Another BT customer service annoyance

cally6008

Bill dated 7 Jan is debit balance of £16-70

BT want to up DD from £39-50 per month to £47-50 per month which I am not happy about at all. Last year we were that far ahead in credit that I got (i think it was) either a £60 credit or £80 credit paid back to my bank

I rang them this afternoon ....

Bloke on phone (foreigner) said my account is actually at zero

I said it couldnt be at zero cos I owe £16-70 and there's a direct debit due to be paid to BT either today/tomoro for £39-50 (normally either end of month or start of month)

First he said that BT had requested the money from my bank, then he said he didnt know if the direct debit had gone through or not.

Is the computer system flawed or sumit cos it doesnt add up to me ?

In the end I just said fine, I'll sort it out myself. I'm just going to wait to see if the DD that is due gets paid and then cancel the DD at my bank.

I think it stinks that we have to pay £4-50 charge to pay quarterly cash at post office or bank.

Heinz

Change to monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit.

Pay what you owe, when you owe it. No more, no less.

End of.

cally6008

No, cos monthly whole bill direct debit will mean that I wont know how much is coming out of our account each month

Bogof_Babe

They let you know two weeks before it goes out.

cally6008

hmm, nah, am going to put the £47-50 into a jar each month and do it that way,

2 weeks isnt long enough warning for sorting my bills out and making sure that i've got the money for the bills each month,

Bogof_Babe

If this is just your phone bill (not Broadband) it would be cheaper for you to go onto the Anytime tariff, then you wouldn't have to worry about bigger bills than you expected, provided you don't call too many 0871, 0844 or 09** numbers. Or mobiles.

cally6008

It's broadband (option 3 the higher package, OH is a gamer) and the phones (line rental and unlimited evening/weekend calls)

I do appreciate the replies though

Mark_In_Hampshire

Many bank accounts enable you to set up an "online savings account". The way in which we manage variable bills is:

Each month transfer a regular payment into our online savings account (e.g. if the bill is about £180 then transfer £60/mo)

When the bill arrives, transfer the money back, and then pay it.

You could always change your line rental to the Post Office, who don't rip you off to the tune of £4.50 to pay your bill.

Although this comment might not be popular, I do find it quite endearing that having handed over the keys to their bank account and told the supplier to manage their money for them, people are surprised when the amount of the so-called monthly direct debit ends up being a bit higher than it needs to be to cover the bills, thus over time accrueing a credit.

If you were the supplier, wouldn't you do that

BT_company_representative

Hi cally6008, please email me your BT details and a link to this post and I will look into this for you. Our email address is in our MSE profile.

Regards Rodney