Leaving BT: at wit's end, can anyone help?

thoughtfulmum

Can anyone help? My parents have two phone lines, and they recently decided to move one line to Plusnet, leaving the other (their main landline) with BT. The move went through on the 1st December, but BT have continued billing them for that line. My parents have contacted BT over and over, each time the person they speak to confirms that it is an internal administrative error and says that it is resolved, but the bill demands keep coming. Today they've received a final demand, with the threat of debt collectors. My parents are in their 80s, and they are enormously stressed and worried about this whole situation. My dad isn't sleeping. Should they pay the bill and then try to get the money back? My concern is that if they pay this bill, more will come. Can anyone advise me?

ahja

Customer Service Manager BT Customer Correspondence Centre Providence Row Durham DH98 1BT

This is the snail mail address on their complaints code of practice - send it signed for as that way you have proof they received it. Ironically using the phone puts you on the merry go round of hell of people telling you one thing and something else will happen! This way, the letter will go to someone whose job it is to look at complaints instead of a call centre who will tell you just about anything to get you off the phone. Been there, done that and did get it sorted, so know how you feel as the frustration can be overwhelming, feel for your dad as it is really stressful, but don't pay as this will get sorted!

iniltous

Did the number move to Plusnet, or did Plusnet provide a 'new' number ?, you probably should confirm the number Plusnet have provided by dialling 17070 from the line in question
how did you confirm that Plusnet successfully took over the second line, did it go off, then come back on ? or was there some other way you confirmed Plusnet took over the line.
If you dial 150 from the line in question, do you get thru to someone's customer service department, if (for arguments sake) the line was still a BT consumer line, you would get thru to BT , 150 may take you thru to Plusnet customer service (if the line is Plusnet) or may not connect to anything, this isn't a definitive test, more an indication of who's providing service on the line.
If BT are continuing to bill for the line, it suggests that they have not been advised of any 'cease' ...what can happen, is another provider orders a 'new' line not a migration, an engineer effectively disconnects the old providers line, and connects the 'new' provider line in its place, the end user thinks everything is OK, but because the old provider is unaware of this 'new' line, they continue to bill for the old line, even if it's no longer connected to a telephone socket, if that's the case , in effect you have 3 lines, 2 from BT ( but 1 not working because the engineer disconnected it in favour of the other providers line) and 1 from Plusnet.

boatman

https://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/5642,5681

Send a complaint on this link.