Speaking to BT on Elderly Relative's Behalf

Axel

Has anyone had any luck with speaking to BT on an elderly relative's behalf? My mother in law is 89 and hard of hearing and I manage her utilities online including making the odd payment to keep her monthly outlay the same. The new BT charges have altered her monthly payments by quite a bit due to the way they have calculated the advance charges.

I am limited to what I can do online and need to speak to someone to sort things out. I have all of her bills and details, but do not want to spend an hour trying to get through and being kept on hold to their Asian call centre, then find that they will only speak to the account holder. It is a nightmare for me trying to speak to them and understand them and would be totally impossible for my mother in-law. Alternatively would there be any point in going into a BT shop with the bills?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Axel

DaveTheMus

BT shop??? Do those exist?

call them when the MIL is present and have your name added to the account.

spyhunter

The best department in BT to discuss options/discounts/tariffs etc is BT Customer options team.
They are all UK based and have access to all the best deals. Call them on 0800 800 030 option 1. (ignore the voice prompts)

This will get you through to a UK based advisor who can look at the bills and advise on the best options and discounts.

Buzby

No shops or indeed public-facing offices anywhere in the UK. Your solution is to get her to complete security and ask her to confirm you are authorised to deal with her comms needs. You will then be able to act on her behalf.

Looking at the bigger picture - getting her to arrange a Power of Attorney may be a smart move.

macman

And get her added to the Priority Fault Repair register?

AndysDad

We had similar problems,so now just say the surname and don't mention that we are discussing my mother-in-Laws account.Worked for several years now and they have never queried who's they are talking to.

Farway

I had similar, I called form Mum's phone, she told them she was hard of hearing [true] and speak to me, Mum passed me the phone and away I went

As a bloke any impersonation of my Mum would have failed instantly

ic

Buzby wrote: »

Looking at the bigger picture - getting her to arrange a Power of Attorney may be a smart move.

Money maybe, but not for dealing with the odd company. They don't see the PoA unless you present it to them. Given its cost £££s to set up in fees and potentially professional fees, its not something you're going to want to freely post off to the likes of BT.

Its a bit different when you can arrange a meeting with a bank and present it in person.

HMB1981

Some years ago they refused to speak to me about my grandads bill, despite him having passed away, and kept insisting I get him to ring in.

Was some time ago, but nothing would surprise me.

Heinz

I had a positive experience calling BT when my Mum passed away. I rang them to tell them I would be using the phone whilst arrangements were made and was told, "Don't tell us until you've finished with the phone then."

I'm sure that went against their policy but it was nice to not get a jobsworth response.