Dont you just love BT
Author
Discussion

marc.l

Original Poster:

822 posts

256 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Phone bill arrived today and last month had big phone problems with my phone not working for around 3 weeks on and off, so was not exspecting much of a bill......

My bill includes a £99 call out charge. In all it took them 3 visits to sort out a water logged conecting joint on the post on the other side of the road. Bt claim the problem was with our phone extension so we have to pay (we have no extension, just the bt main socket).

Spent so far today 55 mins on the phone and still have not talked to any body that can help and now have to sit by the phone for and hour for some body to call me back, I bet im still waighting in 2 hours time......

Do I just not pay the bill and let them take me to court ?, I have the name of the Bt enginer, I can take pics of the joint they replaced and can show them that no extensions are in the house. What should I do ? or just pay the £100 and save the agro before I`ve spoke to the whole of India ??


Edited by marc.l on Monday 18th August 14:46

Bee_Jay

2,599 posts

279 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
This happened to be 4 times in the first 6 months of this year. Callout fees when they never entered my property and fixed stuff outside down the road. Taken by Direct Debit before I noticed each time...

I have now left in disgust and gone to Virgin...

Neil_H

15,418 posts

282 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Extension.

Just argue that the charge is not justified and they should waive it - they have a habit of trying this on apparently.

Bee_Jay

2,599 posts

279 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Also, when you phone up - first question you ask is "Are you in India" - when they say yes, ask to be put through to someone in the UK - worked for me and got to speak to someone who you could understand, who understood you and had the power to do things... If they say they can't put you through to the UK, hang up and ring back in again.

Neil_Sc

2,258 posts

238 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
hehe

Altrezia

8,742 posts

242 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
We've been paying for a phone line for 7 months. Still not working. Plenty of engineers out and hours on hold to BT. Idiots. I'd move to virgin if I thought they'd be any better..

marc.l

Original Poster:

822 posts

256 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Bt called me back, then put me on hold and still on hold 10 mins later. They called me and put me straight on hold..ffs

eowen

16,699 posts

296 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
dont pay the bill. Make a record of all the calls made so far with dates and times. Let them chase you.

marc.l

Original Poster:

822 posts

256 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
I bet Mama Tha is a realy nice girl... back on hold......could I offer her cash for some dirty talk to pass the time ?

elster

17,517 posts

241 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
If I could get Virgin I would. But limited choice.

Been using Pipex (now tiscali) for a while, but they have taken the piss far toomany times. Just gone back to BT ( I know Tiscali use BT lines) far better customer service compared to Pipex. As you can speak to someone, it took me 4 months trying to cancel pipex before the acknowledged the correspondance.

They really are the worst.

J-Skid

1,099 posts

289 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Well it took 7 weeks for Virgin Media to "connect" make my telephone work. The on demand services are always on the blink (we're waiting for someone to come along next Friday) to fix....hmmmm

Sounds odd, but when we move I can't wait to get back to BT / Sky instead of this rubbish. At least one of my Virgin services fails each month.


HiRich

3,337 posts

293 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Since they could just cut you off...
Don't waste time with phone monkeys. Presumably, you can calculate your "true" bill, and you appear to still pay by cheque.
Write the cheque for that amount, and send it back with a letter explaining the error in the bill. State that you have the evidence that the problem was off-site and therefore not chargeable to you. State that you attempted to resolve this by phone. Make the offer to pay the correct amount and have included the cheque "as full and final payment of this particular bill".

If they cash the cheque, not only have they confirmed receipt, but with the critical words, they have accepted your payment as clearing the bill. Inevitably they will come back, but then just wrote a formal complaint, stating that you have paid and they have accepted payment.

marc.l

Original Poster:

822 posts

256 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
HiRich said:
Since they could just cut you off...
Don't waste time with phone monkeys. Presumably, you can calculate your "true" bill, and you appear to still pay by cheque.
Write the cheque for that amount, and send it back with a letter explaining the error in the bill. State that you have the evidence that the problem was off-site and therefore not chargeable to you. State that you attempted to resolve this by phone. Make the offer to pay the correct amount and have included the cheque "as full and final payment of this particular bill".

If they cash the cheque, not only have they confirmed receipt, but with the critical words, they have accepted your payment as clearing the bill. Inevitably they will come back, but then just wrote a formal complaint, stating that you have paid and they have accepted payment.
+1 going to pay the bill less the £99 in full and final payment. yes I still pay the £4.50 to BT to pay my bill on time, Rip of merchants.

1066

238 posts

229 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
This happened to me about a month ago. Ater getting no-where with the various call centres, I sent a strongly worded email to the CEO, a Mr Ian Livingston. I recieved a response within twenty minutes to say my query was being investigated, follwed by a phone call advising me that the call out charge had been removed. I'd suggest you do the same, it seems to be the only way people get any sort of sensible response.

Edit: Because I can't type properly.

Edited by 1066 on Monday 18th August 15:53

Chris71

21,549 posts

273 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
We have had HUGE problems with BT trying to set up broadband. The words 'pi$$ up' and 'brewery' spring to mind. The people we spoke to were rude and completely disinterested too - you wonder what they get paid their 0.0001 rupees a day for. wink

Edited by Chris71 on Monday 18th August 16:03

agentsmith

412 posts

224 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
marc.l said:
Phone bill arrived today and last month had big phone problems with my phone not working for around 3 weeks on and off, so was not exspecting much of a bill......

My bill includes a £99 call out charge. In all it took them 3 visits to sort out a water logged conecting joint on the post on the other side of the road. Bt claim the problem was with our phone extension so we have to pay (we have no extension, just the bt main socket).

Spent so far today 55 mins on the phone and still have not talked to any body that can help and now have to sit by the phone for and hour for some body to call me back, I bet im still waighting in 2 hours time......

Do I just not pay the bill and let them take me to court ?, I have the name of the Bt enginer, I can take pics of the joint they replaced and can show them that no extensions are in the house. What should I do ? or just pay the £100 and save the agro before I`ve spoke to the whole of India ??


Edited by marc.l on Monday 18th August 14:46
I had this removed by dialing the faults team, demanding to talk to a supervisor, and they eventually (20mins) relented and had the charges refunded...

Altrezia

8,742 posts

242 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
HiRich said:
Since they could just cut you off...
Don't waste time with phone monkeys. Presumably, you can calculate your "true" bill, and you appear to still pay by cheque.
Write the cheque for that amount, and send it back with a letter explaining the error in the bill. State that you have the evidence that the problem was off-site and therefore not chargeable to you. State that you attempted to resolve this by phone. Make the offer to pay the correct amount and have included the cheque "as full and final payment of this particular bill".

If they cash the cheque, not only have they confirmed receipt, but with the critical words, they have accepted your payment as clearing the bill. Inevitably they will come back, but then just wrote a formal complaint, stating that you have paid and they have accepted payment.
We did that (bill less the phone rental), they just cut all of our services off until we paid the full amount.

Engineer1

10,486 posts

240 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
it sounds like it is standard practice for BT to add the call out to your bill without informing you they do however refund a certain amount of the charge if you complain to them.

mph999

2,780 posts

251 months

Monday 18th August 2008
quotequote all
Look up the uk head office - call them, job done.

Martin