CustomerStreet charge

mallygp

Just got off the phone to them this morning. Firstly wanted to know if they had a note on there system from my call yesterday. I asked what it said and she told me I had phoned wishing to cancel my contract. "Good news there then." I also explained that since reading other horror stories on the net I have found out I have been locked into a contract with no cooling off period. She explained "no you have 5 days in which to cancel. I made her repeat this a few times and I said it back a couple also. This was just to clarify the issue since I was recording the telephone call.

I also mentioned that my call with the salesman was obviously recorded, even though there was no mention at the start of the call, "all calls are monitered for.........." bla bla bla, you know the rest. She agreed it was and I said I wanted a transcipt of this. It will cost me £10 though and may take up to 40 days to arrive. I said I would send the payment by cheque in the post.

So people there is a 5 day cooling off period. Personally I believe she was lying to me.

I do not believe this is the end of it, and will I get my money back, probably not is the answer.

Lesson learned though. Next time I get a cold call I will let them babble on for 40 mins agreeing again what a fantastic product and how great it sounds. Then when they ask for card details I will say " no thanks" and hang up the phone.

mallygp

mallygp wrote: »

Just got off the phone to them this morning. Firstly wanted to know if they had a note on there system from my call yesterday. I asked what it said and she told me I had phoned wishing to cancel my contract. "Good news there then." I also explained that since reading other horror stories on the net I have found out I have been locked into a contract with no cooling off period. She explained "no you have 5 days in which to cancel. I made her repeat this a few times and I said it back a couple also. This was just to clarify the issue since I was recording the telephone call.

I also mentioned that my call with the salesman was obviously recorded, even though there was no mention at the start of the call, "all calls are monitered for.........." bla bla bla, you know the rest. She agreed it was and I said I wanted a transcipt of this. It will cost me £10 though and may take up to 40 days to arrive. I said I would send the payment by cheque in the post.

So people there is a 5 day cooling off period. Personally I believe she was lying to me.

I do not believe this is the end of it, and will I get my money back, probably not is the answer.

Lesson learned though. Next time I get a cold call I will let them babble on for 40 mins agreeing again what a fantastic product and how great it sounds. Then when they ask for card details I will say " no thanks" and hang up the phone.

I apoligise for the above statement.

I have just been contacted by customer services who were really pleasentand wanted to know how they could resolve any issues. They listened and were very understanding. They are upset about all the negative comments but insist they have moved on and are trying to become more transparent.

They do have a 5 day cooling off period guys. They are happy to give a full refund should you wish to cancel.

Sorry BT Customer Street. I only made the above comments after reading other posts and not knowing all the full details.

baldelectrician

mallygp wrote: »

Just got off the phone to them this morning. Firstly wanted to know if they had a note on there system from my call yesterday. I asked what it said and she told me I had phoned wishing to cancel my contract. "Good news there then." I also explained that since reading other horror stories on the net I have found out I have been locked into a contract with no cooling off period. She explained "no you have 5 days in which to cancel. I made her repeat this a few times and I said it back a couple also. This was just to clarify the issue since I was recording the telephone call.

I also mentioned that my call with the salesman was obviously recorded, even though there was no mention at the start of the call, "all calls are monitered for.........." bla bla bla, you know the rest. She agreed it was and I said I wanted a transcipt of this. It will cost me £10 though and may take up to 40 days to arrive. I said I would send the payment by cheque in the post.

So people there is a 5 day cooling off period. Personally I believe she was lying to me.

I do not believe this is the end of it, and will I get my money back, probably not is the answer.

Lesson learned though. Next time I get a cold call I will let them babble on for 40 mins agreeing again what a fantastic product and how great it sounds. Then when they ask for card details I will say " no thanks" and hang up the phone.

I have had them on the phone as well, I just put the phone down now.
There have been issues where they have been rude and unpleasant- this happened more when they were in the 'ufindus' form.

They have got the message (and their number is blocked, as well as witheld numbers) so they don't get through.

speach_2

Hi

Having read everyones comments I feel a total idiot being suckered by BT. Exactly the same technique used on me...40 minute plus call, getting the manager involved to reduce the price for start up businesses, google front page. All in I pay £42 per month plus there was £170 set up fee. Scamming from BT is just disgraceful.

Oh and I have had not one enquiry for business, the web page they built is rubbish, and I do not appear anywhere on google as they promised. All in all a bad experience.

I want to stop paying these people but I am not sure I am prepared to have debt collectors chasing me.

Claim_Squad

Just got called from them today... Again... The message on my answer phone consisted of 'Hello, would you be interested in taking on new personal injury work... blah blah'. We got burnt by them just over a year ago. Same kind of thing etc, webclicks product. We were meant to have 60 live contacts each month. That 'If something sounds too good to be true...' reaction should have activated but we decided to go with it. The cost was going to be 7.2k! over a year. They made a mini site which was utterly useless. Full of keyword stuffing... It was soo mis-sold... A live contact meant a click on their google adwords. Absolutely useless. Needless to say, we called the next day to cancel it. After a few days, nothing... Luckily for us, we already advertise on google so I was able to bring something up which might be of use to someone on here that has fallen fowl of BT Customer Street. If you currently advertise on google, let them know that because you are already advertising your company, they are in direct violation of Googles 'Double Serving Policy Violation' which is against their terms for advertising on the site

Tried to add link but i'm still a newbie just do a search for the above term.

Needless to say, they recognised their mistake and if I were to contact Google about them, it could severely impact on advertising their other unlucky clients. I got a full refund! If on the other hand, you don't already advertise on google, I would challenge the 'fit for purpose' properties of what you have been sold. The way they sold it, they said live contacts, eg, phone ringing, claims coming in. It was just a click on a useless advert on google. It's like winning a fish at a fair and taking it home in a paper bag.

Good luck!

HouseHuntr

There's a real trollfest on this thread !

havesomecontroversy

I know that in true forum fashion, I'm going to get ripped to shreds here for expressing an opinion that is contrary to the masses, but here goes.

I've sat here reading this thread in disbelief at the ignorance and sheer stupidity of some people. It is far easier to come on here and blame everyone else in an anonymous environment, than it is to accept the fact that you, just perhaps, made a ridiculously stupid decision.

Just like everyone else, BT Customerstreet are there to make money. Salespeople are there to make money. They have mortgages to pay, and families to provide for, just the same as everyone else. I'm not saying for one moment that bad practice is acceptable behaviour, just that sometimes the customer is equally guilty when a transaction goes sour.

Powerfulone, who in their right mind would give card details over the phone, for a product they did not want to pay for? Fair enough, it was clearly an underhand (and possibly unlawful) tactic on BT Customerstreets part, but with the greatest respect, your girlfriend was equally responsible for being stupid enough to give out her card details. Unless BT were about to process payment, why on earth would they ask for those details? If the follow-up post from Graham Armstrong at BT is indeed true, then did she not realise that an authorisation number related to a payment that had been processed? Anyone in business knows that.

Cams, again, I'm not defending BT's approach on this one, but if you didn't need a "bloody website and domains", why did you agree to buy them in the first place?

Born4thesurf, I won't bother replying to your comment, because by posting a keyword-rich link on this site, you're only interested in yielding traffic to your own website and boosting your search engine rankings.

ChrisSB, your post smacks of rather sheepish behaviour. If you have never bought their service, what gives you the right to label it a scam, in a public forum accessible to the masses? That behaviour is totally unfair and is bordering on libel. I can't help but feel that you have no opinion of your own, and that you're just following the witchhunt with a pitchfork.

Nocashatall2009, surely if you're in business, you must know that you can't 'buy' Google positions except through their Adwords programme, something that is entirely different. Sure, you can buy services that may improve your rankings on Google, but no-one, not even Google themselves, can make any positioning guarantees.

If you needed the cash for presents, then spending it on any form of advertising was a stupid thing to do. That is YOUR responsibility, not BT's.

Finally, your comment "Why should I be expected to pay for a service that doesn't work?" sums up my view on your post. This is advertising, and EVERYONE in business (except you apparently), knows that advertising is NEVER guaranteed to work. Try ringing the Daily Telegraph, and telling them that if the ad doesn't work, you want your money back. They would probably follow Robert2009s advice and cut you off.

By the way Robert2009, hanging up on someone, regardless of who they are or why they are calling, is cowardly and extremely rude. A polite 'no' would be far more appropriate.

MothballsWallet, so it is okay for people to tear organisations apart on here and destroy their reputations, but they are only allowed to defend themselves 'with permission'? Forums are supposed to be impartial, however that approach seems incredibly biased and undemocratic to me.

Amistoso, agree with you. This 'Graham Armstrong' chap should not discuss confidential information on a public forum for all to see.

Nocashatall2009, I would make sure you are correct about the debt collection agency being part of BT, before advising someone to refuse to pay. DCA's are generally frighteners, a fact that is well documented on this site, but you should double-check your theory first, otherwise the company in question may end up ruining their credit status. To be fair, they are probably a legit DCA, not part of BT, but that is no reason to pay up if you dispute the amount owed.

Marleyboy, agree. No tape, no written contract, no evidence and therefore no obligation to pay.

AlanTheCourier, it has been a long time since BT have been respected as an ethical company. Their appauling pricing structure and customer service says it all.

Mallygp, how can someone so indecisive be in business? If you can't make decisions effectively then you should pursue another career before you bankrupt yourself. Furthermore, your comment:

"Next time I get a cold call I will let them babble on for 40 mins agreeing again what a fantastic product and how great it sounds. Then when they ask for card details I will say " no thanks" and hang up the phone."

Doesn't exactly show much maturity. I certainly wouldn't do business with you, if I knew that was how you conducted yourself.

Speach, all you have done is whinged about your lack of response, and that fact that you're not top of Google, even though EVERYONE knows you cant buy Google positioning. You call it a scam, but where is the scam in your case exactly? If you're going to make accusations, you should at least make sure they have some substance to them.

Claim Squad, your comments are completely misguided. BT Customerstreet do not sell Google ads. They claim to offer search engine positioning in the organic search results. These are entirely different things, so therefore cannot possibly fall foul (thats foul, not fowl by the way) of Google's 'Double Serving Policy Violation'.

I didn't come on here to slate everyone, but as a fellow business owner, it really bothers me when people are so quick to write off a company as a 'scam'. The witchhunt on this thread only serves to demonstrate how stupid people can be. I repeat - if you're unable to assert yourself and make decent decisions, then you shouldn't be in business. Contrary to what you might have seen on Dragons Den, not everyone is capable of it, as is clearly shown here.

Whilst I have no love whatsoever for BT, a company of their stature are always going to have dissatisfied customers, along with thousands of satisfied ones. No doubt that truth will only be met with accusations of being in cohorts with BT Customerstreet, or even of working for them. Go on, make my day.

If a business owner can't understand the concept of a sales pitch, he or she won't be in business very long, and probably shouldn't have given up the day job. Salespeople are there to make money, hence why most of them stick in jobs they hate, taking abuse from customers on a daily basis. They do it because they are money motivated. If you were recruiting a salesperson, would you really want someone who wasn't? Apathetic salespeople dont last very long. Before you rip them to shreds, you should try doing their job for a day. You'll realise that customers are far ruder than any salesperson could ever be.

Welcome to the real world. Stand up and take some responsibility for your own bad decisions and naivety.

MothballsWallet

havesomecontroversy wrote: »

MothballsWallet, so it is okay for people to tear organisations apart on here and destroy their reputations, but they are only allowed to defend themselves 'with permission'? Forums are supposed to be impartial, however that approach seems incredibly biased and undemocratic to me.

No, that's not what I meant: MSE have a rule that states that anyone wishing to post on behalf of a company needs to email the Forum Team and ask permission first, which enables the Forum Team to contact them back and confirm that they are who they say they are.

Then, they get a small note under their username, and a small paragraph to put in their signature, that confirms that they are a representative of the company in question that has been recognised by MSE.

This is because there have been instances in the past of imposters registering and posting in relation to company and claiming to either work for that firm or one of its rivals.

I don't think I can put it any better than that, tbh.

marleyboy

Lol, at least I got off lightly.

Needless to say, in response to this member, who felt so strongly they exclusively signed up to this site just to post a rant. I should point if this company is legit - there is NO Company Number Registration.

You might want to read many other forums by businessmen alike who have fell foul of this company http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/bt-customer-street-c194757.html

BT Customer Service have this to say

BT Customer Streets - Be Careful...I have found information on Martin Lewis money saving expert forum which may shed light on BT Customerstreet.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1081011

http://www.btcomplaint.com/2009/01/bt-customerstreet.html

And the UKbusinessforums page are even more blunt about them http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=138074

There are literally thousands of threads and advisories warning about this company, a quick google search of "BT Customerstreet" or "ufindus" can show you that, surely all these businessmen are not stupid, the truth is they were hoodwinked, conned or as the majority claim "scammed", feel free to look this up.

Watchdog themselves are currently reviewing them, as it seems the complaints are widespread, unless of course this is some humongous conspiracy to bring them down, or 80% of the business sector who fell into this are stupid morons who dont know better, its more likely they were mislead by this company. True people should know better, but nobody is perfect and that does not in anyway make it acceptable to go around preying on gullibility, especially if going under the name BT, a company many businesses feel they should be able to trust.

In effect, all these posters (in the thousands of forums out there) are doing, is warning others not to become another "stupid" victim in this company, something I personally can only applaud them for.

You are entitled to have an opinion, but dont think that entitles you to preach.

R0bert_Sterling

havesomecontroversy wrote: »

I know that in true forum fashion, I'm going to get ripped to shreds here for expressing an opinion that is contrary to the masses, but here goes.

No connection with this bunch of cowboys then???

Grow some bollox and let people know your connection instead of pretending to be impartial ya fud!!

If you bunch of wuckfits rang my number you would get an earful you bunch of scammers.