Broadband takeover without my consent

[iniltous]

The link you post from the OTS proposal actually state that the losing provider,  BT  in your case , has lost the ability to use ‘Cancel Other’ , the mechanism for the losing provider to cancel the other  providers order , even in a case like yours where a mistake with the address has been made by the ISP that has raised the order .

The fact that your neighbour with a similar address contacted an ISP to switch from BT , and you both are currently with BT is of no relevance, you and they being BT customers simply a coincidence, the same misidentification of your address would have happened by this ISP  if your neighbour was a Sky , Talk Talk or customer of anyone else .

TBH , you accuse me of being hell bent on defending BT actions , but given the removal of the Cancel Other requirement you highlight ( something I naively assumed the OTS system couldn’t morally remove but they apparently have ) , it seems in this case BT apparently don't have the option to cancel this other ISP order even though it affects you .

Because it was your neighbour that raised the order for your address , their proposed new ISP won’t talk to you and although you have discovered this error , it’s the neighbour that started the process that will probably need to intervene to cancel their own order with that ISP because it’s been raised against your address and not theirs.

Once the defective order is cancelled, if they want to continue that apparently slipshod ISP , they need to ensure the replacement order uses their address and not your address

[Switcher]

So all you need to really put someone through a ton of troubles is just their address and keep requesting them to change ISP... am I the only one that sees the obvious flaw in this logic? God forbid having someone not on your good side knowing this... if it can happen just like that by a simple error, imagine what someone with malicious intent can do...

[iniltous]

Exactly, all thanks to OFCOM

[orozz]

You'd have to set up some form of payment details first before an order could be raised though??

No order I've put through has ever been completed without setting up a direct debit mandate.

[davidmbell]

In theory my neighbour did.

He’d end up paying for my service.

And I imagine his actual service would carry on as is…he’d be billed by BT for his ongoing service, and Utility Warehouse for mine? Heaven knows.

[orozz]

Indeed, landing you with hassle and potential early termination fees!

What a mess!

[davidmbell]

We’re STILL not sorted and days from my service dropping out.

I called Utility Warehouse, got through to connections team and they could see the issue, and assured me they’d stop it going ahead and to wait 24 hrs.

I called BT again over 24 hrs later, to explain I’d spoken to UW.  They said the stop wasn’t in place. And re-iterated they could not stop the change. At this point I’m getting exasperated.

Turns out BT have automated systems that can see if they’re getting the same customer calling over and over (me!!) and a more senior person called me, having listened back to each of my calls and deep diving in to what’s gone on.

He admitted I’d been told the wrong info, his staff were giving me the info based on it being a “One Touch Takeover“, but it was in fact a “Line Takeover Request” / “Notice of Transfer”, and they could stop that.

They’ve then spent several days trying to make the stop. Without any success. The latest, today, was to ask me to (again) speak to my neighbour, which I did. My neighbour then came back to me two hours later having spoken to Utility Warehouse saying UW have confirmed the stop is happening. 

Yet BT say it’s still going ahead…

I even had a router delivered to me, addressed to Mr X, my neighbour. I told postman he may as well deliver it to Mr X, despite me knowing it won’t work should this go ahead.

BT are calling me again tomorrow in the hope things have changed.

BT are trying, but seems they can’t do anything.

Here’s what my BT contact said in an email (I asked for what’s been discussed to be sent via email)

As discussed, currently I do not have an assurances that the takeover request will be cancelled in time for the 13/3/25. Overall since we started speaking, I attempted to cancel the request to take your line on the 6/5/25 which was unsuccessful. At which point I raised a cancellation attempt directly with the engineers and subsequently raised an escalation as this was not progressing. At which point when working on the case this morning I had a response advising they could not cancel this at our request due to the type of order it is. I have raised the escalation to be reviewed at a higher level with the engineers this morning as well as reaching out to our Industry Liaison team to look to assist in cancelling this through contacts with other communication providers.

I’m at a loss at what else to do here. 

I imagine should switch happen I’ll lose service and my neighbours new router won’t work (for him anyway). And he’ll also lose what service he previously had, and he’ll be paying for a service he’s not getting. And I’ll be without service at all.

BT say they “should” be able to give me my telephone number back (!) we’ve had this landline number for 22 years…

Any suggestions? 

[Katie_B]

Hi @davidmbell. 

Thanks so much for coming back and keeping us updated. 

I'm sorry to hear this has still not been resolved. 

Could you please update me following the call back you will be receiving today?

Katie

[davidmbell]

Spoke to senior complaints team in Dundee, who I’ve spoken to almost daily now, still says it’s going ahead. And they cannot stop it.

Escalated to “industry liaison” with no response.

He’s calling me again tomorrow.

From what I understand he’s the highest level of complaints within BT.

Its now almost two weeks since this started and I’m no further forward.

[davidmbell · Accepted solution]

Two weeks to the day, and late yesterday it was 85% confirmed the cancellation/move of my services was stopped.

BT couldn’t stop it.  It seems it’s only been stopped by Utility Warehouse undoing what they’d done, and requesting the line takeover of the correct line, at my neighbours.

So after daily calls (sometimes twice daily) with a very helpful BT agent in their Senior Executive Complaints team (I might have got that name wrong)  things are sorted, or so far so good. My service has remained live.  I was sent a 4G wifi hotspot device just in case things didn’t go to plan.

From what I gather various mistakes were made internally at BT, in what I was told, and the processes taken, and there’s been some learning gained from this and a report is going in to various dept at BT and Openreach and the body that is meant to act as the gobetween between providers (who have been useless).

Anyway, touch wood I’m ok. But I don’t fancy going through this headache again.