Cancel broadband before it has even started?

[8031brown]

So, after having been Sky customers for 15+ years but only phone/voice for the last 18 months, we wanted to come back to BT.

Since ordering Broadband & Digital Voice just two weeks ago, the offers available have changed, meaning that we will be paying £47.96 more than if we ordered today. Even if £50 isn't a fortune it is annoying to say the least and leaves a sour taste in the mouth from day one.

Having spent my time on hold to speak with BT customer service I am told that I have to cancel and then reorder the same thing to get the better deal. Which is rubbish. Any reputable company should be able to deal with this without my having to jump through hoops.

I don't want to take the chance that by cancelling and reordering the service I will loose service completely for a few days or more because Sky has gone ahead and cut us off.

So what is the best course of action. Life is too short to make written complaints to whoever.

Do BT executives even hear about such issues or have awareness of this forum?

Stephen

[imjolly]

there are many similar posts on forum but the answer is always the same that you need to cancel your existing order/contract and then start a new order/contract if you want to take advantage of some new offer.  you cannot change order once placed and system updated

BT on strike today so getting through on phone may be difficult

[8031brown]

Thanks for that. What a drag. One further question though. I may have misunderstood the BT person I spoke to, but I thought they said that I could cancel online but I can't find that option. Do I have to call again to cancel over the phone? If so I think I will just cancel and leave it at that. Maybe give TalkTalk or Vodaphone a go?

[rbz5416 · Accepted solution]

You could try this form:

https://www.bt.com/exp/help/contact-bt/form/cancellation

Or 0800 783 1401.

[8031brown]

Thank you I appreciate it.

[8031brown]

So, if it is useful to anyone and for the sake of completeness, I went ahead and cancelled and then reordered the same package from BT over again. And got a better deal. What a palaver. We will see if change day goes smoothly and if there are any billing screwups.

Stephen

[8031brown]

Guess what? BT managed to *mess* up the change from Sky (broadband and phone) to BT equivalent with digital voice.

It was supposed to go live yesterday and it didn't. After waiting around all day with my list of 30 devices to reconnect to WiFi on the new Smart Hub 2.

Spoke to a lady today who was supposed to call me back but hasn't. From what she said the order has gone missing at the contractor's end. She said she had to speak to a manager and chase the contractor. Now I have received an email, that I can't reply to, telling me that my order will be completed in two weeks. And that I will receive my equipment the same day via RM.

I already have the kit. I also now have three BT accounts with different customer numbers. The above mentioned lady told me that she had fixed that but apparently not. The BT website seems to be broken because on some pages I can choose the correct account and on others the drop-down pick list does not appear.

I cannot chase this again on the phone because the manic "pop music" on hold makes me want to break something. And because I will just get the run around again by BT staff who fail to tell the truth. What a complete messing mess up.

[imjolly]

Are you dealing with FTTP TEAM 08005874787?

Must admit I am not surprised at the problems you have encountered following cancellation prior to activation and then placing another order for same package but bit cheaper .

If you have 30 WiFi devices you need to connect to SH2 when active why don't you just change the SSID of SH2 to that of your sky router and the hub WiFi password to that of sky and devices should connect automatically?  Just a thought

[8031brown]

I get that products come go on sale and better offers come along all the time etc. The reason I did the cancel/reorder the same thing was because BT couldn't just offer the better price any other way. The price difference being rather more than I originally thought. I am a new/returning customer and the service hadn't even started. Pretty stupid business practice imo.

Also, I am aware I can change the local network name and key string (pw) and IP address (Sky router uses 192.168.0.1). But BT don't know I know how to do that. And yet apparently they think in the normal course of events, it is Ok just to "flip the switch" when the customer could be in a Zoom meeting or just halfway through a Netflix movie or something. Although in this instance they didn't because of their *mess* up.

I really hate that this can't be sorted by email. Also that the email I did receive was hidden behind a *Do Not Reply* address. And that I have been bumped to the back of the queue again (two weeks). And I have no real faith that it will go smoothly on the new date. And that we, the poor dumb customers have to put up with this clownishness.

[8031brown]

The clownish idiocy continues. More BT messages, now by text, to say our equipment is on its way. Gosh, how exciting. We already have it. Since last week. Now they have moved the date back to the 24th. The last text asked us to respond if there was a problem, which I did, expecting a human response. But got an immediate machine reply saying we can only reply CONFIRM or change DATE or ADDRESS. Totally unacceptable, useless customer service. If they mess it up again, I suppose we will have to wait another two weeks. A complete farce.