BT disputed debt collection

algray

In June 2010, I contacted BT to cancel my landline as I was moving home. My flatmate was moving in sooner than me and therefore I couldn't simply transfer my line over to the new property. I gave them about 4/5 weeks notice and left the old property assuming everything was set to be disconnected, I also cancelled the Direct Debit after August's payment was taken out.

In December 2010 I was contacted by the Landlord of the old property to advise the line was still connected. I contacted BT and they couldn't find my account. I was told this was because my account had been disconnected.

A year later and I've received a letter from a debt collection agency, Advantis, collecting a debt on behalf of BT. BT claim that I moved from the old property without notifying them. They have no record of my call in June and therefore refuse to rescind the charges.

BT have admitted that I've been a long-standing, on-time paying customer, but refuse to accept their call handler might have made a mistake in June.

At no point did BT write to me by post or email about the debt, or the cancellation of my direct debit. I did maintain a Royal Mail redirect for 6 months and my account was serviced online - so an email would still have found me. They claim they did try to phone me... on the old landline. :T

BT are issuing me with a deadlock letter so that I can dispute it with Ofcom. What are my options in this situation where its my word against theirs?

Mark_In_Hampshire

BT not having records of customer calls, and/or failing to take action on them, is a recurrent theme on this board.

On the other hand, it's always wise to cancel in writing because of this, and not just that company. I seem to remember when I last cancelled a line that I got an email, then a letter, then possibly another email - that was Talk Talk, OneTel as was at that time. So I was kept informed and assured that the cancellation had taken effect.

This is one of those "balance of probability" things. If you have moved out of the house, cancelled everything else, and now live somewhere else, and have done for some time, and you have an alternate service at the new location, then on balance of probability you probably did try to cancel it since it (the ongoing previous service) would not have been of any use to you and logically you wouln't have wanted it left running.

I'd suggest you take that line

BT_company_representative

Hi Algray,

I can take a look at this for you. Please could you send me in your BT account details using the link found in my profile?

Thanks

Paddy,