This topic

BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

JamesCoco — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:07:30 GMT

I’ll start by saying I’m not a BT customer - our full fibre package is a business package with Zen Internet. Yesterday I received an automated email from them saying they were sorry to see me going and that my line would be terminated on the 24th March. Which came as a bit of a shock.

So I contacted them and asked them what was going on. After a bit of digging they said another customer, they could only identify as through BT Retail, has created a new order with our address. They said they cannot stop this process anymore due to new Ofcom regulations and that the only option is to ask BT to look into the matter on our behalf.

Two unsuccessful phone calls later to BT and I’m no better off. BT say there’s nothing they can do for ‘data protection reasons’ and Zen say only BT can stop the order.

Currently I’m looking at termination of my broadband line (and cut off of our VOIP service) on the 24th and then 10 months of early termination charges as we’re in contract.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for getting this resolved and offer me someone who may be able to help us? It seems crazy that somebody can effectively sabotage our broadband service without any form of confirmation or acceptance from the individual who currently owns it.

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

gg30340 — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:14:18 GMT

See this link from Ofcom about "slamming". This applies to Broadband as well.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/switching-provider/how-to-protect-yourself-from-slamming/

"The switching process for telephone and broadband services includes measures to protect you from slamming.

You will receive letters from your old phone company and new company to let you know you are moving provider. It will include the date that the transfer will take place.

If you don’t want to move to a new phone company, tell the provider who has taken over your service that you did not agree to the transfer. If you do this within 10 days, they will be able to put a stop to the transfer and you can carry on as before.

If the provider refuses to cancel the transfer, ask your current provider to cancel the transfer. This should be possible up until 24 hours before the transfer is due to complete, but it is best to do this at least 48 hours beforehand.

If the service has already transferred, ask your original provider to transfer you back to them".

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:39:59 GMT

It does seem that this new OTS ( One Touch Switching ) service has a pretty fundamental flaw , in that although you get a ‘ sorry to see you leave’ communication from the losing provider, Zen in your case , there is no longer a ‘cancel other’ process where the losing provider could cancel another providers order because their customer contacted them to say this is not something I requested so don’t allow this migration to take place , the ‘cancel other’ facility was available on the previous NOTs system, as you have found it seemingly isn’t available with OTS .

You have no right to discuss someone else’s order with a company you have no relationship with , GDPR data protection rules do apply, meaning you cannot cancel that other person’s order with their provider, but have no way to alert them they have made an error with the address , and although it’s BT in this case , this is not unique to BT or your provider Zen, it’s the ridiculous way Ofcom set up the OTS system, apparently with no way for the losing provider to intervene when it’s a mistake, like someone selecting your address in error for the address they were really trying to arrange service for ( that’s assuming it’s an error and not someone deliberately targeting you )

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

JamesCoco — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:42:17 GMT

Yes, that’s the exact situation we’re in. So are we saying that there is no way to stop this flawed one way system now it’s in process? BT won’t do it for data protection reasons and Zen can’t because they physically can’t?

Or is there still a way for BT to intervene here on our behalf before transfer?

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

gg30340 — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:55:35 GMT

The Ofcom slamming guide lines still apply. Call BT and tell them that you have been slammed and you do not want to be transferred. If the Customer Service rep does not know what to do ask to speak to a manager.

I would also contact your present provider and tell them you have been slammed and to stop the transfer. Again if the Customer service rep can not help ask to speak to a manager.

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:08:35 GMT

There was a similar post on here , AFAIR , in that case it was a BT customer that got the ‘ sorry to see you leave’ communication, because their address was very similar to another neighbour’s address , they found out (by asking them ) that the occupant of that similar address had indeed requested a new provider take over their service , this other provider selected the wrong ( although similar ) address … in that case the non BT customer cancelled their order once their neighbour spoke to them saying this is obviously a mistake, (they realised it was going to impact their neighbour the BT customer) so short of asking around, especially if your address is easily mistaken for another address to see if anyone is migrating providers, otherwise, unfortunately there seems nothing you can do , ridiculous as that seems .

This is actually by Ofcom’s design , they deliberately took away the ability for the losing provider to cancel, considering it a barrier to switching , in their opinion presumably it’s better to allow errors like this rather than having the losing provider the option to cancel a competitors order .

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:10:38 GMT

This isn’t slamming in the accepted sense, that’s where there isn’t a problem with addressing , it’s a deliberate attempt by an ISP to move a customer without their agreement , in this case it’s almost certain there will be a customer that wants service from BT , but they or BT selected the wrong address for that new BT service , impacting this Zen customer…

The OP cannot request BT do anything as they are not the BT customer that made the incorrect order , if Zen can’t intervene, the OP certainly can’t as they have no legal ‘standing’ with BT as far as that other person’s order even if it has the wrong address .

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

gg30340 — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:16:56 GMT

I agree it is not slamming in the "traditional" sense but it is still one ISP taking over the line of another ISP without the permission of the loosing provider. It matters not whether this is a genuine mistake or a deliberate act.

The loosing customer, in this case the OP, is not asking for any information regarding the gaining customer so GDPR does not apply.

ZEN and BT need to talk to each other so that BT can contact their customer to inform them that a mistake has been made and meantime the transfer should at the very least be put on hold or preferably cancelled.

In order to do that the OP should do as has been pointed out by Ofcom in the above posts.

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:42:43 GMT

I’m not sure I’d agree , the conversation would be something like
OP , ‘Hello BT , you don’t know me , I live at No 10 Consternation St, I believe you have an order for that address ‘
BT , ‘What’s your account number ?’
OP , ‘ I’m not a BT customer, but a BT customer has arranged to take over the service at this address , but that’s my address , so it’s obviously an error , please check against my address ‘
BT ‘ Even if I could search the ordering system by address , as you are not the person ordering service , I can’t cancel that order on your say so , and I can’t tell you who made the order , even if I confirmed there was an order for your address (but you already know that ) , I’m unable to assist you further , sorry , goodbye’

The old NOTs system in this scenario, it would be Zen that cancelled the BT order using the common ordering portal ( the ‘cancel other’ order ) …..if Zen can’t help ( because the OTS system has no similar cancel other function, I don’t see how anything other that the instigator of the bogus order , realising the error and contacting BT themselves to cancel can stop the inevitable

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:59:08 GMT

I suppose from OFCOM's point of view, this new process will see more people changing ISP - albeit against their wishes.

OFCOM could then say that their new process has resulted in more customers changing provider - and hail it as a success, and justification for changing the procedure!

🤔

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:46:16 GMT

Perhaps the OP can say if their address is often misidentified, or if there are very similar addresses locally.

Presumably at some point a BT router will be delivered to their address, the name on that delivery may give a clue to whoever made the bogus order in the first place , assuming the name is recognised as belonging to a neighbour living at a similar sounding address , it leaves little time for the OP to visit them , explaining that they have inadvertently used the wrong address on their BT order , and to convince them to contact BT immediately to cancel their bogus order , obviously there will be no issue with them contacting BT as they will have the order reference number etc and will re able to supply and GDPR info necessary to confirm they are who they say they are , and cancel this incorrect order .

FWIW , the new OTS process supposedly requires the gaining provider to ‘match’ the address correctly before proceeding with a migration , that’s the only safeguard and apparently the powers that be (Ofcom ) were ‘unhappy’ with the number of orders failing due to ISP’s inability to correctly match addresses , what’s the chances that to make the OTS system appear less useless than these high failure statistics suggested , they simply allow OTS to press ahead with orders that fail address matching , if that were the case it would seem to fit with this scenario, at least 2 occasions posted on this forum , and at least another one on a similar forum where an expert is concerned with money saving

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

JamesCoco — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 21:20:38 GMT

Thanks for the discussion everyone. My experience so far has pretty much been as detailed. I’ve been in contact with a few different BT call centres now. The first one was overseas and basically shouted at me down the phone that they couldn’t do anything and I had to ask the new customer (who I do not know the name of) to call them to cancel. The second number I tried then escalated to a manager who said they couldn’t do anything for data protection reasons and that the best I could do is wait for it to transfer (at which point my line will go dead) and then request a transfer back myself. Which is obviously a tediously slow process.

@iniltous - your suggestion of waiting for a router to arrive was my next plan of action - that surely something will arrive to our address. So that’s my next best hope. Unfortunately there are over 100 new houses around us, any of which could have put in this order - and that’s assuming it was even the same area / postcode and not someone who got it completely wrong or a malicious attempt.

To be honest, the way this has all gone down just makes me think I’m better of signing up to something like Starlink, where my line can’t just be stolen away from me by an unnamed person who typed their address incorrectly, a process I, as the account holder, have no way of preventing whilst the countdown to my business going offline gets closer and closer.

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 21:36:53 GMT

100 new houses around you , is this a new build development and do you have FTTP ?
It can be the case with new builds, at the time of installation of FTTP , the property is still in possession of the developer, (installed before the purchaser moves in ) and known to Openreach by the plot number …the house number and street name are secondary, if the developer misaligns plot numbers to the eventual house number/street name you can have errors introduced into the addressing system, if that were the case it’s not necessarily a person or ISP making a mistake misidentifying an address , it’s a data error .

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

JamesCoco — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 21:44:06 GMT

Ours isn’t actually a housing plot, we’re a large business adjacent to the houses so share the postcode. So we weren’t part of a development and don’t have a house number to get mixed up with, just the name of the business and then the road, area, postcode.

So someone has (presumably) entered a postcode and then selected our business location as their new address, which makes it even crazier as they would have confirmed “their address” with the first line being our company name.

Re: BT customer trying to take over my Zen broadband

iniltous — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 22:38:03 GMT

The fact that not only you had a business account with Zen , but the address is known by your business name makes it baffling that a residential customer could inadvertently select your business address as a residential one and start the migration process …so it’s possible that it’s a deliberate malicious act rather than a mistake, however that person wound presumably need to provide BT with some verification of their identity, should you call in the authorities if you feel this was malicious.

FWIW , the OTS system as it stands doesn’t cater for business accounts , and although it’s apparently a BT Consumer customer that has instigated this , the fact that your Zen account presumably is a bona fide business account, and registered as such , I would have thought any automated migration would fail because of this mismatch residential/business conflict, perhaps Zen are a little more culpable than first thought.