Bt sport

[Bussrichard]

Hello! I agreed to have bt sport when it was free. I didnt use it and only had it as it was sold to me as free. Bt started charging without my knowledge. I ended up paying hundreds for it over the years. How can i reclaim this?

[NigelB72]

You can't as you would have been notified by BT several years ago that BT Sport would become a chargeable service from a certain date and to cancel then if you didn't want to pay. 

If I recall correctly, BT Sport hasn't been free with BT Broadband for around 8 years 

[Brucemeister5]

I’m not sure of the legal position here. Whilst I know that BT customers were required to opt in in order to receive the free BT Sport when it was introduced on 1st August 2013, the decision to start charging ( from the beginning of the 2015/16 football season) without a further consent or opt in being required was certainly frowned upon in some quarters. BT would have records to prove whether the account had ever been used to watch the content.

[pottyperson]

Do you think you've exercised due diligence? Most people wouldn't let a charge for an unwanted sevice go unnoticed for a month or two, let alone the best part of nine years. Best of luck with a claim - you'll need it.

[rbz5416]

Without wanting to kick a man when he's down, it's also been an Ofcom requirement since February 2020 for ISPs to notify everyone when coming to the end of their contract, & what the renewal will be. So you should have received two of these, where Sport was listed as a paid extra.

If out of contract then the requirement is to remind you annually.

[Bussrichard]

Hello!

Didnt i actually need to agree to anything for this to happen?

In terms of when it started being a charged item... i think my baby was dying about then so i have no surprise my eye wasnt exactly on the ball. Tough times! 

In any case isnt there any implied responsibility for BT to look after their customers? They will have known that they were charging me for something i never used even when it was free! 

I have to admit the huge size of the quarterly bills probably made them look like the utilities so i didnt notice them. I was horrified to discover £17 monthly plus charges for a nolonger needed or used landline... 

[NigelB72]

You would have been notified that it was going to happen and it would have been itemised on every single bill since so regardless of personal circumstances, you've had plenty of opportunity to notice the charges over the last several years and to cancel your subscription. 

A bereavement could have bought a you compassionate gesture of good will credit if questioned after a few months but I think your pushing it after several years especially given that it would have been itemised on every invoice over the last several years. 

[Bussrichard]

Obviously i dont expect to get any joy with this. Im just astonished that it is legal to move a customer from a free product to a paid for product without express permission.. 

[pottyperson]

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@Bussrichard wrote:

Im just astonished that it is legal to move a customer from a free product to a paid for product without express permission.. 

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I'm not sure about that but what I do know, having also been a BT Sport subscriber since it was free, is that BT kept me fully informed about the move to a charged product. Although I doubt it, I suppose it's possible that they failed you in this respect but it's probably way too late to prove it one way or the other. To be frank, the fact that you didn't notice the charge for the best part of a decade puts a question mark against your diligence; I wonder if that's why you didn't attend to the charge notification back in 2015.

[Brucemeister5]

Although I am in full agreement with @pottyperson @NigelB72  and @rbz5416 I believe that this issue has been raised on here before and it needs to be picked up my a mod in order to be resolved.