BT complaints

C_Mababejive

BT are currently dealing with a fault on my phone line..no incoming calls,outgoing and BB work fine.

The BB is via O2 who have their own gear in the exchange.

I have had phone line problems for two tears.

Last year i had two openworld visits due to noisy line which was cutting my BB.

Incidentally,my line is ducted,not strung on poles.

I got the distinct impression that field engineers are driven hard and rushed off their little legs.

I have tried to get my current 3 week old fault resolved and the things i find of great annoyance are..

1)the automated report a fault system both phone and web based,which insists its my equipment thats faulty and keeps closing the fault down
2)Having to deal with non UK call centres
3) The inference that BT may charge me £130 to visit and fix my line if its somehow my fault,despite my having carried out NTE checks as suggested.
4) I have already told them that i have a Virgin cable terminal at my home and so if they do not sort it then i will disconnect both them and O2...up to them..and i will not be paying £130 notes..!

Now in the old days,,you just dialled 150,spoke to someone who twiddled some knobs and it was fixed...

Mark_In_Hampshire

Quazi wrote: »

What I can't understand with them (amongst many many other things) is how they can insist on you paying an "overcharged and inaccurate" bill because they made a mistake, and giving it back to you on your next bill three months later?

How on earth do they get away with practising that?

Because they can. Utility companies want a drect debit mandate; get the money now, refund later on. Utility company wins every time.

In days gone by, if you were overcharged, you'd just pay what you owed and the issue is theirs to sort out. Far better to have the customer out of pocket and having to do the running around.

If people didn't fall for this, understood how direct debit works and who it's for (it's not for the customer's benefit) and realised the system has no safeguards and the mess this system helps cause, people would probably be more reluctant to use this method of payment.

However the propaganda "the safe way to pay" certainly seems to have worked.

Quazi wrote: »

I have yet again been overcharged to the sum of £63.60, for them not honouring an offer, I've still been charged at the old rate (pre-offer) on my latest bill. I have spent 3 hours already this morning trying to sort this out, only to be told that I must pay the overpayment because the bill cannot be revised, when I will then get the overpayment back against my next bill!

That can;t be right can it?

My blood is currently still boiling!

If you're overcharged, then you only need to pay the part you owe, and put the rest into dispute. Uness you've handed over control of your bank account in the form of a DD mandate, in which case, you're stuffed.

You can have the DD reversed by the bank once it comes out, putting the money back in your account, but that places you clearly in breach of contract since you then don't pay anything (you can't just reverse the overpayment part) and can quite legitimately be punished for it (late fees, etc).

zoostationuk

My complaint has now gone to the Telecoms Ombudsman.
Lets see what happens now

PK

zoostationuk wrote: »

Wish i had found this yesterday.

Short version

over 4 hours on the phone to BT
an engineer no show - even though i was told 5 time in the morning that he will be there
spoken to over 27 people in the space of 2 weeks
over £100 out of pocket due their incompetance
they offered me £30 but told them to stick it as i want to ensure that people know how bad they are.
They are sending me a Dead Lock letter and im taking it to the Ombodsman.
Now i have seen the email address about im going to send my original 4 page complaint on to him

Will see what happens next.

Will be leaving BT as soon as i can

PK

C_Mababejive

Try pointing your BT woes to this form..

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Quazi_2

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

Because they can. Utility companies want a drect debit mandate; get the money now, refund later on. Utility company wins every time.

In days gone by, if you were overcharged, you'd just pay what you owed and the issue is theirs to sort out. Far better to have the customer out of pocket and having to do the running around.

If people didn't fall for this, understood how direct debit works and who it's for (it's not for the customer's benefit) and realised the system has no safeguards and the mess this system helps cause, people would probably be more reluctant to use this method of payment.

However the propaganda "the safe way to pay" certainly seems to have worked.



If you're overcharged, then you only need to pay the part you owe, and put the rest into dispute. Uness you've handed over control of your bank account in the form of a DD mandate, in which case, you're stuffed.

You can have the DD reversed by the bank once it comes out, putting the money back in your account, but that places you clearly in breach of contract since you then don't pay anything (you can't just reverse the overpayment part) and can quite legitimately be punished for it (late fees, etc).

I can understand that whole arguement fella, and in part it is exactly what I have done. I have only paid what should have been the correct amount. I never pay these companies by DD because of this very issue, they control what they take in essense, which is not how I like my money to be handled, they send me a bill I pay it, if it's correct.

I now await their next move, I suspect they will call me during the week and threaten some sort of cut-off be it outgoing calls etc.

They are totally in the wrong in my case and I can prove it, they have made the error in billing not me, I have paid them what I should have, so now I wait.:)

Edit: BT's whole website is a minefeild of ending up back where you started, no matter who you talk to or with, the same responses are given. It is basically up to you to do the running around while they cntinue to hide behind the website fluff!

nixie26

debtfreelondon wrote: »

We've had an order for a new line ongoing since 31st March for a new block of flats. We, along with the rest of the block (including the developers who are waiting for a lift emergency phone) can get no satsifaction from BT who claim their contractors have not done the work, not finished the work, can't do the work etc etc.

We have now been given an estimated date for completion of 31st May (ie 2 months after ordering).

Now I know BT is a vast and faceless bureaucracy that doesn't care much about it's customers but how do I complain about this. When customer services refuse to put you through to anybody else, when there is no complaints department on the website, when there is no way of telling somehow just how wrong this all is, what is there left to do?

Has anybody else been in this position and how did you manage to not go insane?

Hi in reply to this post i would just like to point out that although BT and Openreach work in partnership they are a separate business. BT will place an order to set this up for you which is submitted to Openreach. Openreach then deal with the order, time scales and equipment. If you are having trouble with these timescales the department in which to contact would be Openreach to find out the reason for delay. BT can only put a complaint on their systems and try to gather more information from openreach which could take a number of days in contacting them yourself you would be able to get your answer a lot quicker and may be able to get it moved forward.

POPPYOSCAR

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

Because they can. Utility companies want a drect debit mandate; get the money now, refund later on. Utility company wins every time.

In days gone by, if you were overcharged, you'd just pay what you owed and the issue is theirs to sort out. Far better to have the customer out of pocket and having to do the running around.

If people didn't fall for this, understood how direct debit works and who it's for (it's not for the customer's benefit) and realised the system has no safeguards and the mess this system helps cause, people would probably be more reluctant to use this method of payment.

However the propaganda "the safe way to pay" certainly seems to have worked.



If you're overcharged, then you only need to pay the part you owe, and put the rest into dispute. Uness you've handed over control of your bank account in the form of a DD mandate, in which case, you're stuffed.

You can have the DD reversed by the bank once it comes out, putting the money back in your account, but that places you clearly in breach of contract since you then don't pay anything (you can't just reverse the overpayment part) and can quite legitimately be punished for it (late fees, etc).

I am in this situation. I was told cancel DD(I think they said they would cancel it but I am not sure) and only pay the undisputed amount. How do you stand on the £5.87 charge(I think) they make for not paying by DD?

Jaye666

Last week BT took an extra £93.00 from my bank account for a "broadband cancellation charge". Only I never cancelled my broadband I upgraded the package! When I called them back they admitted the mistake and said they will refund the £93.00 - but it will take 5 working days to clear in my bank account. I kicked up about this and they said they will fast track the payment and it would be with me within 24 hours. Of course it never arrived in my account so I used the messaging service on Monday and was told there is no 24 hour fast track service and that I shouldn't have been promised it. As a result of this I was only able to pay my childminder half the weekly invoice. My childminder has her own bills coming out from her account tomorrow so now i've had to borrow money from my parents today (as it's still not in my account). I am totally fuming. I'm tempted to cancel the Direct Debit and delay monthly payments as much as possible to inconvenience them.

fightingback4mykids

Hi, apologies if this question has already been raised and I just haven't found the thread, more than happy to be redirected if appropriate.
Basically, we went back to BT 2 years ago. For the first year we seemed to have very high call charges, I realised this was because we were not on an aytime plan, so I changed to an anytime package which included free calls all day, including to other networks etc. Our bills went down a bit, and stupidly I didn't check the online bills in detail. Having recently had a yearly review of Direct Debits I thought would try and reduce the BT one. When I looked at the last 10 months bills I discovered that we had been charged for all of our calls, adding up to £304 worth of call charges. These were all from our 'internet phone' number which is different from our home number. As it transpires to take advantage of the Anytime offer we should have been pressing '5' first on our phone to get through to our 'normal' line. Nobody ever told us this, I have searched every communication, every bit of their website, our contract, the Anytime plan description, NOTHING tells us we have to do this.
In a nutshell I have paid for a service we have not been able to use because naively we thought when you make a call you pick up your phone and make it, no need to press 5 first. Even when bills have quite clearly shown we are being charged because of the internet line being used at no point have BT said - oh you need to press 5.
I know I should have noticed this earlier, but we have been incorrectly billed and I want it back. Their stance is 'our company policy is not to issue refunds'. Have been on phone to at least 10 different people, one phoned me on Friday to say that they were going to refund, but today they have no record of this call., and basically said I was lying which I was not!:mad:
I am HOPPING mad, and would appreciate any help with this one, specifically from anyone who may have experienced the same issue?
Thanks in advance

superflybri

I am at my wits end. I did not have a phone connection from February to June this year. It was finally connected by BT in June without an engineer coming to my property. However, BT tell me that I had chosen not to use the phone during this previous period. I have called them, spent one and quarter hours on the phone to them, spoke to their technical department who confirm their were faults on the line, written to them, told I'm now in a deadlock situation whatever that means and apparently I had chosen not to use my phone in that period! Are they for real.. They are asking for payment of use of a phone line during this period when I did not have a phone line. What can be done to escalate this situation.