topic Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill….. in Broadband & Landline

BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

HSI — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 19:27:28 GMT

Just looking for some help as I transferred my broadband from Vodafone to EE (via BT) after visiting an EE store to upgrade my daughters phone.
I asked three times if I needed to contact Vodafone to close my broadband account and repeatedly told no and that it would be taken care of.
It turns out that BT/EE didn’t notify Vodafone and the charges have been ramping up every month and I now owe them £113. BT are not taking any responsibility and I really don’t know where to go…….. help!!

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

XRaySpeX — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:18:17 GMT

What do you mean by " EE (via BT)"? Did you move your BB from Voda to BT & then to EE or what? Have you moved to Full Fibre (FTTP) from non-FTTP?

If you have a contract with BT, it has nowt to do with EE or this Community. You need to speak to BT about it.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

Chris_B — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:23:38 GMT

@HSI If your contract with Vodafone wasn’t up then you terminated your contract early when you was still within your contract period and that contract has to be paid off, by terminating early you owe Vodafone for the remaining term of that contract. A contract it’s just a name it’s an agreement that you agreed to for a set period of time.

Your BB with Vodafone got taken over by EE so they don’t need to contact Vodafone as such as the line with Vodafone was taken over thus ending your contract with Vodafone which now has to be paid off.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

HSI — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:31:30 GMT

Hi @Chris_B ,

I was out of contract with Vodafone in early 2022, so no early termination fee. Signed up to broadband in the EE shop in Dec 22 and BT installed Broadband in Jan 23. As they didn’t contact Vodafone as promised Vodafone we’re still charging me in May 23….

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

HSI — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:35:04 GMT

The contract was taken out in the EE store. I signed the paperwork with EE, although BB is supplied by BT.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

XRaySpeX — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:49:03 GMT

It doesn't matter what shop you bought it in but who your contract is with.

The most likely scenario here is that you moved your BB from non-FTTP to FTTP (Full Fibre). In such a case the Gaining ISP (BT) does not inform the Losing ISP (Voda) & it's up to you to cancel your BB with your old ISP. It not a matter of early termination fees but simply that your contract with Voda is still ongoing.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

HSI — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 20:53:42 GMT

In that case EE need to give customers the correct information as I asked several times and was told that I didn’t need to contact VF. I’m now in debt collection … thanks EE

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

XRaySpeX — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 21:07:40 GMT

You needed to check out Ofcom's BB migration GPL (Gaining Provider Led) rules rather than rely on what ISPs tell you.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

Mustrum — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 22:44:16 GMT

@HSI Unless I missed it, it appears that you signed up for Full Fibre and had a new Fibre line and ONT installed in January. Previously your broadband was delivered over your phone line. Alas there is no connection with the two methods of delivery and it does mean you need to cancel your previous supplier.

That said there is no reason why you should ignore bills from that supplier, hence if you did they would seek what ever methods they need to recover unpaid bills.

A little bit of good news, EE do have an offer to pay off £50 of previous suppliers bills on presentation of that bill - just do a quick search I am sure you can find it.

As for the shop advice, it may be worth a trip back to speak to the manager. Not a lot fellow customers can other than offer suggestions.

HTH.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

HSI — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 22:48:12 GMT

Thank you @Mustrum .

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

_MrR_ — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:29:53 GMT

I don't believe I read in the chain what service you switched from / to but do believe you have basis for raising a complaint.

If your previous Vodafone service was copper (so FTTC supplied via Openreach) then EE should absolutely have targeted your line for takeover. Meaning at the point where they provided the new service, whether that be FTTC or FTTP (supplied via Openreach) then the old line should have been switched off. It's actually finally beneficial as Openreach offer providers a discount on the FTTP connection for doing a transfer / switch rather than a new provide of a second service (all part of Openreach wanting to move people away from copper).

However... if your previous service with Vodafone was also FTTP then this could be where this has come off the happy path. If the FTTP was supplied via Openreach then again, EE's order would have been a takeover meaning one service stops / one service starts on the same line.

Vodafone however, also use CityFibre (an AltNet - alternative to Openreach) and there's no switching in place between the two suppliers yet. Meaning even if you had CityFibre FTTP, when EE came along, they would have just had Openreach put in a separate FTTP connection from them. Hence two services.

If I've completely rabbit holed here (and it was a case that your Vodafone was supplied via Openreach copper) then absolutely raise a complaint with EE, they should have targeted it and the fact they told you they would shows there's clear error on their part here.

Good luck

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

XRaySpeX — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 07:13:39 GMT

@_MrR_ wrote:

Meaning at the point where they provided the new service, whether that be FTTC or FTTP (supplied via Openreach) then the old line should have been switched off.

No, not for when the new service is FTTP & the old one isn't. It's a completely diff line/connection & so the new ISP doesn't take over an existing line & therefore they don't tell the old ISP.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

_MrR_ — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:12:42 GMT

Hi @XRaySpeX ,

You're not wrong as in it's a brand new installation / line type however providers can target the copper line at the address for transfer. A managed cease is placed meaning the service is ceased when the FTTP goes live. Quite impressive in the sense that the cease on the copper line doesn't trigger until the FTTP provide is fully completed (as they can be subject to delays).

The new providers are incentivised by Openreach to ensure they follow the process above rather than pay the full connection fee on a stand alone full provide.

As an example, a friend of mine had a copper data only line with BT (SOGEA). Placed an order for service on the Sky website for FTTP. Sky took care of ceasing the BT line. My friend didn't need to do anything.

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

XRaySpeX — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:20:22 GMT

@_MrR_ wrote:

however providers can target the copper line at the address for transfer.

But why would EE bother when they don't provide landline with FTTP?

Re: BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

_MrR_ — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:47:51 GMT

You're not wrong in your logic. It's more to do with industry agreements and commercial implications (e.g. the discount on the connection). It's also a better customer experience (than customers being left with multiple live accounts).

Sky had no logical reason to target the BT line (as the BT line was SOGEA, no number was being ported) yet did for all the reasons above.

The fact that the agent told the customer that this would happen would indicate they too believed this would happen. Could have been an user or system error. It's aways best as the customer to stay on top of these things but do understand why they'd be upset to be in this situation.