BT Complaints & Escalation

Deaqon

Robbie,

The contact details in your profile link to a BT chat forum?

How can I get in touch with you?

Deaqon

jem16

Deaqon wrote: »

Robbie,

The contact details in your profile link to a BT chat forum?

How can I get in touch with you?

Deaqon

The Contact details are not to a forum. You should use the link to a web mail form in the About Me section of his profile. Follow the link below - wait a minute or so till the page shows completely.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

sandsni

I believe my mum has been overcharged by BT. I thought all BT paper bills were itemised on them now, but the most recent bill does not have any itemisation so we can check the numbers dialled against numbers she uses regularly. When she phoned the helpline yesterday the customer services rep said there was no way to send an itemised bill as the bill had already been issued and my mum would have to wait until her next bill. When my mum asked to speak to a supervisor, the rep changed her mind and said she would get the bill emailed within a couple of hours (as she had to get the right format to email). No email has arrived thus far. Reading a few posts on this thread I can see that is the standard lack of customer service from BT.

The website is almost impossible to negotiate to try and find either an answer or a way to contact the right people to actually get the problem sorted.

Why are customer service reps so reluctant to let a customer speak to a supervisor or someone with more knowledge and understanding of the problem?

Deaqon

Jem16,

Thanks for this.

I did this via BT's site about 3 weeks ago. We got a response and to sum it up BT couldn't understand why my parents expected a full refund??

They now say they are using this money to pay for my parents current service!! So some might feel that this is fair enough, I don't, however, and here's why: -

1. They are currently paying for said service via direct debit and have been for years!
2. The said service is NOT being provided! They are STILL unable to watch anything other than basic Freeview channels! Hence the reason for the desired change in the first place!
3. Since BT now 'claim' to be using this money to pay for their current service - I say 'claim' because they are still being billed via direct debit - it means they now have a credit on their account, meaning they cannot cancel their entire package and move to a different provider!

I will, however, attempt to contact them again via this method. I will post more if and when I receive a response.

**A NOTE TO ANYONE CONSIDERING MOVING TO BT!!**
BE ABSOLUTELY SURE, BEFORE YOU PART WITH ANY MONEY, ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GETTING! ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY YOU WILL NOT GET IT BACK!!

Darlia_2

BT - the company that laughs at you, not with you, for sure. Copy of my email below sent tonight after weeks of hell with a screw up THEY made and are now charging ME for. I've posted it because I found it strangely reassuring to see it's not just me! And I thought that maybe adding to the body of evidence will some day mean that someone takes notice and sorts out BT once and for all. (Live in hope hey). By all means skip over if you don't want to see yet another catalogue of dire customer service, broken promises, unfair charges, infuriating phone calls, lack of response, rude operators etc

If you need me I'll be over here drinking red wine and calling SKY as their customer service has !!!!ed all over BT in this sorry saga.

"From:
To: warren.buckley@bt.com
Subject: FW: What would you do? Complaint re BT (lack of) service
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 17:28:53 +0000


Dear Mr Buckley,

I can, hand on heart, say that since the 29th August I have had what is possibly the worst customer service I have ever received, and it is your company I have to thank for this. Let me be clear, I am a robust woman, I can take a lot, I'm no emotional shrinking violet but my experiences with BT this last 6 weeks have literally left me reeling between blood curdling rage and impotent weeping. And that is not something I do easily.

For your reference, I have been given the following order numbers relating to this complaint: VOL 012 818056 93489 VOL 012 809911 36200 VOL 012 823576 19171 VOL 012 820573 48084


Please bear with me while I avail you of the arduous history of this case. We lost BT service entirely on 29th August 2013. We had not cancelled our package and assumed it was a fault on the line. Some days later following a chance conversation, we discovered that in actual fact our new neighbour had given our address to their supplier, SKY, and SKY had gone ahead and taken over our line. I rang BT who confirmed that our line had indeed been taken over. This was done WITHOUT our permission and WITHOUT notification by BT. (this was confirmed by an operator looking at our account history) I immediately queried why and made it clear I was not happy that this had happened and wanted our line and number restored. (I spoke to a number of people on different days – I did not make records then as I did not realise it would turn out to be such a tortuous process that may require me to keep evidence. )


It was confirmed that BT made an error & failed to inform us of the intention to take over the line- had this happened we could have identified the mistake and prevented it happening. We received no communication from BT about the possible take over of our line, no email and no phone call or letter. In itself, it is not a massive error, and you may wonder why I am bothering you with this, however, this is not the nub of the issue, the problem is what has happened since and the terrible customer service we have received, including the continued failure to rectify the error made by BT.



Over the following weeks I made numerous phone calls and requests to remedy the situation, was made promises that it would be sorted, that I would be called back and that I would not be without service for long. In those first few weeks I spoke to operators called Analisha, Andrew Clark, Danny as well as others whose names I did not record. I was put on hold a lot, I got cut off - a lot. In the conversation with either Andrew or Danny I BEGGED not to be put on hold as I had been cut off by other operators or put on hold for long periods of time. I had to explain the story time after time as no one seemed clear on what was happening and no one was able to say what was going on.


I stated that I wanted to make a complaint and was finally told that as recompense for the error our monthly charge would be reduced to £5.50 and our number reinstated. I was then contacted by a woman who said she was “handling my complaint” but I cannot recall her name and I have not heard from her since. She advised that service would be restored by 16th September.
On the 17th September I spoke to someone called Sandy, who confirmed the line was back with us and our number too. I had to point out that our number was not back with us at all- he confirmed he was putting an order in and within 24 hours it would be resolved. I again stated I wanted to make a complaint about what had happened – he advised he would raise one.
On the 20th September (our number still not restored) I received an email stating we had used 58 GB on our broadband against our 10 GB usage – IMPOSSIBLE! How on earth would we have done this WHEN WE HAD NO SERVICE FOR NEARLY 3 WEEKS??!!! Now, I'm not a member of MENSA but it doesn't take a genius to work out that something else may be going wrong here. What made this worse was the notification that we would be charged £50 for the privelege of not using a service. I absolutely knew it was not possible that we had used this. I just despaired.



We still did not have our old number back


So I rang BT again. It took me 4 days to build up to doing it. Seriously. And I'm the kind of woman who tackles things head on. On the 24th September I spoke to Serge, who said “You need to contact your previous provider to have your old number released”... YOU ARE MY PREVIOUS PROVIDER! I’m sure you can appreciate this was just utterly frustrating. Serge finally understood that as BT were my provider, they would resolve the number issue and he confirmed:
· He was sending a request for an investigation as I wished to make a complaint
· He would re order the number transfer request and that ...
· We had only got 5GB of useage against our account, not 58.
· He stated the charge would not stand.



He ended the call stating he would call me back the following week. I literally begged him to promise to call back as I was at my wits end and was already fed up of all the broken promises to resolve our situation, as well as the £50 charge for non existent and impossible usage. When I came off the phone I simply sobbed with frustration and anger.



He did not call back
The charge remained on our bill, which arrived 30th September.

On 30th September I rang again and spoke (no, to be fair, I shouted. I'm sure I can be forgiven this?) at someone called Nikhat.
She again confirmed the following:
· There had been no useage of our broadband since the 29th August.
· There was an error in the billing
· The offline team would investigate the case
· She would arrange with the billing department to have the £50 charge removed (VOL 012 8235761 9171)
· A complaint would be raised (VOL 012 820573 48084) and I would be contacted within 48 hours.


As of 7th October NO ONE HAD CALLED ME BACK AND OUR NUMBER IS STILL NOT TRANSFERRED! I kid you not. I will assume our complaint has been ignored.



So, I cancelled our Direct Debit as I absolutely refuse to pay for a service I did not receive or to pay a charge for a service that was physically impossible for me to use being as I had no BT connection. I am absolutely fine with paying for services I do receive and am happy to receive a bill for those.



Lo and behold, I received a phone call today - from a very impatient woman who failed to identify herself and who talked over me to tell me I would be cut off if I didn’t pay. I have NEVER said I would not pay my bill, I simply will not pay for a service I have not received. I tried to explain that I was disputing the charge and needed it resolved but she literally put the phone down on me. Now, I know I probably came across as irritated, frustrated, curt etc but the fact is she didn't even try to let me explain. In my job, people come in angry all the time, shouting, abusive, physically intimidating - I know it isn't personal, and I know how to difuse the situation. Maybe your call centre staff could do with this kind of training. Talking over someone and then putting the phone down ain't the way to do it!



So, I am left with a threat of being cut off, unclear status of the charges, no reinstated number, no one has called me regarding the complaint, no one has followed up on the fact that our internet charges seem completely out of line with what we are actually using, no apology and I am at the end of my tether.



I'm sure you can understand why I am utterly appalled at the level of customer service I have received and why I will now be taking this complaint to the Ombudsman as I have tried, and failed, to have it resolved through BT’s official channel. I have stated 3 times on the phone that I wish to make a complaint it has not been resolved. We were without service for nearly 3 weeks and the promises of restoration of our number have not been acted upon. Would you pay for this kind of service? Or would you vote with your feet & jump to another provider? "

thefury1971

I moved to a rented property at the beginning of last month and decided to get broadband. I went for BT broadband, i only had it active for two weeks when i found out the property i was renting was not able to rent so i moved back to my previous address. I have sky broadband at my previous address so no need for BT broadband. I called and asked to cancel but was told it would cost me £315. I signed via online and do not know about a cooling off period or if there is any. I set up a direct debit for the BT broadband. Where can i go from here?

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but i am new to this,
thanks for any help.

createbeauty

So BT have screwed us over.

We took out their infinity broadband and telephone service in July, which was installed in August. We were told it's a direct debit taken on the same day each month. First direct debit was taken on 19 August. Second direct debit was taken on 16 September. Third direct debit was taken on 11 October sending us past our overdraft limit. My husband rang this morning and spent a very long time trying to get this sorted and all we got out of it was the same run-around of, "It's already in process, you have to write in."

Am I missing something here? Is that even legal to take money from direct debit less than 28 days from the previous direct debit? We're within our rights to suspend the direct debit aren't we?

We've had Virgin Media, Sky, and Talk Talk and just like every other direct debit we ever set up, the payment was taken on the exact date each month, such as the 14th of a month (obviously allowing for the weekends/holidays).

Do any of my comping friends have any experience or advice? Looks like we're going to be without broadband for a while.

jem16

createbeauty wrote: »

So BT have screwed us over.

We took out their infinity broadband and telephone service in July, which was installed in August. We were told it's a direct debit taken on the same day each month. First direct debit was taken on 19 August. Second direct debit was taken on 16 September. Third direct debit was taken on 11 October sending us past our overdraft limit.

Each time a bill would be due, BT usually send you notification either by email if you have online bills or by post otherwise. What did your bill say about when the direct debit would be taken?

Am I missing something here? Is that even legal to take money from direct debit less than 28 days from the previous direct debit?

There's no rule about how often a direct debit should be taken as far as I know. Direct Debits can be set up monthly, quarterly, annually and even fortnightly.

We're within our rights to suspend the direct debit aren't we?

If it's been taken without due notification or for the wrong amount, you can use the Direct debit guarantee to get it back. However I wouldn't just cancel the Direct Debit as that will affect your credit rating if they try to take payment and can't.

We've had Virgin Media, Sky, and Talk Talk and just like every other direct debit we ever set up, the payment was taken on the exact date each month, such as the 14th of a month (obviously allowing for the weekends/holidays).

Do any of my comping friends have any experience or advice? Looks like we're going to be without broadband for a while.

First one or two payments often end up slightly out of sync until the normal billing date kicks in. Nothing really unexpected.

However you should have been told when the direct debit would be taken with each bill.

danmanchester

createbeauty wrote: »

So BT have screwed us over.

We took out their infinity broadband and telephone service in July, which was installed in August. We were told it's a direct debit taken on the same day each month. First direct debit was taken on 19 August. Second direct debit was taken on 16 September. Third direct debit was taken on 11 October sending us past our overdraft limit. My husband rang this morning and spent a very long time trying to get this sorted and all we got out of it was the same run-around of, "It's already in process, you have to write in."

Am I missing something here? Is that even legal to take money from direct debit less than 28 days from the previous direct debit? We're within our rights to suspend the direct debit aren't we?

We've had Virgin Media, Sky, and Talk Talk and just like every other direct debit we ever set up, the payment was taken on the exact date each month, such as the 14th of a month (obviously allowing for the weekends/holidays).

Do any of my comping friends have any experience or advice? Looks like we're going to be without broadband for a while.

I was stung by this exact same thing on Thursday. Been on Infinity 2 since May 2012 and every bill taken on the 16th of the month, until this month when it was taken on the 10th - leaving me overdrawn for the first time ever with HSBC. Furious :mad:

Phoned up BT to find out what was going on couldn't really get much sense out of the guy other than "you would have been informed in your email bill that we changed the notice period from 14 days to 8 days and anyway your bill is due on the 2nd of each month...blah blah..."

I was not happy with this and made this very clear at which point he actually told me to call my bank and invoke the direct debit guarantee indemnity ...which I did. HSBC were very helpful, and immediately reversed the transaction and cancelled any charge that would have been applied.

Then I got back on the phone to BT to cancel my service. They didn't even try and make any offer to keep me as a customer (which is all too common the arrogance of them in this thread shows) and eventually got my cease date of 18th Oct.

Then after going on comparison websites and looking around I thought I'd go with Plusnet ( a BT owned company lol) on their "normal" 16mb broadband & phone package. Anyway, not possible since my line is fibre enabled....I have to have fibre so took this option. Exactly same speed as BT Infinity 2 but for £12.99 a month for 9 months (then £19.99 - a big saving on BT price of £26 (£27.67 in Jan) and line rental of £14.50.

thefury1971

I moved to a rented property at the beginning of last month and decided to get broadband. I went for BT broadband, i only had it active for two weeks when i found out the property i was renting was not able to rent so i moved back to my previous address. I have sky broadband at my previous address so no need for BT broadband. I called and asked to cancel but was told it would cost me £315. I signed via online and do not know about a cooling off period or if there is any. I set up a direct debit for the BT broadband. Where can i go from here?

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but i am new to this,
thanks for any help.