BT and Wescott,urgent please help me.

cybermum

Back in October I was offered a better deal with Talk Talk and decided to go with them.

I then received a letter from BT stating they knew and that they hoped I would re-consider etc etc

I paid my last bill for my call charges with them around 2 weeks on and explained the situation to the lady on the phone.
She then proceeded to tell me that BT owed me £303.
I then asked what else needed to be done ,to which she replied nothing and that BT would credit my account with the money.

They didn't,it took 3 weeks of phonecalls for them to send the cash to my bank account..
Which was then for £101,the call centre staff said the £303 was quoted wrong.

Then I started to receive lots of various bills (I had broadband & phone).

Bill 1: 2nd October;'Your final bill' =£99.
Bill2:25th november:'Your final bill'=£44
Bill 3:4th January: 'Your final bill'= £303.46 - all for the same account number.

With no breakdown or explanation of figures.
I was in hospital at the time of a letter arriving from their solicitors and called them BT when I read it.

I was put through to a staff member who told me that £303.46 wasn't right and that the bill was sent was wrong.He said hold while it was calculated manually and came back to me saying the bill to pay is £75.

Now to confirm he said he would transfer me to his supervisor,after two minutes on hold they cut me off.

So I rang again and replayed the story and what I had just been told 5 minutes prior.
Ok,they said to hold whilst they transferred me again.
When I got through,again I went through the whole story and the staff member then told me that the person on the first call hadn't said it was £75 and that I was a liar!!!
He was telling me that the first staff member hadn't told me that!

They said you have no proof,so pay the bill.
I stated strongly my anger and that I would be seeking legal advice to which he replied "do whatever you want".

And when I was questioning the amount of refund that was at one point £300 which then went to £100,he said to me that I was lying again!
They had no record of it,yet I have bank statement showing the refund and I had spoken with then 3 times about it on the phone.

He again called me a liar.

I then said calls are recorded for training purposes etc
To which he said " No,it wasn't,you have no proof,pay the £303.46.

I am fuming,they have sent different amounts in bills,I had one staff member say that the £303 bill they sent was incorrect and the other staff member stating I made it up!

They have now passed it to Wescott who have demanded payment or to ring if I disupte the bill-which I do!


I am disgusted at the way I was spoken to,am now feeling better from my illness that I can deal with this.

I want to now what I should do,I have to get a recorded letter to wescott by Tuesday or call them in the morning because I do not want a CCJ and I am very angry that they have made such a huge hash of it and called me a liar on top of it.

Help

Voyager2002

Don't deal with these things by telephone: there is no evidence of anything that is said.

Send Wescott the standard letter asking for evidence of your debt.

Write to BT asking for a complete breakdown of your account, and indicate that unless the matter is resolved promptly you will seek help from the regulator.

cybermum

Thank you.
BT,have so far been so unhelpful .

I have one person saying £75 to pay,that is all.
Another saying £303.

And that they never refunded me any money,yet I have evidence to the contrary!

Sorry for being so dense but what letter do I have to write to Wescott for evidence?

Thanks for helping

iniltous

How did you pay BT, whole bill DD, or monthly DD(same amount each month) or quarterly bill paid when bill recieved ?? were you expecting a refund because you were in credit ?? ( £300 is a lot to be in credit by and not know about it as it would only be by overpaying call charges and upto 3 months line rental)
It sounds as if BT think you them money rather than them owing you money, if they paid you a refund (by mistake) they will try and claim it back and any penalty payment for not fulfilling a contract.
You need to ask BT to supply a breakdown of what they say you owe them and why, I would suspect you may have still been in contract with BT for broadband and as they can be upto 18 month contracts, which if you cancel early
the penalty payment can be a lot.
How long had you been a BT Broadband customer, did you upgrade and start a new contract at any time,

cybermum

Hi,
Thanks for the reply
I paid by DD and also had broadband.
The staff member at BT told me I was owed the money due to my paying advance billing charges on the account.

Originally I was told it was £300 refund,then it was corrected to £101.
I was in contract still and knew there would be a penalty but not to that extent.
Back in October when I asked about it I was told I had no charges to settle and that they owed me money.
So,error on their part in communication.

I had been with them for 12 months and had 8 months remaining on the contract.

What I am disputing with them is the mess in which they have created,sending various bills with varying figures and all for the same account with no explanation.
Then not helping when I call and then sending it straight to DCA.

I emailed the CEO last night and this morning received a call from a senior exec manager who has said he will look into this today,trace all calls if he can and get back to me within 24 hours.

He also told me not to contact Wescott,that he would call them today and ask for the account to be sent back to BT,which I am relieved about.

I also have his direct line to contact him and he said not to go through the call centre.

I signed up (ok,being a verbal agreement over the phone) and expected some kind of final bill outlining the charges but instead received lots of letters with different settlement figures and when I called BT,no two people could agree on anything about the account.

I am hoping it gets resolved fast.
What worried me was that I didn't want a CCJ for it.
I was never unwilling to pay if anything owed but just couldn't get a proper answer from BT .

cybermum

The senior manager called me back an hour ago and informed me they were cancelling the bill,I have nothing to pay!

They said they couldn't trace all calls but had no reason to doubt me and were sorry for any distress caused.

I am so so relieved.

I have to say the top level in BT certainly do a good job and were quick to sort things out.
The call centre I was ran around in circles!

iniltous

Result :j
If you by-pass the call centre and go straight to the top then things usually
get resolved,

cybermum

I know,it just shows how quickly things can be resolved.
It would certainly save many people all kinds of headaches