Need to downgrade my parents package!

[GadgetBazza]

Hi,

So my parents are pensioners in their 80's and don't really have much use for "tech" but my Mum does use an iPad (mostly for puzzles) and my Dad in particular likes BT Sport and does a few emails / spreadsheets on his old laptop.

They've been getting in a pickle about living costs of late and I've taken a look through their bills and discovered that they are paying £99 a month for full fibre 900 Halo 3 broadband.  I asked my Dad why he has such a high subscription and he said he had no idea and only refers to the phone calls he has made to deal with buffering issues on his TV service where they have offered to improve the speed.   On the face of it, it would seem that he has been oversold as he has only requested to have the service fixed to a point where it works properly.  Being of a certain age and also a trusting character, I suspect he has been told that faster would be better and that he needs this.  I haven't had a proper look at his bill history, but we did sign into his account online and he appears to have nearly 700 days left on his term, so it would seem that it's been renewed without any discount for a further two years recently.

I do have power of attorney paperwork, so can deal with this on my parents behalf (although I've not done this before and I'm sure it has it's own challenges), but on first look, there only appears to be options to "upgrade" not downgrade and I'm also concerned that they have recently tied them into another 2 years with no apparent discount.

I will get a copy of the invoices to look into this further, but does anyone have any experience of this, in particular what I believe will be mis-selling, rather than just looking at downgrades with early exit fees?

Thanks
Barry

[edbostan]

Look at the Ofcom website for rules and practices broadband suppliers have to adhere to. There is a section for vulnerable subscribers. Also there is a code of conduct for contract renewal where suppliers have to contact you before renewal outlining their best deals and the prices new subscribers are offered. If this has not been followed you have grounds for appeal.

[celdor]

Hi Barry - I have the same problem, how did you get on with this. Relative 85YO has been out of contract for many years, has dementia and rarely uses the Internet. I think she was victim of an upsell at some point and with the annual increases she is paying over £100 per month. inc £10 for Halo and £3 for paper statements Internet around £76

[Christopher_G]

Hi @celdor 

Welcome to the community. 

Is your relative registered as vulnerable? Have you been able to speak with our Customer Service team about the account?

Chris

[chrisjp]

I wish you luck in your quest to downgrade your parents' service. Experience that others have discussed on this forum indicates that you will need to be VERY insistent indeed to get BT to downgrade any service they have previously signed your parents up to. You'll most likely only be able to do it by telephone (not online) and all BT's telephone agents are on commission to upsell, so will be very reluctant to downgrade anything.
Please keep us informed about how you get on.

[celdor]

Hi @Christopher_G
That is the next step - it has taken me almost a year to get this far! Account was in my brothers name- he died in 2004 - since then Sis in Law has be paying for the account but never thought to do anything to change it to her name. Consequently I could neither get her onto MyBT as owner Nor Myself as operator or whatever the term is. Went through around 8 new email addresses before realising that it would never work as they were presumably sending an authority to some unknown email in my Brothers name. An A4 letter to BT head office explaining this didnt even get a reply ! Eventually stumbled on the link advise death of account holder and got the account transferred into SILs name and registered her.
I have just today gone back and registered myself in
order that they will listen to me to get her registered as Vulnerable and to advise she has fall alarms etc.'=
I know I have to ask the Alarm Co what they are doing re getting their system on to Digital voice.
Doesnt have mobile phone another hurdle.
Thankyou for the reminder though. I will also have to
decide what I am going to do - currently on Plusnet
and BT have kicked that into touch prob have to move to BT to keep my Number. Will have to get moving as BT seem to be ratcheting up on getting personal accounts to use EE.

[marco806]

This is where BT/EE are making their money..Fleecing old folk who are not tech savvy and dont know that they are being fleeced...

pretty despicable in my book, its these millions of old folk who are paying for everything...