BT Billing Error - Check your bills now

poggles

I've been in contact with BT regarding my recent bill which seemed high, and they admitted there was a billing error "caused by the system" at least on my bill but could not identify the exact root cause. In my case, they agreed to simply credit an amount that was more than the error, but this may or may not affect a number of other BT customers.

I buy telephone and broadband from BT, and pay quarterly on receipt of bill.

The issue arose because of the re-crediting and then rebilling following the general price increase effective 31 March 2020, although in my case the matter was further complicated by changing packages back in January. My package change was done on the basis that the price I was paying would not change, other than the general annual price increase which this year was applied 31 March 2020.

In my case, I was told early March by email the monthly increase would be about 30p.

The problem with BT billing is whenever something changes, they refund you pro rata what you have already paid, and then rebill you pro-rata following the change. As opposed to just charging you pro rata the increase amount.

Now I couldn't make head nor tail of what they refunded me and what they then rebilled me for on the bill, but as the rebilling only effectively covered an increase for half of April (It was enacted from January when the package changed, but the price only changed for the last 2 weeks of the period, i.e. the first 2 weeks of April) I was expecting the oncost to be about 15p

But when I did the sums of what they refunded and then subsequently re-charged, it came to almost £2.00 more.
The next quarter in advance was billed correctly - it was just the complicated manner in whch they had refunded me and then rebilled me for the previous quarter which I had already paid for.

I explained this to BT and they understood my reasoning. After some more investigation by them, they agreed I was correct and that their bill was incorrect "caused by the system".

Now, as I say, they have resolved the erorr for me by applying a credit to my account, but they have not looked into the root cause.
I'm not sure if this affects everyone who had a price increase, or only those like me that also changed package, but something is obviously wrong in their billing algorithm.

Please check yout BT bill carefully if it has a section related to a refund & rebilling for the last period.

If you have suffered a similar error, contact BT, and feel free to post how you get on here.

EssexExile

poggles said:

Now I couldn't make head nor tail of...

That just about sums up BT bills! They even have a "bill explaining tool" available but it doesn't really help.

brewerdave

I have enormous sympathy - Sky TV do something very similar and trying to untangle the credits and debits can give one a migraine!!

DoaM

My BT bill is fine, albeit was calculated up to 28-Mar so the latest price increase hasn't hit my bill yet.

poggles

DoaM said:

My BT bill is fine, albeit was calculated up to 28-Mar so the latest price increase hasn't hit my bill yet.

It's probably your next bill that you need to check, as that will be the one that has a refund and rebilling section that will cover the price change.

JJ_Egan

Checked mine and got a £5 credit .