I have recently advised BT that I will be leaving – on the basis that it has put up its prices yet again, allowing me to depart penalty free. The problem is, I pre-bought my landline fees to gain a discount, paying £208 for the year in advance. I have been told that I won’t be in line for a refund of any of this.
I seem to remember reading in the Guardian that I should be getting back the sum I prepaid, minus the months I have used. I contacted the regulator, Ofcom, and the person didn’t seem to know, and I have lodged a complaint. What is the true position? DC, Rhyl
It is a bit of a scandal that BT staff are still telling customers using their right to leave a contract early, that they will not get a refund of any prepaid monthly landline charges. It simply is not true, and you have to wonder how many customers have been wrongly denied refunds. This is the second time we have raised this issue with BT and Ofcom and it is clear that little has changed.
Ofcom tells us: “Following recent price rises, customers should have the option to exit their contracts without penalty. This means people should receive a pro-rata refund of any line rental paid upfront. We have spoken to BT and it has assured us that customers will be given this option.”
This is very similar to what we were told in February when BT last put up its prices. BT says: “We’ve apologised to DC for giving him the wrong information and confirmed that he’ll receive a refund of the balance of his ‘line rental saver’.
“Our policy is that if a ‘line rental saver’ customer decides to leave because of a price change, and lets us know within 30 days of receiving their price change notification, we will refund the remaining months of their upfront payment. This means that, like customers on standard line rental, they can leave without penalty charges. We have arranged to urgently brief our advisers about this again and we will also contact any other affected customers.”
Maybe Ofcom staff should do a bit of mystery shopping in this area to make sure BT staff are telling customers the correct information?
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