BT contract left me with £113 bill…..

[HSI]

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!! 

[_MrR_]

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

[XRaySpeX]

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@_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.

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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.  

[_MrR_]

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.

[XRaySpeX]

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@_MrR_ wrote:

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

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

[_MrR_]

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.