, we just let it sit. And now, here I am, 6 months down the line and fed up of paying the £11 monthly line rental for fuck all. I haven't made one phone call from the line. I've rang it a few times just to hear the ringing through the ear piece so I know it's still there (and that dial tone brings tears to my eyes since I know that that sound is costing me about £20 a pop). So, lying in bed and realising i had fuck all to do this mornin', I picked up my MOBILE to ring them on their 0800 number just to have the operator tell me that this call isn't free for mobiles. FUCK. So I continue, listening to the operator instructions to ensure that I get the correct person on the other end of the phone the first time round as I've made too many of these phone calls and been redirected enough times to learn.

About 15 - 20 minutes later (reasonable in comparison to other holding times) an indian chap answers the phone. "Hello, is anybody there?", "Hello, I want to cancel my line", "Hello, can you hear me sir?", "Yes, I want to cancel my line", "Hello?, *insert gujarati talk*". Eventually I get through to him. He puts me on hold a couple of times, and eventually tells me I have to speak to somebody else and gives me a number to call - the same number I had just called! I tell him, so he redirects me himself (damn it!). Next guy I speak to is an English bloke. I explain the situation, and he tells me that I have to pay £70 to cancel the contract, or continue paying for the next 6 months and pay £66. Personally, I don't want either. So tell him to leave it and shut the phone. Now I don't know what to do.

Its a bank holiday today, but tomorrow I'm intending to cancel my direct debit to BT, thus terminating the contract under my own terms. I will not be paying the £11 monthly bills. I will not be paying the £70 fine. And I leave the current flat come 1st July. Will there be any consequences? Can they take me to court? And if they can, will they?

Sorry about the long post, but I'm a broke student well into my overdraft and simply can not afford to pay for this shite, what with the drugs n all.

EDIT: Forgot to mention (incase you didn't realise) it's a 12 month contract.

kofiannan

That's where you went wrong. The 'check' they do at their end isn't a big-brother type thing, they're just covering their backs in case a rat chewed your line or whatever. You should had said yeah, ok, and they would have fixed it. Doesn't matter about the contract, just give them a sob story and keep ringing/writing and complaining until they cancel the charges. And use another phone number (google it, loads of consumer forums have them) rather than going through the call centres.

zirox87

Unfortunately I can't help you, but sorry to hear that. I'm moving out of student halls in July and I don't want to end up in such a situation.

bsmaat

To be honest I don't really want to ring them anymore and give them anymore more. And even if the check isn't very effective, running the risk of paying £110 to have some one come and check the line is just not on.

I just need to know if they're going to do anything if I cancel the direct debit. I'm guessing next year I won't be able to ring them and put the phone line in my name, which is cool as my flat mate can do that next time round. Even though it's almost definate we will not be going with BT again.

Thieving fucks.

kofiannan

Make a sentence with the following words:
Molehill, making, a, out, of, mountain, a.

LazyHippy

BT certainly are fuckers... but their part of the line is up to and including the main box inside your house, it's only additional extensions that are yours/your LLs responsibility.

We had a similar prob, they came out and it turned out that lightning had fried some component in their box - they fixed it, no bill.

I'd avoid em if I could, but no cable here so no choice.

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maverick

BT are a bunch of wankers and I have had so many fights with them I could write a book. What you need to do is :

Find somewhere remote where you can not get a line (Google somewhere in the highlands) . They will not be able to offer you service in that area so tell them you want to cancel the contract. If they refuse tell them you will see them in court and get citizens advice to write you a free letter

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Greenfire

I had major problems with wanadoo broadband which is now orange broadband it took 3 months to get the connection working no thanks to their support which is on the other side of the world and then it stopped working again so cancelled the direct debit and they kept sending letters threatening legal action cos of the contract and everything but nothing ever came of it at the end of the day nobody will keep paying a fee for a service they just are not getting.

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