BT bill problem

vix2000

I am having a big problem understanding my BT bills. I have looked online, and it says all bills are paid? However they say I owe £120. I pay an amount to BT by standing order every week and most of these payments are not on my last 3 months bills. I am not disputing what I owe, as I don't know, but have asked for a statement of my charges and what I have paid so that I can see all my payments have been taken off my bill. I spoke to someone at the call center who did not understand what I was asking and I couldn't understand them. They told me it was impossible to give me a statement. I asked to be put through to a uk call center but was told that was also impossible. I do not think it unreasonable to ask for a record of what I owe vs what I've paid.

The online bills I find impsossible to understand. They say that an amount of what I am paying is going towards the last bill and the balance towards the current, so none of my bills will show the full amount???? What sort of crazy billing system is this? Unless someone can explain it to me, please?

Ladygrim

Will try to explain split credits.

General example on quarterly billing.
January bill = £25
February you pay £35. £25 of this will pay off January bill. £10 will go as credit on next bill.
April bill is for £45 - take off the £10 left over from February payment, leaves £35 to pay.
May you only pay £30. This leaves £5 outstanding.
July bill is for another £30 - add on the £5 still owing
and so on and so forth.
Therefore - your payments dont all go onto one bill.

HTH

LG

vix2000

Thanks ladygrim. I understand how it works sort of, but my argument is that the £25 you pay off the feb bill in your example is never recorded anywhere on your bills so how do you account for all your payments if there is no record of half of them. And who thought of this stupid idea anyway. Every other bill i get can manage to forward amounts owed from the previous bill, add it to the current bill, then take all my payments off so I know where I am. And asking for an itemised statement is surely not unreasonable?

Ladygrim

Its not recorded because its been cleared.

Your bill only shows what you owe BT (or what BT owe you if in credit). It will never show 'zero'.

As for having records of payments, you have them yourself each time you pay. (receipt/reference number). Just make sure you work it out in date order.

A bill from BT will only show a brought forward debit, if the balance was still outstanding on the date the new bill was produced.

LG

vix2000

But surely this method is unneccesarily complicated. I just want to see what I owe in total and what I've paid. I don't want to have sit and work out what my last bill was, take of the difference between what I've paid and whats on this bill and check its all correct? Or is it just me being unreasonable/stupid? I think a rethink on my telephone provider is in order.

Ladygrim

In these days, its safer for you to keep a tally on your debts/credits than rely on big business to do it for you.

Bit of a sad comment on society really - but honest none the less.

LG

Seiken

There's no statement they can send to list all your payments but it works like this:

You get your quarterly bill in January. It's £100. You've paid £50 of it already as a payment in advance, and then another £50 when you receive it. You will not see a record of the second £50 being paid as this has been allocated towards a bill you have already received. Your next bill in April would only reflect any brought forward amounts or payments in advance, however there has been nothing brought forward as you have paid it all, and no payments in advance as you were covering an overdue balance.

An advisor will not transfer you to a UK desk as there is no "UK desk transfer button" available to them, it's pot luck who you get through to, and they are fully trained to be able to handle a billing enquiry like that, whether you talk to service or billing. You can always escalate to a manager if you are not happy however.

I totally agree though, the billing system can be really confusing, especially with the ways someone can choose to pay. Hopefully this helps.

You could however ask the advisor to read all entries on your account, all payments received, the dates and the bills these payments were allocated to and then you could check any receipts etc you have.

Ladygrim

Im with BT and Ive opted to get my bills every month and pay them in full by variable direct debit. It works like this:-

Bill is produced and posted. 10 working days later the exact amount of the bill is taken by variable direct debit from my bank account.

I dont get to choose the bill production date - but for me thats fine.

Therefore, I have no brought forward amount or credit amount, and I can match up the direct debit payments on my bank statement for the relevant bill each month.

LG

ps. Im also only paying for what I use each month, AND I avoid the payment processing fee at the same time.
pps. I also have online billing, so I can see the bill the day after it is produced (so no worries with the post)