Signed up to a new 12 month deal with BT in Jan 2017 only to find out 2 weeks later the had generated a Quarterly bill from Dec 2016- March 2017 which then cancels my monthly payment with them.... i have rang them a they say the only way to get me back onto a monthly payment is to pay the £144 quarterly charge now upfront and then they will credit my account accordingly... I feel like i am being held over a barrel on this one..... Are they right or can i challenge it.... They have admitted it's there fault i was placed on a quarterly scheme as i had been on a monthly payment for last 12 months

Any advice much appreciated

Yes, you can challenge it but of course the problem will be there if you claim the money back from your bank under the direct debit guarantee then you will soon find out how efficient BT can be when it comes to leaping into dinosaur mode, disconnecting your service, passing you over to debt collectors, making your life a misery and even wrecking your credit file.

This is something that they're good at. Correcting the mistakes they are normally not good at all.

Their refusal to sorted out now is because of stupidity and laziness. They could easily do it if they had the goodwill – but of course they don't.

I suppose you have been dealing with them on the telephone and you are not recording your calls? This is unhelpful because it means that you have no record of any conversation or admissions that they make. I suggest that you have no further dealings with them on the telephone until you read our customer services guide and implement the advice.

You could challenge it but frankly the three months has already passed by – or almost and it is scarcely worth doing anything. On the other hand, don't be too certain that they're going to sorted out now. I'm assuming that you are relying completely on telephone calls and that you have put nothing in writing so actually you can't even be certain that they have corrected the error on their own systems.

Did you realise that BT stands for Bloody Terrible?