paying for BB i do not have!

[mariamcconville]

has anyone else had this same problem?? and can anyone give me any advice?

back in Sept when i first connected to NTL, the sales guy convinced me to take the FREE 2 MONTH Broadband Trial offer. I did not want this as i can't really afford it! but he said that i might as well because it was free and i was under no obligation to continue with BB after 2 months. so stupidly i agreed. Come November i noticed that i was still being charged for BB at which point i made my initial phonecall (must be about 100 now!) to tell them i did not want it anymore. After being passed from number to number etc they said they would remove the service. however, Bills kept coming and i kept making phonecalls. Then we moved house in JAN at which point i was so ****ed off with them that i said i did not want to be re-connected at new address. They then told me that this was not possible as i had signed a 12 months binding contract (of which i was never given a copy of...)
and even if i did not get connected at new address they would still send me bills! i was so enraged but had no choice but to ghet them to re-connect me at new address BUT WITHOUT BB which thay agreed to. At this point i also wrote an official letter to request that my services be disconnected.
so the engineers came and re-comnnected TV & Telephone but not Modem for BB so i thought it was all sorted out. Since then my bills have still contained the £17.99 charge for BB which we do not have!!! Many more irrate phonecalls and im told that they will not disconnect me from BB (that i do not have!) and if i wish to make a complaint i must write a letter again!
At this point, i am refusing to pay the bills for BB and have made an official complaint via Ombudsman (Otelo)..............as any one out any more advice?

[scrotnig]

The terms of the 60 day free trial were clear...if you didn't want to continue, you needed to call before the end of day (which then starts from date of installation), signed or not, because for broadband you agree the terms on screen.

If you subsequently had someone tell you that they would release you from contract you need the name of that person now to get it chased up. Without that, it's a fair bet you're stuck with it.

[White Tiger]

I think it's well dodgy when a company banks on people either not realising or forgetting that they needed to cancel something several weeks/months in the future. Why can't they send out a warning that you're about to be commited to a long term contract? They send out enough crap mail about signing up for this, that & the other, why not actually send something useful? It could even be an email, FFS!

It may be legal, but it's transparently clear why they do it.

[ian@huth]

Why don't people take responsibility for their own lives? Read any contract you sign and if you are unsure about anything, ask.

You can pick up a decent diary quite cheaply, mine cost 99p. You could also use one of the many programs and sites including the calendar feature on here to make notes of what you need to do and when. Get yourselves organised.

If you are not organised it can cost you a fortune. Just look at all those companies offering you interest free credit for 6 months or a year. Many of them have an underlying interest rate of over 30% and if you miss paying off the loan within the interest free period you can be charged it from day one, not from the end of the interest free period.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by ian@huth

Why don't people take responsibility for their own lives? Read any contract you sign and if you are unsure about anything, ask.
<snip>

From the original post it appears that the services were ordered over the phone, not via the web, so the OP may never have seen the contract/T&Cs (as none was sent out), and may not have been told to cancel early by the sales person Having said that, common sense would suggest cancelling the service before the end of the free trial period.