BT Broadband Excess Charge refund

DesPondOfSlough

I regularly get £3 - £6 excess broadband charge on my BT Internet usage (£1 per Gb extra, but it works out cheaper than the big package), but last but one quarter it was £103 - one-zero-three! - 100Gb above my average - and then it's back to £3 for this bill.

I had done no extra iPlayer listening or anything out of my normal routine, no gaming, no downloading movies, I do not have wireless (for someone to poach my bandwidth), and I live alone.

So a registered letter of complaint goes to BT and they phone me back.

Long conversation, and I'm as good as told that it would be virtually impossible to rack up that kind of download in one quarter, but that they checked their metering etc and it's accurate.

Their metering is accurate, but it's impossible to score that much excess download...

And I'm offered a credit on my next bill for half the excess charge.

So, basically, they've scammed me for £50.

I don't know whether to be amazed at this or screamingly annoyed.

Is it time for a letter to the head office?
Who do I write to?


Thanks for reading,

kwikbreaks

I'd say it's time to move to a decent ISP.

Any LLU options shown here - http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php - O2 or Sky would both be good others probably not. Even with no LLU it is difficult to pick a worse ISP than BT - http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

MoneySavingUser

DesPondOfSlough wrote: »

Long conversation, and I'm as good as told that it would be virtually impossible to rack up that kind of download in one quarter

of course it is - some people do that much in 1 month so why not in 3 - BT aren't telling the truth I think

kwikbreaks

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

of course it is

You'd probably have to work hard at it given the abysmal speeds possible on BT broadband

macman

Why don't you monitor your usage for the next couple of months using one of the free software programs available?
And remember, it 's not download that is measured, it's data usage. Upload, download, streaming from iPlayer; it all counts.

aerostar

You should ask for full details of the bill to prove their claim, if they cannot supply full details, then go to trading standards and see what they say.

DesPondOfSlough

Thank you all for the replies.

If I could change - I would!
Of course, the £50 credit comes in on the next bill - so I'm stuck till October at least.

I don't really know if it is possible to get 100Gb excess or not - I'm just certain that I didn't acrue that much. The representative said he had sometimes seen 70-80Gb excess - not 100Gb.
He didn't say "happens all the time, mate - pay up!".

I did ask the rep for full details - they don't collect them, and he couldn't give them for data-security reasons (sic).


I will be writing to the CEO, though.




-

OT - BT charged me £250 to repair their line out in the street, a couple of years ago. Letter to BT with threat of court sorted that (on the engineers advice - he told me BT would try it on!). I'm on a low income, and if they had pulled that money straight out of my bank account I would have been stuffed for the rent.
That's why I don't Direct Debit!

BT were the only company that could connect me where I live in the rurals - they own the copper. Orange tried... but BT held them up for four months, until they gave up... sickening, isn't it.

And I would not go with Sky on anti-Murdoch principle.

DesPondOfSlough

I just checked the samknows exchange and... looks like none of the others comapnies are available where I am.

kwikbreaks

If you can get BT(Retail) broadband then it is being supplied by BT Wholesale and literally hundreds of ISPs resell the product. The vast majority offer better customer service and better deals than BT Retail as well. Other than for possible contractual reasons there is absolutely no reason you need to stay with BT for your broadband.

Lleucu

I have had a similar experience and have posted today, I think that BT are looking at all Option 1 and 2 users to push them up to Option 3 so beware. I do not think that our use changed much in the period in question, I simply think that it is further revenue generating exercise.

Browntoa

i'd run a malware remover like Malwarebytes to ensure that you do not have an infection on the PC/Laptop you use while on the internet

certain infections can make you , unknowingly, part of a botnet and you may be sending huge amounts of emails or streaming data from other infected PC's to the hackers servers

download this

http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/

install and update and then do a full scan

when its finished fix all it finds and then start a new thread on the techie forum where you should post the log file malwarebytes produces

better to be sure upfront