Getting a refund of "shocking" BT billings

superdario

My father passed away last April, having spent two years in a care home following a dementia diagnosis in 2014.

He had signed up for BT broadband in 2012 and the service was hardly used - mainly, in fact, by family and friends visiting him and my mum! So no-one ever thought to question whether he was on the right tariff. However, a couple of years ago, my mum acquired an iPad which she uses for BBC iPlayer and other purposes.

She recently mentioned that she couldn't remember the last time she saw a BT bill - which is turns out was because my dad had signed up for paperless billing, and correspondence was therefore going to his BT email address. So when it occurred to me to log in to their BT account, I was horrified to discover that they had been billed amounts that the customer service agent I spoke to herself described as "shocking" - as much as £375 in one particular quarter.

As one might imagine, the reason for this is that when my dad signed up to broadband, he opted for the 15 GB tariff - which was fine at the time, but which clearly ISN'T appropriate for someone using streaming video. Now, I will confess that either I or my siblings should probably have realised this, but since my mum wasn't receiving bills, she never complained to us about the charges having gone through the roof. In fact, no-one was receiving bills at all - since (as BT have advised me) my dad's email account would have been deleted after 90 days' inactivity - presumably sometime in 2014 or 2015.

The bottom line is that for about two years, my mum has been charged roughly £100 a month for a service that should have been no more than £50 or so per month. As far as we know, nobody from BT contacted her to suggest moving to a different tariff - which, considering she has been a customer for the best part of sixty years and is 82 years old, strikes me as unreasonable. The first customer service rep I spoke to when I called to investigate actually told me that "we have millions of customers, and you can't expect us to monitor ALL of their accounts" but I am not sure that I agree; surely there should be mechanisms in place to make sure that vulnerable customers are not being fleeced? For that matter, surely there should be triggers in place to restore paper billing when emailed bills begin to bounce back as undeliverable? Particularly when the address they have been sent to is a BT one!

BT's best offer so far has been a 'goodwill gesture' of £50 and my question is, does anyone have any advice as to whether my mum might have a case to argue for more than that? BT has trousered more than £1000 in excess billings from her, and although contractually she might not have a leg to stand on - and I must take my fair share of the blame for not having been more on top of the situation - my sense is that the company would not want to get a reputation for ripping off pensioners and people with dementia.

Does anyone have any advice?

[Deleted User]

Sorry but BT are a business, not Care for the Elderly. If you thought your parents weren't capable then it's up to you or your siblings to help them, not BT. They've been getting billed for 6 years so the charges should have been obvious.

JJ_Egan

<nobody from BT contacted her to suggest moving to a different tariff - which, considering she has been a customer for the best part of sixty years and is 82 years old, strikes me as unreasonable.>
Not unreasonable >> did they know that she was 82 , Had you informed them that she was vunerable .Not that age should have anything to do with it .




Your dads BT members account page would still have been valid and shown the monthly bills .


Where is this so called excess presume that you know what she was billed for .


Why did she not take over the account that had ceased upon death ??


Did the family inform BT of Dementia ??


Get quite a lot of similiar posts on here all blaming somebody else for what is essentially a lack of family care or intervention .

mac.d

I understand where you guys are coming from with your replies, but what about if this was someone (individual or a couple) who lived on their own and don't have any children or younger relatives who could help? Their only family and friends might be of a similar age, and yes while they would be unlikely to rack up so many charges due to exceeding bandwidth, they could still be unwittingly over-paying?

Is that just tough !!!!!! because BT (or any other company providing utilities) are just a business and not care of the elderly/vulnerable. These businesses don't know whether their customers have anyone to intervene on their behalf, so shouldn't there be some onus on them to query why there are a lot of excessive charges? It's not like they were just paying the standard £50 per month most of us would consider expensive, they've been paying double that and more.

Definitely there is some onus on the family here, but I think its harsh just to say BT are well within their rights and its your lack of care/intervention so tough.

[Deleted User]

mac.d wrote: »

Is that just tough !!!!!! because BT (or any other company providing utilities) are just a business and not care of the elderly/vulnerable.

Basically, the answer is yes.
Private telecom firms are in business to make a profit, not to provide a social service.

If no one informs said firm that a customer is vulnerable, how can they know?

superdario

>>Sorry but BT are a business, not Care for the Elderly<<

So, businesses don't have a wider social responsibility, over and above making money for shareholders? If you believe that, then much of the other campaigning by this website must be equally baffling for you!

>>If you thought your parents weren't capable then it's up to you or your siblings to help them<<

My original post makes it clear that I recognise my negligence (and that of my siblings) here. Of course we should have been more on top of our parents' affairs than we were. But if you have ever been through the extended grieving process that comes with a dementia diagnosis - at the same time that your other parent is going through surgery and rehab that confines her to a wheelchair - I am sure that you will you appreciate that things slip through the net. And you can't get away from the fact that responsible businesses should have systems in place to make sure that they are not treating their customers unfairly.

>>They've been getting billed for 6 years so the charges should have been obvious.<<

As was also mentioned in my original post, the bills were being sent to a BT email address that was defunct - so no, the charges were NOT obvious. My mother has not received a single bill from BT and although one could obviously observe that she should have seen the payments going from her bank account, well - how many 82 year olds would query those?

Anyway, thanks for your cheerful and helpful reply. Happy New Year!

[Deleted User]

You won't be getting any more than the £50 you have already been offered-sorry if that is not "helpful" or what you want to hear.

littleboo

The charges would have been obvious, along with any other large bills, by a quick scan of a bank statement.

[Deleted User]

superdario wrote: »

>>Sorry but BT are a business, not Care for the Elderly<<

So, businesses don't have a wider social responsibility, over and above making money for shareholders?

No, did my original post confuse you in some way?

superdario wrote: »

>>If you thought your parents weren't capable then it's up to you or your siblings to help them<<

My original post makes it clear that I recognise my negligence (and that of my siblings) here. Of course we should have been more on top of our parents' affairs than we were. But if you have ever been through the extended grieving process that comes with a dementia diagnosis - at the same time that your other parent is going through surgery and rehab that confines her to a wheelchair - I am sure that you will you appreciate that things slip through the net. And you can't get away from the fact that responsible businesses should have systems in place to make sure that they are not treating their customers unfairly.

You keep saying you recognise your negligence but then keep blaming it on BT, which is it? How is it that BT are supposed to know that your parents are vulnerable in the first place?

superdario wrote: »

>>They've been getting billed for 6 years so the charges should have been obvious.<<

As was also mentioned in my original post, the bills were being sent to a BT email address that was defunct - so no, the charges were NOT obvious. My mother has not received a single bill from BT and although one could obviously observe that she should have seen the payments going from her bank account, well - how many 82 year olds would query those?

So you think your parents were vulnerable and you've never thought to check their bank statements? Are you checking everything now or do you expect any company being paid by your mother should do it for you?

superdario wrote: »

Anyway, thanks for your cheerful and helpful reply. Happy New Year!

And you bud.

superdario

Thanks awfully again for the helpful comments. Having checked your other posts on here I can see that they are 100% in character - you're always delighted to help other members of this "fantastic community of MoneySavers" with a cheery and positive comment! On the PlusNet forum, as well!

Keep it up in 2019 - I'm sure that your friends and family will love it!

pmduk

superdario wrote: »

So, businesses don't have a wider social responsibility, over and above making money for shareholders?

You've got 21st Century Britain to a T. That's the way people want things, pay as little as possible, both in prices and taxes, it's somebody else's job to look after everyone else