Broadband takeover without my consent

[Switcher]

My situation was almost the same and it was beyond me how that could be even remotely allowed... Seems like there was no lesson learned. I was also told that they couldn't simply press the stop button because the request was so 'fresh' in their system, so I called back to confirm the stop as requested.

Even though I went through the same calls and requests as they are asking you to go through, I still got disconnected on the date mentioned in the email. Hoping it'll be different in that regard for you. It can be a real nightmare trying to navigate through all of this. 

[davidmbell]

Oh heck, that doesn’t sound good. I’ll keep on at them every few days if needs be. I work from home so can’t risk a drop in service.

[iniltous]

It’s fair to say that people are motivated to post on forums like this when things go wrong , and don’t when things go as planned ….you may think it’s too easy to ‘takeover’ someone’s connection, but that’s the way the regulator Ofcom wants it , they consider things as simple checks and positive confirmation, rather than no response is consent as barriers to switching , so the ease  at which a line can be moved to another provider is by design, not a flaw .

It doesn’t really matter where the mistake was made , it may not be a mistake as such , could be malicious, or ‘slamming’ where a disreputable ISP ‘slams’ a customer onto their service without consent, the ‘failsafe’ , is the ‘sorry  to see you leave’  communication , provided you follow the instructions on that communication correctly ( if this is a mistake and you haven’t arranged another provider to start supplying service ) then there isn’t really any reason to expect that this unwanted migration won’t be cancelled….obviously it can occasionally go wrong , but the 95% of the times the cancellation is successful won’t have ‘posts’ on here , only the unsuccessful ones will take the time to complain 

[davidmbell]

Is anyone able to help please?

This is the latest from BT?

Who do I turn to now to stop this?

Hello,
David just a follow up from our conversation on Friday, I have got our back office team to look at this order and they cannot cancel it as it is a one touch switch not a working line take over and it requires the new provider to cancel the order.

Thanks,
Stephen

[Christopher_G]

Hi @davidmbell 

I'm going to send you a private message to try and get you some help with this. Could you take a look at your community inbox and get back to me please?

Thanks

Chris

[davidmbell]

Been on the phone again this morning, eventually getting connections team in Cardiff.

15 mins on hold and an assurance that they’ve stopped this.

Also went to my neighbour down the road at ELM **** (we’re East ****) and he confirmed they aren’t trying to move their services - and that someone must have accidentally chosen East not Elm when he’s tried to move his provider.

IT SHOULD NOT BE THAT EASY TO DO THIS…

[imjolly]

obviously been a simple mistake with the address but don't understand why there was a line take over if neighbour did not place an order

[Switcher]

It is ironic how easy it is for someone to slam your line and how difficult it is to keep it to yourself then.... the so called by design and not by flaw I understand but should it really be that difficult for a customer to stop a transfer they didn't initiate

[iniltous]

As stated , the ‘sorry you have decided to leave’ communication also gives the number to call if this ‘migration to another ISP is unwanted, in this case it’s not clear if the OP followed the instructions laid out in that letter/email correctly , or called the regular customer service number which isn’t the appropriate place to cancel the unwanted migration.

The recently introduced OTS (One Touch Switching) service should be similar to the system it replaced NOTS (Notice Of Transfer ) in that contacting the new provider is all that’s required, the soon to be ex provider isn’t consulted…and in this case it’s pretty clear the the neighbours choice of ISP took little care in identifying the correct address , hence why the OP was caught up in the error made by the neighbours ISP …..I can’t explain why if the correct process were followed as outlined in the BT ‘sorry you are leaving’ communication the cancellation was anything other than straightforward, however perhaps the OTS system ( which has nothing to do with BT ) isn’t as good as it should be .

[davidmbell]

You seem fairly hell bent on defending what’s happened here?

If the image capacity of this board allowed I’d show you the screen shot of the number I called.

The email from BT says

Hello David,

We're sorry to hear you're thinking of moving your Digital Voice and broadband to another provider.

If you'd like to chat about the move or have any questions, call us on 0800 085 1756 before 2PM on 11-Mar-2025. If we don't hear from you, your services will automatically move on 13-Mar-2025.

That’s who I called.