BT & outrageous charges

gatita

I opened my online BT bill this morning and nearly had a fit! There was a charge for £99 which I could not for the life of me imagine what it could be.
I contacted customer service,well after an hour hanging on I eventually spoke to someone who informed me that the computers were down and they couldn't help:mad: . I tried a little later, and explained the problem. I was informed that I had asked for an engineer to repair a fault back in November!!! I denied I had ever reported a fault to BT at that time. They insisted that I had, and that I had REFUSED them entry! Racking my brains I remembered that I HAD contacted BT asking them if it was possible for them to move the telephone wire from where it was as I wanted to put in new fascia boards, and couldn't as the BT line was fixed to it. I was told that "yes " they would do this, and on my asking if there would be any charge, she said no.
I had a call sometime later from BT (as I thought) saying that they would be coming round. They did, he asked me where the 'FAULT' was... I explained there was no fault that it was to change the position of the telephone line. (2 feet!) He said "ok no problem, but you were informed that there would be a charge of £85? I said no.....absolutely not, If I had you wouldn't be here now! I was told there would be no charge." I then told him that there was no way I could pay that, and he left.
After been given the run around on the customer service, they INSIST I WAS informed of the charge..this is simply UNTRUE they are LYING, but how on earth can I prove this? I am absolutely livid. I am NOT a liar.
At the moment my complaint has been 'escalated' whatever that means......and that someone will contact me. They have also suspended the bill until it is sorted out one way or another.
Has anyone any idea as to how to proceed if they continue saying I owe them £99? for doing precisely NOTHING!:mad:

hammy_the_hammer

i can't understand why you were informed that there's no charge for moving the line off your fascia boards.
it would be an openreach engineer that would carry out the work so someone would have to pay for it.
this sort of work has been chargeable for donkeys years

Mr_McGoo

It appears to be BT policy, and all its various subsidiaries' like "Openreach", Wholesale", etc etc policy, to hit people with charges that they are not warned about and then sit back and say that the warning was given, unless the victim can prove it wasn't.

That's why I record all calls with BT, and have thus been able to prove that BT was lying when I needed to.

You have been caught out by this, and should fight as hard as you can. But at the end of the day they will use tactics such as threatening to damage your credit record by sending the account to a debt collector. Unless you can prove that they did not warn you, which is impossible if you didn't record the call, you will lose.

Your only course, if bluster fails, is to pay and then walk away from BT and never, ever, deal with them again.

hammy_the_hammer

i also can't understand why anyone would think that any company will come out and help facilitate home improvements without a charge being raised.
who do you honestly think should pay for it ?

gatita

hammy,
Thanks for your nasty comments. I have never asked for something for nothing in my life, and it was NOT for home improvements. I f you cannot offer constructive advice, why not simply ignore my post, have you nothing better to do other that post a reply not just once, but twice.

It was the builder who said for me to call BT as he knew various people that had had their lines moved at no cost. I did this and I assure you, I DID ask, and was told there would be NO COST.

hammy_the_hammer

gatita wrote: »

hammy,
Thanks for your nasty comments. I have never asked for something for nothing in my life, and it was NOT for home improvements. I f you cannot offer constructive advice, why not simply ignore my post, have you nothing better to do other that post a reply not just once, but twice.

It was the builder who said for me to call BT as he knew various people that had had their lines moved at no cost. I did this and I assure you, I DID ask, and was told there would be NO COST.

comments aren't nasty just because they're not what you want to hear.
you might like to explain how new fascia boards AREN'T home improvements. there's absolutely no doubt that your request for movement of the wire is a chargeable task.
your builder wrongly advised you. if the fascia boards were part of a larger job on your house he should have factored in the cost of paying to have the wire moved and included it in his estimate.
without knowing the full facts the chances are that the charge may be waived as the job wasn't completed notwithstanding the fact that an engineer wasted their time coming to your property.
by the way you say you've never asked for something for nothing in your life but this all seems to contradict that ....otherwise how much did you expect to pay ?

gatita

Hammy
You obviously work for, or have some kind of connection to BT, hence your fierce defence of the company.
IF there was to be a charge, they SHOULD have advised me of this from the beginning, which they did not. I hope one day when you are a pensioner on very limited income you are hit with a similar bill for which you had not counted on, and someone like you, turns to YOU and gives a lecture on what you should have done or not.

Please ignore me from now on, as I will ignore you

Mr_McGoo

Gatita

One of the notable things about this site is the army of people deployed by BT to defend the indefensible while masquerading as independent users. Their armoury seems to include lies and misinformation; I've just seen that in another thread.

As you are doing, they should be ignored.

I'm wondering, when he asks you why you thought it would cost nothing, which part of your report "on my asking if there would be any charge, she said no" he couldn't understand.

Heinz

I think the builder should pay. He said BT wouldn't charge.

Mr_McGoo

Heinz

You would be right, but only if BT hadn't said that there would be no charge.

And that's what they did say.

weegie.geek

Wow, some impressive paranoia on this thread.

I find it hard to believe that BT would skip an opportunity to make some money, especially when work needed done. By the sounds of it, whoever you spoke to on the telephone was misinformed, or just plain talking crap.

It's not the builder's fault. It's not your fault. It's purely down to who you spoke to on the phone.

I'm confused how work costing £85 ended up being a £99 charge though. I can understand them charging a standard callout charge, or charging for the work, but charging more than the work would've cost, for the technician to chap your door is taking the !!!!.