BT complaint re fraudulent charges

Fatheed_2

I have been incorrectly charged for an engineer visit back in October. I have had several, long, frustrating conversations to try and resolve and on 2/12/09 someone at BT told me to contact my bank, as the had been wrong in charging the engineer fee, and take the payment of the charge back. I did this and we were then disconnected for failing to pay the bill.

I then spoke to them again and a further investigation into the charges was opened as they had no record of my conversation when it was admitted they were at fault. I was reconnected on the 16/12/09 and told the result investigation would conveyed to me within 2 weeks. We heard nothing until 17/01/10 when a bill arrived still making the charges. Another long call today has resulted in me being told that no new investigation was opened around the 16/12/09, that i have to pay the charges, that I have to prove the conversation I had on the 2/12/09 occurred and that I have no options left to me and that we will be cut off on 4/02/10.

I have today written to BT complaints in Durham but they take upto 10 working days to reply and as such we will be cut off before they respond. Otelo have told me they cannot interven e until those 10 working days have expired so we are left with the cold fact we will be incorrectly cut off again because of BT's errors and fraudulent charges.

What can I do to stop being cut off?

clutton_2

pay the bill

Mark_In_Hampshire

Without realising it, you've helped to make this problem worse, by:

1. Paying by direct debit. Big no-no. If you hadn't done that, when you received the bill with the disputed charge you could have paid the part you owe and withheld the remainder. Instead, you had payment pulled from you for the whole lot. Now you've claimed it back. However you can't reclaim only the part in dispute, you've reclaimed it all, including standard charges which you owe. So now, you're in breach of contract and BT can then cut you off.

2. Phoning BT. This creates no "trail" and means that all knowledge of previous conversations can simply be denied. The onus is on you to prove you had those conversations. Since you don't have a recording, you cannot. Always deal with BT in writing; this goes for any company with whom you are in dispute. Email will do. Keep copies.

Work out what you owe. Pay that via BACS. Cancel the direct debit mandate altogether with the Bank and let BT know.

As long as you're sure of your facts (e.g. charge applied incorrectly) email BT setting out what is wrong and what you want done, which includes not cutting you off, and what you intend to do (e.g. legal action) should that happen.

Once it's all sorted, change telephone supplier.

ACDeag

Fatheed wrote: »

I have been incorrectly charged for an engineer visit back in October. I have had several, long, frustrating conversations to try and resolve and on 2/12/09 someone at BT told me to contact my bank, as the had been wrong in charging the engineer fee, and take the payment of the charge back. I did this and we were then disconnected for failing to pay the bill.

I then spoke to them again and a further investigation into the charges was opened as they had no record of my conversation when it was admitted they were at fault. I was reconnected on the 16/12/09 and told the result investigation would conveyed to me within 2 weeks. We heard nothing until 17/01/10 when a bill arrived still making the charges. Another long call today has resulted in me being told that no new investigation was opened around the 16/12/09, that i have to pay the charges, that I have to prove the conversation I had on the 2/12/09 occurred and that I have no options left to me and that we will be cut off on 4/02/10.

I have today written to BT complaints in Durham but they take upto 10 working days to reply and as such we will be cut off before they respond. Otelo have told me they cannot interven e until those 10 working days have expired so we are left with the cold fact we will be incorrectly cut off again because of BT's errors and fraudulent charges.

What can I do to stop being cut off?

Good luck with a response from Durham, I wrote twice and never heard anything at all. BT must have a big shredding machine that shreds all letters received by the bag load.

BT_company_representative

Hi Fatheed,

I am very sorry to hear that this chrage dispute has not been sorted out yet. If you email me your account details, your MSE username and a link to this thread I will investigate this for you and get back to you as soon as possible. Our email address can be found by clicking on our profile.

Cheers

Shane.