this sounds like a scam to me

blackadder

my mum was phoned up tonight by someone from India claiming to be from British Telecom, he asked her if she would like to have her BT together package increased from 60 to 90 minutes for the inclusive period and the charge for that period reduced from 5.5p to 5p at no cost. She was reluctant but eventually agreed and unfortunately passed on her bank account details.

the caller spoke authoratively and knew some details about my mum but nothing that couldn't be found out easily by anyone, but it was enough to convince her he was genuine.

I smelled a rat !
called BT but the people who would know about such offers (sales) don't work after 8 at night and so I had to speak to the nuisance calls people who said it did indeed seem off and it is unlikely that bank account details would be asked for but that sales would be able to clarify in the morning.

my mum is now fretting that someone will empty her bank account.
A search online has returned no info on any changes to the bt together packages.

Does anyone know anything about the authenticity of this 'offer' ?

MarkyMarkD

I don't expect it's a scam in the sense you mean.

I expect that it was one of BT's competitors, and she mis-interpreted them as "claiming to be from BT". They probably said they were from "xxx Telecom" and could offer her a better package than her current BT Together package.

Apologies if I am disparaging your mum's powers of discernment ... but it would be easy to be confused in these circumstances if you are not up on telecoms suppliers.

So all that's probably happened is that she's switched suppliers without realising it. She should get some confirmation in writing and should be able to say NO within a cooling-off period if she contacts them straight away (once she becomes aware of who they actually are).

Hope that helps.

I would certainly reassure her that there's next to no chance of this being a bank account emptying scam. Having bank account details alone is NOT enough to steal someone's money.

andy88_2

Are you sure they actually said from BT? Or was it more would you like this offer that is better than BT?

It is not BT, as they already have the bank details. This is a new company, that you will have to identify.

It's the same as those idiots in the shopping centre, that ask you to sign an application to receive more information, which is in fact a contract for service.

If you have difficulty finding out straight away which company it is, you should eventually receive a letter confiming the new deal. And the bank will have a new direct debit instruction.

Ask BT if you can re-apply for service with them, and whether they can supercede this arrangement.

Be very careful in dealing with the as yet unknown company. A friend of a friend was offered a home phone service when taking out a new mobile deal, declined and soon received details of the new contract, followed by threats to sue him when he refused to pay on the grounds that the contract was forged by the salesman and reported to the Police. It lasted over a year.

Study a few rival tariffs and see if that gives a clue

sorry - cross-post, but too lazy to edit down

blackadder

spoke to my mum again this morning.
she has been on to her bank and BT.
the lady at the bank says she had a similar call and it turned out to be one-tel although they didn't identify themselves as such, it only became apparent when the paperwork came through.

all is calm now as the bank has put a block on any new standing orders being created and I have advised her to send the papers to offtel when they arrive with a covering letter explaining their method of approach. might result in a a slap on the wrist but probably not.

thanks for the ideas, seems you were right.

April2

blackadder wrote:

spoke to my mum again this morning.
she has been on to her bank and BT.
the lady at the bank says she had a similar call and it turned out to be one-tel although they didn't identify themselves as such, it only became apparent when the paperwork came through.

I'm not so sure it was OneTel because their StandardUKTalk evening call rate (for those not savvy enough to take advantage of this month's offer of their LeisureUKTalk package free for a year) is 5p for up to an hour (i.e. ½p cheaper than BT but still for 60 minutes, not the 90 minutes mentioned).

bbb_uk

April2 wrote:

I'm not so sure it was OneTel because their StandardUKTalk evening call rate (for those not savvy enough to take advantage of this month's offer of their LeisureUKTalk package free for a year) is 5p for up to an hour (i.e. ½p cheaper than BT but still for 60 minutes, not the 90 minutes mentioned).

Plus, OneTel are currently doing the free evening&weekend calls with no monthly charge for 12 months. I would have thought that OneTel would use that as it would be a great selling point.

Update: Sorry April, I must have scanned past your comment on those not savvy enough to take advantage of OneTel's LeisureUKTalk package for a year before I posted this. My apologies.