HELP! BT have stolen my money!

ideatrack_2

I really don't know what to do with this one. I cancelled my account back before I moved out of my flat on the 2nd of July having given the suitable time of notice previously to BT. At which point I was advised that I would be sent back any outstanding credit on my account. No hassle, or so I thought...

A couple of weeks later I received a bill from BT stating that I owe them £37.50 requesting for the next quarter of the year from July to September. Obviously this wasn't right. How could I owe them money for the next quarter on a closed account? I phoned up BT and after waiting for OVER HALF AN HOUR finally spoke to someone. I had heard the service at BT had been bad since they moved things to India but I was only just about to find out quite how awful things have become with this company. Upon finally getting through to someone who spent the good part of the call patronising me, I managed to get them to look at the figures for the account. At which point I was informed that I was actually in £45 CREDIT and this would be sent to me. Problem solved? Not likely.

I found myself having to call back BT again to chase this up, as unlike I was promised, no cheque was sent to my house with the outstanding money. After having waited a similar time in the swings and roundabouts of their awful tele-queue system I got through to another customer advisor. Lo and behold they consistently tried to talk over me; tell me I was in fact wrong and continued to be thoroughly ignorant and patronising. After some time of this I managed to convince the person on the other end of the line that they should in fact check the figures and to my surprise they still in fact OWED ME £45! Slightly sick of this by now, I managed to gain a further assurance that the money would be sent to me in a cheque.

Can you guess what happened?

NO CHEQUE!

However, they did refund me £7 directly into my bank account. But that still left the other £38 in their pockets. So once again, I chanced my arm and phoned the horrendous automated customer services queues. This was at around 13.45 on the 16/8/2009 where I was put through to the WLR3 team, to a woman that would not give me her name. I have recorded this because what transpired next was truly unacceptable...

I get through to someone at BT. I demand to speak to manager. Am thoroughly insulted by the woman on the end of the line and her consistent attempts to talk over me and speak to me like a three year old. I get slightly irate at this saying that it really is not fair what their company is doing and that they are in fact stealing my money. She corrects me of course, and I explain to her that the service has been unacceptable and I have called numerous times now etc. etc. AT WHICH POINT SHE STARTS LAUGHING DOWN THE PHONE AT ME. I was understandably mortified by this, who in their right mind has a company like this where the customer service is run by a bunch condescending
imbeciles that think it is ok to openly mock customers? Hello? I have worked in customer services for a major bank in this country and there is no chance I'd have a job after that! When prompted to put me through to her manager (I had had enough of being made a fool of and speaking to this moron) I was dealt the final insult of being hung up on...

In response to this, I contacted BT's service for faults in the line, which was of course run by people in the UK (perhaps because they can get heavy fines over service outages, whereas customer complaints and reputation are apparently worth pittance). I speak to a far more sympathetic woman on the line, who informs me that it is completely outwith regular standards of service (but I've phoned up how many times now? You mean this shocking service I've had at ever step of the way is completely spurious?) and then puts me through to India without telling me. I explain my situation to an incredibly nice gentleman called Amit in the Billing Department who promises me that a final bill and balance transfer will be dealt with and I would have my outstanding money by the 21st of August and that they will issue a full apology and explanation.

Surprise surprise.... I have heard absolutely nothing.

I have purposely detailed this above so that people can recognise the appauling service I have had with this company in the hope that other people will take note of this and perhaps something might actually get done.

I intend to pursue this further and have been in contact with a journalist currently compiling a story on similar instances and am looking to contact OFCOM as I am sick fed up of the distress this has caused me and will be seeking compensation.

Does anyone on this board know of any way I can get my money back as I really cannot face dealing with the awful teleadmin teams again?

moonrakerz

BT may be useless, their customer service may be totally hopeless, etc, etc - but what ever they may have done, I doubt that they have "stolen" your money.

If a theft has taken place, could I suggest you contact the Police ?

macman

Going back to basics, I assume you were already OOC when you cancelled the account, and that this bill is not an early termination fee?

ideatrack_2

yes, I'd canceled it within the appropriate time. BT have admitted they owe me the £45 on several occasions.

Kavanne

Wait for the BT company rep to see this, I have found them helpful via PM.

BT_company_representative

Hi ideatrack,

If you send your BT account details via a PM I will look at the account for you and see what is going on.

Many Thanks
Donna
BT Support