Broadband contracts - changes to billing notice periods?
Discussion
TL/DR : BB provider have increased costs by £15 per month and before I get snotty I want to be sure what the rules are.
Full story: Have been a customer with BB Co. No.1 since 2016, original contract was 12 months at £17 ish for 11 Mbps and free BT line rental. I've been happy with the service and cost and the line rental deal has been rolled over every year such that I'd actually forgotten that was the basis of the deal. Contract anniversary is mid-December but I'm now outside the minimum term. Monthly is now £18.99 on the same basis which seems like a reasonable deal.
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
So the situation now:
- 4 months on I'm £60 into 'excess charges' (by which I mean higher than I expected)
- monthly is now £33 for 11 Mbps which is obviously grossly disproportionate cost for the service level
- I can't find any notice or reminder given about the end of the freebie - I'd expect to have received something in November 2019 (see above timeline) to that effect, but as far as I can determine, I have not
- Can't contact BB Co. No.1 because they are not doing any billing enquiries due to Covid!
- Have written to them, they called me, missed the call, then they emailed me saying 'we tried to contact you and we believe this is resolved, if we hear no more within 28 days we'll close the case'
Question: Is there a standard notice period for account cost/bill changes across the industry? I know the minimum is supposed to be 30 days, but what about a maximum?
BB Co. No.1 standard terms say 'they must give me at least 30 days notice', which technically they have done; but it seems unreasonable to not follow up for 13 months.
Full story: Have been a customer with BB Co. No.1 since 2016, original contract was 12 months at £17 ish for 11 Mbps and free BT line rental. I've been happy with the service and cost and the line rental deal has been rolled over every year such that I'd actually forgotten that was the basis of the deal. Contract anniversary is mid-December but I'm now outside the minimum term. Monthly is now £18.99 on the same basis which seems like a reasonable deal.
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
So the situation now:
- 4 months on I'm £60 into 'excess charges' (by which I mean higher than I expected)
- monthly is now £33 for 11 Mbps which is obviously grossly disproportionate cost for the service level
- I can't find any notice or reminder given about the end of the freebie - I'd expect to have received something in November 2019 (see above timeline) to that effect, but as far as I can determine, I have not
- Can't contact BB Co. No.1 because they are not doing any billing enquiries due to Covid!
- Have written to them, they called me, missed the call, then they emailed me saying 'we tried to contact you and we believe this is resolved, if we hear no more within 28 days we'll close the case'
Question: Is there a standard notice period for account cost/bill changes across the industry? I know the minimum is supposed to be 30 days, but what about a maximum?
BB Co. No.1 standard terms say 'they must give me at least 30 days notice', which technically they have done; but it seems unreasonable to not follow up for 13 months.
I believe you can terminate an inet contract within 30 days of them changing the price regardless of contract length
I am on a BT contract unlimited 80mb dl for £29.99 a month with phone line (several TB of data a month)
Samknows will let you see what companies have the fastest connections on your exchange
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchan...
MSE has good deals
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-bro...
I am on a BT contract unlimited 80mb dl for £29.99 a month with phone line (several TB of data a month)
Samknows will let you see what companies have the fastest connections on your exchange
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchan...
MSE has good deals
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-bro...
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Monday 4th May 10:17
So they told you the free line rental was to be dropped:
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
Cylon2007 said:
So they told you the free line rental was to be dropped:
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
Indeed, it's not their fault I forgot. However given the period from notice to event was over a year it seems unreasonable. I'm trying to find out if there is anything set in stone because I can't find anything in their terms or on Ofcom. November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
You're right on the options. Except I can't contact them because they've shutdown all the relevant customer service.
2gins said:
Cylon2007 said:
So they told you the free line rental was to be dropped:
November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
Indeed, it's not their fault I forgot. However given the period from notice to event was over a year it seems unreasonable. I'm trying to find out if there is anything set in stone because I can't find anything in their terms or on Ofcom. November 2018 - notice served that the line rental freebie would be extended at the coming anniversary but not after that.
December 2018 - anniversary
December 2019 - anniversary - by this point, I'd completely forgotten about the line rental freebie
March 2020 - noticed significantly increased monthlies while querying something else on my bank statement. Discovered after trawling through emails, the end of the line rental freebie, penny dropped.
The fact you forgot is not their fault.
I would agree that £33 a month for 11MBPS is poor but the £33 includes the line rental. Your BB provider have advised you of the changes in plenty of time. In this situation you have 2 options:
Go back to BB provider an go through the process of trying to re-negotiate your package.
Move to another provider that can provide you with a better deal.
You're right on the options. Except I can't contact them because they've shutdown all the relevant customer service.
Have you tried cancelling the contract online? Most, if not all, ISP providers have dedicated teams dealing with potential cancellations who then try to persuade you to stay, often offering better deals.
The call centres will likely be closed, limited staff but they may have specialist teams still working.
As you have had an email reply use that to contact also.
The bottom line is to set up reminders for critical dates that prompt you to act before losing out.
Just a thought...... what are their cancellation T&C’s?
The call centres will likely be closed, limited staff but they may have specialist teams still working.
As you have had an email reply use that to contact also.
The bottom line is to set up reminders for critical dates that prompt you to act before losing out.
Just a thought...... what are their cancellation T&C’s?
There's no issue with cancelling as I'm outside the minimum term and they've increased the cost (checked terms, all fine). Easy answer is to just switch, which I will do.
But I'd prefer to get this sorted out first as if they're not interested in helping a customer out they'll likely be even less bothered about helping an ex-customer.
We're talking about £75 at the end of the day, it's not worth the ballache but I don't like being mugged off like this. It's not like they haven't had 2 months now to sort out their working processes.
But I'd prefer to get this sorted out first as if they're not interested in helping a customer out they'll likely be even less bothered about helping an ex-customer.
We're talking about £75 at the end of the day, it's not worth the ballache but I don't like being mugged off like this. It's not like they haven't had 2 months now to sort out their working processes.
I would move account. I moved from BT 18 months ago when I suddenly realised I was paying £60 a month for Broadband, calls and BT TV we didn’t watch. Moved to EE owned by BT dropped the TV kept calls and broadband and cost fell to £26. Last month my contract expired and price went up to £40. No warning but it was in original terms and conditions.
I have now moved to Vodafone which as I am a mobile customer is just under £20 a month for fastest speed available 50mb apparently and includes phone calls.
Last week after I signed up for Vodafone I got a letter from EE saying due to Covid they hadn’t contacted me to tell me contract was up but it was and I could have a new offer at whatever rate it was. Wasn’t as good as Vodafone deal.
Having swopped to Vodafone today if I start ranting about the connection you’ll know it was the wrong decision!
I have now moved to Vodafone which as I am a mobile customer is just under £20 a month for fastest speed available 50mb apparently and includes phone calls.
Last week after I signed up for Vodafone I got a letter from EE saying due to Covid they hadn’t contacted me to tell me contract was up but it was and I could have a new offer at whatever rate it was. Wasn’t as good as Vodafone deal.
Having swopped to Vodafone today if I start ranting about the connection you’ll know it was the wrong decision!
I had a similar-ish experience with TT.
After they had a big data breach they were giving away free features like TT-TV, free caller ID etc.
After quite a while I noticed my bill had gone up, and after enquiring it turned out these 'free' extras had a life and they had just started charging for them without any notice.
Luckily I noticed within a couple of months and after a bit of a battle with customer services and threats to leave, they refunded me.
After they had a big data breach they were giving away free features like TT-TV, free caller ID etc.
After quite a while I noticed my bill had gone up, and after enquiring it turned out these 'free' extras had a life and they had just started charging for them without any notice.
Luckily I noticed within a couple of months and after a bit of a battle with customer services and threats to leave, they refunded me.
Whats the craic with contract expiry dates? They are utterly pointless from a consumer point of view.
TalkTalk 12 month contract due to expire next week. Contacted them to say wanted service to stop at the expiry date of the contract as moving to Virgin Media (better broadband for working from home). Apparently you still need to give 30 days notice despite a contract expiring.
is the contract expiry date just the date they can put the price up and not really the expiry of the contract?
TalkTalk 12 month contract due to expire next week. Contacted them to say wanted service to stop at the expiry date of the contract as moving to Virgin Media (better broadband for working from home). Apparently you still need to give 30 days notice despite a contract expiring.
is the contract expiry date just the date they can put the price up and not really the expiry of the contract?
Right. Finally got hold of them by using (legitimately) the key worker with technical issues card. There is now a requirement in place to notify customers within 10 to 40 days of contract or promo expiring, seems to have been a recent development but not in force at time of my issue last December.
No refund. They offered a new router to sort out the speed issues we've been having for free, which worked out to within pennies of the current out of promo charges; and an upgrade to their version of superfast for about 10% pcm discount. A few other perks like a free movie on the telly and event tickets (
) But it's still 10% more than Vodafone superfast which also comes with £75 Amazon voucher, decent guaranteed speeds, 6 months longer fixed rate and it seems good customer service reviews so I'm off.
Ta for your relies.
No refund. They offered a new router to sort out the speed issues we've been having for free, which worked out to within pennies of the current out of promo charges; and an upgrade to their version of superfast for about 10% pcm discount. A few other perks like a free movie on the telly and event tickets (
) But it's still 10% more than Vodafone superfast which also comes with £75 Amazon voucher, decent guaranteed speeds, 6 months longer fixed rate and it seems good customer service reviews so I'm off. Ta for your relies.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff