BT Complaints & Escalation

bispet182

I have spent many years (and hours on the phone) complaining to BT about their service They were the only company we could use for many years but with competition they became more competitive and we returned to them a year ago (almost). Very stupidly I misunderstood the billing and cancelled before the end of the contract. I have to accept my error and so I lose the last month of my Line Rental Saver (no refund) and the Broadband for a month but I have also been charged £55.00 for the router which I neither needed nor wanted. The router is still sealed in the package it arrived in and BT are now asking me to send it back!

Lyptus

Have had a whole catalogue of errors by BT relating to closure of account when I switched to Plusnet following BT's price rises.
- incorrect charge for early termination
- billed for forward line rental & BB for the month after the termination date
- submitted direct debit to my bank despite it having been cancelled on BT instruction

Currently, 2.5 weeks after switch and after multiple phone calls, my online account shows a credit, but then large red warnings -"Bill Overdue ..... We will pass your bill to a debt collection agency..."

On the phone they insist they cannot manually intervene into the account to correct it. I actually owe them for the last month's calls, which I am happy to pay, but only when they correct the account

TWIGGR

Headline

BT Terrorise man with mental illness because of their own incompetence

Mr Twigg has been a loyal customer of BT for many years and used their service at a number of properties. In February 2018 Mr Twigg called BT to discuss moving home from current address to a new address. At the time of the call the following key facts were discussed and agreed.

1. The move date would be 16th March 2018 due to a separation between Mr Twigg and his partner.
2. The current service provided was BT Infinity 2 which was not available at the new property and so couldn!!!8217;t be used and as a result it was agreed that service would be terminated on the above account and a new contract and service based on BT Infinity 1 would be put in place for 17th March at new address.
3. BT separately agreed with the former partner for a new service to be put in place at the old address in her name from 16th March.
4. The first order placed by BT for the new service for Mr Twigg at his new address, was processed in error when they tried to start the service in February. This failed because there was already a service being provided at that time to a different tenant at the property.
5. Mr Twigg had to call BT and inform them that they had processed the new service incorrectly and so a new order was placed for service to commence as originally agreed for 17th March.
6. Mr Twigg moved into the property on 17th March as outlined right at the start of the process to find that no service had been activated.
7. Mr Twigg relies on broadband to operate a small business and was unable to make a business skype call on 18th.
8. A call was made to BT on 18th when it was identified that the second order had failed. Mr Twigg agreed to place yet another order provided service would be activated within 5 days.
9. An email was sent by BT informing Mr Twigg that the line would be activated at the end of March with no information on the Broadband service, despite BT being informed that he didn!!!8217;t use a BT line and needed Broadband urgently.
10. Mr Twigg then subsequently found that instead of terminating the contract at the old address, they instead transported the account to his new property, despite him being (1) unable to use the service and (2) created two separate accounts for him at his new property. One for the new service and one for the transported service in error.
11. Sensing a complete disarray of atrocious service, Mr Twigg cancelled the new order and cancelled the direct debit for the old account.
12. A complaint was made in this respect back in February which BT closed down without consulting Mr Twigg. Mr Twigg made a subsequent complaint on 18th March and made several calls to BT, the last one being recorded with someone at the Liverpool contact centre on 21st March at approx. 10am, for 45 minutes and still didn!!!8217;t get resolution. The call centre operative refused to escalate to the resolutions team.
13. BT attempted to deliver a home hub on 21st but this was returned to the post office because there was no one to receive it. For the record Mr Twigg has not taken delivery of any said router and would not refuse to accept it.
14. On 22nd March the credit control department called Mr Twigg chasing for payment on the old account due to them being alerted on the DD being cancelled. They are chasing payment for an account that should have been closed, not moved to a property where it cannot be offered.
15. This final call with Mr Twigg caused him to have a complete mental break down, panic attack and leave work. At every stage of communications with BT, Mr Twigg has made it very clear of his vulnerable status having suffered from depression for a number of years.
Mr Twigg was passed from pillar to post, never had recognition of a complaint, operatives were never focussed on owning the problem and were unaware of a complaint on the account or his vulnerable status. The customer journey is completely broken and BT has become a leviathan of poor service and aggressive tactics to pursue their own errors.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. ITS AN OPEN MARKET NOW AND BT WHILST TRYING TO KEEP A MONOPOLY CANNOT ANY LONGER RELY ON THAT. THEY ARE LIVING IN THE PAST.

mije1983

It may be prudent for Mr Twigg to remove his BT account number from a public forum.....

TWIGGR

Good advice - I will take that when i work out how to edit the post

Steve_Watters

I am having ongoing problems with BT, who have de-activated my email account which contains all of my holiday flights/hotels/shipping details. I travel in 2 weeks!! They are immensely incompetent, it seems they have no form of internal communication !! I have logged a complaint but nothing has happened since!!

JJ_Egan

If you have BT services like BB then use your BT Members Help page / Community Forum .

DebPat

I'd appreciate some advice on BT on behalf of my elderly father (in his 70s). He is a farmer, and has been paying for a BT phoneline for as long as he can remember. His bill is nearly £300 a quarter, and he can't understand why it is so much. He called BT recently to ask them about it, and they promised to look into it (I think), and he has heard nothing back. He told them he would just stop paying the bill and they threatened him with breach of contract. I'm unclear how he can be in a contract when he has been with them for decades and has never signed anything or had any forms in the post renewing his contract - surely they can't just hold him in a continual contract? He has no idea what to do next. I'm paying for a £10 a month giffgaff mobile for him and he hardly even uses his BT landline anymore, but is still stuck with a massive bill every quarter. How on earth can he get out of this? I can't complain on his behalf as I suspect BT will say I'm not the account holder. I've advised him to formally complain to them as that will then get logged and they will have to respond to it, but is there anything else he can do?

JJ_Egan

If you have BT services like BB then use your BT Members Help page / Community Forum .


Billing


Web based so do it on his behalf and also check account .

iniltous

DebPat wrote: »

I'd appreciate some advice on BT on behalf of my elderly father (in his 70s). He is a farmer, and has been paying for a BT phoneline for as long as he can remember. His bill is nearly £300 a quarter, and he can't understand why it is so much. He called BT recently to ask them about it, and they promised to look into it (I think), and he has heard nothing back. He told them he would just stop paying the bill and they threatened him with breach of contract. I'm unclear how he can be in a contract when he has been with them for decades and has never signed anything or had any forms in the post renewing his contract - surely they can't just hold him in a continual contract? He has no idea what to do next. I'm paying for a £10 a month giffgaff mobile for him and he hardly even uses his BT landline anymore, but is still stuck with a massive bill every quarter. How on earth can he get out of this? I can't complain on his behalf as I suspect BT will say I'm not the account holder. I've advised him to formally complain to them as that will then get logged and they will have to respond to it, but is there anything else he can do?

I suppose the first thing to do is look at the bill, and see how the total of £300 is arrived at, if he is a farmer, is this a business line or a residential line ?, is it just a phone service or phone and broadband ? , if it's a standard residential line its difficult to see how , even if paying full price, a total of around £100 a month can be reached, unless he pays for each individual call , and makes a lot of them, in which case some sort of inclusive calls package would have been a better choice, but if it's the case that he could have been on a more suitable call plan, unfortunately it's the customers responsibility to pick the correct plan, not the phone company.
Without any of this type of information , it's not easy to offer any constructive advice.

If it is a residential line, and outside of any minimum term , then you could (or he could) just contact another CP (communication provider) and get them to takeover the service, that can be accomplished without even speaking to the old provider, but with the proviso's of not being a business line and being outside any minimum commitment, in case of any penalty to leave.

Threatening to just stop paying isn't a good idea and would be a breach of contract, he may be outside any minimum term but still has a contract that needs to be terminated correctly, either by ceasing the service completely or migrating to another provider, not paying is never a good decision, if your credit rating is important, and you want to avoid the possibly of debit recovery firms chasing you for the debt.