I owe BT £54????

SilkCutSilver

Hi everyone - Apologies for the rant but I'm hoping someone may be able to help me out.

In recently left BT to get my phone service from Sky. One of the reasons was that they suddenly started to charge me £17 and Sky was a lot less if I got the package as part of my TV/Broadband etc. Considering I only use the line for broadband I wanted it to be as cheap as possible.

Now BT have given me a bill for £54 - which I am a little confused by because apparently I signed a contract to join Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan. This is weird because I know for a fact that I was on Option 1 and this was £11 a month. SO why the sudden £17 and why do i appear to be paying to get out of a contract I never signed? Are they allowed to do this? I know I would never have agreed to this as I don't even have a phone - what would I need unlimited calls for??? To my knowledge I have NEVER made a call on the phone here either (I'd have a job with no phone!). I have also been in this house for over 18 months and I thought my contract was only 12? I probably need to phone them but I just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this so I can take action when they inevitably refuse to cancel the debt.

robsmum_2

Hi, I sympathise as I had a similar problem with BT. But you are going to need to phone them and have the determination of a terrier to resolve it.
If you have no phone, you should only have been paying for line rental and Option 1 (they automatically put you on that). Phone them explain as you have here and keep explaining.
When you get through go to billing options. Sadly, you have to hope that you get someone who is English as their non-English staff seem to stick to their set script. Call centres do have set scripts!
If they don't respond/understand ask to speak to a supervisor and explain again. It took me about a week, phoning every day, for nearly an hour at a time but I got there in the end. It then took about a month for them to send the cheque.
Make sure you get the persons names when you speak to them!
Good Luck.

SilkCutSilver

Thanks robsmum. I have a real thing about BT - the problems I have had with them over the years is ridiculous - and the fact they seem unable to understand that a person may not have a phone and only pays them for line rental drives me nuts.

I have sent them a polite but firm email saying I would like the £54 cancelled plus to £45 additional money they have been taking refunded to me. I have also requested proof that I signed up to this contract and that I authorised them to take money from my bank account - which I know I didn't.

Will wait and see what happens.

Aytoun27

As i undertstand it (and I might be wrong) BT recently scraped Option 1 and automatically transferred everyone on it to the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan. This is what happened to us anyway and we're in the process of changing it as it isn't the option we want.

SilkCutSilver

That's what it seems like -but I'm sure I haven't received anything telling me about it. It's probably partly my fault for not phoning sooner when I saw the amount go up...but it makes me wonder how many companies use the fact that you pay by direct debit to trick you into paying more? I'm temted to stop using it and start getting billed each month for everything as this keeps happening. Especially with BT - they once made my bill £19 each month because ' there may be calls which cost more then the £12' - I DONT HAVE A PHONE YOU MORONS. I ended up getting a refund every other month. Silly.

SilkCutSilver

Wow I take it all back (well some of it)! They just phoned and after a small amount of arguing on my part they waived the cancellation charge. So although I probably could have fought harder and got my money back for the last 9 months I'm just chuffed i don't have to pay them £54 I hadn't budgeted for! Thanks for the advice guys!