BT Final Bill scandal - “One-off” charges - beware

Seans_dad

I changed by landline supplier recently from BT to Virgin Media. I had no problems on the switch-over, however when I received my final bill from BT, I was horrified to read an amount due of £332.

My normal quarterly phone bill is between £50 to £55, so clearly something was amiss. Reading through the bill I discovered they had applied a “one-off-charge” of £325.11 (incl. VAT).

On ringing BT, I discovered this was for a repair effected on the 11th May to the BT line (not inside the house). They blamed this on a plant growing near the wire and said that I was liable and have refused to remove the charge.

There are three issues here. Firstly, I wasn’t informed that there would be any charge (never mind the rate) when I initially reported the fault. Secondly, the engineer indicated nothing about any charges on the day of the repair. Thirdly, even after the event, we were not informed of any amount due. It was only two months down the line (when we had cancelled our BT account) that they billed us for the repair.

I have, of course, now written to BT about this matter. I equated it to buying a tin of beans at the supermarket without knowing the price and then the shop owner billing you for the unknown cost two months later. It simply wouldn’t happen.

The cost of the repair (for less than an hour’s work) was outrageous. A mind-boggling £90 per hour labour charge was applied. I don’t think even doctors charge that amount. Yet surely if one pays ‘rent’ for BT’s line, then BT must be liable for the repair ?

We had been BT customers for 13 yrs at our current property alone, never mind before that. Not one bill has been paid late, yet there seems little reward for being a good customer.

If anybody can offer any advice, or has had similar problems with BT then it would be great to know. Any help would be welcome.

As a footnote, I read through the accompanying BT magazine. One of the flagship articles read ‘BT is standing up to unfair mobile charges’. Yet on the other hand, they will fleece their long-term customers. These people have no morals

utilitybroker

The repair is normally chargeable if the fault is found not to be with any BT service or equipment. In particular this covers the situation where no fault is found, or the fault is found to be on non-BT equipment, or is due to damage caused by someone at the customer's premises, or due to theft, loss or removal of equipment, or in the case of customer owned or rented equipment (but not BT's network) faults caused by damage by external or environmental factors (eg lightning, electrical surges or floods).

Charges are laid out here.

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Misc_boo/1393_d0e1.htm

Hopefully a BT rep will be along soon offering to help you sort out your problem.

BT_company_representative

Hi Seans dad,

That is a high bill, PM me your BT account and contact details and I will take a look at this for you.

Patrick

BT Support,

Seans_dad

Thank you both for the advice.

I have now contacted the BT company rep as suggested above. I will post again to let you know how this matter ends up.

Seans_dad

Hmmm. Nearly a week has passed and no contact from either the BT Correspondence Centre, or the company rep on here.

One piece of advice I would offer here – and one which I was grateful for myself – is when you cancel your BT line then make sure you cancel your direct debit to them at the same time.

BT have applied a charge for a repair that was effected outside the house on a BT-owned line, which we, of course, rented.

This charge appears to be an illegal charge. If not illegal then it is certainly immoral – and ludicrously high. However if my direct debit was still active, then these monies would have been taken from my bank account. It would have been that much more difficult to claw them back.

We are in a time where the excesses of large greedy corporations have been laid bare. As people lose jobs and cancel services, these companies are trying everything to maintain profits at the expense of ordinary customers. They operate in a moral wasteland and care not a jot as long as they get their coin.

BT_company_representative

Hi Sean dad,

I am sorry that we have not got back to you I have checked our PM's and for some reason I am unable to find one from yourself. I ask that you can please once again PM me your BT account details as soon as I receive this I will look into this and contact you directly.

Thanks

Patrick

BT Support,

Seans_dad

Hi Patrick (BT Company rep),

I have sent another PM today (at 1.54pm) so it should be in your inbox now. There are now two sent messages showing in my folder - both to you. I'm not sure why the first one didn't get there. It is marked as being sent at 8.31pm on 22/07/09.

If the new message fails to reach you then please let me know and I will post my BT account no. on here.

macman

But was the plant/tree that allegedly caused this damage growing on your property? If so then do they not have a case that you are liable for the repair cost? I'm talking about the actual liability, not the amount charged, which seems ludicrously high.

Seans_dad

Well, funnily enough BT have now ‘found’ my PM and responded. As expected, they have refused to rescind the charges.

They have forgotten that there was no indication they would charge me at all at the outset, nor were we given any estimate at all by the engineer. You cannot bill someone who has not been told beforehand he will be charged. This is the crux of the matter.

I doubt whether they would have a leg to stand on in court, however (as I said above) these big corporates will do anything to try to get money out of ordinary people to maintain their fat dividends to shareholders.

Well BT, I assure you I will fight on. Next is the Telecoms Ombudsman and Ofcom. If there is no joy there then I will see them in court.

I can also assure BT that I will never return to them as a customer (after 18 loyal years) nor, if I have anything to do with it, will any of my children.

For now I will be contacting BBC Watchdog with the correspondence I have received so far.

I urge everyone presently cancelling down a service to ensure they aren’t hit with immoral ‘one-off’ charges. £300 plus is an outrageous demand on a family already struggling through this recession. I see this as a personal cause celebre and I’ll keep you posted as to my progress in this matter.

Seans_dad

Hi Macman,

Just seen your post and thanks.

The plant was in our garden, however there is no real evidence that it caused the actual damage to the cable (which is BT-owned). My guess is that BT instruct their personnel to find fault wherever they can without any real evidence.

As I said above, I don’t think they have a leg to stand on because they gave no indication beforehand that they would charge me at all. Never mind being told of their rates per hour, which I would have refused point blank.

Now, they do say they tape all calls to their Faults Dept - and would have taped my initial phone call. They have yet to come up with a tape of me agreeing to those charges – which of course will never happen. Unless they doctored customer calls – but surely BT wouldn’t do that, would they ?

Any advice from anyone who has suffered similar problems with huge ad-hoc bills would be gratefully received at this time. This bill really did come as shock at a most unwelcome time.

BT_company_representative

Hi Seans dad,

We have checked the details of the fault repair and can see that this fault was cause by an overgrown plant on the property. This fault was not caused by the normal day to day running of you line. BT will cover any repairs that are caused by BT or by the normal day to day running of that line. This is stated in our BT customer service guarantee scheme. The guarantee does not apply if someone other than BT has caused the fault. In your case this was directly as a result of an overgrown plant on the property.

Thanks

Patrick

BT Support,