Leaving BT

[Rscott97]

Hi all, 

I’m looking for some advice after finally making a move to leave BT. I had been a customer forever ( broadband, phone + calls, Bt sports), but due to their failure to upgrade their network in my area, I decided I didn’t need to persevere with low internet speeds and crackling phone lines, so decide to take the plunge to a supplier providing fibre cable. 

So, I have a smart home hub 2, which I’m more than happily to return, but the website says if I joined after 2019, there’s no need. As I joined BT twenty five years earlier, there shouldn’t really be a need, but hey it’s good for the environment so I’m ok with that. However, in my spam email inbox, is an email from BT saying if I don’t return it within 60 days, I’ll be charged for it. The first weird bit is why would BT’s spam filter send an email from themselves to my spam inbox? Anyway, I click on the link to order the packaging to return the smart hub and notice it also says they want my  smart hub 1 back? Who kept there’s after upgrading? I certainly didn’t and nobody has asked anything about it since I got the  smart hub 2. So that’s £43 I’d owe them according to their webpage and £50 for the smart hub 2. 

So I ordered the packaging and nothing arrived. Then I got a call from an old neighbour saying a letter had been delivered for me. Yup you’ve guessed it, it’s the packaging from BT. We only moved from there eight years ago, and got BT to install our new phone line and come out to check our line multiple times…..so an easy mistake to make.  

Then, as I’m already on My BT, I click on my bill. Wait, what? You’re putting up my direct debit because of changes to my package? I haven’t made any changes, what are you talking about? This appears to be a BT Sports pack “discount” which means I’ve to pay an additional £15. My quarterly bill also appears to have increased by £60 since March, while I’ve received no additional services. My bill is also for the period up to December. What am I being charged for? 

Tldr? Basically, what do I need to return, what will I be charged if I don’t, how large is my final bill likely to be?

[-Richie-]

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@Rscott97wrote:

So, I have a smart home hub 2, which I’m more than happily to return, but the website says if I joined after 2019, there’s no need. As I joined BT twenty five years earlier, there shouldn’t really be a need, but hey it’s good for the environment so I’m ok with that.

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Any equipment sent to you on or after 13/12/2019 is on loan and must be returned, when you joined BT doesn't factor in, it's when you were sent the piece of kit.

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@Rscott97wrote:

Then, as I’m already on My BT, I click on my bill. Wait, what? You’re putting up my direct debit because of changes to my package? I haven’t made any changes, what are you talking about? This appears to be a BT Sports pack “discount” which means I’ve to pay an additional £15.

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This sounds like you have BT Sport on Sky provided by BT, you get a discount for being a BT broadband customer, by ceasing that means the BT Sport discount is removed.

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@Rscott97wrote:

Tldr? Basically, what do I need to return, what will I be charged if I don’t, how large is my final bill likely to be?

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Return any and all kit sent on or after 13/12/2019, the charges for non-return can be found Here 
It sounds like you won't have a final bill as you still have BT Sport on Sky, my guess is you ported your landline number to your new provider, that ceases the phone and broadband, BT Sports can continue without other services but the discount for BB is gone, you can cancel that with 30 days notice or pay the standard price, if you're in a minimum term then an early termination fee would apply.

[Rscott97]

Thanks for the reply  @-Richie- ,

one or two questions 

@-Richie- “Any equipment sent to you on or after 13/12/2019 is on loan and must be returned, when you joined BT doesn't factor in, it's when you were sent the piece of kit”

So the email from BT is misleading when it states - “If you joined BT after 13 December 2019, please send back your BT kit within 60 days of your BT service ending, otherwise you'll need to pay a charge.”? There’s no mention of changing service/package/contract/service. 

Unfortunately My BT bills only goes back as far as a bill date of 29th December 2019, but it does show a change of service on the 13th of December and that I had a home hub 2 at the time of the bill on the 29th. So even if I did change service on the 13th, according to the email, I wouldn’t need to return the hub or face being charged for it, is that correct? Am I also correct in saying that I won’t be due anything for not returning the home hub 1?

@-Richie- “This sounds like you have BT Sport on Sky provided by BT, you get a discount for being a BT broadband customer, by ceasing that means the BT Sport discount is removed.”

Yes, that’s correct. I do have BT Sports through Sky, but the discount was for a period I also had BT Broadband. I wouldn’t expect a BT broadband customer discount,  for a period I’m not a customer, but as these services appear to be charged in advance(including the original discount), it doesn’t seem right that they can retrospectively be reapplied to my bill, because BT has lost my business  

@-Richie-  ”Return any and all kit sent on or after 13/12/2019, the charges for non-return can be found Here 
It sounds like you won't have a final bill as you still have BT Sport on Sky, my guess is you ported your landline number to your new provider, that ceases the phone and broadband, BT Sports can continue without other services but the discount for BB is gone, you can cancel that with 30 days notice or pay the standard price, if you're in a minimum term then an early termination fee would apply.” 

Yes, I did port my landline number to my new service provider, but the email from BT states “You’ll lose BT Sports. You've got discounted BT Sport on Sky at the moment because you've got broadband with us. But if you move your broadband to a new provider, BT Sport will stop working. If you want to keep BT Sport on Sky, you'll need to reorder BT Sport.” There’s nothing there, that would suggest to me, any continuation of my BT sports contract, either dealing directly with BT or by adding it through SKY. I am out of my minimum term, required by contract, so that’s not an issue, and given the advice given in their email, I would expect them to honour the date I gave notice of my intention to switch, as the beginning of the 30 day’s notice period. Is this correct?

Thanks again for the reply 

[-Richie-]

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@Rscott97wrote:

So the email from BT is misleading when it states - “If you joined BT after 13 December 2019, please send back your BT kit within 60 days of your BT service ending, otherwise you'll need to pay a charge.”? There’s no mention of changing service/package/contract/service. 

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Emails are typically a summary or key info with a link to the terms to read more, if you look at How to return and recycle our BT equipment for free it states :

We made some changes to our Terms & Conditions on 13 December 2019, meaning that BT Hubs and BT TV boxes are being loaned to you. So if you joined us or have renewed your contract on or after this date, you’ll be charged for not returning equipment to us. You’ll have 60 days to return it from the date you stopped using it before we charge you.

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@Rscott97wrote:

Yes, that’s correct. I do have BT Sports through Sky, but the discount was for a period I also had BT Broadband. I wouldn’t expect a BT broadband customer discount,  for a period I’m not a customer, but as these services appear to be charged in advance(including the original discount), it doesn’t seem right that they can retrospectively be reapplied to my bill, because BT has lost my business  

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BT Sport on Sky is a seperate service with its own terms, when you have BT Broadband you get a discount, when you cease having BT Broadband that discount is removed, backdated to when the discount should of been removed because BT bill in advance, the subscription and content is the same from when you had BT Broadband, just more expensive.

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@Rscott97wrote:

Yes, I did port my landline number to my new service provider, but the email from BT states “You’ll lose BT Sports. You've got discounted BT Sport on Sky at the moment because you've got broadband with us. But if you move your broadband to a new provider, BT Sport will stop working. If you want to keep BT Sport on Sky, you'll need to reorder BT Sport.” There’s nothing there, that would suggest to me, any continuation of my BT sports contract, either dealing directly with BT or by adding it through SKY. I am out of my minimum term, required by contract, so that’s not an issue, and given the advice given in their email, I would expect them to honour the date I gave notice of my intention to switch, as the beginning of the 30 day’s notice period. Is this correct?

Thanks again for the reply 

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Your 'Sorry you're leaving' email will confirm, I think you might be right but I'm not 100% sure, it used to be that BT Sports continued without the discount, if you've had confirmation all services are ending, then it will be the case.

In which case your final bill will arrive around 7 days after you left, if not speak with the billing team on 0800 800 150