Mis sold an over spec package after mess up y Open Reach (allegedly)

[Ariadne]

As a sole trader, I had a well established business telephone number. When Open Reach came to install a new broadband connection and it didn’t work, the engineer was working locally and we nobbled him and asked why it wasn’t working. He came round and said that BT had given him a wrong number to use. He appeared to solve the problem but it wasn’t until  4 days later when we tried to use the business phone that we realised he had used the business number and cut the phone line off!

After several hours of trying to speak to a human being, whilst working, I got through to a lady who said she needed to speak to the Open Reach team. Lengthy periods on hold (whilst dealing with clients) and eventually she came back to me saying that I needed to talk to their BT local business team and I was put through to a Shaun MacKenzie.

He said that Open Reach had caused a problem and it would now be impossible to get my established number back unless he “provisioned” me with a new phone. I am presuming a VOIP phone. He said he would prepare a contract and have it to me by 2.30pm and that the sooner I signed it, the sooner he could port my number to my mobile until the new system was up and running. He advised me that the new system would only cost me £78 per month, £3 more than my existing set up. At this point I was desperate as I couldn’t receive calls from clients trying to move or change appointments, nor could I do my usual daily reminders to avoid DNAs.

the contract was received, pages of it, and within 2 minutes of reading it, Shaun was in the phone reiterating that any delay would mean longer before I could use my number. I signed, without having chance to read it at that point, knowing that I had a 14 day cooling off period.

That evening, I read the contract at length and I was appalled. It was a 5 year contract (I am 66 and running my practice down to retirement). It included unlimited national minutes (I work two days a week and they have a basic package of 500 minutes a month which wasn’t offered as an option). It included 100 minutes a month for international calls ( I need no international calls). Finally, and most ridiculously, it included a charge of £30 a month for training over 5 years (I might be a bit slow on the uptake, but I’m not that bad,)

I, of course, immediately sent an email cancelling the contract within 24 hours of signing it.  The following day (one of the days I worked,) I had endless calls from Shaun and eventually an email stating that the package could be changed and the training cancelled after one month. This was too late to tell me that, I have completely lost any faith in someone who so obviously “upsold” a package to a customer who was quite obviously desperate to solve their immediate issue, caused, according to Shaun, by Open Reach. I can only presume he is paid on commission?

I have already come to terms with the fact that I have lost my established business number and will have to contact 100’s of clients with a new (mobile) number and have all my stationary and appointment cards redone. So extra work, loss of business and extra expense.

Shaun is now insisting that I need to call him to discuss “the process” of cancelling the contract, should I wish to proceed. Of course I wish to proceed with cancelling the contract, why would I want to continue in a business relationship with a representative so patently untrustworthy?

Despite clearly telling Shaun that I was cancelling the contract, I am still getting messages telling me about equipment being delivered and asking me for feedback and how likely I was to recommend bt local business to colleagues.

Can someone please pick this up and make sure that this contract has been cancelled, at the point of writing this missive, we are within three days of signing it. I will be refusing delivery of any equipment.