BT accused of 'pulling a fast one' on customers' opt-out right

BRITISH Telecom could be breaking the law by failing to adhere to UK distance-selling regulations, a consumer group said yesterday.

An investigation by the group claims the company did not provide "sufficient cancellation rights" when existing customers signed up to renewable contracts over the phone.

The Which? study found that these customers were not supplied with written details of their termination rights until it was too late for them to cancel without incurring a penalty.

Complaints relating to such contracts prompted Which? to call BT ten times posing as prospective customers.

Only one sales rep informed the "customer" of early termination charges and three failed to mention that the contract was renewable until they were quizzed specifically on the subject.

According to the group, this breaches UK distance-selling regulations. Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive at Which?, accused BT of "pulling a fast one".

"Many phone companies aren't doing enough to make the cost of getting out of contracts clear upfront and some charge exorbitant cancellation fees," he said. "We think BT is pulling a fast one by not ensuring some customers get written notice of a cooling-off period and we are encouraging it to add appropriate cancellation rights to its contracts as soon as possible."

The company has now agreed to introduce an "early termination right" for customers so they will be able to cancel contracts within a "statutory cancellation period" without incurring charges.

BT spokesman Michael Jarvis said the company complied "as far as possible" with the UK regulations and "fully" with the EU Distance Selling Directive. "To improve matters further we are going to introduce an early termination right for our customers so that they may cancel within the statutory cancellation period without suffering early termination charges," he said.