Bt cancellation

[Fergusminto]

I had Sky b'band and line installed in July. I have just found out I have also been paying BT?? I though Sky would be cancelling my BT account for me. BT refuse to give me my money back, in fact they are apparently going to charge me for another month for a service they are not, and cannot provide. Any advice folks?

[PandJ2020]

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@Fergusminto wrote:

I had Sky b'band and line installed in July. I have just found out I have also been paying BT?? I though Sky would be cancelling my BT account for me. BT refuse to give me my money back, in fact they are apparently going to charge me for another month for a service they are not, and cannot provide. Any advice folks?

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If Sky performed a 'line takeover' then it would have cancelled.  But if you had a new line installed (such as fibre to the premises) then it probably won't and you are probably liable even though you did not use the service.

[Mark39]

Unsatisfactorily this is likely to end up as a "he said, she said" situation. Sky will say they instructed BT to cancel your service with them (and as it's an automated process at Sky's end I'm unclear how they wouldn't have) and BT will say no they didn't.

Unless one or the other accepts responsibility, I don't think there will be a satisfactory resolution, I'm afraid. 

[M18ntt]

Interesting point this as I have just purchased a full Sky package (fibre broadband and TV) and was told by Sky that although they are taking over the fibre I needed to contact BT to cancel the TV package. I rang BT this morning and they have told me that they have a record of Sky taking over the broadband but advised me not to cancel the TV package as this will automatically stop anyway when the BT router is removed and Sky router installed. Not sure who is correct but keen not to be tricked into paying for BT TV services (including TNT Sports) after their router is replaced. Can anyone offer an advice?

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@M18ntt wrote:

Interesting point this as I have just purchased a full Sky package (fibre broadband and TV) and was told by Sky that although they are taking over the fibre I needed to contact BT to cancel the TV package. I rang BT this morning and they have told me that they have a record of Sky taking over the broadband but advised me not to cancel the TV package as this will automatically stop anyway when the BT router is removed and Sky router installed. Not sure who is correct but keen not to be tricked into paying for BT TV services (including TNT Sports) after their router is replaced. Can anyone offer an advice?

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I guess it depends based on how the BT billing system works, as some TV services require you to also take the broadband from the provider so its quite possible the cancellation of the broadband service will automatically cancel the TV service as a result.

Sky are technically correct, they are only issue a line takeover which would cancel broadband services and therefore they cannot act in general on your behalf to cancel TV services, it all depends on how the current provider works.

I think you have done the right thing ringing your current provider and checking, as at least if they continue to bill you for TV after the broadband is cancelled you can easily register a complaint with them and provide them with the date/time of the call you made where you werer explictly told the TV service would automatically cancel with the broadband.

[M18ntt]

Yeah, I specifically said to the BT customer agent that once I have my Sky router installed on my activation/transfer date I will contact them again to confirm that the BT TV services have in fact stopped. To be fair I dont believe there was any misinformation intended and I have a two week overlap before my next potential BG billing date so hopefully plenty of time to nip any eroneous billing in the bud before if happens.

[Fergusminto · Accepted solution]

All cleared up. Thanks. No blame attached to Sky intended!

Bruce Simpson