Beware:check ur BT bills for "free" incl 0870 calls being charged

checkincherry

Now been offered (and accepted) a refund for the past calls to my alarm provider, but with the proviso that I will continute to be charged for any calls to the nnumber in the future. No response yet to my request for someone to tell me exactly where in the T&C's of my BT contract these are excluded from the free allowance. I have asked the question again.

Per my pms with BT reps, am expecting a further response from them today. Perhaps they can helpfully throw some light on this for me and all other forum readers who might be impacted?

richp2k

I have read something about this on another forum. If I can find the forum I will put the link on here. It might be useful.

I have also tested the reps by asking them to phone me. Partly because my issue is too long to put in a message to them, but I will go nuts if they are planning on just passing my query to India!! Everyone there is of no help at all.

JustPassingBy

checkincherry wrote: »

Now been offered (and accepted) a refund for the past calls to my alarm provider, but with the proviso that I will continute to be charged for any calls to the nnumber in the future.

Some department within BT will maintain a database of proscribed 0845/0870 numbers which the billing system will work from. BT CS probably doesn't have authority to alter it directly and possibly they are unable to query it. However, they could contact the department concerned to explore having your number removed from the list on the basis it does not fit the exclusions in the T&C.

No response yet to my request for someone to tell me exactly where in the T&C's of my BT contract these are excluded from the free allowance. I have asked the question again.

A respose could

1. Attempt to justify a security alarm call as a call to an ISP or an indirect access service.
2. Continue to assert (without giving a reason) that a security alarm call is charged at greater than 0p per minute in the first 60 minutes.

Number two is the preferred technique.

checkincherry

Tx richp2k , pls post on this forum if you find the link you refer to.

JustPassingBy/Brian - you must surely have worked for BT in the past and kept a copy of their script!

My latest response from India claims they don't give T&C details to customers (!!!!!! - perhaps we should all just send them blank cheques??) and then gets back into the ISP/indirect access number junk (see below). I feel almost sorry for the woman in India. She has nowhere else to take this I fear (although I have suggested she try upwards).

However I'm not worried. I know this will very soon be clearer for us all as I got a pm from the BT rep this morning assuring me he would get an answer to my question by COP today - hard working lot still on the clock at 9.30pm ....tick, tock, tick, tock.....

Response from India:

"
I am afraid, as we do not send any notification of the alarm call charges in your BT's terms and conditions, however, this information is available on the following link:

http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_sid=gvISamJj&cat_lvl1=345&cat_lvl2=350&cat_lvl3=361&cat_lvl4=1083&p_cv=4.1083&p_cats=345,350,361,1083&p_faqid=12732
"

epsilondraconis

I'm looking forward to seeing the response from the BT rep. I have to say that the ScottishPower rep on this forum has been very very good. Hopefully Stuart or Robbie (the BT reps that have posted above) will come up trumps for you checkincherry.

I'm sure some cynics out there think that you will still be going around in circles this time next week trying to get an answer; however I'm sure the reps will get to the bottom of it and confirm either that they have made a mistake, or point you to the relevant section of the T&Cs that fully explain the pricing. What could go wrong...

JustPassingBy

checkincherry wrote: »

Quoting BT CS

I am afraid, as we do not send any notification of the alarm call charges in your BT's terms and conditions, however, this information is available on the following link:

http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_sid=gvISamJj&cat_lvl1=345&cat_lvl2=350&cat_lvl3=361&cat_lvl4=1083&p_cv=4.1083&p_cats=345,350,361,1083&p_faqid=12732
"

First paragraph, last sentence. No mention of security alarm calls on the page at all. Also, the legal basis of a contract with BT is the T&C and the Price List - not a web Help page.

This reply is really a variant of response 2 with the added twist of apparently giving a reason but leaving you to do all the interpretive work.

JustPassingBy

epsilondraconis wrote: »

. . . . . . however I'm sure the reps will get to the bottom of it and confirm either that they have made a mistake, . .

BT CS rarely do confirmation of mistakes.

. . . or point you to the relevant section of the T&Cs that fully explain the pricing. . . .

They have had at least three days to it. The T&C are silent on this matter. So are BT CS.

checkincherry

Fellow money savers - vindication for double checking those BT bills ( and the rest too!) Suggest other users who have an alarm service that dials to an 0870 monitoring number do likewise to make sure they have not been charged "inadvertently".

A big thank-you to BT rep Patrick for at last confirming that not only would I get a refund, but it was also incorrect for me to have been charged for these 0870 calls and I would NOT be charged in the future.
:j

"I have looked into this for you and can see that you should not have been charged for these calls. This was a complex matter and I’m sorry about the time it’s taken to resolve and for the conflicting replies you received.

We have refunded the £ you have been charged to date for these calls, this refund will show as a credit on your (Oct/nov/dec) bill. I will also ensure that you are not charged for 0870 calls at weekends from your alarm system in the future."

An even bigger thank-you to those of you on this forum who have supported and encouraged my pursuit of the truth.:T

On reflection, this was a much-improved experience from my last problems with BT 2 years ago. But in spite of improved response time and regular follw-up from BT Cust Svcs in India, frankly if they can't actually solve the problem, the "service" doesn't cut the mustard. Without the intervention of the UK based BT reps linked in to this forum I would still be tearing my hair out in frustration.

Now, anyone want to help me take on First Great Western - still waiting for a ticket refund from June...they've stopped answering my emails.......:mad:

checkincherry

Happy New Year fellow MSE's!

Well - good news and bad. Having now received my bill for the quarter I can confirm I have been recredited the money for the PAST alarm calls. However, later on in the quiarter I have again been charged for 0870 alarm call made on a Saturday.

The only confirmation I have that it was incorrect for BT to do this and that i would NOT be charged fro these in future was from the BT rep Patrick ( see my post above 8 Oct 2009).

Patrick can you Pls can you intervene again for me and apply the T&C's properly as preveiously advised ie NO charge for 0870 calls to alarm provider at weekends.

I look fwd to hearing from you.

synapse321

Heinz wrote: »

I thought the whole purpose of BT allowing their employees to take part in forums such as this was to expedite the resolution of problems.

For BT company representative to simply pass enquires to Indian underlings is certainly UNHELPFUL rather than the opposite.

I have to second what the OP has got the guts to state.

The BT Rep on this forum just passed my details onto an Indian call centre agent as well when I had a problem - not helpful at all. BEWARE!