Pay BT money I don't owe them or my credit score will be marked!

ruth0220

I'm looking for some advice if possible!

I gave BT 30 days notice for phone, broadband and BT Sports on 16th Feb. Virgin was being installed on 16th March. I pay my bill in advance (and was told by a friend that BT are notorious for taking money from ex-customers after their contract has ended) so I cancelled my DD. They emailed me 2 weeks ago to say they could not take their payment as my DD had been cancelled (just as my friend predicted!). So, I called them and blah-di-blah it was sorted, however I had to pay £31 for the disconnection fee which was standard and in the T&C's :mad: Whatever, I'll pay it. However, I was told I would receive a final bill so hang fire until then and this final bill would include the £31.

Yesterday I received an email to tell me I have not paid my outstanding bill (£56.79 which was my regular monthly payment) but as I pay in advance and am no longer a customer, I do not owe them this money. Apparently the mix up with the cancellation of the BT Sports has kept the accout "live" and therefore the bills are still being produced. Not my fault, however I have been told today that the ONLY way to avoid my credit score being affected is to pay the bill and they will settle this by sending me a cheque for the same amount, so I break even. How stupid is that?! I am so reluctant to pay it in case I don't see it again, the man I spoke to was so helpful and sympathetic but they are basically bullying me, telling me to pay money I don't owe them to avoid messing up my carefully-tended credit score. Can they do this? Is where another way of avoiding a bad credit mark?

Thank you for your patience.

[Deleted User]

It doesn't sounds as if the helpful and sympathetic man is bullying you. It sounds as if their systems suffer from a glitch.

I would ask for it in writing and then pay and get the refund.

Check your credit files (not the score) once it is all resolved. You may then want to escalate a complaint about the shonky system, but not until you've resolved the issue.

Alternatively, don't pay it, see what happens in terms of bills and credit files and then raise complaints if the situation isn't how you want it to be.