BT bill changes constantly

Mark_In_Hampshire

Just one bounced direct debit payment on your bank account in any one year thanks to an error by any one payee will cost double what even BT rip you off by for you to pay any other way, and there's no way to prevent the payee from making a mistake.

Wanting to remain in control of your money and handing out direct debit mandates are mutually exclusive.

blairie

Thanks for all your advice guys.

I have never ever in my life had a bounced payment, nor have I ever been late in paying any of my bills for any company ever.

The only thing I would like BT to explain is where the unseen extra charges come from. I pay more than I use, I don't mind the extra for a while, my bank doesn't pay any interest either, and it would cover any unexpected mobile calls I may make from my landline. So that's why I do not object to the extra money they take.

The things that really really gets to me is that BT manages to make this extra money disappear and turn it into a deficit. I just cannot fathom how they get there and any time I speak to them or email them they rattle off the DD options. They do not understand the real issue: if I pay more than I use, which I do, if I never ever miss a payment, never ever was late and never ever paid too little I cannot have accrued a deficit.

I shudder to think what hidden extra's they now will come up with. I fear that they may change the billing twice and generate two bills with refunds etc. which will cost me again. That is because their "refunds" only exist on paper, it is not as if they pay that back to you in real terms, they just reason that they did. (I guess that's how the trick works, but they should not be allowed to do this.)

DD is usually the cheapest option and I have no problem with that, never had a bad experience before. The problem is that BT takes the agreed DD and then says it somehow isn't enough, even if it is more than all the bills together, month after month after month.

It's a matter of logic: If you pay more than you owe you cannot have any arrears, but in BT world you apparently can. They refuse to explain how that would work, they just make the extra money disappear.

They also offer you help, as on this thread, and that too disappears into cyberspace.

(a very disheartened) Blairie

Heinz

In your financial situation, changing to Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit would appear to be the answer to your problems.

blairie

But I do already have monthly direct debit and it was BT who insisted that I should pay the extra every month.

Despite all this BT manages to lose the extra money I paid. They don't explain how, they just took it. So if I change to Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit how would that stop them from charging another £5 or £10 whenever they feel. I mean it isn't as if I used more, there are no other charges, I have the call plans and stay well within their limits.

The way I see it Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit would make it even easier for them to whisk away extra money without an explanation. I can no longer trust them so I don't want to make it even easier for them to access to my funds.

Blairie

spike7451

blairie wrote: »

But I do already have monthly direct debit and it was BT who insisted that I should pay the extra every month.

Despite all this BT manages to lose the extra money I paid. They don't explain how, they just took it. So if I change to Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit how would that stop them from charging another £5 or £10 whenever they feel. I mean it isn't as if I used more, there are no other charges, I have the call plans and stay well within their limits.

The way I see it Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit would make it even easier for them to whisk away extra money without an explanation. I can no longer trust them so I don't want to make it even easier for them to access to my funds.

Blairie

Exactly the same situation as me!

macman

Monthly Whole Bill DD means that you pay for what you use, no more, no less, each month. You do not build either debt or credit.

blairie

Thanks for that Macman

However, as Spike and I have experienced BT is capable of charging for nothing. They just move your bill about and presto, the money you paid has disappeared and they say you owe them.

Since I always pay in advance, my account shoud be incredit, BT says it is in debit and without havingt to explain how it occurred they charge extra for the services.

Letting them have a go at my money with whole billls could result in a worse situation. I mean what is to stop them from fiddling around again, making up some refunds and recharges and saying "Oops, now you owe us £50". I mean, they appear to be able to charge at will and at random.

Unless you have experienced this it is hard to understand. I am certain people will think that somehow I used the money. But that is not the case. BT refuses any explanation, promise to get back in touch without doing that, and I will let you know how much extra money willhave disappeared into the BT pit next time they send me a generated bill.

Blairie

spike7451

blairie wrote: »

Thanks for that Macman

However, as Spike and I have experienced BT is capable of charging for nothing. They just move your bill about and presto, the money you paid has disappeared and they say you owe them.

Since I always pay in advance, my account shoud be incredit, BT says it is in debit and without havingt to explain how it occurred they charge extra for the services.

Letting them have a go at my money with whole billls could result in a worse situation. I mean what is to stop them from fiddling around again, making up some refunds and recharges and saying "Oops, now you owe us £50". I mean, they appear to be able to charge at will and at random.

Unless you have experienced this it is hard to understand. I am certain people will think that somehow I used the money. But that is not the case. BT refuses any explanation, promise to get back in touch without doing that, and I will let you know how much extra money willhave disappeared into the BT pit next time they send me a generated bill.

Blairie

I was paying my whole bill monthly since I changed off Pay & Go,in full &,like Blaire, a couple quid over each month to be safe.
Since I lost my job in July,money has been very tight with only having the JSA coming in & I fell behind in my payments by one month when my car tax,MOT & Insurance were due as they were more important.
My monthly bill was around £20-28 a month which was how the £25 a month was figured at when I went onto the plan.
If the £25 was not enough,then why didn't the BT rep that arranged the plan with me over the phone suss that there & then,instead of roally screwing me over later on?.
Incompetant does not come into it!

EDIT;

Have just placed the switch order to Primus & E-Mailed BT's complaints dept with the letter above...We'll see what happens!

spike7451

RESULT !(I hope!)

I just got a call from Roshan at BT in response to Moocow1's letter template who asked me when I was leaving BT.I advised him that I had already placed the order with Primus,he then said no problem,Primus will contact BT who will cancel the account.
I asked Roshan if the will be any further charges with regards to the reminder (expires 3rd May) of the contract & he said no.BT will send me a final billfor charges up to the date of cancellation.

Hope it goes smoothly.we'll just have to see.

blairie

Well BT have surpassed themselves, they now want to charge me £105.50 per month for services that cost £18.28 for line rental plus unlimited anytime plan, £4.99 for International Freedom calls and £15.99 for Broadband. Now in my calculations that makes a grand total of £39.26, but BT reckons they have to charge me £66.24 per month extra.

I told you they can't count and are unable to charge correctly.

After a lot of angry arguments on my side I finally got a call back from a manager. She said "You do not have to worry, we will not charge you this". But seeing that they sent the letter, how can I trust them not to do so? Sadly, she could not or would not explain how it can be that I owed them money in December and put the phone down on me.

Brilliant customer service Anna from overseas. Well done, makes me feel much happier.

Blairie