Help With BT

isamog

Hi,
I wonder if you can help my Husband & I.
We have been with BT for 4yrs, 2 yrs ago we switched to a contract for Home Phone & Broadband Unlimited all day calls, and Unlimited Broadband all for £28.00 a month, and I was told by a BT Customer service they added £2.50 for any calls made outside the unlimited..which sounded fine to me.

Well a year down the line, We check our bill on-line and see there is a debit on the account for £49, so I call up, they say they want to put up our payments to £45 a month, we ask why? as we have only had 2 calls that were extra over the year, which was £1 due to an 0844 number which I have now found a 01 number for, we asked how this could add £49 to our bill?, and we quite rightly said its BT putting there prices up..In the end, after looking at the bill, they said we had not notified them of our contract ending, so they did not add the discounts, We asked why I had to notify them? surely..they had to write to us...so they agreed to leave the payments at 30.50..I thought that was the end of it, it was there mistake......another year down the line..and I call BT to say our contract needs renewing, they said they did not have any offers for us, but the customer advisor said our bill was £45.51 in credit, so I waited till the end of the month October 2012, called again was told the same thing, and they was going to renew the contract at a Cost of £32.75..fine we thought..till a Bill arrived in the post for £80 in debit, by this time, we was not happy, so we called up, only to have somebody from BT Billing saying we should read its in Black and White, were in Debit..by this time we was not happy, and he..put the phone down on us, so We called back, to get a Lady, Lavanya, would said it was all sorted, she could see from our previous bills, we had not made any extra calls or added to the bill, so said our payments would stay at £30.50, we asked again, would this go up in Jan 2013, to reflect BT price increase? which is fine, she said yes, we also asked was the £80 debit now gone? she said yes, as the discounts had been added to the account, so we asked for an email to be sent to confirm this..she said she would do it, No email to date..We call up yesterday spoke to a Harvey who again implied we was wrong,.. this bill had been going up and up over the two years, and we said Yes, because of BT's price rise, and BT not increasing our payments to match...he keep on repeating he had explained everything, and we are in debit.but did say BT should of increased its payments to reflect the price increase...so what do we do? We have called Trading standards, they said to write a letter Holding them in breach of contract...We are sorry for such a long forum..but we really don't know what to do now..any help would be much appreciated. xx

macman

Why not switch to whole bill monthly DD and avoid the £2.50 surcharge?

isamog

The added 2.50 was to cover any extra calls. We have made over the two years around £2 worth of extra calls..so the surcharge would of covered it. I have asked re this whole Bill monthly, but they keep insisting we have to pay the debit..which we have not made, its BT and there price hike.

Do you think we should write a letter?

Thank you for your time so far. Much appreciated.

macman

No, the £2.50 surcharge is for payment by any other means than DD.

isamog

Do I have a Leg to stand on then? When BT Have put there prices up, and not adjusted our bills..that is what I am trying to say to them..we have not made the extra charges..they have.

Thank you once again.

macman

It's not a fixed price contract. BT should have adjusted your DD to cover any price increases, but if they did not then then the debt is still owed.
I'd pay it off by a one-off debit or credit card payment, and then switch to whole bill monthly DD payment. That way you avoid the non-DD surcharge, and you cannot build any debt or credit.

isamog

Ok Thank you, that's what I wanted to know, BT should of adjusted our DD to cover any price, so they are in the wrong, But we would have to pay the debit? Dose not seem right..still..what can we do.
I think what we are going to do now, is to pay it off, and leave BT. We have had enough.

Thank you for your help.

macman

Yes, you have to pay for what you have contracted to, even if they have failed to adjust it.
In the meantime you have had interest free credit, so why complain?
By all means leave if you are out of minimum term.
PS: your contract doesn't 'end', it continues on the same terms until you give notice.

isamog

You know how BT works..by the sounds of things, we did not..that's why we came on here for advice..and to complain.

macman

My point is that you have suffered no loss.

isamog

Well..we have sorted it now.
Thank you again for your advice.