BT customers beware - undisclosed 'one off charges' on direct debits

audreybassett

Hi,

I'm new to this site but felt I had to warn people about this. Below is a copy of the email I sent to BT this morning:

"I received a bill from you from this morning and noticed I'd been charged £2.55 extra for "one-off charges". These charges were not specified on the bill so I called to check what these were for.

The lady I spoke to was very helpful and explained that they were because we hadn't used the BT "1571" facility. As we have an answerphone, we do not need this service so I cancelled it.

My husband and I cannot understand why we should be penalised for NOT using a service and would like this charge to be reimbursed to our account. We also feel that this charge should be specified on all bills - if it should be used at all.

I look forward to your reply."

I'll let you know how I get on but I really don't think BT should be doing this so hopefully they'll sort it out ASAP.

espresso

You did not read their terms & conditions for the 1571 service did you? See here for details.

audreybassett

Thanks for that.
We may have got sent something a while ago but that's not really the point. The fact is we received a bill with an undisclosed charge on it. We shouldn't really have to go hunting around for this info, it should be clear on the bill.

ABN

The terma and conditions state that

If you are billed monthly, at least two chargeable or inclusive calls must be made with BT within that month. Otherwise a charge of £1.00(Inc VAT) a month for the BT Answer 1571 standard service will be raised.

NOT that the 1571 service has to be used.

So question is did the OP make 2 chargable or inclusive calls, in which case it would appear that she should not have been charged.

BritBrat

ABN wrote: »

The terma and conditions state that

NOT that the 1571 service has to be used.

So question is did the OP make 2 chargable or inclusive calls, in which case it would appear that she should not have been charged.

Did you use BT for free inclusive calls calls on the weekend?

If so claim it back, they did the same to me but I got it refunded as I now use BT for weekend calls because they are not charged but are inclusive calls.

See the post I made:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=999443

audreybassett

Thanks for your replies, I got this email this morning:


Thank you for your e-mail dated 5/7/08 regarding your complaint about the One-off charges.

I am sorry to know that you are not happy about the One-off charges raised fro BT answer 1571
service and do apologise as the charge is not specified on the bill.

I confirm that Answer 1571 has been cancelled from your account. As you are enquiring about
charges, I confirm that under the Call Price changes issued in August, the BT privacy service has
changed from 1st October 2006 and this news was also in the BT update magazine.

According to this update, customers with Answer 1571 service must make a minimum of 2 chargeable
calls in a month and customers with quarterly billing must make at least 6 chargeable calls. You
can make these chargeable calls by just prefixing 1280 before the dialling phone number. Call return
calls will not be consider under chargeable calls.

However, if the above condition is not met, effective 9th February BT Together Option 1 customers
who have Answer 1571 will be charged with £1.00 inc. VAT for monthly billing customers and £3.00
incl. VAT for quarterly billing customers.

Nevertheless, I have gone and removed the of £2.55 excl VAT from your current bill. I have taken
your feedback about the charge specification and this will be considered so that we can provide
better service to our customer's in the future.

If I can be of further assistance, or should you have any further queries please do not hesitate
to contact me again via e-mail.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Raksha

Does anyone know how to remove the 1571 message service? This is the one that sends a message to your mobile to tell you a 1571 message has been left. I used to be SE and this meant I could catch up with prospective clients who had my old house number, but no longer need it.

BritBrat

I notice the even got the reply wrong and failed to mention inclusive calls also count.

I could be wrong but will check later.