Andrew, I suspect you misunderstand.

I am not looking to withhold payments. I am attempting to recover the excess payments that BT has already taken!

My contract for BT broadband ended on the 21st of January but BT continued to take broadband payments from my bank account beyond that date. Last month BT erroneously took full payment for my ceased broadband service but so far they have no intention of returning it.

I know not to cancel or deny payments regardless of those payments being in excess and in fact in the past I have willingly paid hundreds of pounds in excess because I knew if I didn't there would be a computer system responding badly due to non-payment. I knew it would be more costly to try to resolve non-payment than it would be to recover excess payments.

I would like BT to refund the excess money they took from my account because as far as I have learned they are allowed to charge up to the date my broadband ceased which is 21st January.

Edited by deleted (Mon 25-Mar-13 17:34:25)

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/resolving-a-broa...

With links to many resources including www.moneyclaim.gov.uk.

NOTE: Your broadband did not cease, cease has a different meaning to migration.

Your service was migrated on 21st January, if it had actually ceased you would be looking at an extra change of £30 to 40 for a cease charge. The use of the correct words is very important.

The continued payments in my view stem from you not giving clear instruction that you wished to give notice under the terms and conditions of the original contract.

In reply to a post by jreckon:

When the LSP is notified that a migration has taken place, the customer�s notice period (i.e. the date at which notice to discontinue service is taken for the purposes of calculating any outstanding subscription charges under the contract) will be taken to have commenced on the issue date of the MAC, or on the date of any prior notice to terminate, whichever is the earlier.

That statement is ineffectual cuz you fail to make clear and quote its Application to General Condition 22:

In reference to stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/migration/statemen...:

This provision is not included in proposed GC/Annex 1 as an obligation. The notice period will depend on the terms of a customer�s contract with the broadband service provider as to when notice is taken to have been received and when subscription charges are no longer payable. It is assumed that customers would be required to pay subscription charges until the day the service is migrated to another broadband SP.

Your grasp of the "legals", as you call them, is lacking. You really need to consult a lawyer or Citizens' Advice.

When did you join BT Broadband? It is relevant.

You whole problem stems from the fact that you are ignorant of what notice is and that it is necessary, and that you never positively told BT that you were leaving/ had left until 6 March, rather than the woolly leaving statements you made earlier to them.

In reply to a post by jreckon:

The BT cancellations guy treated me horribly when he erroneously assumed I had switched to Virgin cable. He worked very hard to make it as painful as possible and he was persistently disrespectful until he realised his mistake. He made it perfectly clear that the Ofcom MAC process doesn't protect customers who are switching to Virgin cable. I wasn't that clued up about it all during that phone call but I am now.

Just out of interest, did he think that because you told him you had moved to Virgin (ADSL)?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

You whole problem stems from the fact that you are ignorant of what notice is and that it is necessary, and that you never positively told BT that you were leaving/ had left until 6 March, rather than the woolly leaving statements you made earlier to them.

Whilst I agree with that, most decent ISPs would credit back to the migration date, unless there is some other factor that we don't know about. An obvious possibility being a simple cock-up by the person spoken to on 6 March.

I said my BT broadband service had ended.

I was intending to convey that BT was no longer providing my broadband service.

Are you suggesting BT were somehow providing my broadband service beyond the 21st of January?

My new ADSL broadband service was up and running on that date so I find it difficult to believe that BT were still providing service.

The contract is for broadband service but BT cannot provide broadband service after the migration is completed. BT are unable to provide broadband service which is a breach of contract. The BT legals aren't applicable because the contract is void. Even if BT wanted to reintroduce broadband service they are unable to do so as the right to do so has already transferred to the GSP.

Not sure when but years ago. It appears the contract restarted at some point however because the last I heard from BT was the contract term ended in 2011.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by jreckon:

The BT cancellations guy treated me horribly when he erroneously assumed I had switched to Virgin cable. He worked very hard to make it as painful as possible and he was persistently disrespectful until he realised his mistake. He made it perfectly clear that the Ofcom MAC process doesn't protect customers who are switching to Virgin cable. I wasn't that clued up about it all during that phone call but I am now.

Just out of interest, did he think that because you told him you had moved to Virgin (ADSL)?

No.

He didn't really understand how he made the mistake but he said he had gone into like an auto pilot mode. When he apologised he also said I must have thought he was raving mad and I did but also I was relying on him telling me the truth so it became very confusing. He thought he was telling me the truth so I can't blame him for how he acted.

The blame most certainly lies with those in BT who instruct their staff to act with such a horrible attitude towards customers who have switched to Virgin cable! I wouldn't be surprised to find out that all Virgin cable customers who dispute BT's excess billing are treated like the scum of the earth.