My first thoughts were similar; that it seemed like a con to get people to upgrade their package. I have been vigilant with my usage and since i phoned BT to complain, suddenly their usage monitor has begun to behave correctly... (I have installed monitors of my own and the usage now tallies with BT's) I am still suspicious of them though, as the usage monitor was MASSIVELY innacurate until I phoned them, and it seems to be very common among those on the lowest package. I would certainly not recommend them solely for this purpose, but on the other hand, it may genuinely be a fault which BT can't get to the bottom of, and they have agreed to waive my first month charges. I still have 17 months left, so time will tell for me, but there are so many broadband providers out there now (some even offering their own line rental charges cheaper than BT's) that it's well worth shopping around. I wish I had dug a bit deeper and personally would have gone for o2, as i am a mobile customer with them and their package is far cheaper than BT's. As for the rolling contract, there aren't usually any cancellation charges, but check the t's & c's.

Thanks, i have had third party usage monitors installed on both pc's connected for the last 4 days (since i phoned BT to question their figures). Strangely the numbers seem to now tally for the last 4 days usage, which is ok, but we didn't use any more excessive bandwidth from day to day in the week and a half previous to my call to them. I shall make sure i'm keeping a close eye the figures in future though. It makes me wonder how many other's have been caught out and paid excess usage charges, or even upgraded unnecessarily?

Thanks for the replies. So it would seem i'm now stuck with a faulty service.... Surely though if there is a technical issue with BT's usage counters, they are breaching the contract which means i can cancel? I have been onto several forums, including the BT.com one, where there have been lots of people with the same issue; people being told they have exceeded their limit by "x" amount and urging them to upgrade their service. The amounts BT claim people have used seem to be numbers simly plucked out of the air and all of the people who have contacted BT regarding this have just been told to either upgrade or pay up. I know that I can't account for the accuracy and/or honesty of other people's claims about BT's service, but i know that mine in wildly inaccurate. I'm sure there's been no piggybacking on my line as i've been changing my wireless passkey every couple of days and keep them long and unguessable. This is for the "BTFON" service. anyone with a home hub can opt in/out of this service. It basically allows other BT customers to use your wifi when they are away from home, at no charge to yourself (supposedly), and vice versa. I was automatically opted in as a new customer, but cancelled it as a possible culprit. Bt have been investigating this for me for the past 4 days, but as yet have no resolution other than "if the usage meter says you've used it, then it means that you have..." . I am somewhat disgruntled, and wish that i had seen the trouble others are having before signing up

Hi all! I recently signed up to BT for calls and broadband. The phone line was activated on 13 July, as they said it would be, but the broadband arrived late due to some "technical" problems (as BT told me). Broadband was activated on the 18 July. I have had the broadband service for 14 days today (today is the 14th day), and there is a huge problem with the usage monitor. I have a package which allows me up to 10 GB of downloads per month, which for me should be fine. I was with virgin for 3 years previous to this and have never used more than 10 GB in any given month. I received an email after 4 days of the broadband being connected, informing me i had reached 7GB of my 10GB allowance! I had only checked some email (no attachments) and done some casual browsing/facebooking, as i always have. No viruses are present on my pc. Long and short, my usage to date (14 days) is now at 29.2GB, which i know i haven't used. I want to cancel the broadband as the customer service i have received over this matter is non-existant, and it is a faulty service. I have checked the small print and apparently, can only cancel a package element within 14 days of provision of the FIRST service ie; the phone line. Because of this, in effect , i only had 9 days to cancel ( as 9 days into the broadband service had been 14 days from phone line activation). I'd like any advice on how to pursue cancellation as i believe it to be unfair to not permit cancellation without first trying the service! The phone line works fine by the way

Thanks for that, and to everyone for their input.

Hi all, i hope you're well. Just an update on my situation and a quick question... I have made all payments directly to wiltshire council and i am now fully paid up . However, after speaking with the council, I understand that Ross and Roberts' fees are still outstanding as the council didn't include bailiff fees in their charges. Which is fine. Ross and Roberts have made 2 seperate visits to my home, and no levy has been made. As far as i'm concerned, all that is now payable by me is £42.50, payable to the bailiff for the 2 visits. What i'd like to know is what should be the course of action? I am inclined to call Ross and Roberts, inform them that the liability order is settled and ask how much is owed to them and, if £42.50 or less, make the payment and consider it all done and dusted. I'm just a bit wary, as i dont know how long it's going to take for the council to inform the bailiff of the settlement. If i call the bailiff and they still have outstanding amounts on their records, i dont want them making a last ditch attempt to levy and coming to my house creating a scene... I've never spoken to them on the phone, but i understand they can be quite nasty, and i dont want to poke a hornet's nest.

Thanks for the reply. I wrote an email to the council re-iterating that i will not be making any payments to the bailiff, and pressing the vulnerable person issue. I recently had a housing needs assessment done by the councils adult care team, for re-housing purposes, which clearly outlines my vulnerabilities/disabilities. I mentioned this report in the email and offered that they could see it if they needed to. I dont think i'll write to the bailiff again though as they dont seem to have actually read the letter i sent them. I wrote to them clearly stating my intentions to pay all money to the council and none to them. They replied saying that they agreed to my offer of £5 per week!! uh-huh... I've never had any contact with any local councillors though.. Being a non-voter, I wouldn't even know who to contact, or whether they would even offer any help! I have found a list of town councillors, but i'm unsure of which one I should contact if the need arises. They seem to be mostly lib-dem, but i dont really involve myself too much in the politics of the "big 3". Any suggestions are gladly received

Sorry, forgot to say, i cant have it taken from my benefit as it's incapacity benefit. apparently you have to be on income support/jsa/esa

Thanks for the replies... i'll try and fill in the blanks without being too long winded! I had my first council tax bill when i became too ill to work last year. my sick pay ended and i could not afford to pay it for a couple of months. around Christmas time, a court order was made for me to pay around £8 per week to cover it. My statutory sick pay then ended so i put in a claim for incapacity benefit. this took a few difficult months to come through, and at the same time i was appealling a "declined" decision for DLA... Also at the same time i was hit with the new years council tax bill, which i mistakenly assumed included the court order amount. (still with me here!) Because of the constantly fluctuating amounts of all my benefits due to delays/recalculations, i was constantly receiving revised council tax bills and installment plans all through this year (around once a month) as my council tax benefit amounts were changing all the time (as my eligibility and and amounts of other benefits kept changing). Foolishly, i didn't pay any council tax, instead waiting for benefits to all be calculated properly so i knew exctly how much it was i actully owed. My DLA tribunal finally happened in september this year (one year after the original claim) and finally all my benefits were properly calculated and i received a final amount for council tax, but in two separate amounts in two letters; One for the original court order (447.75) and one for the new year (£190 ish). i saw no mention of bailiffs and had received no communication from any bailiff, so i added the 2 amounts together and paid £50 odd to bring the whole amount down to £600. I drafted a letter to council offering to pay them £12.50 a week, and before i could post it the next morning i had a bailiff knock on the door. I did not answer, as i never answer to strangers, but his hand delivered letter demanded £511.08 immediately. I printed off the generic letter from the sticky and ammended it accordingly. I sent a copy by recorded post to the bailiff and one to the council with a covering letter explaining that payment had commenced and will continue weekly to the council. I re-read the 2 letters i had from the council outlining my 2 total amounts, and at the bottom of the larger amount letter, it says (almost as a sideline!) "Passed for bailiff action". I received a response today from both council and bailiff, and the bailiff amount has dropped the the actual amount i owe the council plus £24.50 ( i assume for the first visit fee). The only issue i have really, is that the bailiff has no facility to pay by standing order. I can pay weekly by phone, for which there is a surcharge, or by postal order, which puts me out of pocket and makes it easy for them to claim they never received a payment and take further action... I'm going to continue paying £12.50 weekly to the council, but the bailiff wants £5.00 per week, and if they don't have the first installment by 29th november, they say they'll add £60 cxharge and come round to seize goods. I know that they cant, as they have not gained entry and wont, but am I doing the right thing? If you've read this far, thankyou for your patience

Hi. I have a cuoncil tax debt in 2 parts, one of which was passed to Ross and Roberts bailiffs. I wrote letters to the both the council and the bailiffs ouitlining my intentions to pay £12.50 per week to the council and asked the council to take the debt back from the bailiff as I think I fall into the category of a "vulnerable" person. I live alone, am disabled and in receipt of benefits due to being chronically sick. I received letters this morning, one from the council and one from the bailiff. The council said they are happy for me to pay them £7 per week, but the amount which was passed to the baillif must be paid to Ross and Roberts at £5 per week. They are unwilling to take back te debt as they say i have ignored chances to pay since may of this year. Can anyone pass on any advice on the "vulnerable" person issue? They seem to have ignored it. I have/will carry on paying £12.50 to the council on a weekly basis, but am unsure as to what I should tell the bailiff... Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

I made the same mistake of replying to UKPC before i discovered these forums and disclosed myself as the driver. However, on the advice of the forums I sent 2 template letters, one to debtrecoveryplus, and oe to ukpc. I received a few more "final warnings" from debtrecoveryplus, but also a letter from UKPC stating that they had withdrawn their claim. Persevere and try not to get drawn in by their illegal charges! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/119917-private-parking-tickets-template.html

Ok, Thanks a lot for your help!

Just wanted to check! I had a fine which i appealed before finding this site. UKPC never responded and i received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus, Threatening a CCJ, Which is when i found this site! I used the template letters and sent one UKPC and one to the debt monkeys telling them not to write me again as the matter is in dispute and any further letters from them would be treated as harassment. I received a letter from UKPC APOLOGISING (!) and telling me the charge had been withdrawn, but then this morning i received another letter from the debt monkey, threatening ccj again! I will ignore it, but would like to do something on response to them... Who should i report them to?

Hi. First i'd like to thank the contributors here whom i have gleaned advice from regarding a charge i recieved from UKPC. I am confused about one thing though, and was wondering if anyone could clear it up for me. I understand that unless I admit to being the driver of a vehicle which has received a parking charge, the issuing company has to prove that i was driving... But surely they could easily prove that as I am the only person insured to drive the car and it was not reported stolen? Any light shed on this would be appreciated! Thanks.