Wrongful BT Cancellation Charges

Drunkstar

normanmark wrote: »

The call centre's Sunil was referring to was BT Retail call centres. You are basically saying BT Retail are using the call centre's for defrauded peoples tax money. Which isn't the case as we all know.

This.

I think we can all agree that BT isnt perfect, however no telecoms company is, and I dont see you jumping all over the company that was fined for mis-selling recently, or the one given a 'stern talking to' over their inability to forfill their agreed role (slightly altering as not to give ither companies name away as I dont think its fair of me to do that).

wantmemoney

I think people can make their own minds up about what they think of BT or any other company mentioned on this forum.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/09/11/bt-staff-in-8m-phone-scam-100252-19768169/
BT Staff in £8m phone scam
Sept 11 2007

A MERSEYSIDE BT call centre was part of a multi-million pound Ministry of Defence call-handling scam.
An investigation sparked by a whistleblower revealed that between 1999 and 2005 millions of false calls were made by BT workers to make sure targets were hit.
The fiddle may have cost taxpayers at least £8m.
Details emerged as one of the five BT workers sacked for her part in the scam lost her claim for unfair dismissal.
Single mother Anne McHugh from Aintree was sacked from her job as the St Helens call centre manager for gross misconduct after admitting instructing staff to make phoney calls.
But Ms McHugh told an employment tribunal: “I felt that I had to go along with it even though I didn’t agree with it. I did know it was fraud but who did I report it to? I am a single mum of two children – I didn’t want to lose my job.”
Four BT call centres, at Dumbarton, Kettering, Wakefield and St Helens, handled MoD calls from British bases into the UK.
The MoD paid for all the calls, but if the centres failed to answer them within a certain time limit, BT had to pay a £30,000 monthly penalty to the MoD.
Staff bonuses also depended on the targets being met so staff phoned each other on auto-diallers to rack up extra calls.
BT saved almost £2m in penalties which the MoD would have been paid and the union believes the actual cost to the MoD for the ghost calls could be as much as £8m.
Robbie Ayres, of the Communication Workers Union, told the tribunal that the scam was “a fiddle of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money”.
The tribunal in Liverpool heard that the practice of making false calls began after a conference call allegedly made by Chris Bean, business director and manager of four BT call centres.
Carolyn Clews from BT told the tribunal in Liverpool: “It was decided false calls would be made to bring the level up to the standard required by the contract. Managers below him went to speak to their people and made sure that happened. It started with one call and became ‘business as usual’.
“Managers colluded over a long period of time to falsify accounts and by their actions brought BT into disrepute. It’s shocking behaviour.”
The tribunal heard that Mr Bean was still employed by BT but had been suspended for 19 months while a disciplinary and grievance process took place.
Workers questioned about their involvement said they felt pressure from managers to take part in the scam and that employees were threatened with action under the Official Secrets Act if they dissented.
A confidential BT report handed to the tribunal as evidence and obtained by the ECHO states: “It stands very much to reason that bullying and intimidation was the force which ‘kept the lid’ on this matter for so many years – a truly shameful situation in a company which prides itself on its business ethics and publicly denounces such behaviour.
“The reputation cost to the BT brand is probably the most serious loss. The MoD relationship has been tarnished by this event – by how much it is for others to assess.”
In a statement to the ECHO, a BT spokeswoman said: “It would be totally inappropriate for us to comment on any confidential matters between us and the MoD. However, BT categorically denies defrauding the MoD of £10m.”
An MoD statement said: “The artificial inflation of the number of successful calls made by the Defence Fixed Telecommunication Service in order to achieve the contracted Percentage Call Answered target, has been subject of a thorough and wide ranging investigation.
“The MOD and BT are now in the final stages of a full and detailed review of the scale and value of the reparation payments – these payments will cover not only the specific financial losses incurred, but also the costs to the department of the time and detailed work involved in this protracted investigation.”

Drunkstar

And you dont feel that by posting the SAME bit of news over and over again is a bit....biased? Just what is your anti-BT agenda about?

jhp

Drunkstar wrote: »

And you dont feel that by posting the SAME bit of news over and over again is a bit....biased? Just what is your anti-BT agenda about?

Why not report him to abuse to see if its ok to keep posting the same libellous comments day in day out.:mad:

Or alternative ignore him.:D

Drunkstar

If it happened its not libel is it? :P


I just find it a bit odd that someone would go out of their way to post the same thing over and over again.

jhp

Drunkstar wrote: »

If it happened its not libel is it? :P


I just find it a bit odd that someone would go out of their way to post the same thing over and over again.

Why bother to feed him ,when you know his response.

Drunkstar

True enough, guess I just get annoyed at people doing things I see as stupid (not calling him stupid I point out ).

I will shut up now.

wantmemoney

Drunkstar wrote:

Just what is your anti-BT agenda about?

My agenda concerns any company that sets out to rip the public off. Anybody that doesn't share that agenda shouldn't be on this forum giving "advice".

jhp wrote:

Why not report him to abuse to see if its ok to keep posting the same libellous comments day in day out.:mad:

I don't think the articles I posted about four UK BT call centers ripping the public off to the tune of £10m had anything to do with the libel laws.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=424323&in_page_id=2
BT Call Centre cover-up
14 September 2007

BT covered up a massive fraud by call-centre staff to ensure it held on to a contract worth more than £1billion, a tribunal was told yesterday.

Staff made millions of false calls to themselves in order to meet bonus-linked performance targets under the contract with the Ministry of Defence. The fraud, which went on for at least four years, involved the use of computerised ' autodiallers' to maintain an artificial call rate.
An examination of phone records found that one operator who would normally handle 100 calls in an eight-hour shift was logged as answering 412 calls in just over an hour. The MoD was tipped off about the scam and asked BT to investigate in June 2004 - when the contract was up for renewal.
It concluded there was no case to answer and it was not until the following year, by which time the contract had been renewed, that another tip-off led to a second probe and the fraud was exposed.
Five BT managers were sacked for their roles in the incident. One of them, Joseph Hewson, from Ossett, West Yorkshire, has taken BT to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal.
Mr Hewson, who worked at the company's Wakefield call centre, insists he had only been following orders. He claimed he had not been aware of the 2004 investigation, describing it as 'simply useless' and 'an absolute sham'.
Mr Hewson told the tribunal in Leeds: 'In June 2004 when an anonymous informant caused the first investigation to take place upon the instruction of the MoD, this was at a time when the contract was in the renewal phase. This renewal was worth over a billion pounds to BT and so they could not let anything affect it.'
The fraud also involved call centres in St Helens on Merseyside, Dumbarton in Scotland and Kettering, Northamptonshire.
Mr Hewson said: 'Everyone in every centre was fully aware that auto-diallers were being used. I was fully aware that auto-diallers were there and being used. I knew it was wrong and every single other person knew it was wrong. I couldn't do anything to stop it.'
Mr Hewson said a 'bullying culture' within BT was so bad it was impossible to speak out or refuse to organise the false calls. He said the company was after 'scapegoats' and other managers aware of the fraudulent activity had not been disciplined in the same way.
BT does not accept Mr Hewson was forced into co-operating with the scam and insists his dismissal was justified. Earlier this week, Anne McHugh, 28, one of the other sacked managers, lost her case for unfair dismissal at a tribunal in Liverpool.
The MoD said a 'thorough and wide-ranging investigation' had been carried out into the 'artificial inflation' of target-linked ' successful' calls and compensation would be paid by BT.

topherxp

jackieb wrote: »

They need to bring back the call centres to the UK!

It has nothing to do with where the call centres are located. In fact, by talking to an Indian advisor you with will be speaking to someone who has degree, where as in the UK you barely need GCSE's to get the job.

The Indian advisors will also go that little bit further to help you, when they can.