Bt Driving Us Insane!!

[losgigs]

Have recently rented out a property (first time landlords) and all going fine except phone situation. Have been with BT forever and (maybe naively) assumed that tenants would take over the line, set up their own direct debit for bills and all would be well.Oh no... BT have said they are charging us £102 to stop our contract which includes about £50 for equipment! We had set up Broadband a few months earlier so there is a new hub there, yet they want to send a new hub and are asking the first one to be returned. Very angry about this and sure we are being overcharged. Anyone else been in this ridiculous situation?

[gness]

Slightly similar, Losgigs......I took out a contract with BT which I could take with me when I moved house....

However, I sold my house and hadn't found one to buy so I had to end my contract and pay...I forget how much....annoying but it was the contract I'd signed knowing that I would have to pay if I ended it early.

I fully expected to have another house to go to but hey.....x

[gness]

Having said the above though....don't just accept what they say first...

I've been having bother with them lately....but a bit of banter and pleasant manner on the phone to them got me a free hub....after being quoted £40 and a reduction in my monthly direct debit....so try a bit of charm.....☺

[losgigs]

Thanks for that gness - thought no-one was was speaking to me! I want to challenge it but OH is soft and wants to give in and pay it! Forgot to mention that I phoned BT weeks ago and told them the situation about new tenants and they said it would be fine - no mention of a huge charge! When email arrived we phoned again

[losgigs]

...and tried to resolve the issue but they weren't at all helpful.

[jennyjoan]

Maybe this will help you. I had a Currys guy who installed my computer blah blah about a week ago. Computer went funny and he came back yesterday and fixed it etc. But he told me that I should get BT Infinity if it was being offered to me (which it was) but also he said ask ask ask always for free activation.

Go into bt.com products - enter your postcode and see what they can offer you - on that premise ask for free free - don't forget you are dealing with call centre workers - be driven.

[gness]

Oh they can be so unhelpful it makes you want to bite chunks out of a chair leg....

Don't give in straight away.....try to get something out of it...it often depends just on who you get on the other end of the phone...

Try asking what they'll offer on a new contract if you stay with them if you can do that....x

[Old_Geezer]

I guess you are ending one contract and starting another so I can see why they would claim they are entitled to the pre-stated costs of doing so. New customers at the old address, you at a different one. I have sympathy as my experiences with BT have not been good, but I can see how you got to that situation. If broadband is a set cost maybe it'd be better to have had the rent include broadband.

Best of luck appealing to their better nature, I don't think those who run the company have one. What I can say is to beware of lies and deception. Last time, I was offered a reduction in the next bill as some kind of gesture (for recompense for what they know they'd got wrong) by their customer service agent (eventually) and when the next bill arrived they had applied it only to a part of the bill, the vanishingly small voice call part !

[losgigs]

Oh dear, Old Geezer, I can see you've had a run-in with them too. Sounds a familiar story. I wish we had included Broadband in the rent now but the tenants are setting up their own contract. It may be possible to alter it but we are using a letting agent so everything is so long-winded! Fingers crossed that we can resolve it without having to stump up.
JJ - we already have BT infinity at our home address, but will go back to them and keep trying.