BT Complaints & Escalation

adzaz4

Got to agree with al the comments about the appalling service from BT. Instigated a home move in April, earliest appointment 13th May. Took the day off and waited.......and waited and waited. No one turned up. Called BT (not easy to get through to where you need to) Anyway to cut a long story short, phone calls missed appointments, calls to BT (UK and India) we still have no service. I've today decided to call it a day (no service no contract), after taking payment for a service I do not have, another changed appointment and shockingly bad customer service, welcome Sky who so far appear to value their custmers

Armchairfan

I'm joining the unhappy band. Attracted by a large discount on BT broadband and living in a rural area with no LLU, I bit the bullet. Kit delivered on time but no message from BT to say service activated. I tested the hub and hey presto, working broadband. My previous supplier (Madasafish with years of good service) switched off of course. Now that doesn't sound too bad except that the account itself wasn't activated, so no email, couldn't download the free security software and couldn't make use of the hotspots. I've now phoned twice and sent 2 emails with no resolution. What a shower!!

dantheman1975

BT_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Andrew,

Could you send in your details and we'll get back to you? You can find our contact link by clicking on my profile.

Thanks,

Stephanie

Whilst I appreciate BT reps wouldn't be able to publish account numbers or personal details of accounts, why do they always try and deal with matters on here 'offline'. The fact that people have had resort to seeking advice on here only goes to show the level of ineptitude of BT's customer services. If someone posts a problems on here, at least have the courage to deal with in the same public forum the customer had to resort to.

bullshot

What has happened to BT? they are liars and cheats .... I have been with BT since 2007 and have always had Anytime Calls , as I rarely make calls in the evening but make lots during the day.
I phoned on Friday 31st of May to change my Broadband from 40 mg to Unlimited and inquire about the Sports Package.I was told this was FOC and that to increase Broadband would go up from £10.65 to £16. The male person I was speaking to told me about the SmartTalk app and told me this would be so useful to me as calls using my mobile would be re-routed to my own phone , and as I had Anytime Calls , these calls would be included.I could not get the App to work properly , so called for help.I got through to the call centre in India and had to switch off my mobile and try again and was then asked to dial a number to see if it worked , it didn't appear to, so she went off the line and came back and asked me to dial my own number, this wen to voicemail , as I was using the phone, so she suggested I tried dialling another number...did this a few time and it appeared to be working.I decided to check my bill this morning to ensure this use was working correctly and these calls were part of my calling plan....Guess What? BT had removed my Anytime Calls plan, without telling me, and all calls I have made during the day and since and using the mobile to test it have been charged to my account.I phoned and told them they had removed it without my knowledge , as I have always had Anytime I asked , why would I change .I was told I had only had Anytime since Jan 2013.....she disputed that I have had it since 2007, I was so angry to be called a liar......then she put through to someone else.She told me she would resolove it for me.....by adding Anytime calls , now at £7 a month and not at £5.15 which is what I was paying.I told her that I rang on 31st only to add unlimited Broadband and not remove Anytime calls, and asked her to listen to the recording in which I was told my new package would be costing me £5 more , it is fact now costing £5.45 more for Broadband and £1.85 more for Anytime Calls ...not something I had agreed to.I asked to cancel the contract but was told I'm in it now until next June and as it was verbal there is no way out....their verbal information was misleading and false , not mine, yet I'm tied to it...I am furious.This was mis-selling, as there is no way I would have agreed to this.I was concerened about the Broadband cost increase, and had to think long and hard about it, so why would I willingly pay more for the call package??? If the correct information was given I would have held off until the present contract was due to be renewed in Jan 2014.I was told this morning there was nothing they could do, my verbal contract is binding.....is this how they are paying for the FREE Sports Package by ripping off existing customers? I insisted they must do something as I was going to take this further , and after a long wait listening to music I was eventually told they will refund the difference ' as a gesture of goodwill' in a one off payment.So financially I have the package I agreed to to, but it was definitely mis-sold to me and they have said there is no way out until the contract is up in 12 months time, when I will be leaving BT.I do not care how much more Broadband and calls will cost me with another provider BT do not deserve mine or anyone elses business.

unhappy_bt_customer

Sadly, I get the feeling that BT lacks both honesty and integrity. For there has been a complete lack of either from BT in my recent dealings with them.

As I detailed in my previous post, I have already made a formal complaint against BT to Ofcom and the OFT. Not that BT cares. I have been a BT customer for the last 25 years. But, over the past 6 months BT has treated me in a absolutely disgraceful manner. Not surprisingly, I will also become an ex-customer later in the year when the contract BT mis-sold to me comes to an end.

I will end up paying 114% of the advertised price of BT broadband and BT Vision. This despite the fact I have never used BT Vision because it never worked as described by BT or in accordance to the contract. Despite my complaints to BT, BT’s customer service staff have done absolutely NOTHING to resolve the matter. Hence the reason for my formal complaints.

I have now made a formal complaint against BT to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). I have supplied the ASA with a copy of the advert that BT supplied to me, BT Vision screen shots and considerable additional evidence.

To summarise my complaint to the ASA:-

BT advertised:-

.Broadband free for 6 months
.Unlimited broadband
.BT Vision activation charge of £40
.Failed to mention additional charges and subscriptions would be required to watch catch-up TV using BT Vision

BT delivered:-

.No free broadband
.Broadband limited to 10Gb per month. With an additional £5 per month required for unlimited broadband.
.BT Vision activation charge of £49
.Additional charges and subscriptions required to watch catch up TV using BT Vision

BT described BT Vision Essential package:-

.ITV Player included
.4OD included
.Demand 5 included

BT delivered BT Vision Essential package:-

.ITV Player required additional rental fee
.4OD required an additional subscription
.Demand 5 required an additional subscription

SAVVYSHOPPER

Could the BT rep that posts on here please help me as I am having no success in resolving my problem on the phone.

Ordered BT Broadbank to be installed at my flat. Morning of engineers visit I get a call from the engineer to let me know when he will be arriving and checking my address. He had the address down as Flat 23 and I live at Flat 33. All the paperwork and the router went to the wrong flat address! He obviously came to the right flat number but was unable to sort out the line and said it would be connected that evening or early next morning - it wasn't - didn't happen for about 5 days later and broadband wasn't working obviously either. Went to extra expense buying a phone (wasn't going to use it as a phone - simply for broadband) Still cannot get any of the paperwork sent to my actual address - it has all gone to Flat 23 Broadband now working but would like contract etc Please help

Thank you Savvyshopper

EricaR

I know what everyone means about BT's customer service. Absolutely awful!
I'm hoping that the BT rep here will help me because I'm not sure of where else to turn other than a regulatory agency.
My issue is this: when my partner and I moved in to our flat he signed up to BT for Phone and Broadband in person at a kiosk in town. We were told we would be billed quarterly and pay (roughly) £20 per month, which we were- these payments were coming from my partner's bank account.
We eventually changed the payments to our joint account.
Recently I noticed that we had two BT payments coming from our account. One payment for (roughly) £20 per month and one for (roughly) £60 per quarter. I say roughly because it seemed to start at this amount but as prices went up, so did our payments.
This appears to my partner and I that we are being billed twice.
Because one payment came out monthly at the beginning of the month and the other quarterly in the middle of the month, they went undetected for quite a while.
I phoned BT a couple of weeks ago and spoke to a man who advised we had two accounts running (which we do- it turns out we have two different account numbers- even though we have never set up a second account). He told us the account that was longest running (since we moved in to our flat) was for broadband only. The second account was for phone and was set up at a later date. He wouldn't accept the fact that we have had access to phone and broadband since we moved in.
Unfortunately, he was of no help. He told me he'd logged a complaint for me (the second person I spoke to confirmed that he actually didn't), he also told me someone would look in to our account history and phone us back in 48 hours - although I waited in, no one phoned.
The second person I spoke to confirmed what the first said and was just as unhelpful.
I also sent an email to BT (ref 130528-006878) last week with no response other than an automated one.
Neither could explain why we are (currently) paying £34.50 per month and £74.92 per quarter. Who pays £700 a year for phone and broadband?? We could go to Sky and get tv included for loads cheaper!
I also contacted one of your online chat people this evening. I was kept online with the operator advising that they were looking in to my query. They disconnected me 5 minutes before closing time, having said nothing more than 'let me check'.

I want a complete history of my account/s.
I want to know when this second account came in to being.
I want to know what authorisation BT had to open up a second account (because we didn't do it)
I want to know how BT got authorisation to use our bank details for a second account.
I want confirmation of the fact we have been overpaying and I want a refund of the overpayments.

To me, this looks potentially fraudulent and I would like a satisfactory resolution to it without having to take things further.

Please help me!

Erica

AndyArmstrong

Well, I did come to MoneySavingExpert Forums hoping that I would at least get a response to my problems. After submitting my details well over a week ago now I am yet to hear anything from BT.

Although I am well aware that the turn around times on anything but ringing up (which is horrible waste of time, as in my experience all the representatives do is lie to you) are quite long - I still would have hoped to hear something by now.

I really do hope people are wrong and BT aren't just fobbing people off on here.

VXDunc

AndyArmstrong wrote: »

Hi,
"Order 1:

We placed this order on Thursday the 15th of November 2013. We paid the line rental, a charge of £129.00, and the delivery for the router, £6.95, up front.

When we received the order confirmation, we were shocked by the installation date given. Nearly eight weeks away, on the 8th of January. We thought this must be a mistake at first and decided to call customer services.

We contacted yourselves the next day to enquire as to whether this waiting period was correct, or if it could be reduced, only to be abruptly and rather rudely informed that the instillation date was indeed correct and that if we wanted the equipment to be installed at an earlier time, we should cancel the order and go with another service provider. Naively, perhaps somewhat to do with the woman's rather rude manor, we decided that cancelling our order was the best option.

The order was cancelled and we were told we would receive a full refund for both the line rental and the delivery charge.

After only a short time shopping around we quickly realized that we had been misled by your representative. As all broadband companies use BT's engineers to set up the phone line, the wait would always be the same!

The problems with this cancelled order continued. Between my partner and I, we made over a dozen calls to your customer services department chasing our refund. We were assured every time we called that it would just take “3-5 days” and the full refund would be with us. We always waited the “3-5 days” and there was never any refund made. I would call back on the 5th day, only to be given various excuses. This went on for over two months. We were finally given a refund on 24th January.

Unfortunately the issue did not end there.

The refund of £129.00 that we received only covered the line rental, not the delivery charge! I am still chasing a refund of £6.95 for the delivery charge at the date of this letter. (Still chasing as I'm posting this now).

Andrew

All I can say is that you have done well getting the £129.00 refund.

I placed an order on the 23rd March 2013, which I subsequently cancelled on the 24th March 2013.

I paid for twelve months line rental in advance and ordered a cordless handset, the total being £170.94.

I have phoned at least six times, and I am getting nowhere regarding the refund.

The customer services are useless.

I have sent a message to the BT representative, but not yet had any response.

BT_company_representative

Hi Guys

If you have already sent an email but have had no reply please send a follow up quoting the previous ref number and we can chase this up for you.

Thanks

Stuart