BT problems unable to contact BTs complaints Dept

wapman

I renewed our BT line rental and broadband Package in December 2010 with BT which started a new 18 months contract for us. Then about 2 weeks ago I received an email from BT informing me that the price will be increasing from April and also the T&C's are changing.

The BT broadband package option 3 is already the most expensive on the market so I cant understand how BT can justify an increase in price again. Anyway the price increase is only 30p per month so not my main concern.

I work away from home only returning at weekends. BT have now changed their T&Cs so that they only need to give 6 days notice before taking payment from my account. I'm concerned that this will not give me sufficient time to ensure funds are available and could cause me to go overdrawn.

I called BT customers services and asked seeing has my contract was only 2 months old if my T&Cs would remain the same until the renewal date and I was told no. So I informed them that I wished to terminate my contract as this would leaves me at a material disadvantage.

I was told by customer services that I could cancel the line rental without any termination fee but not the Broadband ! How crazy is this as how will BT supply the broadband without an active line ? plus I'll still be paying for the broadband by direct debit so I'm still at a material disadvantage. When I explained this I was told tough and it would cost me £145 to terminate the broadband contract even thou its BT changing the contract!

BT informed me that they would get the complaints dept to call me, this was on Monday morning and they would call me back within 24hours. No call yet. I tried calling them again but could not get past customers services. I now have 3 reference numbers for my complaint but have not been able to speak to the complaints dept.

Can anybody recommend how I can get this resolved or is this the norm for BT and how they treat their customers?

Thanks
Chris.

closed

You can login to the BT website and see the cost of calls and date of next bill, so no reason to go overdrawn

wapman

I know I can but I signed up to a 18 months contract with BT based on their T&Cs what gives them the right to change them without giving me the option to opt out.

closed

Is 30p/month worth a big fight, you could probably save that in one call by using an override number. BT and everyone else are constantly changing their charges, it's the nature of the business

Heinz

wapman wrote: »

BT informed me that they would get the complaints dept to call me, this was on Monday morning and they would call me back within 24hours. No call yet. I tried calling them again but could not get past customers services. I now have 3 reference numbers for my complaint but have not been able to speak to the complaints dept.

Can anybody recommend how I can get this resolved or is this the norm for BT and how they treat their customers?

Try using http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950 (a web form).

wapman

Thanks for the link, Have completed that 3 times and have 3 reference numbers but no call back from BT complaints dept.

thanks
Chris.

BT_company_representative

Hi wapman

I have just seen your post about having e-mails me but I have checked and I have been unable to locate the forms that you have filled out and sent to us. You have mentioned that you have got reference numbers for these numbers for these so if you could PM me these I can look into this for you.

Regards David

Heinz

BT_company_representative wrote: »

You have mentioned that you have got reference numbers for these numbers for these so if you could PM me these I can look into this for you.

Regards David

Doh!

Company representatives are not allowed to receive or send PMs David.

wapman

Hi David unable to PM you so here are my reference numbers are-

110226-002345
110228-004450
110301-011970

Hope you can access our details from this information as we have completed the web based form 3 times with no reply.

Look forward to a reply.

Chris.

Mark_In_Hampshire

wapman wrote: »

I renewed our BT line rental and broadband Package in December 2010 with BT which started a new 18 months contract for us. Then about 2 weeks ago I received an email from BT informing me that the price will be increasing from April and also the T&C's are changing.

The BT broadband package option 3 is already the most expensive on the market so I cant understand how BT can justify an increase in price again. Anyway the price increase is only 30p per month so not my main concern.

Unless explicitly made clear in the Ts & Cs that a price increase was pending or permitted, you can disagree with this increase, effectively voiding the line rental contract.

The technicality is - is the broadband the same contract, or not. In theory they are separate contracts. So in theory again you could move your line rental and keep your BT Broadband to term.

wapman wrote: »

I work away from home only returning at weekends. BT have now changed their T&Cs so that they only need to give 6 days notice before taking payment from my account. I'm concerned that this will not give me sufficient time to ensure funds are available and could cause me to go overdrawn.

BT have never needed to give you any particular notice of the amount to be debited before it is debited. The direct debit mandate form says "up to 10 days", which is meaningless. If it now says "up to 6 days" it remains as meaningless as it was, with the same level of minimum notification: none prescribed.

tfc

closed wrote: »

You can login to the BT website and see the cost of calls and date of next bill, so no reason to go overdrawn

Oh No you can't.

The site displays the message "We're sorry but, due to technical constraints we can't display your account details on our web site. All your account details are safe and secure.
Our technical teams are working hard to resolve this and we apologies for any inconvenience, if you need your bill details please contact an online advisor who will help with your query."

They are working so hard to resolve it that it has been out of use for more than a week.

If, by chance, you happen to be attempting to use the service because you are online billing, and they have just e-mailed you to tell you that your new online bill is ready, then hard luck. If you follow the links they give you to go to the 'online' telephone based bill enquiry service, then brilliantly, they can only tell you the cost of the calls since your last bill i.e. the last bill that you want to see, but cannot.

What a shower!