Cancelled BT within 14 days but they wont leave me alone.

[samj8042]

Hi

I set up an account for BT broadband when I bought my new house,

they messed me about so much within the 14 days cancellation that I actioned it and cancelled.

The order was made 26-09-19 cancelled and confirmed back to me by email 02-10-20 equipment returned.

 

BT has pursued me for money ever since,

I have had lengthy phone calls confirming it was cancelled and no money is due which they agree and apologise and say they will rectify yet still the bills come. 

Despite talking to many people and having screen grabs of live chats confirming there should be no charge and confirmation emails in reality nothing changes.

 

I now have letter of referral to debt collectors.

Can I get bad credit over this?....

what shall I do,

contacting BT makes no difference.

 

Thanks in advance.

Sam   

[BankFodder]

Are you in the mood to make trouble?

 

Please monitor this thread for a fuller reply tomorrow

 

In the meantime send them an sar immediately and also start preparing a letter of claim. No point in mucking around. You might as well assert yourself and go in for a bit of compensation and a bit of grudge

 

in the sar, demand to know who they have shared your data with - as well as asking for the disclosure. You are entitled to do this.

[dx100uk]

I would suspect you already have a default if they've sold it to the likes of Lowell

who is now chasing you?

 

dx

 

[brassnecked]

Could you confirm it is still with BT, as in which debt collector is it, and post up the letter as a pdf here.  Also check your credit files to see if any derfault there. do as Bankfodder suggests with the SAR.  Do you have copies of any correspondence from BT saying all cancelled and nothing owing, also did you record any of the phone calls,.

[BankFodder]

29 minutes ago, dx100uk said:

I would suspect you already have a default if they've sold it to the likes of Lowell

who is now chasing you?

 

dx

 

 

I hope so. All the more grist to the mill!

[brassnecked]

There are several heads to attack BT with if that is the case DX and BF, GDPR and unlawful processing of data being but  one ,could get BT and the DCA under that probably. especially if BT have done their (and Vodafone's) usual trick of selling a non existent debt.

[BankFodder]

On the basis of what you say here – the facts of the story as you tell them and also the evidence which you say you have, I think you will have no difficulty on taking on BT and winning and also getting a sum in compensation if you are prepared to assert yourself.

Frankly I don't think there's any point in wasting time trying to get into dialogue with these people. They are dinosaurs and like many companies they are now using the virus crisis as an opportunity to be even more difficult and inaccessible and frustrating.

The only way to deal with this thing is to move directly to a letter of claim and then begin an action in the small claims court. It's really up to you.

Bring a small claim in the County Court is very easy. You can started online using the court service Moneyclaim system and course we will help you all the way. The chances of you losing are negligible but even if you did, you would simply lose your claim fee and possibly the hearing fee.
BT won't listen to you. You can see that the only thing they're really good at is moving into debt collection mode and they've already started. If they have instructed debt collectors then the chances are that they have already blighted your credit file which means that you will have to live for six years in the financial wilderness and meanwhile suffer the harassment of debt collectors both by letter and possibly on the telephone.

Presumably you now have a broadband service elsewhere – who with?

 

Incidentally, I am assuming that you do have evidence. You've been on the telephone – but have you recorded the calls? You involved in online chats – but did you get email transcripts of your chats?

[brassnecked]

If the non debt has been sold rather than just passed to a DCA for Collection, to as DX say one like Lowell or Cabot (Crabpots) they also might be worthy of a GDPR letter and demand for £250- £500  plus the  matter of your referral to the Information Commissioner their breach by processing your data doesn't fall within any reasonable excuse as there was no debt to begin with.   That would be for later if the DCA has also trampled over your credit files and carry on after BT are sorted, a back burner one that BT is target for now.

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that it is far more likely that BT would be responsible for any data intrusion by DCA's which it had instructed

[brassnecked]

Yes agreed BF, but IF BT have sold it on rather than passed for collection, it might be different as the DCA is wrongly processing of itself, but that is a long way away if at all.

[BankFodder]

Yes I hadn't appreciated that the debt had been sold. However, although you can sell the rights – you can't sell the duties. The duties and liabilities remain with the original creditors

[samj8042]

Many Thanks all, this is a lovely breeze of support really appreciate this.

So proof of cancelation I have.....

 

- Response to my email (via their return email) 02-10-20 confirming phone line and broadband were cancelled (order was put in 26-09-19)

- Screen grab of online chat with operative also confirming order is cancelled on their system

---------------

The letter they sent just says its being referred to DCA no info on who they are.

Yes I can send a SAR and will do so

What amount should I suggest of compensation?

---------------

I have made several phone calls to BT some lasting up to 40minutes these should be on my phone bill I guess.

---------------

Here is the time I have had wasted with BT for an order that should never have become valid......

 

received 41 emails

6 phone calls lasting 20-40 minutes

online chats x 2 lasting about 20minutes each

about 20 letters

 

Thanks again any more info needed let me know ! 

 

 

 

 

 

   

[BankFodder]

You've been having phone calls. Have you recorded the calls?

 

If you want help with this and if you want to move it forward – then you will have to engage with this thread

[samj8042]

Thanks Bankfodder, so the calls may show up on my phone bills as I rang them....... is that what you mean by recorded?

I have email proof that the order was cancelled.

 

 

15 hours ago, BankFodder said:

If you want help with this and if you want to move it forward – then you will have to engage with this thread

Sorry Bankfodder not easy to respond quickly sometimes, have young children here in lockdown that need looking after ! 

[dx100uk]

no speech...you cant prove what they said

 

so you have written proof rom them the everything WAS cancelled??

[BankFodder]

no. I mean recording the calls so that you have an audio recording. As you had been here since 2014 I had imagined that you would be aware of our standard advice to read our customer services guide and implement the advice there before making any telephone calls to any company. This is essential survival.

I suggest that you now install a call recorder. Reader customer services guide and have further telephone calls with them and this time see if you can get them to commit themselves in an incriminating way. Of course you don't give them warnings

 

[brassnecked]

You have saved those emails I hope don't delete them print them or forward them to another email address or copy and paste them into a Word Processor and save as a doc.

[samj8042]

9 hours ago, dx100uk said:

no speech...you cant prove what they said

 

so you have written proof rom them the everything WAS cancelled??

Yes email from BT confirming broadband and phone line were cancelled

 

8 hours ago, brassnecked said:

You have saved those emails I hope don't delete them print them or forward them to another email address or copy and paste them into a Word Processor and save as a doc.

Yes I made sure I kept the mails and took screen grabs of the online chat showing the person who I was talking to. 

[samj8042]

So Bankfodder continue with SAR etc as you outlined and other actions regardless calls were not recorded but I have email confirming all was cancelled?..... Thanks again

[BankFodder]

8 hours ago, samj8042 said:

So Bankfodder continue with SAR etc as you outlined and other actions regardless calls were not recorded but I have email confirming all was cancelled?..... Thanks again

 

You are asking if you should continue with the SAR. This was suggested to you on Tuesday within half an hour or so of you beginning this thread and confirmed by another member of the site team a short time after that and I would have expected that you had sent this off by now.  It takes up to 30 days for them to respond and every day you delay is a day longer at the other end and an extra day which plays into their hands.

I understand that you have commitments that are particularly acute during this virus crisis – but you should understand that this is a crisis which affects all of us – including the site team and we have commitments as well.

I know this is going to sound harsh, but the people that you need to be explaining your family commitments to are BT and the debt collectors, if you think they'll listen to you. Of course they won't care. In fact they will probably move forward and capitalise on the fact that you are unable to allocate your time properly to this matter – and eventually that will cause you damage which will last for years and hurt you and your family.
The debt collection industry is one of the few industries that is striving on the current crisis because people don't have the money or they don't have the time to deal with the errors which are being caused by the companies that they are dealing with. This is what is happening to you.

Well done on the email evidence you have collected and the screenshots. This seems to be very well controlled but you should still be recording your calls. There is often very important information that is lost because people don't record the course despite the fact that this is the advice we have been giving on this forum for well over 10 years. It's not a game.

Also, you speak about your time commitments. I'm afraid that you're going to have to deal with this very aggressively. The debt collection agencies will move forward very quickly and if they haven't damaged your credit file then they will do very soon. You should check your credit file immediately.

If you haven't set off the SAR already then I think you need to ask yourself why not. If you are not recording your calls think you need to ask yourself the same question.

Fortunately you haven't lost any money to BT so far. I think I asked you earlier on have you now got an alternative service but I don't think you addressed this point. Please will you let us know what you are doing for Internet access. Have you suffered any financial loss as a result of BT's error?

If you have all the information that you say you have then I think you have the basis for suing BT for breach of data protection rules. They have a statutory duty to process your data accurately and anything else is unlawful.
However, to bring a legal action on this will take a time commitment from you. It won't take very much and I can imagine that once they receive the papers they will sit down and start to look at the far more carefully and start to treat you as a human being instead of simply another pressed individual that has fallen through the gaps in their system.

I asked you early on whether you are prepared to make trouble about this and you have an address that either. Once again, I know that I'm being a bit harsh and my approach to this – but I'm afraid that you will need to be assertive in the way you deal with this if you want to deal with it quickly and to minimise damage or to repair any damage – and hopefully come away with a bit of compensation.

 

The alternative to my approach is to try and engage them in dialogue and get them to understand that they have made errors and to count on them being reasonable and to treat you as an individual.
Good luck with that!
You really will find that there is a drain on your scarce time.

[brassnecked]

There really is no other option with BT than to go for the jugular, as BF states they will just go on fobbing you off.  Call recording is most important as their customer services might well just tell you to contact XXX DCA as it's with them now.  that would be the nail in their coffin also.  What's the name of the DCA  they  have involved/possibly sold the non debt to  it would likely be just a spreadsheet entry with an account number and alleged amount along with other real debts they are passing or selling on?  Check those credit files,ASAP, and do that SAR now, not tomorrow not next week, but Right Now.

[samj8042]

SAR is being sent off in the morning.... it will take too long to describe my commitments and days at the moment but will move as soon as I possibly can.

I am going to start my letter of claim, any idea of amount I should be looking for? 

 

I made the order with BT Business ( I work from home for myself )  to be in place when I moved to my new address, they made so may errors sending equipment there before I got there ( other people were in the house not known to me ) and changing the engineer appointment 4 times I lost confidence I would have service when I landed at the new address which is why I cancelled. I went with Virgin instead and by coincidence their hardware was already in the house due to previous tenant signing up so had a speedy set up which didn't loose me time but was quite stressful.

 

[BankFodder]

Well we need to calculate your actual losses – in other words ascertainable financial loss that you suffered and then also we will decide upon a figure for distress caused by their mishandling of your personal data.

So please can you detail in a bullet pointed order, the problems which occurred. Did you lose earnings? How you inconvenience? Actual losses are much easier than simply claiming for inconvenience.

On the basis of what you have told us so far, I think that the amount you can claim will be pretty modest – as will the figure for distress although because we can say that your stress levels have been exacerbated by the fact that you are dealing with two children and in confinement et cetera, we can jack up the compensation level a little.

Have you been without an Internet service for any particular length of time – and if so how has this impacted you or your children? For instance, have your children needed to do online schooling while they have been in confinement?
Let's not forget that the main objective of this is to get BT off your back and to clear your credit file.
After that, if we can get you the compensation then that is cream on the cake. I expect that we can. In fact I can't imagine that it will go to a hearing – but you should be prepared for it to do so.

Let's start with your actual inconvenience and actual losses if any.

[samj8042]

Thanks again BankFodder will get the SAR off in the morning then come back to you listing the incidents. There was no loss in connection as Virgin set up at the new address in time for me to land there and start business and this order was made end of November and cancelled 2nd October so these was no loss of connection in any way and didn't clash with the corona outbreak.   

[BankFodder]

Do I understand that you are contracting with them as a business?