BT Over charging me?

akorange

Hi there,

Recently I had a look at my direct debits and I have BT Internet and a phone line. I was paying 38 pounds for a few months just for BT (I thought 38 pounds was quite a lot for internet and a phone line I hardly use).. So anyway, in Feb BT charged me 60.50.. I called them up and they said they were increased the amount automatically. But then they said we can change it to 40 pounds monthly and to call the bank and claim Indemnity from them for the £60.50.

So, March comes along and they charged me £60.50 again! I called them up again after being on hold for 20 minutes and they said don't worry we will change it back to £40 and we will credit you back in the next months bill. However I was wondering if I can claim Indemnity again because they promised me that they wouldn't charge the amount again but they did. I don't think they have because on the online account it says its still charging the 60 quid. Any advice would be appreciated.

opinions4u

Yes, you can use the direct debit guarantee again.

But you still need to ask them to sort it out.

pcombo

what on earth is costing £38.

you are being ripped of badly. I would either get them to take your package down to atleast £25 a month which is quite standard now. or move supplier.

System

In principle, if you tell your bank that a direct debit has been wrongly taken, your bank must give you an immediate, no questions asked, refund under the direct debit guarantee. The use of the term 'indemnity' is incorrect. The organisation taking the direct debits (in your case BT) has to give an indemnity, via its bankers, to repay your bank. This indemnity is nothing whatever to do with you. Unfortunately, many bank staff do not know, or pretend not to know, what the direct debit guarantee provides.
It's well worth reading this:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm
However, in practice, if you get your bank to reverse the latest payment, BT's dumb billing software will, like as not, slap on penalty charges, or get in some other muddle which it will take you months to sort out.
Get a mug of coffee, log on to your BT account, and make sure you understand what you are being charged for what, what payments BT has collected when, and what the current balance is on your account.
If you can afford to do so, consider paying a year's line rental up front ('line rental saver'). It's much cheaper. And switch to a broadband and minimum calls package (eg just weekends) that suits you. Then switch to real bills, not monthly fixed amounts.
Never waste time telephoning BT. The people in the call centres don't understand, and you have no record of what they say. If your first real bill is not correct, complain in writing. (Follow the links for complaints on BT's website.)

akorange

cheers for all the advice.. Yeah the £38 a month is a silly amount for unlimted broadband and only weekend calls! I don't even have BT Vision, I wouldn't mind paying so much if it had a TV service with it.. The contract ends soon and might be leaving the UK in a few months.. I'm not sure if I should stay with BT or move to someone like O2 have a month by month contract.

I will call the bank after the weekend and get my money back. BT claim thats the amount I need to pay on the website but I refuse to pay 60 quid for a service which isn't even that good.

JuicyJesus

akorange wrote: »

cheers for all the advice.. Yeah the £38 a month is a silly amount for unlimted broadband and only weekend calls! I don't even have BT Vision, I wouldn't mind paying so much if it had a TV service with it.. The contract ends soon and might be leaving the UK in a few months.. I'm not sure if I should stay with BT or move to someone like O2 have a month by month contract.

I will call the bank after the weekend and get my money back. BT claim thats the amount I need to pay on the website but I refuse to pay 60 quid for a service which isn't even that good.

BT are a rip off, not to mention completely incompetent. I switched to O2 and have been delighted with their service.

generaloneill

Theres recently been a price increase, and we are getting charged 54 quid a month inc VAT. They increased our DD to £74.00 and we phoned them up and said, simply we cannot afford this, and they changed it to £37.00 a month INC VAT!!!!!!
Only thing is they extended the contract by 12 months, so this may only work if you are on a rolling contract.


If you dont ask you dont get.

Now phone them up, and good luck.

ChiefGrasscutter

JuicyJesus wrote: »

BT are a rip off, not to mention completely incompetent. I switched to O2 and have been delighted with their service.

for an alternative view to maintain the balance....in terms of their fault mending time I've found BT very good.
On the two ocassions when my line failed it has been fixed the next day and while it was being done a free divert to my mobile was arranged. Those with landlines from third part suppliers seem to be off for up to a week before its mended.
The record time I recall was sometime around 2003 when BT was at my doorstep to fix the problem 2 hours after the call....though they did laugh and say it was only because for some reason mine was the only defect in the entire area and they had nothing else waiting.