BT are still telling customers they have to return their YouView box
I will post this in the BT support forum - as that is the most appropriate place - but thought I ought to post here as well so that YouView are aware that BT are still misinforming customers.
So I just called BT customer services to cancel my BT TV package because I’m out of contract and since I only have the BT TV service to watch football and the football season is over there isn’t any point in paying for it during the off season. And I shall soon be switching my broadband and landline over to Vodafone Gigafast - I’m just waiting for my street to be cabled - so there’s no point in renewing my BT contract.
I was told by the BT customer service agent that if I wished to cancel BT TV I would need to give them 30 days notice (wrong!) and that I would need to return the YouView box to them (wrong again!). When I explained to the CS agent that since I was out of contract the YouView box was mine and therefore I did not need to return it she said that she had an on screen message saying that I would need to return the box. She then said she would need to check with a manager and after being on hold for a few minutes I was cut off. A few minutes later she called me back on my mobile and asked me to confirm my details, which I did and I was then cut off again!
I then called BT customer services again and spoke to someone who was clearly more knowledgeable. He apologised and said that the previous customer service agent hadn’t changed anything on my account and he would cancel my BT TV package with immediate effect and that I would not need to return my YouView box.
I’ve now received an automated email, however, from BT explaining how to return my YouView box and that they will be sending a pre-paid returns bag to me. So count me as completely and utterly confused! Am I correct in thinking that the email is a mistake and that I don’t need to return my YouView box but I will lose access to recordings from subscription channels after my BT TV subscription is cancelled?
Also worth noting as an aside that the first customer service agent told me that I only had weekend and evening call package (wrong!) when in fact I have the anytime call package and when I asked for the anytime call package to be removed I was told that if I did that or indeed if I made any other change to my broadband or call package it would initiate a new contract (wrong again!).
So I just called BT customer services to cancel my BT TV package because I’m out of contract and since I only have the BT TV service to watch football and the football season is over there isn’t any point in paying for it during the off season. And I shall soon be switching my broadband and landline over to Vodafone Gigafast - I’m just waiting for my street to be cabled - so there’s no point in renewing my BT contract.
I was told by the BT customer service agent that if I wished to cancel BT TV I would need to give them 30 days notice (wrong!) and that I would need to return the YouView box to them (wrong again!). When I explained to the CS agent that since I was out of contract the YouView box was mine and therefore I did not need to return it she said that she had an on screen message saying that I would need to return the box. She then said she would need to check with a manager and after being on hold for a few minutes I was cut off. A few minutes later she called me back on my mobile and asked me to confirm my details, which I did and I was then cut off again!
I then called BT customer services again and spoke to someone who was clearly more knowledgeable. He apologised and said that the previous customer service agent hadn’t changed anything on my account and he would cancel my BT TV package with immediate effect and that I would not need to return my YouView box.
I’ve now received an automated email, however, from BT explaining how to return my YouView box and that they will be sending a pre-paid returns bag to me. So count me as completely and utterly confused! Am I correct in thinking that the email is a mistake and that I don’t need to return my YouView box but I will lose access to recordings from subscription channels after my BT TV subscription is cancelled?
Also worth noting as an aside that the first customer service agent told me that I only had weekend and evening call package (wrong!) when in fact I have the anytime call package and when I asked for the anytime call package to be removed I was told that if I did that or indeed if I made any other change to my broadband or call package it would initiate a new contract (wrong again!).
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Comments
Is it incompetence or are BT deliberately misleading customers in order to reduce churn and retain customers?
I have copy pasted the text below.
Email subject line: How to return your kit
Email text:
Please send it back to us
Postcode: ******
How to return your kit
Take it to the Post Office:
Return it in an EE store:
Arrange a Parcelforce collection:Nick Lane
Managing Director, Customer Care
Getting in touch
Feedback or questions? Contact us online.Staying in the loop
Add [email protected] to your address book to make sure our emails always get to your inbox.Keeping your private details private
Read our privacy policy to see how we protect your personal information.Protecting yourself online
We'll never send you emails asking for your personal information. Find out more about phishing.© British Telecommunications plc 2019. We're registered in England at 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ (company number 1800000).
All this information was correct on the date we sent this email. See our terms and conditions.
Even if you are still in contract you don’t have to return the box but the email will contain the amount you need to pay for ending the contract early.
Guess what, a few days later I received an email telling me how long I had before the box 'must' be returned or I would be charged £30 for not returning it. They said the returns packaging was in the post.
Fast forward 3 weeks and the packaging never came, the 'deadline' had passed, and I received an email demanding £30. On contacting BT explaining all of the above they credited my account £60 for the 'stress and hassle' they had caused.
Result (of sorts)
I been with BT for over 20 years but im now starting getting a little fed up with there price rises and once in a while my wifi is not 100% reliable.
Yet I have always up till now been almost happy with the BT services.
I still got 9 months of a 18 month contract still to go after renewing last time.
Darren
BT have stated their price rises will be tied to RPI each year from now on. Leaving BT will not make you immune to price rises EVERY BB/TV provider that provides a pay service will always have a price rise (it's called inflation and why everyone expects a small pay rise each year), the question has always been why companies raise prices so much above inflation. BT are one of the first to address this by saying they will stick to RPI rises on most things. Of course there are many other factors as to when offerings change but you will never see a company 'reduce' charges because of a loss of content, you pay your money and take your choice (or take a free service with less options if that suits you).
One example is Netflix are about to raise prices by over 20% for me from £9.99 to £11.99, I just need to decide if I am happy with that price for what I get.
"If you keep the service that the set-top box came with for at least 12 months, you won't have to pay anything for the set-top box when you end the service."
and their boxes work perfectly outside of contract except that you can't get the subscription channels...
But I need to correct it differently now, as the relevant paragraph has moved in BT’s T&Cs:-
34. Equipment and software
(b) Your equipment, except for the software inside it or any BT-owned equipment (that is, any equipment which we own, is part of our network, or belongs to our service providers, even though it is in your home) belongs to you from when we deliver it, unless you cancel the service in the cooling-off period (in which case we’ll own the equipment again).
But the substantive point has not changed. The box is yours to keep from the moment of delivery, if you choose to. The only thing that changes at the end of the minimum term is that your financial liability to BT for the set-top box if you stop paying the monthly charge for the service, which has been steadily reducing throughout the term, reduces to zero.
But BT have no mechanism for, and are not interested in, getting the box back if you terminate early; only some financial recompense.
The point in @Visionman’s third sentence stands, and is possibly reinforced by the above.
(Except for TalkTalk, who reserve the right to recover any box they supplied on a repair basis after the initial term, though I don’t know if they ever enforced this).
At the time that you enter into the contract (assuming no activity in the cooling off period) you get ownership of your BT box and a liability to pay BT. If you cancelled on Day 15 you'd keep the box and have to pay off the remaining liability. At the start of the contract this liability is equal to the contract length multiplied by the monthly termination charge (page 82 of https://www.bt.com/assets/pdf/BT_PhoneTariff_Residential.pdf). As you pay your monthly bills the liability reduces because BT allocates a proportion of your bill towards paying it off. After the minimum term then there's no liability; but BT will continue to charge you the same amount each month.
Hoping (but doubting) that this is clear.
I believe minimum term of the TV contract may be in excess of 12 months for several of the contracts sold although I believe that write off of the deferred cost of the box occurs at the rate of 1/12th per month so after 12 months there is no outstanding deferred charge for the box.
Remember though that the equipment charges are only one element of the potential charges if you elect to terminate services within your minimum term.
Dull as ditchwater, but as clear as a mountain stream
“Hello, BT here. A reminder to send your TV box back to us. You can send it using the pre-paid returns bag we sent you. If you've got a Hub you're not using, you can send that in the same bag. You can take it to the Post Office, your nearest EE store or arrange a Parcelforce collection. We'll then let you know when we've got it. If you've already done that, please ignore this message. If you didn't get your returns bag or you have any questions, chat with us online (7am to 11pm every day) at bt.com/chat or go to bt.com/returns Thanks.”
The communication from BT is egregiously misleading, and deliberately so, in my opinion.
The “recycling” thing has the distinct whiff of BS. Can you imagine if Carphone Warehouse and the like began contacting their customers asking them to return their iPhone at the end of their contract and sent out “returns” packaging. It would be absurd and they’d be a public outcry. But it’s really no different to what BT are doing. The only difference is that BT know that they can prey upon people’s lack of technical knowledge. How many people would return a YouView box if they knew that they could continue using it or that they could sell it on eBay for £50? I hazard a guess it would be very few.
yes i was told 30 days notice though had been out of contract for a year ( too late now)
yes i was told we would have to return the box
am now going to plug the box back in after being down to currys and told i would probably need to spend £170!! to record tv
many thanks to Tom W
The sting in the tail, @jonesh, of your comment about it being worth paying up, though, is that BT intend that the £115 for an Ultra box, as with the payments quoted for the other boxes, doesn’t buy you the box, but is merely the penalty non-return charge described where you quoted “Payment of the non-return equipment charge does not transfer ownership to you, the loaned equipment belongs to BT at all times.”
Personally, I don’t think BT have a cat in hell’s chance of having the non-return charge not transfer ownership, since to be a contract, the terms have to benefit both parties, and this one doesn’t, so I would expect it to be struck out as an unfair contract term. But the law is an ****, and IANAL, so what do I know?
If they charge you and you refuse to pay it could effect your credit rating, and obviously broadband companies don't have a ""blacklist " of undesirable customers who they don't want to offer services to but it can get messy if you pursue the non payment route.
No doubt if they develop a new box they will certainly follow Sky's lead and disable the recording function etc to those that dont return the equipment.
Just return it if they want to charge as e bay is awash with 4k boxes costing less then £100.
But even contracts that are ‘ended’ can have clauses that carry on - in principle forever, but, in the case of this latest BT one, at least the provision where if you do get hit with the non-return charge, you have two years in which to return the kit and get it refunded.
https://www.bt.com/help/tv/how-to-return-and-recycle-your-bt-broadband-hub-and-bt-tv-box-fo#:~:text=You’ll be charged for keeping any equipment you,or type of BT TV Box you have