BT Advice Needed

Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2009
Posts
3,373
Need some advice from more experienced people!

We've recently moved into a new property and have chosen BT for broadband, phone and TV. We have no aerial as it's a new build, so specified to have one installed for £60. The engineer showed up and wanted an extra £200 to carry out the works due to needing extra equipment. I thought this was a scam so sent him away and called BT to confirm. They said there may be extra charges but the person on the phone thought £200 was excessive.

Fast forward to today and the aerial company working on BT's behalf are now saying our entire road has a signal issue and we won't be able to get a TV signal from an aerial, so I won't be able to receive the BT TV.

Not only this but the internet speeds are appalling. The customer service is pants, so what I want to know is do I have enough grounds to cancel the contract without fee if they're unable to supply the TV part of the package? According to their website, my address can receive all 120 free channels. Of course we found out about the aerial issue after the supposed 14 day cooling off period, which oddly starts from when you order..

Any ideas? :confused: :D
 
You have to give them chance to fix any issues with the broadband before they will cancel without charge.

If its just down to speed is pants in your area then no as the cancellation period is form the date of order. They are not charging you for the BT TV i gather if you cant get a signal?
 
New property, new cabling and new lines, will take a while for it to stabilise.

Entire road has signal issue?..you just fit Ariel and point to the nearest mast...

Unless your referring to cable TV.
 
If it's a new build house and you have no aerial then £60 sounds far too cheap as they will probably need to hire extra lifting equipment (scaffold or a lift).
 
Need some advice from more experienced people!

We've recently moved into a new property and have chosen BT for broadband, phone and TV. We have no aerial as it's a new build, so specified to have one installed for £60. The engineer showed up and wanted an extra £200 to carry out the works due to needing extra equipment. I thought this was a scam so sent him away and called BT to confirm. They said there may be extra charges but the person on the phone thought £200 was excessive.

Fast forward to today and the aerial company working on BT's behalf are now saying our entire road has a signal issue and we won't be able to get a TV signal from an aerial, so I won't be able to receive the BT TV.

Not only this but the internet speeds are appalling. The customer service is pants, so what I want to know is do I have enough grounds to cancel the contract without fee if they're unable to supply the TV part of the package? According to their website, my address can receive all 120 free channels. Of course we found out about the aerial issue after the supposed 14 day cooling off period, which oddly starts from when you order..

Any ideas? :confused: :D

I also moved into a new build, I paid £120 for my aerial, As we weren't sure if we were going to get Sky, we had all the wall points for the aerial already installed just needed one fitted into the loft. but £60 sounds like a steal, As for BT saying you cant get signal is a bit meh, As all they do is point it to the mast? or maybe you are referring to BT cable TV? other have you looked at Sky?
 
I also moved into a new build, I paid £120 for my aerial, As we weren't sure if we were going to get Sky, we had all the wall points for the aerial already installed just needed one fitted into the loft. but £60 sounds like a steal, As for BT saying you cant get signal is a bit meh, As all they do is point it to the mast? or maybe you are referring to BT cable TV? other have you looked at Sky?

This the same deal as ours, all the cabling is done they just need to fit it into the loft. Apparantly the signal isn't good enough though.

We can get Sky Fibre and TV, but as we're now locked into BT, I'm trying to find a way out that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. No joy so far, by the sounds of it I'm stuck with their sluggish broadband. :confused:
 
Very similar issue to what I had with BT in a new build.

Took them ages to even accept that my postcode existed and that I was hooked up to the exchange (although not activated). Once this was sorted, the broadband speeds I was getting were absolutely shocking (1mb) for about 2 years.
 
Surely in a new contract you have a cooling off period which allows you to cancel without penalty if you do so quickly enough?

I could be completely off the mark here, but it sounds like it may apply to you, and if not they are unable to provide part of the contract you signed up for.

Also for the broadband speeds make sure you are connected via the master socket, if it's one you can take the face plate off then use the socket behind that, if you still get bad speeds then it's more than likely due to the line outside of your property.

Extension sockets for phone can reduce broadband speeds, especially if the pesky bell wire is attached.
 
Surely in a new contract you have a cooling off period which allows you to cancel without penalty if you do so quickly enough?

I could be completely off the mark here, but it sounds like it may apply to you, and if not they are unable to provide part of the contract you signed up for.

Thats what I assumed, however the 14 day cooling off period starts from the moment you order, which is absolutely useless considering some dates they give you for installation are over a week later. :confused:

[TW]Sponge;30288739 said:
BT TV Sucks anyway. Sky is much, much better for a similar price.

For me Sky TV and broadband was double the price, and I don't really watch TV much. The appeal of BT was the price for all the channels I needed and what I hoped would be an acceptable connection speed. Obviously now if given the option, I would jump at Sky.

You poor fool! :D

Lesson learned the hard way. :rolleyes:

I've been in touch and the woman was actually very helpful for once, and even took my mobile number incase I got cut off. She seemed to think that I'd be able to cancel the lot if they can't offer me a service. All of our neighbors have Sky, so that's where I'll be going if this works out! :cool:
 
Thats what I assumed, however the 14 day cooling off period starts from the moment you order, which is absolutely useless considering some dates they give you for installation are over a week later. :confused:

That sounds weird to me, I'd assume they aren't charging you until you actually get connected up, so how a contract can truly start before then is odd in my opinion.

For reference I am with BT internet and Mobile, it's fine, but I can't talk about the TV package.
 
[TW]Sponge;30288739 said:
BT TV Sucks anyway. Sky is much, much better for a similar price.

I'm not a TV aficionado but when we priced up packages for Sky vs BT, Sky were by far the most expensive.

I could easily get by without any TV services but I have a female lodger aka the Missus. :D

I have BT TV, mobile and internet and haven't had much of a problem with them other than a faulty 1st gen 4k Youview box that wouldn't come out of standby.
 
If it's a new build house and you have no aerial then £60 sounds far too cheap as they will probably need to hire extra lifting equipment (scaffold or a lift).

Not really....


I had BT TV put in this year - Had no aerial on my house either. I got it done myself by a local company. Charged £70 including the aerial.

Oh, he used...... a ladder. The shock!
 
Surely in a new contract you have a cooling off period which allows you to cancel without penalty if you do so quickly enough?

I could be completely off the mark here, but it sounds like it may apply to you, and if not they are unable to provide part of the contract you signed up for.

Also for the broadband speeds make sure you are connected via the master socket, if it's one you can take the face plate off then use the socket behind that, if you still get bad speeds then it's more than likely due to the line outside of your property.

Extension sockets for phone can reduce broadband speeds, especially if the pesky bell wire is attached.

Contract cooling off is 14 days from point of order. If it were to apply to my case it took bt 6 weeks before my internet was installed on an existing phone line. Its simply well out of the cooling off period.
 
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