BT being difficult or us being stupid?

helenut

My mum and dad recently got divorced and my dad moved out of our family home. We had a BT phone and broadband package but it was under my dad's name and although my mum is paying the bills, the letters still come addressed to my dad.

She called up BT to ask if the name on the account could be changed and they said no, she would have to open a new account. So she waited to the end of the BT contract and went shopping around for a new package possibly with someone else.

She decided she wanted to go with Tesco so she set up an account and called up BT to cancel, a few days later Tesco email saying that they cannot connect us as the line is blocked and we need to ask our current providor to unblock the line. My mum called BT the next day and they said the line is not blocked, but asked why she is changing to Tesco when they can offer her an unlimited deal which works out only 60p more expensive per month. She said no, she wants to change to Tesco. She calls up Tesco again to say the line should be ok now and they said they cancelled her account because the line was blocked and she would have to start again, so she did.

A few days later they email again saying that the line is still blocked and now she has two accounts open and they cannot process either as the line is still blocked. They also said it takes upto 3 weeks to set up and now theres only a week and a half until BT is cancelled (but when she originally tried to set up it was 3 weeks).

She decided to forget Tesco then and take up BT's offer of 60p more per month. As it turns out that was not including line rental, whereas Tescos was so it was actually more like £13 extra per month. She got fed up and just thought as long as BT is in my name - I don't care anymore. Plus she didn't want to be without phone and internet. She paid £120 upfront for the line rental and set up what she thought was a new account with BT. At the end of the phonecall she just wanted to triple check that the new account was now in her name and they said no it was still in his! She said she had told them on more than one occasion that she does not want it in his name and they said that she can't have the deal that has been offered if she wants to start a brand new account PLUS it has already been set up and paid for.

My mum ended the conversation majorly pee'd off and stuck in a 1 year contract deal that still is not in her name and seems to be more expensive than what she was paying before!

To anger her a little bit more BT texted my brother (who has the same name as my dad) thanking HIM for setting up the account. Noone knows how they got his number. My mum has been waiting for an email from BT confirming the account has been set up which has probably been sent to my dad's email.

She's very timid and not one for complaining but I'm saying she should! This is the first time she's had to set anything up like this before and now she's feeling very sorry for herself that she has done it wrong.

Just come on here to ask other peoples thoughts on the situation? And do we have a right to complain?

Hammyman

Firstly, she hasn't done anything wrong - BT have. I would phone yourself and get your mum to tell the customer services rep you are authorised to speak on her behalf and you try to sort it. Your mum sounds like my mother in law who gets quite flustered if a phone conversation with companies doesn't go as she had it planned in her mind.

User_name_6

If nothing else, they've set up a new account in your dad's name and cancelled an old account in his name... with no instruction from him as far as I can see.. sounds like data protection issues to me.

you absolutely have the right to complain - they've a) not done what you've asked for. a) misled you as to what their offer was c) your dad could complain on data protection grounds as I understand it.

BT_company_representative

Hi elenut

I have just seen your post and would like to look into this for you and your mother to see what has happened and try and get this sorted out for you. If you check out my profile section you will find my contact details.

Regards David

helenut

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about how my dad might feel - I don't think he even knows about it so won't be too happy to find out it's under his name!

Thanks David, I will contact through that link and see how it goes from there.