Hello,

I have been trying to sort out a dispute with BT over an alleged debt from a previous address which started Sep 2012, complaints from Dec 2012. BT erroneously charged me a moving fee of £100 when they said this was not applicable at the time, but at the new address, the service did not work properly.

They sent engineers 7 or 8 times, verifying during this process that the fault was theirs and not mine. After weeks of this, they tried to charge me for the move as well as charges for an unusable phone/broadband line. The line was "repaired", meaning that it worked but could fail at any time, according to the final engineer, but still with noise in the line.

They also were charging me for a handset which had been paid off long before I discovered this when I moved to this address. They refused to refund me the mistaken payments saying it was my fault I kept paying them erroneously, though I eventually did get a refund cheque.

In the interim 4 years, they have tried various debt collection agencies, including most recently Lowell, to add on charges of up to ~£300. I ignored all over that time and engaged once again in May, and sent an email to Lowell complaining about shady business practices as well. Lowell put the matter into internal complaint investigation but I have heard nothing from them since.

With BT, I engaged with an executive complaints rep, who ultimately said they would waive the now £130 moving charge, but I still needed to pay ~£170 worth of charges, including I suspect, an £18 reconnection fee. The rep would not send me the alleged bills without me providing my current home address, which I refused to provide as I told the rep I did not trust her nor BT because of their track record with me.

The executive complaints rep then tried to play hard with the situation after I had written several times stating I thought the Ombudsman may need to be brought in to sort the situation. The "hard move" by the BT executive complaints rep said if I contacted the Ombudsman (because they may be required to do something different), or did not pay the ~£170 by 11 Aug, she would cancel the "deal" and I would be required to the full amount, including any other charges I assume she would add on.

I of course ignored this threat and called her out on it before 11 Aug, but have heard nothing since. I did see a letter was forwarded on from my old address, but I did not pay for the postage to receive it and did not see what it contained. I think I need to engage with the Ombudsman, but I need to see what the bills are without giving my address to BT, and see if BT actually owe me money for all this time and harassment and what I think is an illegal threat if I contacted the Ombudsman.

The CSA have said they have no competence here and I have not yet contacted the Ombudsman without taking advice here. Also, would small claims court be a sensible option at this point? And, what of Lowell and their silence? Finally, what could BT do at this point if I do not act?

debts been sold on now nowt to do with bt

just write and tell lowells its subject to sroius despute and then ignore them

just don't ignore a claimform should they be stupid enough to issue one.

but you must write not email

else they'll probably got for a backdoor CCJ against the old address

dx

agree with DX on this, write formally with your new address as the addy to serve all documetns on otherwise they are OBLIGED to send the court paperwork to your old address and you wont get a set aside as you have refused to give proper address.

Hello, I have seen nothing here from BT via email since end of Jul last year. The person I was mailing with refused to acknowledge anything and only wanted money but did supply the Ombudsman link. I have not sent anything to the Ombudsman yet, and do not see this on my credit record via Noddle, but as I want to apply for a loan tomorrow, I wonder if it is worth doing anything at the moment.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you.

Well the ombudsman isn't going to get you a loan, the time to engage with them is when you were having this protracted dispute with BT, not six years later?

if it not on clearscore or noddle or Experian all free

then you don't say anything