BT Complaints & Escalation

Bermondseybelle

Can anyone help going round in circles my poor parents
On behalf of my parents they moved property and were sold at the time of moving their phone line bt vision package.
The engineer did not arrive on day allocated to set both phone line and bt vision up.
Phoned customer services - easier said than done, took over 4 different phone calls that day to get another engineer booked to come the following day - at no point did anyone apologise or Give explanation why the engineer had failed to arrive for the original appointment.

When engineer came the following day line wasn't connected properly and required extensive work by the engineer at both the property and the exchange.

At this point before the line and bt vision service were in Operation at my parents address the engineer told us we would need a viewing card at additional cost to access bt vision on a television. They then decided to cancel the bt vision order as it had not been Installed nor was operational and would not be free to watch on the tv as it had been sold to them over the telephone.

Cue 4/5 hours on the phone to customer services trying to get this done to be told by one department of course this would be no problem and then by another the cancellation charge would run into hundreds of pounds as the service had already started

They then spoke to a supervisor (english guy in call centre) who advised that they could 'terminate' the bt vision subscription for them at a cost of £30.

Although absolutely livid that the service had not even been Installed or started at the property due to the line issues They agreed to this charge just to get the affirmation the bt vision service would be cancelled. After 2 days of virtually non stop phone calls to Bt their stress levels were through the roof and paying the ridiculous charge this would help to resolve the matter

So the agent then goes and cancels the subscription advises of £30 charge , return equipment etc (which had never been opened or out of the box) and input the phone Down thinking great all sorted

They then received an email advising the cancellation of service and the estimated charges to be over £200 - They Immediately called back the call centre and after another 40 minutes of waiting spoke to an advisor in Asia who advised Them not to worry about this email and
There is a note on the account and they cannot adjust the bill until it is issued and generated. Once the bill comes In call us and we will adjust the bill for you to reflect the £30 cancellation charge.

So fast forward to today and My parents have just received a bill for over £200 in relation to cancelling the subscription they never really had. They have phoned tonight and the advisor has said who did you speak to as no note on the account. They will have to speak to a supervisor and come back to them within 5 days. This is absolutely disgusting on BT's part.

All this hassle , worry and heartbreak over a service they never had and poor customer service that have failed them at very turn

Not only have they had this debarcle to deal with during a house move, they are currently nursing my mothers 92 year old father through a very aggressive terminal illness which has forced them to both give up work to nurse him and they are having to deal with this shocking abborhant treatment by BT

I am urging whoever is reading this to please take it upon yourself to get this matter resolved for my parents, they have enough worry and stress in their lives at present nor have the time or energy needed to keep going round in circles to get this bill sorted out and Corrected.

BT_company_representative

Hi jdparry1978 and Bermondseybelle,

I can help with these problems. Drop me an email with the details. Contact info in my profile.

Cheers

David

dulcieb

Well I thought I should update anyone that while BT have promised me everything that I'd asked for, two weeks later there's no evidence of it on the account. If I go back via call centres they just start parroting their usual sales lines. While some staff have understood and made promises, this hasn't been followed through and they're just making matters worse.

One way of getting (potentially) better treatment is to keep demanding EXTRA compensation. That means that they lose out rather than simply chugging along slowly resolving things. And they should do so if they're to learn. Several of their staff have agreed with me about this.

A bit sadly, emailing the chief executive and the chairman to ask for a reply does seem to get a response (even if not then followed through). That's a sign of an appalling internal culture in which staff take note of what's prioritised from above rather than any account of external customer commitments.

It's so bad that it's almost compelling.

System

Bt have taken my 28th of September direct debit today, the 23rd....

I can see online that my bill was generated on the 14th, as usual, and the payment was due to come out on the 22nd September, when my payment date has been the 28th for the last 3 years, despite this not adhering them to the terms of the direct debit agreement by giving 10 working days notice of any changes to the date.

I have called and been advised that this is a 'one off' system error, and credited £30 for overdraft fees (;)) but I feel that this isn't a one off, especially as people on twitter seem to have had the same problem!

Parakkrama

Hi All,

After going through hard time with BT today I got bill for £273 for an Order I have already Cancelled and not provided to me at all. Thought of asking for some help to get this resolved.

I was with BT (BroadBnd,TV,Phone) and in 1st of July I informed them about my house move which was scheduled for 19th. They did house move order (new one) and scheduled an engineer for 22nd of July. Engineer came on 22nd and search for BT box at my place and told that there is NO BT connection so they would have to dig and put a underground line. I asked him to mark it as urgent since I work from home some times and it is urgent to have Broad Band. I called BT customer services on next day and someone from India answered and said Issue with my house has been noted and survey has to happened and then they will do the digging and give me connection before end of the week.
No update and nothing happening I called BT several time on 25th Thursday and they sent back another reengineer who searched my house for connection again.
This cycle went through next week also and I had visit form 6 BT engineers who came to search for connection point at my house. I had to make numerous number of calls to customer service and all call centre people from India was utterly useless. Couple of time I was even told that connection has been already done to my house including digging where I was left speechless..
I made official complain in BT 130729-004786 but I was not contacted and nothing happened. Then on 31st One lady from UK said that now my case is handled by Special team and gave me some number with pin code and informed me that I can access my case directly. This was complete lie and this number will take you back to the customer services and again was put to India call center N number of times.
Then on 1st of august they said they cannot give me any update until 10th of august. I was really shocked and called back BT again on 2nd and this time they said that digging would be done by a third party so they cannot give me any promises and next update of my case will only on 21st of august.
That was the tipping point for me since I would have to wait another 20 more days just to get an update what was going to happen and even then there was no promise date of connection.
I called and asked them to cancel the order and this took almost 3 hours and finally a lady form UK said they would cancel the order but I have to pay cancellation for my earlier contract with BT.
Then I went for another provider very swiftly.
I got one final bill form BT asking for £15 and I thought there is no point of fighting for this and paid that.
BUT today I received another bill for £273.94 for cancellation and this seems to be the cancellation charge for my new house order which was not provided to me at all. This is big sum of money and will cause my difficulty for sure.
Whom should I go for this to get resolved ? BT? I made call the again to them after trying to explain for 30 minutes I figured out there is no point of talking to those call centre people. Should I go for a solicitor?


Really frustrate and feeling helpless.

Para

unsureandconfused

katykicker wrote: »

Bt have taken my 28th of September direct debit today, the 23rd....

I can see online that my bill was generated on the 14th, as usual, and the payment was due to come out on the 22nd September, when my payment date has been the 28th for the last 3 years, despite this not adhering them to the terms of the direct debit agreement by giving 10 working days notice of any changes to the date.

I have called and been advised that this is a 'one off' system error, and credited £30 for overdraft fees (;)) but I feel that this isn't a one off, especially as people on twitter seem to have had the same problem!

The exact same thing has happened to me and I have spent all day on the phone to BT!!!!

They also took a 'one off payment' from my bank account for the sum of £30 !!!

When I called billing and asked why my dd was taken early - not 28th or after if its a weekend - I was told ' I don't know' so I pushed the point to be told again 'I don't know'. I then asked about the £30 I had been charged one off payment and was told that this was an error by BT so I asked for that amount to be paid back into my bank account. I was told that she couldn't do that and would put it as a credit to my next month's bill. I told her that I was going to incur fines with the bank because they took money which they are not entitled to and I wanted my money back. She said it was physically impossible to refund any money to any bank account but I could go to my bank and ask for an indemnity. I had no clue what this was so called the bank. They explained it to me and agreed that the date the money was taken was in breach of the direct debit guarantee and that the £30 error should have been immediately paid back to my bank account. My bank paid the entire bill amount into my account through indemnity claim and advised that they cancel my DD immediately. This I did and was told to contact BT billing to inform them.

Got through to billing finally to be told before I could say anything that there is a £30 credit on my account and would I like it to be paid over to my bank account. I told her that her colleague told me this could never be done so I was told I must have misheard her. I said that she told me I could go to my bank and ask about indemnity which I had never heard of and this I have just done and am now informing you that the complete amount has been paid back to my account by my bank and my dd has been cancelled. She said 'oh' and 'right' a lot but I got no answers. I have raised a complaint and wish to terminate my contract which I have only had for 2 months due to being lied to constantly about the package, being mis sold the package - was told we could access youtube through youview, watch the Ashes cricket on bt sport and ALL premiership football - all of which is lies, by their misappropriation of funds from my bank account and for breaching the dd guarantee.

Looking through all the other nightmares on this forum, I have also just sent an email to Livingston giving him the whole saga and informing him that I have been lied to so much that i have no reason to believe anyone will contact me re my complaint so am coming to him.

At one point weeks ago, I was actually told that they had raised a complaint for me and I would be contacted in due course but of course I was not contacted. When I spoke to Customer Options team, they informed me that not only had no complaint been raised, but that I had not spoken to a single person in that department, despite me making 4 calls to them in one day!!!

billsavings

Mr Livingstone is on his way out in next few days

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/430989/Farewell-reward-for-BT-boss

unsureandconfused

Yes you are right. I got an automated reply from Livingston's office stating he no longer holds his position but that his office is watching his emails and dealing with anything there and that his email address will cease to exist from November

BT_company_representative

Hi Para and unsureandconfused,

I would like to take a look at the details of your complaint. Please could you send me in your details using the link found in my profile?

Thanks

Paddy

unsureandconfused

Paddy,

Thanks for the offer but following my email last night to Livingston who is now not with BT, I had a call from the Chairman's office earlier today. The person I spoke to agreed that I can leave BT with no penalty charges for breaking contract and my final bill is to be wiped. He agreed that I was mis sold the package and agreed that I have experienced a nightmare from beginning to end.