Just to be aware of NowTV customer service left 85 year old living alone stranded

Gobsh

My 85 year old mum told me about 3 weeks ago that her landline won't dial out, I bought a new handset, fine, today after days it stopped dialing out again.

I live 80 miles away so I called bt for a line test. They referred me to her provider, she looked down her statement and told me her provider is NowTV, who are charging her £39 month for phone calls? Called NowTV as I have power of attorney, but she wouldn't let me past security. I asked if she could call my mum because she can receive calls, customer service said No. Just to be aware of NowTV customer service left 85 year old living alone stranded without a phone they are charging £39 month for. Obviously frantically looking for a new provider with some level of support.

DE_612183

What did BT say was wrong with the line?
Have they recently upgraded the service to Voice over IP?
Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

£39 a month looks like a standard Broadband & Phone package - when did this come into effect?
How long has she been with Now?

LinLui

Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

^^This^^
Whilst I can totally understand your concern, from the point of view of NowTV a random stranger is phoning them asking for access to an elderly persons  account without any of the security information, and then asking them to phone their customer. If you saw how scams work in such circumstances you would be shocked how easy it is to exploit an older person, but being 85 only proves to them that she is old, not that she is vulnerable. They honestly didn't leave her alone and stranded. The fact that you are acting on her behalf but haven't got any of the details needed is a major contributing factor. I would be utterly furious with any service provider who engaged with a random stranger who couldn't provide any of the information required to access my account. I suspect you would be too. 

iniltous

DE_612183 said:

What did BT say was wrong with the line?
Have they recently upgraded the service to Voice over IP?
Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

£39 a month looks like a standard Broadband & Phone package - when did this come into effect?
How long has she been with Now?

The post stated they contacted BT effectively in error , BT have no involvement in providing the posters mothers services.
BT can’t test other providers ‘lines’ ,and have absolutely no reason to do so , so BT offered no opinion on what was wrong with a TT line , the OP found out who the provider is from his mother and then contacted the correct company, namely Now .

Gobsh

Nope. I am not asking for any info. I am reporting she has a fault because she can't call them. Asked that nowtv call her. Answer was No

LinLui said:

Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

^^This^^
Whilst I can totally understand your concern, from the point of view of NowTV a random stranger is phoning them asking for access to an elderly persons  account without any of the security information, an

Gobsh

BT wouldn't test the line when they found she was with another provider. I originally set up the service for around £20. No upgrade was agreed, no paperwork sent, no email sent. I set it up about a year ago and not quite sure when they doubled her bills. 

DE_612183 said:

What did BT say was wrong with the line?
Have they recently upgraded the service to Voice over IP?
Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

£39 a month looks like a standard Broadband & Phone package - when did this come into effect?
How long has she been with Now?

400ixl

Gobsh said:

BT wouldn't test the line when they found she was with another provider. I originally set up the service for around £20. No upgrade was agreed, no paperwork sent, no email sent. I set it up about a year ago and not quite sure when they doubled her bills. 

If you set up the contract then you should know who you set it up with and what upgrade are you referring to?

When you set up the contract, you would have a base price £39 which would then have a discounted minimum commitment for 12 months. Once those 12 months are up then the minimum commitment ends and it returns to a rolling month contract at the full base price. It isn't a fire and forget will be the same price forever contact that you will have entered into.

You need to keep a log of dates where minimum contract periods are ending so that you can re-negotiate or move the contract. 

None of the pricing change will be anything other than what you agreed to.

Openreach are likely the underlying infrastructure provider, but they don't deal with the public, just the providers that utilise their infrastructure like NowTV and BT.

littleboo

Its a bit confusing, you say "she looked down her statement and told me her provider is NowTV" and  " I called bt for a line test." and "I set it up about a year ago"
So did you set up up with BT a year ago? It reads as if you were expecting it to be BT since you reported the fault to them and had to get confirmation of who the provider currently is.
Could she knowingly or unknowingly have changed providers?

LinLui

Gobsh said:

Nope. I am not asking for any info. I am reporting she has a fault because she can't call them. Asked that nowtv call her. Answer was No

LinLui said:

Have you registered with Now TV as a vulnerable customer, and had your Financial PoA registered with them?

^^This^^
Whilst I can totally understand your concern, from the point of view of NowTV a random stranger is phoning them asking for access to an elderly persons  account without any of the security information, an

No. You are phoning the service provider of someone else's service and asking them to discuss it with a person who had none of the security information for that account. They can have no idea whatsoever what kind of scam you might be pulling! So the correct answer for them is "no". 

If you set up the account then presumably you also set up the security questions? And told them that you had POA?

It isn't at all clear what had been done by whom other than you complaining about their customer service doing their job as they should.