BT Ireland

gears

I've been a customer of BT for a few years now and have never had any problems with the service but today I called customer service to change my package and was told that to downgrade there would be a €30 fee !!! Which I naturally questioned and asked was there a charge to upgrade and was told no....
Can BT legally charge this fee it seems crazy and is obviously designed to keep the customer on a higher package.

Incidently I also called Sky customer services to downgrade (getting rid of sports for the summer) and naturally got a little sales pitch to keep it but nothing heavy and when I said no that was the end of it.

Doctor DooM

gears wrote: »

I've been a customer of BT for a few years now and have never had any problems with the service but today I called customer service to change my package and was told that to downgrade there would be a €30 fee !!! Which I naturally questioned and asked was there a charge to upgrade and was told no....
Can BT legally charge this fee it seems crazy and is obviously designed to keep the customer on a higher package.

Incidently I also called Sky customer services to downgrade (getting rid of sports for the summer) and naturally got a little sales pitch to keep it but nothing heavy and when I said no that was the end of it.

What did they say the fee was for?

jor el

gears wrote: »

Can BT legally charge this fee it seems crazy and is obviously designed to keep the customer on a higher package.

Ever since the upgrades to 1M/2M/3M a few years back, pretty much all the resellers introduced a charge to downgrade, unless your line is incapable of supporting the higher speed. This is because eircom charge BT (and the rest) to downgrade a line. I'm guessing BT don't pass on the charge for upgrading a line since you'll be paying more and they'll re-coup the fee that way. They are entitled to pass on the charges, that they get from eircom, to you.

gears

SDooM wrote: »

What did they say the fee was for?

The charge was for simply changing to a lower price package. The package I have offers broad band, line rental and certain calls but I hardly ever make a call from home and was just going to drop the call element from the package and go to another package which has broad band (same speed) and line rental only.

Davy

Did you change you package recently,, so were you still in the 6 month contract? Im guessing not, but i didnt think there was a charge once out of the contract.

gears

davton wrote: »

Did you change you package recently,, so were you still in the 6 month contract? Im guessing not, but i didnt think there was a charge once out of the contract.

No recent change I've been on the same package for a few years. Does anyone have an opinion if this is even legal or is it just a case of put up and shut up

Nody

gears wrote: »

No recent change I've been on the same package for a few years. Does anyone have an opinion if this is even legal or is it just a case of put up and shut up

They can pretty much charge anything they feel like as a private company short of the penalty fees for going to other operators and similar.

jor el

gears wrote: »

I hardly ever make a call from home and was just going to drop the call element from the package and go to another package which has broad band (same speed) and line rental only.

Since you're not changing the broadband speed, I wouldn't have thought there would be any fee. That's a bit strange. I'd question that one again with them if I were you and ask them to clarify why there is a charge to change call packages. Check the terms to see if there's a mention of such charges.

MOH

If you're out of your mnimum period can you just end your contract and sign upa again for the lower package?

HarryD

Same thing happened me.
I was with them a few years, and upgraded.
After 6 months I tried to downgrade again and was told there was a 30EUR fee.
I then asked to cancel the account altogether and I was told since I started a new contract when I upgraded I would have to fullfill the 12 months or face a 100EUR (I Think) fee.

I'm sure I asked when upgrading could I freely downgrade again and was told yes...
bunch of cowboys IMO.

gears

Final update:

I was getting a bit fed up, not that €30 was going to break me but just the principle of the whole thing.

Anyway I phoned comreg for a bit of advice and was told that it was probably under my terms and conditions, but if it wasnt I obviously didnt have to pay. So I had a think....

Called back BT customer care asked the same questions about downgrading and was told there would be a €30 fee so I asked is it in my terms and conditions and was told it was. Next I asked to be told the point in the t&c which mentioned this and was asked to confirm my customer number etc.... I was on hold for a few minutes and then when the rep came back on was told that as I was outside my original 12 month contract there would be no fee, RESULT

foggy_lad

slightly off the BT topic but chorus/ntl/upc or whatever they call themselves now have also introduced a €10 downgrade charge for their cable TV offering. basically if you chose a different package which costs even slightly less they hit you with this scandalous fee.

jor el

gears wrote: »

I was on hold for a few minutes and then when the rep came back on was told that as I was outside my original 12 month contract there would be no fee, RESULT

Nice one. Always worth questioning any fee I suppose, to see what might happen.