My friend whos a bit elderly changed phone provider from BT, she did not remember to cancel her standing order for about 10 months so payed about 150 she shouldn't have to. BT told her to go whistle.

To me this is outragous because BT new she was leaving as they have to shift the carrier wave thingy, this also seems like breach of contract as BT no longer provide a facility for her.

any advice?

looney wrote on Jun 5^th, 2006 at 11:02am:

My friend whos a bit elderly changed phone provider from BT, she did not remember to cancel her standing order for about 10 months so payed about 150 she shouldn't have to. BT told her to go whistle.

Did she move her line rental from BT?


Quote:

...BT new she was leaving as they have to shift the carrier wave thingy, this also seems like breach of contract as BT no longer provide a facility for her.

Or did she have a carrier pre-select (CPS) service, and keep line rental with BT? If she did, then she would have still had a contract with BT to provide line rental and calls. Calls can be made via BT on a CPSed line by prefixing numbers with 1280.

She had a cps as there was about a 10 day wait for the transfer from BT to telecomplus.

I don't understand the complaint.  If she merely changed to using a CPS for her calls, she still had to pay BT for the line rental.  The cheapest (if she was already on or remembered to change to BT Together Option 1 when she changed to the CPS) is £11 per month - so she would have had to pay a minimum of £110.

It sounds like she either had a DD set up to pay a specific amount each month (in which case, any overpayment will be refunded) or she forgot to downgrade and was still paying for BT Together Option 2 or Option 3 even though she wasn't using it.  That's hardly BT's fault, is it?  In fact, it's one of the things Martin Lewis specifically mentions in his telephony articles on www.moneysavingexpert.com.

Heinz

whilst i agree with everything you said ,but please don't reply in such an Aggressive way ,chill a bit

Heinz wrote on Jun 5^th, 2006 at 3:48pm:

I don't understand the complaint.  If she merely changed to using a CPS for her calls, she still had to pay BT for the line rental.  The cheapest (if she was already on or remembered to change to BT Together Option 1 when she changed to the CPS) is £11 per month - so she would have had to pay a minimum of £110. It sounds like she either had a DD set up to pay a specific amount each month (in which case, any overpayment will be refunded) or she forgot to downgrade and was still paying for BT Together Option 2 or Option 3 even though she wasn't using it.  That's hardly BT's fault, is it?  In fact, it's one of the things Martin Lewis specifically mentions in his telephony articles on [url=www.moneysavingexpert.com[/url].[/quote]]www.moneysavingexpert.com.

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If you had bothered to read my first post you would see it was obvious I was not refering to the line rental. She was BT Option 3, and that was what I was talking about.

So what you are saying is that its to much for BT to include a query in their system when someone changes carreirs?

Legally speaking if you for example rent a room and then change your mind after the contracts signed you are still liable for rent IF THE ROOM REMAINS EMPTY AND AVAILBLE FOR YOU. This is called consideration in contract law. If BT change the carrier waves that consideration no longer exists and therefor breach of contract.

Its obvious your and Martin Lewises knowledge of the law and comprehension of its application to the telecoms industry is a bit sketchy.

Maybe you should get some contributers with legal experiance.

But BT Option 3 was still available to her if she was still paying for it.

1280.

looney wrote on Jun 6^th, 2006 at 12:16pm:

Legally speaking if you for example rent a room and then change your mind after the contracts signed you are still liable for rent IF THE ROOM REMAINS EMPTY AND AVAILBLE FOR YOU. This is called consideration in contract law. If BT change the carrier waves that consideration no longer exists and therefor breach of contract.

But you can still use the BT 'room' by dialling 1280 before the number, so it does exist for BT!


looney wrote on Jun 6^th, 2006 at 12:16pm:

Its obvious your and Martin Lewises knowledge of the law and comprehension of its application to the telecoms industry is a bit sketchy. Maybe you should get some contributers with legal experiance.

Attacking other forum members for not having "legal experiance" [sic] does not help anybody. You asked for advice and you got it.

That is, as has been pointed out a few times, that subscribers who have a CPS can make calls via BT using 1280. Your knowledge of telecommunications appears to be lacking, just as some members' legal knowledge may be, as you have pointed out. Thus, how can one accurately apply the law to something that they have a misunderstanding of?

looney wrote on Jun 6^th, 2006 at 12:16pm:

So what you are saying is that its to much for BT to include a query in their system when someone changes carreirs?

I'm fairly certainly there is an Ofcom ruling which says BT or any other SP cannot make changes to a customers account i.e changing tariff unless it is specifically requested by the customer.  Also when the customer changes to a CPS, the CPS should send a letter to their new customer requesting they contact BT to make sure they are on the appropriate BT Together Option.

SomethingTypical wrote on Jun 18^th, 2006 at 8:14pm:

Also when the customer changes to a CPS, the CPS should send a letter to their new customer requesting they contact BT to make sure they are on the appropriate BT Together Option.

The way it is meant to work now for CPS changes is that both the teleco you are leaving and the teleco you are joining are meant to send you letters.  Obviously the teleco you are leaving will be a goodbye letter and the teleco you are joining will be a welcome letter.  Both letters should state the date of transfer.

As far as I'm aware, nothing is mentioned about ensuring you are on the appropriate BT Together Option and I also think that these rules are more guidelines than actual regulatory rules as Ofcom doesn't like imposing regulatory rules as it prefers guidelines hoping that teleco's then follow these guidelines.