BT have Changed my Number

[pobat]

My Father Has just passed away and we are in the middle of sorting out paperwork and finances etc. The telephone account was under my dads name, so we had to have the account transferred to my mothers name.

 

Heres the problem, BT's Policy is that an account cannot be transfered, but must be closed. And a new account must be opened, thus a new phone number is created. Not once did they mention that the number will change, or did they provide me with a new number when i phoned them, nor did they ever mention that the account is now closed and a new account has been opened.

 

Family members have been complaining that they cannot get through to phone at this difficult time and it is very distressing. I spent This morning having a rant at BT, and they say that they will transfer the old number back in 1 hour. This morning, it still hadn't changed.

 

What to do???

[buzby]

Only they can control the number, but having been in your situation all they did was change the bill payers name, no change to service or number was requested or forced. I think someone (in India?) has assumed it is a 'new' family and is letting a physical change kick in. I'd complain long and hard.

[pobat]

Thats what i told them. Nobody asked them to cancel the account. When i complained, they stated that the contract was with my dad. Since he is deceased, the contract is now invalid. they do not allow the account to be transferred to anybody, all they do is closed the now "invalid" account and open a New Account under a new name, which means a new number.

[buzby]

Stupid, absolutely stupid. If this is a new policy, it makes sense for everyone to change their billing detaisl to 'Mr & Mrs' to cover such an eventuality. Do ask them when their 'new user' policy was implemented and let me know, assuming you find out.

[pobat]

Stupid, absolutely stupid. If this is a new policy, it makes sense for everyone to change their billing detaisl to 'Mr & Mrs' to cover such an eventuality. Do ask them when their 'new user' policy was implemented and let me know, assuming you find out.

 

Damn Right. There are more pressing priorities at hand instead of having to deal with this crap. Im gonna ring them now. will try to find out as much as i can. Also just noticed a letter from TalkTalk (they control our telephone bills). They changed the account over to my mums name without any problems, but the letter says:

 

We have recieved notification from another telephone supplier that you have requested the cancellation of our phone service from the telephone numbers listed"

 

seems BT have contacted them as well.

[pobat]

Im on hold with them. They are giving me the run around.

[barracad]

all they do is closed the now "invalid" account and open a New Account under a new name, which means a new number.

 

This is nonsense. Since when has a new name meant a new number is needed? When I moved house I "inherited" the phone number for the previous occupiers who are completely unrelated to me, and I know countless others who have done the same thing.

 

The number is only usually changed by request, not as a matter of course. I have no idea why they have done this and why they seem unable to explain it properly. I would certainly do as has previously been suggested and find out exactly what their policy is.

[pobat]

What a bunch of asses BT are, 1 Hour has suddenly turned into 24 hours, and they have said that they have always used this policy. but apparently they are trying.

 

Will get back to you tomorrow with an update.

[buzby]

'Always' as it 'since I've been with BT' which may have been just 3 weeks.

[pobat]

Sorry i was forgot to make a post yesterday, but heres an update.

 

BT say that they are in the process of changing the number, it should have been done by 6pm yesterday. As of now, it's still not ready. :mad::mad:

They have again changed their mind on the timing to 24 - 48 hours. Whats worse is that i cannot dial out or receive incoming calls even to the new number that they have given me.

 

Ive had a quick read up on the net, and found that they have to close the account and open a new one by law (however all the sources seem to be opinion based). That means that every other account for other utilities (gas, electric etc) must have to follow the same procedures, right?? BT are the only company that does.

 

Any thoughts???

[buzby]

Them being completely, utterly and completely wrong are a few thoughts for a start. I've read BT's terms and conditions and I see no reference whatsoever that a residential line must be ceased when the original bill payer has died, only if the line is no longer required by other household members. The situation is differend for Partnerships (corporate), Limited Companies and Plc's.... As to the lack of telephone service, this is the time your morther really requires the security of a phone line, I'd enquire about compensation for the period service was removed. You need to make a claim for this when the service is restored on the original number.

[pobat]

It's getting to the point of being ridiculous. They say that a letter should have been sent out advising us of the new number and other bits of information, this should have been sent on the 2nd but hasn't arrived yet, its gonna be 7 days where we haven't been able to receive phone calls, 4 days where we cannot make any phone calls, and they keep changing their mind about how long it takes to transfer a number back. I cant confirm this but it probably took only a few minutes to change our number in the first place.

 

I believe that they are now just taking the and I have decided to claim compensation on my mothers behalf.

 

Lets just hope for everybody's sake my phone is working tomorrow.

[mazza1970]

My dad used to live with me until he passed away 4 years ago. The phone, gas & electricity accounts were all in his name, when I contacted BT, they gave me new account number, but I still kept the same telephone number, and the gas & electricity accounts just got transferred to me. The only company I had trouble with was Sky, as that was also in his name, and when they tried to take the payment out of his account, they found that it had been frozen, so they cut the Sky off, obviously, I don't think contacting the companies about what had happened was high on the agenda at that time, but it took about 6 weeks for the Sky account to get transferred to me.

 

I am sure it will be sorted for you, as all BT really need to do is change the account number and not the telephone number. Good Luck!

[pobat]

iv'e finally found out why they changed the number. 3-4 years ago, we moved from NTL to BT, since NTL own that number it was transferred back them.

[pobat]

BT are now saying that they CANNOT transfer the number back.

 

Im on hold with them right now trying to get through with their supervisors. The supervisor is gonna wish that they never lived when i get through with them.

[pobat]

good news. Its sorted.

 

 

Instead of putting me through to the supervisor, (i think she got a bit guilty), she told a member of the resolution team to retrieve it manually, (just like they did on Friday when i first told them about it).

 

It took them all of 5 minutes to get it sorted.:mad::mad:

The muppets!

[buzby]

Let that be a lesson to you.... porting a number is just an accident waiting to happen - whether mobile of landline. Of course, it doesn't explain why they released the number in the first place, but if it was the other way around (BT number ported to NTL) if you were late paying and the removed service, BANG!, the number is restored to BT immediately and you can't get it back.

[pobat]

BT have passed the point of being a joke. Today i have received 2 phone marketing calls from BT specifically asking for my father. Over last weeks fiasco, i have told them several times that my father has passed away. Can't they get it through their heads??? Besides, according to BT, my fathers account was closed, but it seems not. I do not remember ever receiving a marketing call from BT in the past.

 

They have obviously told me a pack of lies and I'm absolutely fed up with their constant bull****. (By the way, the phone is working fine now)

 

Stay tuned for a very strongly worded letter.

[buzby]

Upsetting though it may be - the Sales & Marketing database it totally seperate from the 'real world' telecoms company, so the calls you received were really no reflection on your current problem or indeed anything to do with getting your problems resolved.

 

The details they are working with are probably anyting up to 12 weeks out of date, and yes - they've started upping the frequency of marketing calls as their market share is under pressure....

[pobat]

If their marketing database is out of date, then they are hold inaccurate data about my mothers account. I do find this hard to believe. They cannot simply be stupid enough to market to dead people, its absurd, and serious consequences are going happen. :evil::evil:Rant over.

 

Anyway, heres the letter that i drafted (the wording started to go a bit strong and had to remove a lot of it)

 

 

Dear sir/madam

 

Account number –

 

I am writing on behalf of my mother in regards to the distress you have caused me and my family over the trivial matter of registering the death of an account member with your company.

 

On the 2nd January, we tried to change the account name to my mother’s name, since my father (the account holder) had passed away. Instead of changing the name, BT decided the best approach is to close the account and open a brand new one, whilst changing the number. During the change over, we were not made aware of the new number nor were we given any way to view your terms and conditions or privacy policy.

 

On the 5th of December, I telephoned customer services when we realised we could not receive any incoming calls, only to be told that our existing number had been replaced. The resolutions team then told me that it would take an hour for the number to be put back. At this point, outgoing calls had suddenly stopped. Later on that day, it still hadn’t been put back, so another phone call had been made to get an update, only to find that it will now take up to 24 hours. Third phone call made on the 6th December, to be told that it usually takes around 24 – 48 hours to complete, but assured me that it should be done by 6pm. 8th December, and still no change. This time I was told that we couldn’t have the number back. At this point my patience had lost me, but the operator had talked to the resolution team to try to put the number back. This time it took them all of five minutes to get it sorted.

 

For the simple matter of changing the name of the account holder, you restricted the use of the phone for a period of 7 days when the security of a working telephone service was needed the most. Then it takes the resolution department roughly 5 minutes to correct the problem.

 

As you can understand, the last month has been a very emotional and distressful time and we certainly did not need the added grief of an incompetent telecoms company.

 

To top it off, today I have received two marketing phone calls from BT specifically asking for my father. You have mentioned on several occasions that my fathers account has been closed and you have been told countless times that my father has passed away, yet you still pester members of the household causing further grief.

 

Either my fathers account is still open or you are holding inaccurate data about the ownership of the new account. Also everyone in the household is unaware of receiving marketing calls from BT previously. Do you often make a habit of marketing to deceased account holders?

 

All these points refer to serious flaws in data control and severe lack of sympathy and respect. I expect an apology and a full explanation of your disastrous actions in writing immediately.

 

If I find that your reply does not fully explain the circumstances and reasons for these procedures or is not up to satisfaction, I will be taking further action against your company. I also require you to cease all marketing calls to this number for both my mother and late father immediately.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Tell me if you spot any grammar mistakes:p

[buzby]

No that looks fine - as for the data being inaccurate, well - everything is until the next update.... and so on. No marketer get's to work on a live database, and if truth be told if this happened a year ago, you wouldn't have been any the wiser. Hopefully you'll get a prompty response - also, if you Mum doesn;t have her number on the TPS database, you might like to do this now;

 

https://secure.dma.org.uk/cgi-bin/session.pl?reg_option=tps

[omicron]

Upsetting though it may be - the Sales & Marketing database it totally seperate from the 'real world' telecoms company, so the calls you received were really no reflection on your current problem or indeed anything to do with getting your problems resolved.

 

The details they are working with are probably anyting up to 12 weeks out of date, and yes - they've started upping the frequency of marketing calls as their market share is under pressure....

 

From the Information Commissioners Office website:

 

"Organisations must keep the information accurate and up to date..."

 

Breach of the Data Protection Act methinks

[patdavies]

No, but your dates don't work

[pobat]

Heres an updated letter

 

10th January 2007

 

Dear sir/madam

 

Account number -

Telephone –

Account holders –

Reference -

 

 

I am writing on behalf of my mother in regards to the distress you have caused me and my family over the trivial matter of registering the death of an account member with your company.

 

On the 2nd January, we tried to change the account name to my mother’s name, since my father (the account holder) had passed away. Instead of changing the name, BT decided the best approach is to close the account and open a brand new one, whilst changing the number. During the change over, we were not made aware of the new number nor were we given any way to view your terms and conditions or privacy policy. In fact, we have not received any information regarding the change of account. No terms and conditions, privacy policy, new phone number not even a confirmation has been sent. The only letter sent to my mother is a ‘Confirmation of your Change of Bank Instructions’. Is it regular practice for company to operate in this manner? I.e. open account without any sort of correspondence unless it is to make sure you receive your money! In this same letter, you have provided an account number, which is the same as father’s previous number. If the account been closed and a new account has been opened, shouldn’t the account numbers be different, or do you think yourself to be particularly smart to reuse account numbers?

 

On the 5th of December, I telephoned customer services when we realised we could not receive any incoming calls, only to be told that our existing number had been replaced. The resolutions team then told me that it would take an hour for the number to be put back. At this point, outgoing calls had suddenly stopped. Later on that day, it still hadn’t been put back, so another phone call had been made to get an update, only to find that it will now take up to 24 hours. Third phone call made on the 6th December, to be told that it usually takes around 24 – 48 hours to complete, but the operator assured me that it should be done by 6pm. 8th December, and still no change. This time I was told that we couldn’t have the number back. At this point my patience had lost me, but the operator had talked to the resolution team to try to put the number back. This time it took them all of five minutes to get sorted! Does your company usually 4 days to do a job, fail and then succeed at the second attempt in just a few minutes?

 

For the simple matter of changing the name of the account holder, you restricted the use of the phone for a period of 7 days when the security of a working telephone service was needed the most. Then it takes the resolution department roughly 5 minutes to correct the problem.

 

As you can understand, the last month has been a very emotional and distressful time and we certainly did not need the added grief of an incompetent telecoms company.

 

To top it off, on the 9th January 2007 I have received two marketing phone calls from BT specifically asking for my father. You have mentioned on several occasions that my fathers account has been closed and you have been told countless times that my father has passed away, yet you still pester members of the household causing further grief.

 

Either my fathers account is still open or you are holding inaccurate data about the ownership of the new account. Also everyone in the household is unaware of receiving marketing calls from BT previously. Do you often make a habit of marketing to deceased account holders?

 

We received a letter from TalkTalk Onetel stating:

 

“We have received notification from another telephone supplier that you have requested the cancellation of our home phone for the telephone number(s) listed. This service is due to be discontinued on 2nd January 2007.”

 

It is your company’s policy that you must open a new account, not mine. Do you not realise that this sort of thing can happen, or do you not care? I do not believe that a cancellation of service from third parties in these circumstances is an isolated incident, therefore, I have to know; does BT not learn from its mistakes?

 

Taken from the Information Commissioners Website:

“The Data Protection Act requires all organisations which handle personal information to comply with a number of important principles regarding privacy and disclosure.

The Act states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles. These state that information must be:

·Fairly and lawfully processed

·Processed for limited purposes

·Adequate, relevant and not excessive

·Accurate and up to date

·Not kept for longer than is necessary

·Processed in line with individuals' rights

·Secure

·Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection”

It is plain to see that you have not kept my fathers records up to date, despite continuous reminders that he is no longer with us. Therefore you are in breach of the data protection act.

All these points refer to serious flaws in data control, customer relations, complete incompetence and a severe lack of sympathy and respect. I expect an apology and a full explanation of your preposterous actions in writing immediately.

 

If I find that your reply does not explain fully explain the circumstances and reasons for these procedures and strange policies or is not up to satisfaction, I will be taking further action against your company.

 

I also require you to cease all marketing calls to this number for both my mother and late father immediately.

 

I am giving you 10 days to reply to this letter. I am sure that an organisation of your size can cope with the deadline.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

I keep thinking of new things to write.

[pobat]

No, but your dates don't work

 

What dates???