Is cancelling a BT Broadband+ account hassle free?

Lafortezza

I'm moving house on 16th January and want to cancel my BT Broadband Plus service.

Service started in mid-September 05 (afair).

According to the website I need to send a request for cancellation by post.
I've written up the letter with all the Cust number and other details and asking them to disconnect it on the 16th Jan.
I'll be posting this on Monday next (9th).

Should I send this by registered post, do I need to do anything else to cancel my BB on that date? Does anyone have any horror stories trying to cancel EsatBT BB?

I paid a deposit of around €120 when ordering the BB and I'm assuming that this will be gone since I've only had the BB for 5 months or so. Do they charge a cancellation fee on top of this?

dub45

lafortezza wrote:

I'm moving house on 16th January and want to cancel my BT Broadband Plus service.

Service started in mid-September 05 (afair).

According to the website I need to send a request for cancellation by post.
I've written up the letter with all the Cust number and other details and asking them to disconnect it on the 16th Jan.
I'll be posting this on Monday next (9th).

Should I send this by registered post, do I need to do anything else to cancel my BB on that date? Does anyone have any horror stories trying to cancel EsatBT BB?

I paid a deposit of around €120 when ordering the BB and I'm assuming that this will be gone since I've only had the BB for 5 months or so. Do they charge a cancellation fee on top of this?

Very few dealings with BTEsat appear to be hassle free:(

Normally you need to give an ISP a month's notice of cancellation. So you are not giving them enough notice.

Recent contracts have only been for six months afaik. So really your best option would be as you are near the end of the six month period to let it run to the end of the six months - give them the months notice to coincide with the date of the contract ending.

AFAIK the deposit was to do with people who did not own their own houses and like most things with BT was a mess. Customers do not seem to have been given any conditions for the redemption/forefit of the deposit. In your case I would be demanding it back. I bet you never got a receipt for your deposit?:rolleyes:

I think I would be inclined to register any correspondence with them.

aaf

Cancelled my BB service with them at the start of Oct. Even received a cancellation number. I have been billed twice since then!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: I rang them 3 or 4 times last week and they're pussy footing around. Told me it would take 10 days to get my money back by means of a cheque. I explained that I'm in debt (white lie) on that account that direct debit was taken from and that I wanted it lodged into my acc within 24 hrs of me talking to them. Didn't happen so now I'm gonna have to ring them again on Mon. Haven't been issued with any cancellation fees yet although I was made aware that there will be some fee to pay although they didn't know how much! Moral of the story: cancel all direct debits as soon as you've cancelled your contract. Also make sure you get some kind of verification that they have cancelled your contract.

dub45

aaf wrote:

Cancelled my BB service with them at the start of Oct. Even received a cancellation number. I have been billed twice since then!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: I rang them 3 or 4 times last week and they're pussy footing around. Told me it would take 10 days to get my money back by means of a cheque. I explained that I'm in debt (white lie) on that account that direct debit was taken from and that I wanted it lodged into my acc within 24 hrs of me talking to them. Didn't happen so now I'm gonna have to ring them again on Mon. Haven't been issued with any cancellation fees yet although I was made aware that there will be some fee to pay although they didn't know how much! Moral of the story: cancel all direct debits as soon as you've cancelled your contract. Also make sure you get some kind of verification that they have cancelled your contract.

You really were being very unreasonable with them expecting EsatBT employees to know what their own cancellation fee is?

I really believe that dds to an account after cancellation is stealing and we should be able to report these matters to the police - they have use of your money its as simple as that.

Wouldnt it be fascinating to have a daily blog from inside EsatBT - it must be a chaotic place to work - nobody seems to have a clue what is going on.

Incidentally does anyone have a link to their terms and conditions?

Victor

dub45 wrote:

Wouldnt it be fascinating to have a daily blog from inside EsatBT - it must be a chaotic place to work - nobody seems to have a clue what is going on.

The only reason phone companies (and quite a few other businesses) keep running is because people continue to pay their bills.

dub45

Victor wrote:

The only reason phone companies (and quite a few other businesses) keep running is because people continue to pay their bills.

Funnily enough I would never have guessed that - I dont know what relevance your post has to the thread?

EsatBT, and lots of other companies too, appear to have no qualms about taking other people's money via unauthorised dds, which they may need to keep their own live's going, after bb accounts have been cancelled when they have absolutely no entitlement to do so.

Gigiwagga

Advice Pleeeze, I've just moved to Metro from Esat and want my phone Number re-ported to Metro at the moment I pay line rental to eircom, call charges and BB to Esat and BB to Metro What the F**K should I do now In order to transfer my calls to Metro I must first transfer from Esat back to Eircom then request re-porting with Metro, Anybody got any ideas

Sarsfield

Now that my NTL has bedded in and I'm happy, I'm sending a letter to BT tomorrow to cancel both the bb service and the phone line.

I'm a little nervous that it won't happen smoothly, but I'll keep you all posted.

PixelTrawler

to cancel both phone and broadband with eircom you just need to ring sales and they do it there and then on the phone...

very simple... cant see BT being that different.... ( I know, I know! )

Sarsfield

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

to cancel both phone and broadband with eircom you just need to ring sales and they do it there and then on the phone...

So I could phone Eircom tomorrow, say "Hi, I'm Mr Bloggs4817, a/c number 123456." and get your phone turned off? That would be an interesting practical joke! Surely they want a signature on a piece of paper?

PixelTrawler

yip... you can indeed... nothing required in writing... ( at least not when i rang up to do it )

jor el

Indeed, cancelling your eircom line is as simple as a phone call. I did that before, just ring 1901 ask them to cancel it and it's done in the morning. Final bill will then be issued.

As for lafortezza's original question regarding BT, an email to customer.care@btireland.ie will be enough of a written notice to cancel the service. Worked for me anyway, or kind of worked. You should get a reply within a day or so. Make sure to issue notice to your bank not to accept any more DDs from them as they'll most likely try to continue as normal.

As for your deposit and a cancellation fee, that's anyone's guess. I can't imagine it'll be a simple process given BT's track record

Lafortezza

Thanks for all the replies so far.
I don't have a DD with BT, it's coming off my credit card every two months.

I'll send off an email to customer care now, hopefully that'll work. I'll be sending off a letter today too by regged post.

dub45

lafortezza wrote:

Thanks for all the replies so far.
I don't have a DD with BT, it's coming off my credit card every two months.

I'll send off an email to customer care now, hopefully that'll work. I'll be sending off a letter today too by regged post.

You should make sure and inform your credit card company too!

aaf

lafortezza wrote:

Thanks for all the replies so far.
I don't have a DD with BT, it's coming off my credit card every two months.

I hope it's not direct debit from your credit card! You know you can't cancel a direct debit from your credit card? You'll have to get it in writing from EsatBT that they have cancelled the direct debit from their end if you know what I mean?

ButtermilkJack

Why would set-up a direct debit on your credit card? :eek:

You just have to pay the card off then! More bills, more paperwork, more hassle, more everything. Surely instead of routing the cash through your cc you would be better just paying the bill direct?

Unless of course you had a reason for prolonging the debt another 30 days?

dahamsta

I don't have the same faith as the folk above. When I cancel with BT, it'll be via registered mail.

thirdmantackle

just stop paying for the broadband service

if they keep ringing you tell them you cancelled it customer services over the phone.


they'll write it off as a bad debt in 4 months time...

PixelTrawler

Might be a bad idea...

this could impact your credit rating and/or they could pass your details to a debt collection agency...

thirdmantackle

trust me, they don't

unless you owe them a lot of money

They'll just disconnect the number

jor el

thirdmantackle wrote:

just stop paying for the broadband service

if they keep ringing you tell them you cancelled it customer services over the phone.


they'll write it off as a bad debt in 4 months time...

They won't accept that, as all cancellations must be in writing. Of course that doesn't mean that the cancellation will actually go through, but if you have it in writing, plus a written reply, then you can prove you did cancel it and they can't charge you. That happened to me and took months for them to sort out. But I had written confirmation from them (an email response) which was enough to keep them at bay, even though they kept billing me. Hence I recommend an email to them as it's more likely you'll get a reply than from a posted letter.

As for why you would set up the bill on the credit card, if you setup up BB with BT over the phone or online then credit card is the only option as you can't srt up the direct debit on your bank account this way. A DD must be in writing with your signature, I think, so you would need to fill in the form. At least when I signed up, once online and once on the phone, credit card was the only option given to me.

dahamsta

Tell that to the people, such as myself, who received threatening letters from debt management companies more than a year after the NoLimits debacle. And they're still farming those bad debts out by all accounts...

"Cavalier" is a nice word, isn't it thirdmantackle? "Responsible" is another. And "honest". You should look them up.

adam

dub45

thirdmantackle wrote:

trust me, they don't

unless you owe them a lot of money

They'll just disconnect the number

Advice like that should not be acceptable on boards. And I sincerely hope that people on here will not be silly enough to accept it. We regularly criticise companies on here for not doing the right thing so we should encourage people to do the right thing particularly as it gives you a strong position in the event of a dispute.

I spoke to two people last week seperately that had paid up money to Esat that they were convinced that they did not owe only becuase they had debt collectors on their backs.

In matters like cancellations it is always best to follow the procedures as per terms and conditions and to keep a written record and lastly dare I mention the words to be honest and honourable.

aaf

aaf wrote:

Cancelled my BB service with them at the start of Oct. Even received a cancellation number. I have been billed twice since then!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: I rang them 3 or 4 times last week and they're pussy footing around. Told me it would take 10 days to get my money back by means of a cheque. I explained that I'm in debt (white lie) on that account that direct debit was taken from and that I wanted it lodged into my acc within 24 hrs of me talking to them. Didn't happen so now I'm gonna have to ring them again on Mon. Haven't been issued with any cancellation fees yet although I was made aware that there will be some fee to pay although they didn't know how much! Moral of the story: cancel all direct debits as soon as you've cancelled your contract. Also make sure you get some kind of verification that they have cancelled your contract.

Called again today. Spent 1hr 2mins on phone (mostly hold). Agent on the other end didn't really have a clue what I was talking about. Having explained to her at start of conversation that Esat took 2 unauthorised direct debits from my account even though I'd cancelled my BB service in Oct, she came back to me 45 mins later and couldn't understand what exactly the problem was :mad: She then copped on/admitted that Esat do in fact owe me money. I told her I wanted the money lodged into my account today and she said that it would take 6 weeks!!!! I told her no way so she went off and came back and said 3 weeks. I explained that I rang twice last week and was promised the money by last weekend and she said I shouldn't have been told that. I asked to speak to a manager and she said she'd have to "book" a manager to call me back within 48 hrs!!!! What a shambles of a company. I wonder do I have any legal standing on this?

jor el

Was that DD to your bank or credit card aaf? If it's the bank then write a letter to them explaining that you cancelled the account with the company and that the DDs were not authorised by you and ask them to sort it out as it's the banks problem too when someone takes an unauthorised direct debit. If it's the credit card then you can again dispute the charge, and in general I believe credit card companies are very good at returning incorrect charges to you.

Finally, write a letter to BT, or an email to customer.care@btireland.ie, and explain that you are very unhappy and are taking the matter further since they themselves don't seem to be willing to return the money they stole from you. Use the words fraud and Garda Investigation too if you can.

Companies will only stop fleecing you when you take no more of their shít. I finally had my over-billing sorted when I threatened them with legal action. I also mentioned fraud in my last letter to them. Fortunately for me, due to BT's own incompetence, they weren't actually able to take the money from my credit card (in fact not one true bill was ever successfully charged even though I sent them numerous forms). That didn't stop the bills from rolling in, and went to over €300 just for Broadband by the time it was sorted.

I wonder do I have any legal standing on this?

Just noticed that bit now. A company taking money from your account via an unauthorised direct debit is fraud, pure and simple. If it happens once and the money is returned then fair enough, mistakes happen. But twice, and still no refund is completely unacceptable. They would waste no time in threatening you with legal action if they thought you owed them, so pay them the same favour.

aaf

jor el wrote:

Was that DD to your bank or credit card aaf? If it's the bank then write a letter to them explaining that you cancelled the account with the company and that the DDs were not authorised by you and ask them to sort it out as it's the banks problem too when someone takes an unauthorised direct debit. If it's the credit card then you can again dispute the charge, and in general I believe credit card companies are very good at returning incorrect charges to you.

Finally, write a letter to BT, or an email to customer.care@btireland.ie, and explain that you are very unhappy and are taking the matter further since they themselves don't seem to be willing to return the money they stole from you. Use the words fraud and Garda Investigation too if you can.

Companies will only stop fleecing you when you take no more of their shít. I finally had my over-billing sorted when I threatened them with legal action. I also mentioned fraud in my last letter to them. Fortunately for me, due to BT's own incompetance, they weren't actually able to take the money from my credit card (in fact not one true bill was ever sucessfully charged even though I sent them numerous forms). That didn't stop the bills from rolling in, and went to over €300 just for Broadband by the time it was sorted.

Cheers for the info. I have some business to do in bank tomorrow so might try to grab someone there. I also want to hear what this manager has to say and why I have to wait 48 hrs to be able to speak to them.

Lafortezza

I emailed that BT customer care address today, asking them to cancel the BB on the date I move out of my current house. Gave as much info as possible to make it go through smoothly.
Got an email back asking for the Eircom account number which I emailed back to them.

I've sent all the same info by registered post today so fingers crossed there won't be any problems in a couple of weeks.

jor el

lafortezza wrote:

I've sent all the same info by registered post today so fingers crossed there won't be any problems in a couple of weeks.

Let us know what happens anyway. I noticed on the FAQ on their help site today that it says if you cancel within the 12 month contract that the fee is the remainder of the contract. That would be quite a lot if there's still six months or more left. If you can move the BB to the new address then I think you don't have to pay out the contract. The FAQ, like everything else in BT Land, is quite opaque in that regard.

LegacyUser

jor el wrote:

As for why you would set up the bill on the credit card, if you setup up BB with BT over the phone or online then credit card is the only option as you can't srt up the direct debit on your bank account this way. A DD must be in writing with your signature, I think, so you would need to fill in the form. At least when I signed up, once online and once on the phone, credit card was the only option given to me.

You are wrong. I set up a direct debit with BT to my bank account by placing my order online. I signed nothing. You do not need to fill in a form.

Those who have used credit cards have absolutely no comeback .. there is no way to cancel the DD!! NEVER sign up for direct debits coming from a credit card, no matter how fast you want a service. Wait for the forms, if you have to. You leave yourself wide open to crooks like BT.

aaf wrote:

I wonder do I have any legal standing on this?

Small claims court - why waste time aaf. They clearly owe you money.
There is a thread either in this form or on btirelandsucks.com that tells of someone taking BT to small claims. They won!! BUT - the sheriff had to be sent out to get the money from Grand Canal Street.

It only costs 9 euros - that is what I would do (and will do - if they charge me for cancellation of a service that never worked - or they do not refund for the modem they sent, that I did not ask for)

BendiBus

bubby wrote:

Those who have used credit cards have absolutely no comeback ..

I think you're quite wrong there. You can query any payment on your credit card and cc companies are apparently very helpful in this regard. BT will jump quicker when contacted by Visa than by Joe Public.

LegacyUser

BendiBus wrote:

I think you're quite wrong there. You can query any payment on your credit card and cc companies are apparently very helpful in this regard. BT will jump quicker when contacted by Visa than by Joe Public.

Credit cards are different. Once you sign an authorisation for said amount of money, it is processed. If you look at the BT form - it says "variable amounts". You authorized BT to take variable amounts of money from your credit card.

I'm not sure they can cancel it with a credit card - you would want to go to your bank with proof that the account is closed/contract ended. Bring a copy of the letter you sent to BT. That is all I can think of. But you will need to proove you did not authorize the debit - and that is not a word of mouth thing.

With bank accounts there is a LOT more control - and policies in place to protect you and your money from companies like BT. The functionality of a credit card is for quick purchases - not for use as a full blown current account. As those who have used their credit cards are now noticing - its a LOT more difficult to resolve issues with a credit card.