BT Over-charging 9 March 2021 at 10:20PM in Phones & TV 9 replies 376 views

tigers128

Back in Sept2020, we upgraded our broad band package; we hadn't expected BT, during this change, would also remove our free unlimited calls for our landline telephone - we thought we were only changing broadband! Luckily we spotted this change on our bill, only a week or so later; and raised this issue with BT, who said they were going to change us back to unlimited calls and sort this out - there was no explanation at the time from BT. for us being put on Pay as you go charges, and losing unlimited calls (is this a regular occurrence with BT customers?). The BT fault was closed at the time (Sept) and we thought nothing more of this....until!
Last week we realised our bank a/c was overdrawn, our normal BT monthly direct debit bill of £77.50, had increased to £338; it transpires, BT had forgotten to make the change, in September2020, back to unlimited calls; in all our qtrly bill up to Dec2020, had been over charged by ~£612. We raised an indemnity claim with our bank to stop payment.
We've had to go back to BT a further 2 times to now (hopefully) get this now sorted - watch this space, as we're yet to see the promised telephone/verbal message, change our on line payments beyond Dec2020! During these 2 extra calls, we also found out BT had closed their VOL013 fault no. for our complaint; they thought after the 1st call, it had been sorted; never having made the promised follow up call to check with us, or to check their system notes for the fault/complaint!
Lessons - its always worth checking your on line bills, especially when changing your package for broadband/phone; had we not spotted the over drawn a/c we might have got even more in debt. What is also slightly worrying, nothing flagged up on the BT side, our bill moving from £77.5 to £338 did not rate any special warning - is this fair/expected.
The BT fault recording system from Sept 2020 had not been filled in by their operator, this only came to light after we asked them what had been recorded their end for Sept 2020 - BT have not owned up about failing to do their job; their on line system makes a mockery of the customers and their rights; worse/more so when its their fault, to find no record on their system; are they checking their workers; if not who is? Keep extensive notes on all your fault/bill, etc calls to BT!
PS I've just found out a similar evidence failing, regarding a separate BT complaint regarding poor broadband connection, I had with the ombudsman; I received an email message on my old computer, saying that the ombudsman had deleted my evidence files/notes regarding multiple BT faults that I'd sent to them, without them even being opened/read....this was done some months later, when they thoughts I wouldn't notice; seems the ombudsman is doing the same as BT!!!

tigers128

Has anyone else experienced poor/incomplete service from BT e.g. where you find out BT have failed to fill in on line details on a fault, when you try to track a fault/follow it up afterwards on line in My BT; find out BT have closed your fault calls early without having rectified the problem; failed to make follow up calls to update you on your faults

JJ_Egan

No always had excellent service from BT .

Although i did lose my free unlimited calls on new contract as it was no longer free.

littleboo

always check your bills

tigers128

We checked our bills back in Sept2020 and raised a fault with BT; its taken until today (~5mths) to finally sort it out the complaint with BT - the 3rd person asked, has now (we hope) finally been able to sort out previous BT colleagues failing to sort the over-charging error; which they admitted was BT's fault, but were unable to explain/countenance - yes, do check your bills and also keep extensive notes on any faults/calls made to 0800; remember there's no record of calls to 0800 held, to prove you've called them; you can also claim any BT records they hold on you; but you'll probably have to pay, for this privilege - but 'could' be useful if you have to go to the ombudsman - although my jury is still out in this respect due to previous time they appeared to delete my evidence (they asked for) without reading it!

littlemissbossy

I have BT Sport, broadband, line rental and calls with BT.

On Tuesday 9th March I rang them to cancel BT Sport, that went fine and I had an email confirming.

This morning Thurs 11th March I had an email saying, "We're sorry but we need to change your recent order.... Your broadband start date is changing from 9th March to 10 March".

BT....  Sighs.....

Al_Ross

BT are great providing,you deal with the correct person and everything is inputed correctly first time.

Should it be wrong ,it is a nightmare trying to resolve it.

john539

I had similiar problem with BT last year.

BT changed with no notice from 1 Sep 2020
Unlimited Anytime Calls Add-on (£10.11/month)
to Unlimited Minutes Add-On (£14.61/month) 

Just spotted this after change in Oct 2020 bill.

Resolved by removing the Add-On & cost as don't really need, don't make enough calls to justify cost
and getting £26 credit to account after number of arguments early Jan 2021.

I get Free ADSL Broadband Unlimited from BT.

iniltous

BT announced , a while ago, that the old calls plans Weekends, Evening and Weekends and Unlimited were being replaced with PAYG, 700mins and Unlimited, and that they would aim to match customers to the appropriate new plan ( in my case Weekends to PAYG ) the letter or email I got , set out this  change, the date it was to be implemented and if it wasn’t what I wanted a number to call, but the caveat was that staying on the old plan wasn’t an option, you had to take one of the 3 new options, there was other publicity about this to.
Obviously if someone was unaware of this change and continued to make what they thought were inclusive calls , when they were no longer included, could be in for a nasty surprise when the bill arrives, it then becomes wether sufficient steps were taken by BT to advise the customer of the change and that’s a subjective opinion .
As far as the OP, the terminology is misleading, reporting a fault isn’t the same as a billing issue....a fault is something like ‘No dialtone’ or broadband slow or not working, a billing issue where a customer believes they have been overcharged isn’t ( IMHO ) a ‘fault’ in the accepted sense , and could well lead to the wrong department dealing with the complaint, if someone states ‘I have a fault’ , rather than ‘my bill is wrong’

HughBriss

I too have been scammed by BT when renewing a contract, and failing to see that my inclusion for free landline calls had been stopped. In previous renewals, they had offered like-for-like renewals which included those free calls. It took me about 2.5 quarters to see that I had been charged the better part of £1000 for landline calls. I live on my own, am a disabled pensioner, rarely leave the house and rely on my phone as a lifeline to friends and family, especially at these times of lockdown. I have a very cheap PAYG mobile, which I only use for emergencies, because, as I say, I rarely leave the house.
My initial complaint was also closed by BT without giving any reason. I had to ask for it to be reopened.
I feel that I have been treated very badly by BT, especially coming on the back of the recent case of overcharging pensioners for landlines.

I have been offered £100 as a 'goodwill gesture', which I suppose that I cannot afford to reject; after all, losing £900 isn't quite so bad as being £1000 down. It just seems to me that BT are far more interested in profits than respect for hitherto loyal customers of 40 years' standing.