£380 charge for going over BT broadband monthly usage?

puppet1984

380gb is huge. i'm very surprised your isp didnt cut you off or ring you?
i understand they emailed. however my monthly phone bill once went £50 higher than normal in a month and i was barred from making any outgoing calls till i paid the £50.

pinkshoes

pimento wrote: »

Pinkshoes: The OP has already said upthread that the family had been watching catch-up TV ever since their digibox broke down.

As someone already stated, catch-up tv wouldn't come close to this amount, even if they were watching for a large % of their waking day!

Perhaps it's a mistake? I'd get BT to verify the usage i.e. times large downloads were made etc...

Perhaps the son has been downloading HD pirate films or something??

If BT can show the 380Gb is correct, then the £380 should be paid.

pimento

pinkshoes wrote: »

If BT can show the 380Gb is correct, then the £380 should be paid.

That's harsh.

DrScotsman

This thread has really surprised me.

It's one thing if you have the attitude "You used, you pay up". On its own that's a perfectly logical attitude. However isn't this the website that's popularity thrived on claiming bank charges that are also clearly laid out in the T&C? Isn't this the site that used to say somewhere on the front page that it will help you "(legally) screw companies back"? (Something that it feels some of you are intent on proving impossible in this thread, by some moral conviction or otherwise). Is this thread by sheer coincidence full of the people who think the large bank charges are fair (a minority attitude on these forums), or do some of you have different feelings about bank charges and these charges?

gregg1

annie-c wrote: »

I signed up to BT Broadband (10GB) last September and I remember seeing the clause about being charged £1 per extra GB from the second month at the time of signing up. I was stung for £17 extra without any warning last December but I put it down to experience (I had been watching a lot of iplayer during a bout of illness so I could see where it came from. I have had another warning this month but have decided to chance it rather than upgrade.

Technically I would think you must have signed or clicked a 'terms and conditions' agreement if you joined BT recently, and so the charges would technically be legitimate. However, I would imagine you would have a reasonable case for having some or all of the fee waived if you write to them or ring them and explain the situation (and possibly sign up to unlimited for the rest of the contract?). The bill will have been generated automatically and might possibly be overwritten as an act of goodwill if you ask politely but firmly?

I see that a couple of posters are taking the line that it is the bill payer's fault, but I think there are always grey areas and room for negotiation in situations like these. Commercial organisations are often less concerned about right and wrong and more about customer relations as long as you play the game nicely and butter them up. On a separate matter, I have had a credit card charge and an unauthorised overdraft charge waived in the last couple of months, just by ringing up and asking nicely (and expectantly!). Yes, sure it was my 'fault' but they were quite reasonable about it on each occasion.

I dont understand why they did not give you any warning. Each time we have exceeded our usage we have had an email from BT prior to going over warning us we were nearing our limit. Surely they do this for everyone.

viktory

pimento wrote: »

That's harsh.

No, it is fair. I used to be with BT Option 1 and was forever moaning at my son for taking us over the download limit (mind you, the most we ever went over by was a fiver!) but every single time BT would e-mail me to warn me I was close to the limit, then e-mail again to advise of the additional charges. I transferred to Unlimited.

The family were clearly unaware of the limits on their account and that is solely their responsibility. Ignorance is not a defence and they need to pay. Of course, the family would be wise to throw themselves on the mercy of BT and see if they can get the bill reduced, but ultimately they have to take responsibility for this large bill.

rudekid48

Methinks that someone has been going torrent crazy!

zppp

DrScotsman wrote: »

This thread has really surprised me.

It's one thing if you have the attitude "You used, you pay up". On its own that's a perfectly logical attitude. However isn't this the website that's popularity thrived on claiming bank charges that are also clearly laid out in the T&C? Isn't this the site that used to say somewhere on the front page that it will help you "(legally) screw companies back"? (Something that it feels some of you are intent on proving impossible in this thread, by some moral conviction or otherwise). Is this thread by sheer coincidence full of the people who think the large bank charges are fair (a minority attitude on these forums), or do some of you have different feelings about bank charges and these charges?

Irrespective of people's 'different feelings' on the matter, they don't trump a contract. People are giving real advice and are telling the OP to contact BT to explain the problem - people are being honest. The bank charges situation is a seperate issue. Otherwise you could argue it with absoutely every contract.

If you use your mobile phone abroad and rack up a load of charges nd a £400 bill, what do you think the mobile phone company's response be? Oh, we'll just do it for free because it is our moral obligation? Get real

DrScotsman

zppp wrote: »

Irrespective of people's 'different feelings' on the matter, they don't trump a contract. People are giving real advice and are telling the OP to contact BT to explain the problem - people are being honest.

My advice is not "feelings", it is based on my understanding of the law, it is real advice (subject to my disclaimer below ), and it is hardly dishonest. If anything it is several of the other posts in this thread that are "feelings", as they point out either the detriment to other users or the possible piracy before saying "pay up", without any reference to an actual loss from BT, which is what this is all about, as it is BT who are getting the £380. Not the other BT customers, not the copyright holders, BT.

I feel for the other customers, but the law does not allow BT to charge penalties to uphold morals.

The bank charges situation is a seperate issue. Otherwise you could argue it with absoutely every contract.

I don't understand your point. Yes the bank charges situation is a separate issue, but it is a fairly similar one. There is an effective penalty that doesn't form the core terms of the agreement that may represent significantly more than the company's cost. I thought the reason the whole debacle went on was because the banks thought UTCCR didn't apply to them as they were banks, unlike BT who are a standard candidate for the act to apply to.

You could hardly argue it with "absolutely every contract". Bear in mind that saying £380 for 380GB is unfair is not the same as saying £1 for 1GB is unfair.

If you use your mobile phone abroad and rack up a load of charges nd a £400 bill, what do you think the mobile phone company's response be? Oh, we'll just do it for free because it is our moral obligation? Get real

For a start, in many of the huge-charges-abroad stories we hear the company does lower them as a gesture of goodwill.

Secondly, charges form part of the core terms of the contract there - phone contracts are designed for calling, texting and data. It's not a breach "converted" to a service, and is not comparable with BT's "service".

Third, I never said that the £380 should be reduced to £0, and I never once suggested BT should be doing it as a moral obligation, I suggested it was a legal one (did you even read my posts?). One which I've justified with legislation and OFT guidance. I note that you have refered to none of those, and your only legal argument ("you could argue it with absoutely every contract") is a straw man fallacy.

andrew242

Hi all have been reading the thread since it started and here is my situation:

I have also been slapped with an over usage fee by bt, they have charged me around £500 pounds for three months. I have phoned today and spoken to several advisors who insist that the charges are valid and are also for excatly the same thing previous spoken about (£1 per 1gig). We have never come close to our downloading limit previous to this and have never paid a bill late ( we have had a BT phone for over 20 years and internet for around 5 years). We know the problem is withsome who is renting a room in the house and has been excessively watching movies and downloading from itunes etc. Question is what can we do about it? I have seen previously that some charges have been dropped by BT but this seems not to of been done by methods such as customer service calls. Typically they have been dropped by head office after the customer has contacted them directly. I have not yet done this I might add but have managed to pull a few strings and I am now in posessesion of the email address of the manager of the 'fair usage department'. (I would be happy to pass this on if you wish)....

I do have some info from a blog from a guy who had almost 500 quids worth of charges in a single month, after repeatedly speaking to people in the head office he had them all entirely dropped. I am not say that this is the correct thing to do, but i do find the charges excessive. BT were very cleaver in sending emails to only the email address that they set up which is never looked at. They send all billing information as well as a nice amount of spam about offer to the username email account and that is regulaly looked at. We had no idea this was happening and obviously would of obviously got the new flatemate to stop immediately if we thought there was a problem.

Any advice guys? Thanks in advance