Cancelling a Contract

[northshields]

My TV contract ended on 23rd January. Accordingly, on 12 January I telephoned to confirm that I did not wish it to continue beyond that date. The agent I spoke to was very helpful and all went well. There was no suggestion of any excess payment beyond 23rd January.

On 12th January I received an email confirming the cancellation and on 23rd January I received an email requesting the return of the TV Box and I returned it a few days ago. I have also received an email from BT confirming receipt of the equipment. So far so good.

However, my latest bill is charging me for the TV service at the "out of contract" rate until 11th February, presumably on the basis that I should have given 30 days notice even though the contract was coming to an end.

Am I alone in thinking that if I was going to be charged for 30 days, the agent should have made that clear? Accepting a cancellation from one date without comment, but then charging to a different date seems to me to be rather underhand. I can feel a complaint coming on.

[Rach_H · Accepted solution]

Hi @northshields,

Welcome back to the Community!

I'm sorry for any confusion when cancelling your contract. It is likely that you've been charged for a full month ahead of when your bill was produced, just in case you decide to continue with your plan instead of cancelling, in which case you'd be refunded for any over charge once your plan does stop. It's worth giving our team a call to check if this is the case, and get some clarity on this.

Rach

[northshields]

Rach_H

Thank you for that explanation. In view of what you say, I am quite happy to wait for the next bill to see if it sorts itself out.

The only thing that I would say is that the estimate for next month's bill includes a full month of TV costs which doesn't inspire much confidence that the system is working as it should.

[northshields]

Rach_H

Further to my last reply I think that the position is more sinister than you suggest. When I look at the description of the charge on my current bill it says 

"There's a TVRentalLiabilityCharge for ceasing within the notice period"

Obviously, if I had been told when cancelling that I was going to be charged for 30 days regardless, I would have kept the service for that period, but there was certainly no mention of that.

I suspect, therefore, that I am going to have to complain one way or another, which is a shame.

at period

[Lesley_W]

Thanks for popping back with an update @northshields 

I understand why you would be disappointed with this if it wasn't explained when you spoke to the team to cancel the service.

You can see the ways to complaint here in Our complaints code of practice.

Lesley

[northshields]

Lesley_W

Thank you very much for that link.

I have now submitted a complaint by email and will just wait to see what happens.

[northshields]

By way of a final update, within a couple of days of submitting my complaint "Declan" had rung me and all was sorted out very quickly and easily. I suppose that it makes all the difference having a human involved.

[Katie_B]

Thanks for stopping by with an update @northshields. 

It's great to hear this is now sorted. 

Katie