New To Sound Off About BT

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Sorrbut i really do need to get this out of my system.

 

I fell behind on my BT bill earlier in the year so I set up a payment plan of so much a month. Things were ok until August. I thought that I was up to date with my bill and I cancelled the DD as I was a bit skint so I thought that if it wasnt needed I wont pay. we have had this before and BT dont cancel they carry on taking it.

 

I got a bill saying that it had been cancelled and that I needed to pay. I missed the bit in 7 days so I was going to pay on payday(which was after the 7 days). On September 12th hey restricted my phone line to incoming calls only. Now I hit the roof. I have told them before to warn me as I have three children with medical conditions and I need to have a phone in case I need to call hospital.

 

It turned out that on the bill was an old charge for earlier in he year for cancelation of my broadband contract. This had been disputed a while back as BT couldnt proove that I had agreed to a contract. This charge was for £187. So after a big battle with little man on the phone and him refusing to let me speak to a manager and saying he couldnt give me my line back as it was all the computer and he could not over ride that. He agreed I could make 3 payments at the post office and reconnected my phone.

 

In that call he said that he will send me Giro slips to pay over the counter. Brill. I thought.

 

Today I sent my son to school for schol dinners. He has wanted to do this since he started secondary school a few weeks a go. He has Type1 diabetes and has just before starting secondary school we changed his insulin regime and he now has to inject at every meal time. The thing is I hace to work out how many carbs are in his meal to calculate the insulin. So I am waiting for him to phone me to tell me what he had for dinner. I am very anxious about this.

 

I went to phone my mate and rearange our plans so I am at home for my son to call. I then relised my phone line has been cut off completly.

 

I was FURIOUS. have spent most of my morning trying to sort this. I spoke to one person who said no he couldnt do anything so I demanded to speak to a manager. Who still said that she could not help. I was getting angrier by the second. The manager said that basicly that they canot accept monthly payments. I said that i had received the giro slips. Does not matter said the lady you shouldnt have been tols that you could have this on the foirst palce. We were going round in circles. In the end the manager hung up on me.

 

So i thought that i would call the Telecommunications Ombudsman. The message said that I needed to have finallised the compalint with BT first so I phoned back and asked the complaints procedure. This time the lady was lovely obviously a rare bread at BT. Within in 10 minutes my line was connected and a payplan set up. WHY DID THEY INSIST THIS COULD NOT BE DONE.

 

Even though this has been sorted I am still compalining BT in writing as I was so upset.

 

olives xx

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Firstly sorry in my anger earlier I mad a misrake on the title of my thread. Itwas supposed to read."NEED TO SOUND OFF ABOUT BT" nevermind

Anyway I have composed a letter to BT and I was wondering what you all thought of it. It is a bit long winded but I need it checked out. This has completley wiped me out today. I have enough on my hands with my mortgage comapny never mind bt being out to get me.

 

Anyway here is the letter

 

Dear BT,

I writing to you to bring to your attention a recent chain of events that has left me with no option but to make a formal complaint about your customer services department.

Before I begin I would like to start to by explaining the circumstances at home. We have three children all of which have medical problems. My two daughters are on very dangerous medication and my son has Type1 Diabetes. At the moment this being controlled by insulin injections each mealtime which varies each meal time according to the amount of carbohydrates he has consumed. Because of these circumstances I need to have regular contact with my children’s doctors, schools and hospitals. I have informed BT of this several times requesting that if there was going to be an interruption to our telephone service then to please give us prior warning.

Several months ago we left BT as our phone and internet provider due to poor internet connection that could never really be resolved. When I called your broadband department for the MAC code I was informed that we were still under contract, therefore changing to a new provider would cost us £187. I denied agreeing to a contract term and requested that I was shown where I had agreed to this. As this could be provided BT waivered the fee and I was free to leave

Whilst this had been settled we were paying our bill using a monthly payment plan. I cancelled the Direct Debit for this in August as I mistakenly thought that we were up to date and as we were now only paying line rental, £60 a month would be too much.

I then received a bill and admittedly in all the chaos of getting my children ready for their new school term and settling my son in to a new insulin routine which is very complicated, I lost track of time and honestly forgot to sort out the bill.

On September 12th I went to use the phone and discovered that the line had been restricted to incoming calls only. I was put through to the relevant department. I was upset that the line had been restricted and I had not been informed so that I could resolve the problem as had already been requested. To start with i discovered that the £187 had not added to my bill so it was showing that I owed £297. I explained the situation with regards to the broadband and he agreed that this was supposed to be removed and made a note on my file accordingly. This left the remainder of the bill which was £110. I asked if I could split this over three payments and that this would clear the bill in time for the December bill. The person that I spoke to was insisting that there was nothing that could be done and I had to pay the full amount before my line was reinstated. This was causing me more distress. I asked to speak to a manager. He insisted several times that this was not possible. He eventually went to find a manger who would talk to me. When he returned he said that the manager was busy but he could reinstate my line by sending out counter slips to pay at the post office. I said that would be no problem and as soon as I receive the payment slips I will make a payment then call to say this had been done. He agreed with this and that day my line was reinstated.

I waited for the counter slips. I had kept the £30 to one side so that as soon as these arrived I could pay.

Today I said that my son could have school dinners today as a treat. I would remain at home and he could then phone me to tell me what he had for dinner and I could calculate his insulin. I needed to rearrange my day in preparation for this so i went to make a phone call. I discovered that my line had been totally disconnected. I was distraught. If my son was unable to contact me he would be unable to inject his insulin and worry and as he would not know what to do. This would then result in him becoming ill.

I again contacted BT this time having to use my mobile phone which now was going to cost me. I spoke to a man from customer services. He again insisted that nothing could be done. I explained that I was still waiting for this counter slips and then I could pay. If he looked on the file he would see that this had been agreed. Still he said there was nothing he could do. I asked to speak to a manager. She looked through the notes and read them aloud as she did. It said that the £187 had been requested to be removed and that I would be sent some counterfoils and that I would pay £30 on receipt of these. I explained again that I had not received these so how could I pay. She was either not understanding my complaint or just chose to ignore what I was saying. Eventually she said that the person who had agreed to this was from the broad band department. I corrected her and said that it was customer services. She then said that this person was wrong and should not have said this and then HUNG UP.

I was now angry and distraught I really did not know what to do. I phoned back and asked for the complaints procedure. This time the lady I spoke was very helpful. She had my line restored in less than 10 minutes. Something I had been told repeatedly told could not be done. I the paid £50 and have set up a new direct debit. Again something i had been told could not be done. If I could have done this on September 12th it would have stopped all of this. I would have been saved from all the worry and upset that I have had to endure today. It seems apparent that each advisor follows their own rules.

I therefore request that you give a written explanation, within 7 days of the date of this letter, as to how this situation arose and your proposals for remedy together with an offer of compensation for the distress that was caused

What do you think

 

olives xx