Divorce

[Batmother]

Hi my husband has moved out of the family home(divorce),  the BT broadband is in his name but I need to change it to me and for the bill to come off another account.  We are no longer on speaking terms and everything is through the lawyers so no chance of him speaking to BT to resolve this.  I tried 0800 800 150 but I was passed round the houses then they cut me off.  Any suggestions on how I get the account changed to me as I am paying the bill?

[gg30340]

You can not change the account holder's name. You would need to cancel and take out your own broadband package. This would no doubt incur cancelation fees.

You can however change the details of the person who pays the account.

To do that you will need to log onto the present account holders MyBT then go to "Your Bill and usage "then go to "Your Bill Settings". Once there you can change the bank details to your bank account and change the billing address if it has changed. 

Unfortunately the account holder will still have access to the MyBT unless you are able to change the log on password.

[Kimberlin]

@Batmother  If it were me, I’d stop paying the bill if it’s not in your name and then he’ll be the one liable for non payment. Can’t you get a message through to his solicitor to tell him you won’t pay the bill anymore?

It’s of course sad that BT are seemingly unable to support you through this episode. It seems they’ll probably use the excuse that they can only talk to the bill payer and they’ll leave you high and dry. As long as they get paid every month, BT won’t care I suspect because it isn’t their problem until it is, ie. stoppage of payment.

You might need to speak to Citizens Advice for assistance citing lack of cooperation from your husband.

You’d hope a Moderator might read your post and offer a solution.

[gg30340]

For information, The bill payer does not need to be the account holder. 

BT can not just change account ownership to somebody else. 

The present account holder and BT are in a contract. The present account holder has gone through credit checks when signing up to the package and has agreed to the Fixed Term Contract.

The present account holder would need to cease their contract before anything can be done. This would of course require them to agree to the cease of the contract and pay any early termination fees that are due.

The "new" account holder would then need to apply to have broadband installed at the address and go through the credit checks and if successful they could then take out a Fixed Term Contract for a broadband package.

If you were the present account holder and you wished to change your name on the account ie your married name, after you are divorced if you contact BT and you wanted to change it to your maiden name this would be done by BT.

[iniltous]

A possible way to do this (and it’s irrelevant that you may have the same last name ) is you ‘join’ a new provider as if you were moving into the address and had no connection to the last occupant , you doing this (even if it’s the same ISP ) prompts the existing provider to send a communication to the current account holder at the address saying someone wants to take over the ‘line’ and contact us if this is a mistake, if that’s a letter , it comes to your  address , but goes unanswered and the takeover takes place a few days later , unfortunately if it’s an email sent rather than a letter he could read the email call and say it’s a mistake and stop you taking over .

[gg30340]

@iniltous 

What you have described is in effect "slamming"  because the new customer (the wife) would knowingly be taking over some other person's (the ex husband) phone or broadband line without their permission.

While she might get away with it for a while it could be that the ex would eventually be aware that it has taken place and this could be a problem for the wife at a later date so I would suggest that she does not pursue that method.

She would be better resolving the matter legally by going through her solicitor and seeking the ex husband's agreement for him to either pay the bill until the contract ends or allow her to pay the bill by changing the payment details to her name as I have described. This would save early termination charges for him.

If he did not agree to one of these, both of which would save him the cost of him being pursued by a credit debt company and having his credit rating damaged for non payment of the bill, there is nothing legally that she can do about it.