Broadband downgraded and contract renewed

[domt7274]

Hi,

I live in a rural area with poor broadband so a few years ago I had a second BT broadband service installed and I pay for a bonding service which presents both lines as a single connection to my home network. With the bonding service I get detailed monitoring stats for each BT broadband connection.

Last summer BT sent me an email saying they were going to "upgrade" the second broadband connection for no charge. I was unable to obtain any information on what this really meant but the speed did improve from 5 Mbps to 7 Mbps and the service was then described as BT Halo.

Unfortunately, the speed on the first line dropped from 7 Mbps to 4Mbps at exactly the same point in time. I have had several engineer visits but been unable to establish why this happened and I have been told they cannot make any further changes to bring the first line back to its original speed. The local cabinet is full so I cannot even order a new line.

I spent hours and hours trying to get this sorted during the autumn and at some point during this time I accepted a £1 per month increase on the first line to get the BT Halo service (still not sure what that really is), thinking the service might possibly return to its original speed, which it did not.

I have done nothing further about this having been ill the last couple of months but I am now planning to use a mobile broadband service and want to cancel the original broadband package given how it has been degraded. I plan to keep the second broadband package as I don't want to be reliant on mobile broadband only. Unfortunately I've now discovered that signing up for BT Halo on the original line also renewed the contract for 2 years and for the first time I've now noticed a minimum service speed being listed as 3 Mbps for that line.

So after many, many hours of trying to sort out a change that was forced upon me I've inadvertently ended up with a more expensive and slower broadband service as well as being locked in for another 18+ months.

I am really desperate for some help and feel I have been treated quite unfairly. Can anyone please advise on how I can cancel the broadband service which has been degraded without incurring any cancellation charges?

Thank you in advance.

[-Richie-]

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@domt7274wrote:

Last summer BT sent me an email saying they were going to "upgrade" the second broadband connection for no charge. I was unable to obtain any information on what this really meant but the speed did improve from 5 Mbps to 7 Mbps and the service was then described as BT Halo.

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That was a free upgrade from BT, it didn't change your terms or price, you can read about Halo benefits at www.bt.com/halo

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@domt7274wrote:

I spent hours and hours trying to get this sorted during the autumn and at some point during this time I accepted a £1 per month increase on the first line to get the BT Halo service (still not sure what that really is), thinking the service might possibly return to its original speed, which it did not.

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By your own words you entered into a new agreement with a new minimum term, you would of had 14 days as a cooling off period to revert back, now 6 months later you've opted to find another way for internet access, the early termination charges would be valid.

BT would of given you a minimum guaranteed speeds, if you're above that stay fast guarantee then BT are providing you with what you agreed, if you're below that then BT have 30 days to get you above it, only then could you leave without penalty.

[domt7274]

Thanks for the response Richie.

That's the answer I was expecting and is technically 100% accurate but I posted here knowing my question was unusual. Having said that I don't think I explained my issue fully so please let me explain a little further...

I am paying BT roughly £50 per month x 2 for the two broadband services. The original line (the one I want to cancel as it is only providing 4 Mbps now having degraded further since I renewed my contract) is in contract until 1/9/22. The other one has no minimum contract period and could be cancelled today but it is giving me 7Mbps so I don't want to cancel it.

As mentioned previously I accepted the contract renewal terms on the first line in desperation to try and find a way forwards after several engineer visits could not resolve the problem of the reduced service on the first line, which had been stable for several years. I also intend to continue paying BT for one broadband connection. What I really want is to move the contract commitment, which I accepted I signed up to, to the second line to the second line so I can cancel the service with the worst connection and not the one with the best connection.

So essentially I'm asking BT for some latitude on the cancellation of the original line and am willing to commit to a new contract period on the second line. I don't think it's a big ask given how I have been inconvenienced to date.

[-Richie-]

I know what you mean and it's not unreasonable, it's just outside the terms and conditions.
A contract can't be moved from one service to another, what you ideally want is for BT to release you from one term and contract you on another service, if possible the faster 2nd line would need to renew the 24 month term, would you be ok with that ? if you did this in September you'd be adding another 4 months to the min term.

[domt7274]

Yes, I'd definitely be OK to start a full new 2yr contract on the other line as I'm hoping one day we might get FTTP.

Is this something you can help with or do I have to call the support number and go through it all with them and hope they will escalate to a manager for authorisation etc.? That was the but I was hoping to avoid as non-standard requests seem to be very hard to make progress with.

Thanks for your continued help. Much appreciated.

[-Richie-]

It's not something I can help you with, I've asked a passing mod if they can, the moderator team are BT employees, everyone else including myself are customers.

[domt7274]

Thanks for clarifying and sorry if it was a stupid newbie question!

[PaddyB]

Hi @domt7274,

Thank you for posting. If you send me your details, I'll be able to take a look at the details of your complaint. 

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team.  You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy