BT complaints

I'm so fed up with BT.

We have a BT socket that's up and running from BT in our house. I tried to set it up online and set up line rental and calls. I then got a call from them saying my line couldn't be taken over as it was an active business line and gave me the name of the previous occupier. They then told me to contact the previous owner to tell them to cancel the line. I said this wasn't an option so they told me to speak ot BT business to cancel the line.

I spoke with BT business who said I didn't need to speak to them and that BT residential services could just take over the line. So I phoned the Sales department who took me through the whole ordering process, they checked my line which was fine, gave me a phone number, reference number and line activation date.

I then e-mailed them to ask if I could change my call plan before my line went active to which I got the response 'your order has been cancelled'!. And they said it was because there was an active BT business line in the house! This after being told by the advisor at BT sales that everything went through ok. They have now told me to order online again - which was what I did in the first place and the order was rejected!.

I've never met a company that makes it so difficult to become a customer.

Earlier in this thread I promised to report back, and here goes. I am glad that spg01 achieved some success through Ian Livingstone at BT. My daughter’s problem has been going on for 4 months despite his intervention, and now it is being referred to Otelo.

My daughter has kept detailed records of every conversation:-

BT’s strap line on every bill says: “Bringing it all together”, so why do you find it necessary to use three different account numbers to bill one customer?

When I moved in October 2008 I wanted you to transfer the balance of my contract to my new address. You refused, insisting I have a new 12 month contract, as it suited BT better.

You promised to start my new service the day I moved in October 2008. You broke your contract and failed to provide any service for a further two days.

BT Vision

When I first became a BT customer you offered me a free BT Vision contract, which I declined. You insisted and said there would be no charge if I didn’t download any videos, so I accepted on this basis. During my period at the Dereham address you didn’t charge me. When I moved in October 2008 you added BT Vision as a chargeable item in breach of your contract terms. To add to the insult you wrote an unintelligible letter to me with the incorrect name and title thanking me for my order, which I did not give you.

On 23 Nov 2008, you sent me a bill for £11.21. I rang and spoke to Arin who agreed to cancel it. He didn’t, and I then received a statement saying an overdue payment charge would be levied. On 10 Dec 2008 I again rang and spoke to Christina (Sunderland Branch) who advised me this was an error and would be cancelled. On 14 Dec 2008 you sent an unintelligible bill for £6.94. I rang and spoke to Helen in Gemini Office. I asked for a supervisor but she did not get one. She said a note had been put on my contract saying I was not subscribed and the balance set to zero and a credit note to this effect was sent on 19 Dec 2008. I contacted Ian Livingston and he got James Pety to ring in December who gave his word that all this would stop. It didn’t. On 13 Jan 2009 you again billed me for BT Vision for £6.76.

I have rung numerous people in BT who have all agreed to resolve this issue. I have referred the matter to your CEO who said he would get someone in the high level service team to look into it, yet you have still not resolved the problem. This is either blatant incompetence, or your systems are not fit for service.

Its doesn’t stop there….

BT Broadband

On 5 Mar 2009 you sent me a bill for £22.91 for cancellation charges. I have not cancelled my service (although this is becoming likely given your gross your incompetence). I rang and spoke to an Asian lady and asked for an explanation. She said she couldn’t help me! Why not?? She told me to ring back on the same number(!) and select option 3 which would put me in touch with “a specialized team to help me with any account queries”. In fact it put me through to a service who would help to cancel my service! I rang again and spoke to another foreign call centre man who spoke too fast to be intelligible and couldn't explain anything.

He claimed I called on 16 January 2009 and asked to cancel my service for internet. I explained to him the last time I spoke to someone I asked how much longer I had on my contract before I could cancel, NOT that I wanted to cancel. He refused to listen, insisting that I did cancel it and this is what the charge is for. Then he claimed I rang on the 10th Feb and spoke to someone regarding this charge for cancelling (that is senseless because I only received this statement on 10 March 2009. Then he said I rang on 10th Feb and was advised the cancellation charges would be refunded. Rubbish, why have I received a statement dated 5 March 2009 still showing the charge?

I asked to speak to a supervisor - someone who knew what they were talking about, as at one point he even said it did not make sense to him. He took 10 minutes to get a supervisor, who was also foreign (Richa, Customer Services Dept) and unable to offer any help. She told me I am on a monthly payment plan of £24.50 due out on 30th of every month. I asked what the charge for £22.91 is for. She said it was a “monthly charge”. What? More rubbish. Then she said ignore this bill, it will be refunded. I asked her to credit my account so I would not owe £22.91. She said she could not as it takes 21 days to get a refund. What? More rubbish.

Also on Page 3 of this statement there is another meaningless piece of information saying refund of £13.28 for charges already billed, then underneath that it says new (identical) charges £13.28. I have no idea what this is all about.

I have rung BT a further six times about this matter to request them to stop charging me and they have failed to stop these charges.

BT have broken the terms of my contract repeatedly and failed to live up to their promises and seem totally incapable of resolving these problems.

_____________________________________________________________________

Copy of previous email dated 22 Dec 2008 sent to CEO

Formal Complaint

As I have raised this complaint on several occasions I am now charging you £25 for this letter and each successive letter I am obliged to write, and will copy them to BBC Watchdog and the Consumers Association and Otelo.

BT failed to provide telephone and Internet service on contract dates

When I first joined BT in January 2008, as an incentive you sent a free BT Vision Box. I explained at the time I didn't want it if I'd have to pay for it. As well as failing to provide my phone and internet service on the agreed dates and lying every time I contacted you, you assured me I wouldn't have to pay for it unless of course I got a package or brought a film.

BT Vision Box failed to work

I have had it all year then since I moved in October, my BT Vision box didn't work for about a month when I moved in and I had to phone up twice to get you to look into it, then when it did start working, you billed me for it.

BT sent bill for free product

I got a Reminder bill, (I didn't previously get a 1st bill) You had no right to send a bill at all as you provided it free of charge. I still got a reminder bill for £11.21 saying it was overdue and I may incur late payment charges if I failed to pay.

BT Customer facing representative abusive made false promise

I rang BT yet again and spoke to someone called Arin, who rudely told me they had by accident added a BT Vision package on 28 October 08, and then said as a one off they would cancel it and not charge me. He didn't explain why it had happened and said ignore the bill, and that I'd get one next month with a £6 charge and a £6 credit to cancel each other (totally inexplicable)

BT send confirmation of order that was never placed

On 28 November 08 I got another letter saying thank you for my order on 27 Nov 08 BT Vision order number; VOL011-15244555***??? I never placed an order, then it said:

You have requested the following subscription be added or removed from your BT Vision account, these will be reflected in your monthly bill:

BT Vision- TV -£0.00 per month (Remove)

Thank you for your order

What senseless rubbish is all this?

BT send demand for overdue payment and threaten disconnection

Then another letter arrived on 30 November 08 saying amount due £11.21 our records show we haven't received payment as it is now overdue a late payment surcharge will be shown on your next bill. If you haven't paid do immediately to avoid restriction continued non payment will result in full disconnection and cessation.

BT Customer facing representative made false promise

I rang on 10 December 08 and spoke to Christina in the Sunderland Branch who apologised etc and was more polite than Arin. She said she amended it and my balance was now £0 and it wouldn't happen again.

BT Customer facing representative made another promise

Yesterday I got a bill for £6.94 dated 14 December 08 I rang and spoke to Helen in the Gemini?? department who couldn't give me a reason said again how sorry she was would put a note on my account saying I should not be getting charged and I have never subscribed. I asked for a supervisor but she never got me one, just said very very sorry it won't happen again...

The details on this account are

Account: GB **** ****

Bill number on the 1st reminder was M*****
Customer ref number on the letter dated 30/11/08 saying I owed £11.31 is **********
And the bill number on the bill I got yesterday is M*****

The above catalogue of errors demonstrates that your business is dangerously out of control and clearly your service is not fit for purpose. It is unlikely I will wish to continue as a customer beyond the end of the contract owing to the contemptible behaviour of your company and your inability to resolve any of the problems that you have created. I have been obliged to make dozens of phone calls and waste time speaking to your staff who continually to make false promises.

I expect this all to be resolved by 3 January 2009 and compensation offered, or legal action will be considered.

Needless to say, the matter has still not been resolved as of 24 March 2009, so I have given up with BT and the whole saga is now being referred to Otelo.