How to terminate an account without paying the early termination charge ?

[Buzby]

Due to the closure of Plusnet Business, I was advised to move to BT Business Broadband.

A BT residential number on the same line was also moved to digital voice with Cloud Voice Express but did not function with the BT smarthub

No dial-tone was present and calls were sometimes diverted to my mobile phone but went mostly to voicemail.

It was not possible to make outbound calls using my existing BT cordless handsets.

The analog telephone socket on a BT Business Smarthub is disabled within the configuration only available to BT engineers,.

Although the green socket for a legacy handset was present it did not function as there was an undeclared  expectation that calls would use an additional IP handset such as Yealink instead of analog handsets.

The BT Business product as delivered, was mis-sold and unfit for purpose.

The early termination clause is Void as the service was not available with the supplied hardware.

As the service did not commence, it requires no termination.

A rival broadband supplier service is now in place, it just worked out of the box.

[BethM]

Hi Buzby

You say you were mis-sold, who advised you that you would be able to plug your analogue handset into the router to make calls?

[Buzby]

The user manual shows the port as "For Digital voice customers only"

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/getting-set-up/how-to-set-up/bt-smart-hub-2/connection-one-port

As a Digital Voice Customer, seeing a BT document showing the connection point for the digital voice service is clear advice.

My smarthub had a green socket in that position labelled "PHONE", having an ATA SIP in the unit is a reasonable expectation.

As supplied, I could not make a call using this equipment.

Receiving a call was not at all reliable either, it only worked through a mobile phone and even that depended on being able to login through the app!

No advice was given at point of sale that the transferred number would be useless on day one.

[BethM]

Hi Buzby

The website you have linked is the BT Residential website. Digital Voice is a BT Residential product. This is not applicable for BT Business customers. 

[Buzby]

The fact I had no usable telephone service from the equipment provided by BT remains unchanged.

Unfit for purpose and liable for a rejection clause.

I have paid the two monthly bills for a partial service.

The broadband element was usable, the Telephone was not.

[BethM]

Hi Buzby

In the terms and conditions you would have agreed to when placing the order, it states we do not support equipment from other providers, and that you must only connect IP phones provided as part of the Cloud Voice Express service. It also states we provide an IP handset if you order a package with all of the following:

(a) Broadband Service; and (b) BT Cloud Voice Express UK Sharer Plan Unlimited

If you are unsure what package you ordered, I can clarify for you if you send over your account details. You can find these terms on our website at bt.com/terms as linked to in your order confirmation emails. Your order completion email will have also advised you to download the CVE App. The CVE app will allow you to make and take calls for your Cloud Voice Express phone number.

[Buzby]

Thank you for that information.

The package I ordered did not have a handset included as I already have BT handsets, this was discussed in the sales call.

There was no mention of having to buy an additional mobile phone to provide a constant telephone service at the premises without opting for a more expensive package.

The CVE app worked for a day on a mobile, it stopped after a CVE outage for upgrade and refused to connect any more, re-installing the app made no difference.

I can see this isn't going anywhere productive and forum searches show BT are gleefully throwing CCJ's at unhappy customers, I don't want a slice of that.

So I will pay the charge.

I need some of that money back, my new provider offers a referral bonus.

So its time to work through all my contacts, friends and relatives to see how many are no longer in contract with BT and help them to move away from BT.

[BethM]

Hi Buzby

If it was discussed on the sales call and you were told you could use your own analogue BT handsets with the system, you were misadvised. Can you please send over a private message with some account information so I can get this looked into for you?

[Fedupkenn]

I too was advised I could plug my old analogue in 

[Buzby]

This is the root cause of my frustration which is exacerbated by the fact my BT line was residential.

It had no affilation with a business as it being paid from my personal account for 23 years.

Here is a bloke connecting all his existing analog handsets to a Smarthub just a few months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En3vYui5bjM