BT - changes in bill payment

Tricia_^^

I am so angry I felt I had to write this... I have been a BT customer for well over 25 years now - but today was the last straw.... what do other people think - am I being an awkward person or are BT still trying to bully people into doing WHAT THEY BLOODY WANT.

Received bill 11 October - date of bill from BT 6th October

We paid by chq on 15th October (so we didnt have to pay the late fee of £7.50) They are already charging us £4.50 to PROCESS PAYMENT!!!!!!!!!

So today the phone rings, I let it got to answerphone - "Hello this is BT - we would like to contact the BT Account holder for this line - will the a/c holder please contact asap on the number xxxxx".

I rang them - knowing we had already paid the bill - but oh no, they were calling because we hadn't paid the bill fast enough! To cut the end bit short I rang them to give them flea in the ear - but know its our fault - if we paid by direct debit we wouldn't have this problem!!!!! What a dammed cheek - I said to the woman how dare you and BT tell me suddenly how I have to pay a bill after 25 years of custom:mad: . So be warned dont go on holiday if you have a BT bill due in!

I hung up - now looking to go to Virgin, even though I have to speak to someone in India !

There got that off my chest! BT are blo**dy idiots

normanmark

What is the problem by setting up a Direct Debit? It saves you extra charges & more payment protection than any other payment method out there.

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/03/28/bid-to-sue-bt-over-direct-debit-charges-fails-65233-20689456/

If you're looking for Virgin you might want to note that for the £4.50 BT have charged, Virgin will charge £15 for the same privilege.

Tricia_^^

I dont have a problem with DD for any bill - my problem is being TOLD TO!
We pay alot of bills/insurance etc by DD.
My problem is BEING TOLD TO!
Even if I do pay by chq it costs me £4.50 - and now less than a week to pay the bill. Which was my vent on BT

normanmark

You're not told to, you have an option. Its just if you don't want to pay by DD then you're charged for doing so.

Heinz

Tricia_^^ wrote: »

I rang them - knowing we had already paid the bill - but oh no, they were calling because we hadn't paid the bill fast enough! To cut the end bit short I rang them to give them flea in the ear - but know its our fault - if we paid by direct debit we wouldn't have this problem!!!!! What a dammed cheek - I said to the woman how dare you and BT tell me suddenly how I have to pay a bill after 25 years of custom:mad: . So be warned dont go on holiday if you have a BT bill due in!

I hung up - now looking to go to Virgin, even though I have to speak to someone in India !

There got that off my chest! BT are blo**dy idiots

By the sound of it, you allowed a red mist to hide from you another possible interpretation of the call - that it was a courtesy call to remind you that, to save you being charged the £4.50 payment processing fee each quarter, you could (not must or even should) set up a Direct Debit.

Although I expect (hope) your language was a little more temperate when you rang back than your post implies, was it really necessary to sound off in that manner when the original call was from someone merely doing a job - a job which could have saved you money too?

Surely you're not really considering cutting off your nose to spite your face by moving to what is probably the post expensive telecoms provider in the country?

KimYeovil

But you're happy to pay Virgin £15 per quarter (not £4.50) and pay them £10 (not £7.50) when you go on holiday?

As far as I know, quarterly bills are due on the same numerical day each quarter. Hardly tricky to work out when they're due. And the total of your call charges is available on-line.

And what's wrong with implementing the fourteen days to pay clause? Surely that is much fairer than letting people run up debts and passing the costs on to other customers? Why should people who pay on time pay extra?

And I trust none of the companies you do pay by direct debit would charge you extra if you paid by cheque or paid late?

Seiken

No one would say "you must go on Direct Debit" unless you were a new customer or taking out broadband or something, and even then you can cancel it straight after as part of the guarantee. BT has several payment methods and it's certainly up to you which one you take. If that person hadn't suggested BT's preferred payment method to you - which was perfectly reasonable for someone paying late who has a bank account and may want to save the £4.50 - they would have been reprimanded.

You're meant to pay by the date on the bill, if you send a cheque it has all the additional processing time and mailing time on it, it's not really surprising it triggered an automated reminder call.

I'm not sure why you're so upset to be honest.

bainy

I have to agree with the OP that BT are being aggresive in their billing, they send it out on the bill dated day but you lose so much days with the postal system before it arrives and your expected to pay within 2/3 days.They have a cheek to charge a processing fee of £4.50 per quarter when we all know and its been widely televised e.g watchdog that this payment processing fee only in fact costs around 50p so why do they insist on £4.50, simple because they are thieves just like virgin and we the customers are the gullible ones and pay it.Let them know how you feel by voting with your feet and move to a better company with a better payment and billing system as well as call charging system, they do exist its just a matter of doing the research. Yes it may have been a courtesy call but they shouldn't preach to you that DD is the bees knees, we should be allowed to pay by our preferred method and not theirs.I think that they should allow at least 14 days to pay the bill as like I've mentioned before you can lose so much days from processing the bill till it arrives on your doorstep.

Mark_In_Hampshire

This was the basis of our dispute with them. Bills are apparently generated on day one, say, arrive on day eight dur for payment on day ten.

Therefore it is actually made deliberately impossible to pay on time. On occasions the bill would arrive followed by a payment reminder about two days later and notification of a late payment fee another two days later.

We didn't pay the late payment fee and wrote to them. No response other than the line being cut off. We then didn't pay the next late payment fee either and wrote a letter to BT cc the debt collection agency they'd sent after us.

So far they've voided off one fee and the fee for having the cheek to terminate our account early, which was their choice. There's another fee to void off and part of the line rental which they're still billing past the date they cut us off.

Now we have no landline, and use 3G for our broadband instead which is about the same as the ADSL.

Bye BT, miss you already.

And you still owe us £1.60.

With regard to direct debit, IMO you have to be mad to allow them on your bank account and in light of the above, probably even more so to provide one to BT.

KimYeovil

Okay, if the timelines are as suggested then this is clearly wrong. Another victim of the deregulated postal service!

As to Direct Debits, BT do give the customer access to their monthly payment arrangement so the customer has control over the amount that is paid, unlike, say, the power companies.

volunteerworker

After dealing with BT today on behalf of some people I support , it has become so clear. BT have no consideration for you 1) however long you have been with them 2) or if you are disabled - DLA/SDA, 3) or if you cannot understand the accent of the certain call-centre worker, 4) or if you don't want to pay by direct debit 5) or don't want the privilege of beingcharged a VAT free price of £4.50 to pay be cheque 6) or if you are elderly 7) or if you want to make out-going calls in an emergency but your phone was cut off due to an alleged late payment of an uncleared cheque which had been posted to them with plenty of time to spare.

I am sorry to say that BT only care about one thing, their share price and making money. Simple as that. Customer service went out of their window a long time ago!