BT and power of attorney

andybodoyd

Hi, My mum has vascula dementia and me and my brother have power of attorney. She is on BT's light user scheme as previously used the phone very infrequently with quarterley bills of around £5, but due to her dementia and anxiety she needs frequent reassurance and forgets she has phoned us resulting in many calls a day and her last bill was £100. I have previously sent BT the power of attorney documents so they have it on there records. I rang today to change her phone package to free calls at all times as this would save her money but was told that they needed my mums consent to do this.I explained that she was unable to give informed consent due to her disease and that they had appropriate information to allow me to do this but they refused. Before I send a strongly worded letter/change provider I wondered if anyone else has had problems related to this or any words of advice.

Broken_hearted

Yep problems all the time, if it doesn't suit the company they claim not not to have had it. Refuse to do anything and are a general pain, I just keep calling till I get someone who knows their job. BT is free to call so just keep bugging them till its sorted.

mary43

It must depend who you get on the phone............when my mum had a stroke about four years back I had no trouble getting the phone installed, putting her on a light user package - they even suggested a hands free phone as mum could only use one hand.
She did go a bit overboard with the phone though for a while and kept phoning my brother who lived abroad and it was a mobile phone at that so a couple of bills were quite high but then it got back to normal light usage.
I can't understand why they can't change the package she's on as you have Power of Attorney (as did myself and my brother).In fact, when I first had the phone installed at Mums flat I was never asked to produce POA papers.
Keep trying until you get someone who's more understanding of your situation. Failing that, the next time you speak to someone, make sure you get their name. If they still prove unhelpful ask to speak to their manager/supervisor.
If all else fails, then a letter of complaint is in order I think.
Good luck.

andybodoyd

Cheers, did what you said. Got a nice lady,sorted it out no problems. Even got 3 months free!! Slightly frustrating that you have to ring several times to get somebody who knows what they are doing!! Thx again

Incisor

andybodoyd wrote: »

... I rang today to change her phone package to free calls at all times as this would save her money but was told that they needed my mums consent to do this.I explained that she was unable to give informed consent due to her disease and that they had appropriate information to allow me to do this but they refused. Before I send a strongly worded letter/change provider I wondered if anyone else has had problems related to this or any words of advice.

Write in this instance, don't ring. And invoke the power of attorney, keep a copy. Their front line phone staff will shift heaven and earth to wriggle out of dealing with this by phone, because they probably don't know what a power of attorney is and they probably don't want to get into trouble for taking instructions from anyone other than the account holder. Once you have written and have a copy you are in much stronger position to get them to do the decent thing. For a start, if you request this service and they don't give it to your mum, on her behalf you can challenge their bills.

whatatwit

Could you set up the account online, then you can monitor the situation and the usage.