British Telecom Chasing £461

[chrissarah1988]

Hi guys

 

BT are trying to chase me for £461 i have never been one for debt but when i don't get a service i for one will not pay for it.

 

Back in October 2011 i had BT installed and originally had a BT line in this house the reason for this was we was going to move to a private rent and they didnt have cable services in that area when i had Virgin at the time so i cancelled Virgin and went to BT. One day in October BT arrived to install my services i asked the engineer if he could install it upstairs as my PC was in the back room, He refused as there was already a phone socket behind our TV in the living room so when he left i could not get a wireless signal in my home so i contacted BT about this only to get through to a non English person as usual brain dead muppets so i gave up and went through to the CEO office via email to have a big argument with a non cooperating woman saying all customers are treated fairly this was after i refused to pay them £130 for a phone box relocation to my room after the engineer refused to put it where i wanted it.

 

So i lost my rag with this woman via email told them that BT are nothing but rip of merchants and dont treat any customer fairly whats so ever kept coming back saying this is how everyone is treated so unless i pay the £130 they won't relocate it.

 

So i had 8 weeks of non working internet as i couldn't get a signal and i couldn't use an Ethernet cable due to renovation work and nothing to put the cable under etc carpet.

 

So i escalated my claim to OS Communications where as i expected told me via letter they was happy with BT's decision and would not take any further action and i was liable to pay all costs but i could appeal so i appealed saying i was not happy with the decision and they said they would look into it but not heard nothing back in 3 months i sent them an email i was ignored.

 

BT seem to think its the structure of my home but im now back with Virgin Media had one hiccup and it was sorted quickly and i can connect to the internet the same place where the BT hub was so its not the structure

 

BT has sent me a letter this morning saying they will pass the debt of £461 to a debt recovery agency which i will face other costs and penaltys.

 

What makes me laugh with BT is when i took out the broadband with them i had 14 days to cancel my services, it took them 17 days to install it when i did want to cancel using my cooling off period they said ive passed it so they started the cooling off period before they even installed the services (the day i ordered it)

[rebel11]

Hi chris

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint mark it as such, explain whats happened, how they have let you down and what you want them to do.

 

Send it to:-

 

Ian Livingston, Chief Executive

[email protected]

 

Some tips:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1242161/How--write-letter-complaint.html

 

I'm sure they would like to hear from you via Twitter:- http://twitter.com/#!/btcare

and Facebook:- http://www.facebook.com/BTUK

 

Also read no.18 in my signature.

[Bazooka Boo]

This is going to be a long haul I feel...as BT have had 8 weeks to rectify your complaint and you still feel it hasn't been, then you can escalate this to Ofcom.

But send of that complaint to the CEO as well.

[chrissarah1988]

Ok just had chance today to send this to Ian Livingston read my problems below.

 

I sent it to the OS Communications group and they are just basically ignoring me would Ofcom deal with it ?

 

Letter to Ian Livingston

 

FAO Ian Livingston

 

Dear Sir

 

I am extreamly annoyed at the way ive been treaten as a BT customer at the start of my contract back in October/November. I had problems from day one where i could not use my Wi-Fi due to not reaching a signal from the room where my PC was to the room where the Hub was even with both doors open and at an appriaote range for my Wireless Network card to reach the BT Hub, BT blamed the structure of my home which is rubbish as my virgin media hub is in the same location and i can reach the wifi with a reasonable signal. The day the broadband and phone line was installed i asked the engineer who came to my home to install my services to install it in my bedroom upstairs but because there was already a BT box behind my TV he refused and thought it was easier to install it where he wanted and not where i wanted. I spoke to someone from the CEO office to be fobbed off with an excuse of having to pay £130 to relocate my socket as it was an engineers error in the first place i told the lady i was not paying £130.00 for one of your engineers mess ups and she came across all customers need to be treaten fairly etc i dont see how making me pay for an internet connection and phone line is treating me fairly.

The other day royal mail delivered a letter for me from BT collections stating i pay £461.00 or it gets refereed to a debt collection agency well i do not like threats and i will be posting this threatning letter on all review websites with my explanation of events and i will post it on your facebook and twitter webpage im not sure BT will like my explanations on the social networking websites and if your team keep deleting i will carry on posting them.

I dont like threats and nor do BT so maybe a solution can be made where you terminate my contract without charge as i was unfairly and wrongly treaten by BT, i asked to use my cooling off period as by law every telecom’s company must provide a cooling off period although BT started my 14 day cooling off period before my services was installed so basically i never had chance to test them and cancel them as i was not happy BT used my 14 days to install there services and by the time i was connected up it had expired and i was stuck into this rip off contract which is wrong.

I will keep this correspondace and use it how i feel fit.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon

 

Regards

[chrissarah1988]

Ok so i received the snotty reply from the same woman i had a 20 email conversation with and still she is being a utter moron

 

here was her reply this morning

 

Hello Mr Holden

 

Following your email of 21 June 2012 to Ian Livingston. I've been asked to look into the details on your account further.

 

I can see that a full review was completed in respect of your complaint back in December 2011 and you was provided with BT's final position in an email to you on 20 December 2011 and a further email on 27 December 2011.

 

Again I’m sorry you still remain unhappy and do not accept BT's response. As you've been provided with BT's final position BT will not be completing a further review or responding to any further communication on the matter.

 

The complaint is now with the Ombudsman and you'll need to contact them directly regarding their decision.

 

Kind regards

 

Julie Howarth

0131 448 4318

Executive Level Complaints

[rebel11]

You've also got :-

 

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/

 

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/adr/

[Bazooka Boo]

Yep, escalate your complaint, whilst this is now in dispute by yourself and in deadlock with BT, then any DCA attempting to con you out of money can be given short shrift and informed that this is now subject to further investigation, and no correspondence will be entered into with them, EVER!

[chrissarah1988]

They just do people over, The Ombudsman i went through to in Warrington have given a final decision to take things into BT's Favor and said BT do not guarantee a wireless signal and as long as the service works up to the master socket they are not interested.

 

I feel there is no way out here and refuse to pay these muppets any of my money for something they never supplied.

 

I will try Ofcom tommorow see what they say

 

What annoys me the most is they give a 14 day cooling off period and took longer than 14 days to install the service but then stated that my 14 day cooling off period starts the day i place the order basically not giving there customers a chance to try the service before they opt into a contract

[Bazooka Boo]

Don't be angry, you are on to a winner here, BT are once again weeing into the wind.

 

When you say 'Ombudsman' who do you mean??

 

Ofcom is a defo, payment is a defo 'NO GO', your complaint still remains as it has not been resolved to YOUR satisfaction, you have plenty of room to string these clowns up by the short & curlies so don't give up hope.

Pay them nowt, dispute everything and escalate your complaint.

[huggy41]

the 14 day cooling off period is for you to cancell and stop the work going ahead that is why it starts when you phone them and agree.

If there is already a phone line and socket in the house then BT will use that one as it's there already all done FREE OF CHARGE.

If you wanted to have a service personal to your needs ie a socket were you want it then you have to pay for the extra.

Regards to Virgin wireless working when BT did not .Virgin use a different router.

[renegadeimp]

Virgin also use different equipment in the exchange. So the two arent really comparable.

[chrissarah1988]

Don't be angry, you are on to a winner here, BT are once again weeing into the wind.

 

When you say 'Ombudsman' who do you mean??

 

Ofcom is a defo, payment is a defo 'NO GO', your complaint still remains as it has not been resolved to YOUR satisfaction, you have plenty of room to string these clowns up by the short & curlies so don't give up hope.

Pay them nowt, dispute everything and escalate your complaint.

 

I went through to Ofcom apparntly they dont fight a complaint they just file i have a complaint against BT thats all.

 

They say i can get legal advice i.e a solicitor but how the hell am i supposed to afford a solicitor i could try Citizens Advice see what they say

 

what do you think

[chrissarah1988]

Virgin also use different equipment in the exchange. So the two arent really comparable.

 

Both lines still go to your house and connect similiar just because BT is outside and Virgin are underground you still expect a working service regardless of what make or model the router is.

 

BT should have a router which can reach all area's of the home not just 1 or 2 areas

[renegadeimp]

Both lines still go to your house and connect similiar just because BT is outside and Virgin are underground you still expect a working service regardless of what make or model the router is.

 

BT should have a router which can reach all area's of the home not just 1 or 2 areas

 

Thats not how the exchanges work. its much more complicated than saying they have a router that people are connected to.

[Bazooka Boo]

Well it is clearly in deadlock, so there needs to be an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10789/~/how-do-i-make-a-complaint%3F