Help Required with a contact in BT

[brucemillar]

Folks

Can anybody please help me.

I was convinced to return my business (Domestic) to BT last January. To help make my mind up they offered me an "unlimited broadband package with free UK weekend calls" This for £18 per month.

BT then proceeded to take three lots of £165 per month from my bank account for "exceeding my broadband limit". Finally after weeks of calls and mails and untold stress, BT agreed that I did indeed have "unlimited broadband" They agreed to credit me £225 pounds (which they did) the difference (not disputed) being for call charges.

So all happy? Yes. Until last month BT took £425 from my account. They now say that I owed them this for ? You guessed it. "exceeding my broadband limit"

Twenty calls to BT Customer Service have resulted in promises of resolution and help. Nothing has happened. I have had their operators hang up on me when supposedly putting me on hold. I have been promised call back (never happens) then told that they have tried to contact me. They have my email, mobile and landline.

Last week I wrote to their complaints department in Durham to a named contact. I have received no reply or acknowledgement of my letter.

I can not find anybody who has any interest in helping. All calls are routed off-shore to a call center who simply repeat every previous conversation then hang up.

To say it is stressful does it no justice. I am current ill and hospitalised. This is not helping either myself or my wife.

Who can I talk to?

 

[renault12ts]

I feel your pain Bruce, for a phone company they are incredibly difficult to ring.

 

[renault12ts]

Try ringing as if you are making a purchase...they may sit up an listen then.

 

[bob6600]

Watchdog might be worth a try

 

[brucemillar]

Try ringing as if you are making a purchase...they may sit up an listen then.

I did that. They just routed me back off-shore. I then rang to cancel my contract. Guess where they routed me too?

They seem genuinely incapable of helping. I have spoken to their billing team who transferred the call back off-shore.

FYI. They have closed every logged complaint stating that they have been unable to contact me (this is 100% not true). I then open a new complaint. Wait 48 hours call in check on progress, to be told that complaint was closed as we couldn't contact you. Interestingly they have left no voicemails on either 1571 or my Mobile and no emails.

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

Sorry to hear this Bruce.

They're not called B'stard Telecom for nothing!

I would consider looking into taking them to the small claims court if that's possible. Not sure it would work in this case but maybe worth a try to recoup what they owe you.

And send them a recorded delivery (special delivery?) letter indicating that you are cancelling the contract to supply communications services, mentioning the series of f ups they have made.

And tell them you're also contacting watchdog. I think you'll be surprised at how quickly they move then

If you're a subscriber of Which? magazine, you could use their legal help as I think it's an included service.

Good luck with this and hopefully you'll get this resolved soon. Let us know here what happens.

 

[Bellow]

Who can I talk to?

Your bank. Cancel the SO/DD and BT will be in touch with you soon enough. Ends the pillaging of your bank account meantime.

 

[nick mercedes]

So all happy? Yes. Until last month BT took £425 from my account. They now say that I owed them this for ? You guessed it. "exceeding my broadband limit"

Reclaim the £425 under the Direct Debit Guarantee and find a new telco provider.

Direct Debit - your customers rights

HTH

 

[grober]

have you tried submitting a formal complaint via OFCOM for a Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) ? Ofcom | Phone & Internet complaints

 

[Dieselman]

Give Gavin go...

BT Group

Mr Gavin Patterson Chief Executive

Email [email protected]
Telephone 0207 356 5000
Fax 0207 356 6650
Website BT - Broadband, TV, phone, home & business
Social Media Twitter: @BTCare

Postal Address 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ, UKM

 

[BandyAndy]

Your bank. Cancel the SO/DD and BT will be in touch with you soon enough. Ends the pillaging of your bank account meantime.

If you use online banking you can do this yourself, now.
As Bellow points out, they'll soon be in touch

 

[sallison1504]

Be careful with Bandy Andy's advice. It's better to get the problem sorted than deal with it this way.

If they still find 'reason' to charge you, they will end up still billing you for these amounts, and then eventually taking action against you. This will only buy you time.

It might be worth contacting trading standards. They will know how to handle the complaint best, or try OFCOM.

 

[BandyAndy]

Be careful with Bandy Andy's advice. It's better to get the problem sorted than deal with it this way.

If they still find 'reason' to charge you, they will end up still billing you for these amounts, and then eventually taking action against you. This will only buy you time.

It might be worth contacting trading standards. They will know how to handle the complaint best, or try OFCOM.

The OP has stated that this has been going on since the contract started in January. If BT will not listen and act on his complaint then cancelling the DD/SO will get their attention.


BTW sallison1504, it was not my advice to take this action, i just pointed out how to do it.

 

[brucemillar]

Guys

Great advice here, thank you. I reclaimed the £425 from the DD through my bank. BT responded by cancelling the DD and adding charges for non/late payment.

This is the issue. I cannot get a real interested person to just talk to me and this would be resolved in minutes. They are process bound to route everything off-shore to people who are simply reading from a triage sheet. For them it does not compute. So rather than escalate they cut you off. Ofcom always say try and resolve the issue with the provider directly. Not easy to do when the provider simply ignores you and closes the complaint. Even less easy to do from hospital.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I've heard on this forum that if you give the CEO some slavver on twitter that they get on the case a bit more lively...

 

[BandyAndy]

Then maybe a carefully worded email to the contacts that Dieselman provided may sort it for you.

 

[brucemillar]

Mail sent to the contacts as provided by Dieselman. This mail is a copy of the letter that I sent them with no response.

Thank you again to all who have helped.

 

[davidjpowell]

CEO contact usually sorts BT out.....

 

[Dieselman]

Mail sent to the contacts as provided by Dieselman. This mail is a copy of the letter that I sent them with no response.

Thank you again to all who have helped.

I hope you're not on Life Support...He doesn't look happy...

 

[st13phil]

Give Gavin go...

This works.

Earlier this year I had an issue with BT that they repeatedly failed to resolve. I emailed Gavin Patterson and had an email response from a human being, with a name and contact number, almost by return. The whole sorry business was then resolved with no further effort on my part in less than a week.