BT Excess Usage Charge

[camlaity]

Being your stereotypical laid back Aussie, I'm not used to boiling rage, but am currently suffering a very painful induction into the world of poor customer service and ask for your help. The issue is with BT Broadband billing and my English significant other is adamant "they are taking advantage of the relative monopoly they still have in certain areas of the country". Knowing the system slightly better, she usually plays "bad cop", but I feel it's time I deal with the challenges of my adopted home head-on i.e. I am the sole named account holder. On to business. In the six months that I have had the service, I have, on every occasion, exceeded the monthly download limit and been charged for excess usage under BT's Fair Usage policy.

 

Specifically, the Fair Usage Policy states that you will receive a warning email if you reach 80% of your usage in a given month and another email should you exceed the limit, effectively warning you that from that point on for the rest of the month, you are being charged excess usage fees.

 

In principle, I have no problem with this, I'm quite happy to pay excess fees that I knowingly accrue. However, as BT fail to provide an all-purpose service enabling you to keep track of your monthly download limit, customers are forced to rely on the warning emails clearly laid out in their policy. Needless to say, I have never received any such email. Incidentally, they do suggest downloading an independent net tracker to your computer to track usage, but as my internet is accessed by 2 PC's and 3 Games Consoles, this is not an alternative to the emails I should still receive as a matter of course.

 

The policy is clearly not being adhered to from their end, which I find strange, as the obvious possible technology issues (spam blockers/firewalls or even having the wrong email address linked to the account) is nullified by the fact that my quarterly bills always arrive, promptly, via email. Logic prevailing, if I don't receive the email, I shouldn't be billed for the excess, but I have been on both occasions. When my first quarterly bill came in, I queried the charges and also raised the error around warning emails and successfully had the charges removed: a clear sign that BT accepted that they were in error, could not charge based on their own policy and believed action would be taken to rectify the warning email issue.

 

WRONG. Three months later, having received no warning emails, my new bill was issued. Again, there are charges of £32.78 + VAT for excess usage. Here begins my customer service despair...

 

On the 28th April I called BT Customer Service (unfortunately, I didn't record the staff members name) to, again, query the bill, request a refund and make sure this time that the email issue was resolved. After a discussion and a few periods of being on hold, the gentleman I was talking to came back on the line to assure me that from this point on I need not worry, he would take ownership of my issue, remove the excess usage charges and follow up with their IT to ensure the email issue was resolved.

 

I got off the phone feeling very happy with BT's customer service (more fool me) until yesterday, 12th May, when I called to actually pay the bill, only to find that the full bill amount was still owing . The excess usage fees had not been removed. I queried this with the lady that I was speaking to, and she informed me that no notes had been made on my account regarding any phone call I made on the 28th April (effectively as far as she was concerned, I'd made no call). I explained the situation, however, she said that she wasn't in a position to authorise that refund and as such I asked to speak to her supervisor.

 

At that point I spoke to a David Dougherty, the shift supervisor who informed me that as far as he was concerned, as the warning emails are automated, then I must be receiving them or a spam filter was blocking BT emails. When I argued otherwise, pointing out the lack of trouble in receiving my bill each quarter, I was informed that as all he had was my word that I was not receiving the warning emails, then he wouldn't be authorising the refund. I pointed out the refund had already been authorised by a previous member of staff but was informed that the staff member was wrong and as such that previous agreement would not be honored.

 

Basically, a) bad luck with regards to refunding the fees, and b) the emails work fine so wont look into that either. Obviously unhappy with responses tantamount to calling me a liar, I asked David to escalate the complaint to his manager.

 

The next day I received a call from Jerry Love, the Duty Manager (nothing, if not, great names at BT). Jerry also informed me that as the emails are automated, he believed that I was receiving them and as such, the fees would have to be paid. I again argued that the only email that I have EVER received from BT is the Bill. So, I went back to my expectation that the original agreement with regards to my phone call on the 28th April be honored, that being the refund and the follow up to ensure the email issue is resolved. Jerry disagreed. Unfortunately it seems, if that's what I was told, the staff member was in error and would be retrained. As the Customer Service officer on the day left no notes, he was effectively saying that he didn't really believe me. I pointed out that this is unacceptable customer service and that regardless of the error, it was their error and as a customer I expect that what I am told will happen will happen.

 

I requested that Jerry listen to a recording of the conversation. He actually then admitted that if I was told in the recording that I would be refunded then he would have to do the refund. Fortunately for Jerry, not all calls are recorded and, conveniently, he discovered my call was one of these. As such, Jerry's final position was that I would have to pay the bill and that was final. He did however throw in that they are hard on their staff to ensure they always leave notes on accounts when customers call, as not doing it is a bit of a regular thing ; not the best thing to tell a customer who is already not impressed with what is taking place. Onwards and upwards, I am now at the point where I am awaiting a call from Jerry's manager, a Majella Duggan. Jerry informed me that as per their SLA, she would have 48 hours to call me. That was three business days ago and I'm still waiting for her call.

 

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could provide some sanity, as in the last couple of days I feel like I'm hitting my head up against a brick wall. As it stands, BT's position is that the outcome of the call from the 28th April is void. That I pay the fees and that there's no problem with the warning emails. Clearly there is and given that I've no other way to track my usage, my future bills will continue to have the same issue. I want to end all association with BT, both phone and internet, and try my luck with Virgin (the only alternative in our listed place -no sky dishes allowed), but there in lies the real corker; if you cancel, you have to pay out the contract, which with at the moment would total about £200. Something I'm not willing to do, as I view it as a reward for incompetence!

 

Does anyone have any advice??!

 

Cheers,

Cameron

[andydd]

Being your stereotypical laid back Aussie, I'm not used to boiling rage, but am currently suffering a very painful induction into the world of poor customer service and ask for your help. The issue is with BT Broadband billing and my English significant other is adamant "they are taking advantage of the relative monopoly they still have in certain areas of the country". Knowing the system slightly better, she usually plays "bad cop", but I feel it's time I deal with the challenges of my adopted home head-on i.e. I am the sole named account holder. On to business. In the six months that I have had the service, I have, on every occasion, exceeded the monthly download limit and been charged for excess usage under BT's Fair Usage policy.

 

Specifically, the Fair Usage Policy states that you will receive a warning email if you reach 80% of your usage in a given month and another email should you exceed the limit, effectively warning you that from that point on for the rest of the month, you are being charged excess usage fees.

 

In principle, I have no problem with this, I'm quite happy to pay excess fees that I knowingly accrue. However, as BT fail to provide an all-purpose service enabling you to keep track of your monthly download limit, customers are forced to rely on the warning emails clearly laid out in their policy. Needless to say, I have never received any such email. Incidentally, they do suggest downloading an independent net tracker to your computer to track usage, but as my internet is accessed by 2 PC's and 3 Games Consoles, this is not an alternative to the emails I should still receive as a matter of course.

 

The policy is clearly not being adhered to from their end, which I find strange, as the obvious possible technology issues (spam blockers/firewalls or even having the wrong email address linked to the account) is nullified by the fact that my quarterly bills always arrive, promptly, via email. Logic prevailing, if I don't receive the email, I shouldn't be billed for the excess, but I have been on both occasions. When my first quarterly bill came in, I queried the charges and also raised the error around warning emails and successfully had the charges removed: a clear sign that BT accepted that they were in error, could not charge based on their own policy and believed action would be taken to rectify the warning email issue.

 

WRONG. Three months later, having received no warning emails, my new bill was issued. Again, there are charges of £32.78 + VAT for excess usage. Here begins my customer service despair...

 

On the 28th April I called BT Customer Service (unfortunately, I didn't record the staff members name) to, again, query the bill, request a refund and make sure this time that the email issue was resolved. After a discussion and a few periods of being on hold, the gentleman I was talking to came back on the line to assure me that from this point on I need not worry, he would take ownership of my issue, remove the excess usage charges and follow up with their IT to ensure the email issue was resolved.

 

I got off the phone feeling very happy with BT's customer service (more fool me) until yesterday, 12th May, when I called to actually pay the bill, only to find that the full bill amount was still owing . The excess usage fees had not been removed. I queried this with the lady that I was speaking to, and she informed me that no notes had been made on my account regarding any phone call I made on the 28th April (effectively as far as she was concerned, I'd made no call). I explained the situation, however, she said that she wasn't in a position to authorise that refund and as such I asked to speak to her supervisor.

 

At that point I spoke to a David Dougherty, the shift supervisor who informed me that as far as he was concerned, as the warning emails are automated, then I must be receiving them or a spam filter was blocking BT emails. When I argued otherwise, pointing out the lack of trouble in receiving my bill each quarter, I was informed that as all he had was my word that I was not receiving the warning emails, then he wouldn't be authorising the refund. I pointed out the refund had already been authorised by a previous member of staff but was informed that the staff member was wrong and as such that previous agreement would not be honored.

 

Basically, a) bad luck with regards to refunding the fees, and b) the emails work fine so wont look into that either. Obviously unhappy with responses tantamount to calling me a liar, I asked David to escalate the complaint to his manager.

 

The next day I received a call from Jerry Love, the Duty Manager (nothing, if not, great names at BT). Jerry also informed me that as the emails are automated, he believed that I was receiving them and as such, the fees would have to be paid. I again argued that the only email that I have EVER received from BT is the Bill. So, I went back to my expectation that the original agreement with regards to my phone call on the 28th April be honored, that being the refund and the follow up to ensure the email issue is resolved. Jerry disagreed. Unfortunately it seems, if that's what I was told, the staff member was in error and would be retrained. As the Customer Service officer on the day left no notes, he was effectively saying that he didn't really believe me. I pointed out that this is unacceptable customer service and that regardless of the error, it was their error and as a customer I expect that what I am told will happen will happen.

 

I requested that Jerry listen to a recording of the conversation. He actually then admitted that if I was told in the recording that I would be refunded then he would have to do the refund. Fortunately for Jerry, not all calls are recorded and, conveniently, he discovered my call was one of these. As such, Jerry's final position was that I would have to pay the bill and that was final. He did however throw in that they are hard on their staff to ensure they always leave notes on accounts when customers call, as not doing it is a bit of a regular thing ; not the best thing to tell a customer who is already not impressed with what is taking place. Onwards and upwards, I am now at the point where I am awaiting a call from Jerry's manager, a Majella Duggan. Jerry informed me that as per their SLA, she would have 48 hours to call me. That was three business days ago and I'm still waiting for her call.

 

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could provide some sanity, as in the last couple of days I feel like I'm hitting my head up against a brick wall. As it stands, BT's position is that the outcome of the call from the 28th April is void. That I pay the fees and that there's no problem with the warning emails. Clearly there is and given that I've no other way to track my usage, my future bills will continue to have the same issue. I want to end all association with BT, both phone and internet, and try my luck with Virgin (the only alternative in our listed place -no sky dishes allowed), but there in lies the real corker; if you cancel, you have to pay out the contract, which with at the moment would total about £200. Something I'm not willing to do, as I view it as a reward for incompetence!

 

Does anyone have any advice??!

 

Cheers,

Cameron

 

Use another ISP ?

 

I'm on Virgin Media..No limits, although I'm aware they use 'throttling' but I cant say its noticeable.

 

Andy

[camlaity]

Yeah, that's my preference. Just a little reluctant to pay out the £200 it will costs to get out of my BT contract. Whether I pay out or wait til Feb when it expires, I'm definitely changing to Virgin - it's prewired though our heritage listed building and as such is the only alternative we can get.

 

For now I just want BT to:

a) honor what their customer service rep told me

b) fix the problem (at the moment, they wont even accept there is one!)

[scouser7]

I know your pain, I eventually changed to Sky internet, I was constantly being charged by BT, and was also told that there was no way for a home user to actually figure out how much of their allowance they have actually used.

If you use the software that you can get from the web, it only tells you what that computer has downloaded and if you use more than one network on that computer it then becomes useless, because you don't know which network the gig's where downloaded on.

I personally think there should be some kind of class action taken against BT, and any other provider for that matter, over the overage charges.

It would be like a car company renting you a car with a mileage limit, but giving you no odometer....

 

One thing in your case is look to see if they have broken your contract by checking out the small print and writing them a letter if you find anything.

Just as they would do to you.

 

Make sure you put it in writing though, you know what they are like.

 

Also if you wanted to take them to court, no matter what a supervisor says, if a rep makes an agreement with you, they have to stick to it, it is a verbal contract, that rep speaks for the company (maybe that is enough to get you out of your contract).

good luck...

[cyclingoscar]

Just a thought, to back up what Scouser7 said regards the verbal contract.

 

The day of your second call to BT, 28th April. Is the call itemised on a bill? This would show you were calling BT and probably not to talk about the weather!

 

I changed away from BT to Phone Coop and one thing they do have is usage check plus they send an email at 80% as well.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Move from BT Broadband to a real provider as quickly as possible. I personally recommend Eclipse; my account with them has no limits and no throttling. If you do go over your download limit, they simply add a flatrate charge of £1 per additional gigabyte of data, which is more than fair enough.

[hightail]

If you really want to prove a point you could send £10 for a Subject Access Request. If the warning emails were sent you'll get printouts.

[locutus]

Yeah, that's my preference. Just a little reluctant to pay out the £200 it will costs to get out of my BT contract. Whether I pay out or wait til Feb when it expires, I'm definitely changing to Virgin - it's prewired though our heritage listed building and as such is the only alternative we can get.

 

For now I just want BT to:

a) honor what their customer service rep told me

b) fix the problem (at the moment, they wont even accept there is one!)

People have had a lot of joy on this website using these contact details and taking their complaints to the top

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/199136-bt-exec-management-contact.html

[innes26]

Bt excess usage:

Hi there

I read your post, and funny enough I am having the same problem. I received a bill today, for the amount of £123.48, for excess usage, and like yourself I was never warned with any email or letters. I phoned BT canceled my direct debit, then told the lady on the phone i would not be paying the bill as I was a single mother on benefits and was never warned of these charges. Currently I am waiting for a call back!!!We will see

[Pinkbows]

Hi,

 

Just wanted to post a quick message re the amount they scare you into paying if you want to leave while in a 'verbal contract' with them - although the verbal contract you have with their staff is useless and wrong apparently (sorry had many problems with them myself lol).

 

In the end, i wrote to the email provided on the link above and had a member of his team contact me back within hours to take on 'my problem'.

 

Long story short i told them im was off, and if they thought i was going to pay hundreds of pounds to 'end contract early' then they were mistaken. Basically, tops they are allowed to charge you is £70, or £12.50 per month remaining on the contract - whichever greater. I ended up paying £44 for nearly 8months left in the end as i had had so much trouble. I do however still have a copy, both letter and email from this person (who staff say they can not over ride her decisions ) stating that if i wanted to leave the broadband contract early, then it is £12.50 times the number of months remaining....If you would like to see a copy (minus any personal details) i would be more than happy to help as i am now with a different company for broadband (also landline), who only has 30days contract, no throttling, no limits (very litterally), all england based help/customer/sales centres and now im recieving nearly 23meg although according to BT i can only recieve 7 (but they limit it to 2mb unless you say something)...all this for the same price of their/BT's starting price, and much less than what you end up paying. Paying that small amount was well worth the escape

 

Sarah

[mkb]

Pinkbows - which company are you with now?

[Pinkbows]

Pinkbows - which company are you with now?

 

Hi mkb,

 

For phone or broadband? For landline i went with Direct Save Telecom, although the Post office also does good non contract landlines, and for the broadband i went with a company called ADSL24 - They were the only company i could find where you have mulitple choices of speed, limits (if wanted) and no 12/18/24 contracts, although they have one or to options where you can have one if wanted. It is a 30 day rolling contract that doesnt charge through the roof unlike some 3month contract broadbands i came across. Have been with these now for around 3-4months and must say that i have had not one problem. Both i can access online or via phone and i dont get people hanging up, being rude, etc. Obviously i cannot say that these are the best ones to go for as everyone has different opinions and needs when it comes to phone and broadband, but for ourselves i now couldnt be happier away from BT

 

Sarah

[buxie34]

OMG, I had the same problem with BT..around an extra £20 each month for 'excess usage'

I've now changed my provider as my contract is up in the next few weeks.

I got a phone call from them offering another package which would allow me unlimited downloads but it was twice the price of many others on the market at the moment offering unlimited downloads. A simple google search can give you the top offers around at the moment and their ratings

I have also NEVER received a warning email from them..only the email quarterly bill. Seems they will lose quite a few customers from this

[Berwick]

What a small world it is. I too am at the beginning of this tale. Switched from Virgin Media to BT due to very very bad service from Virgin. At first everything was okay but after about a month or two I started getting excess charges. Didn't notice until around afour months later as the notices were sent to my BT email address given to me by BT and it didn't work. Still doesn't that well. I asked for proof. This is what I got. This is e-mail is a follow up to the conversation we had on 12/10/11 regarding your Broadband Usage.

 

We are aware that you do not concede to be aware of what you have used. BT tracks your usage only in terms of the extent of data that is used. We do not have any facility that provides for a breakdown of what you have downloaded. We refrain from doing so as we consider the matter of your privacy.

 

We can tell you how much you have used in the current month. Our data is limited to going back for the last one month. We appreciate that you would like the details on the usage for the last 6 months. However, such information is not tracked and unfortunately unavailable.

 

I have registered your Feedback in this regard. We work towards amending and improving our data capture systems as early as possible.

 

Please contact me if I can help you with anything else.

 

Thank you for contacting BT.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Myna Rajegowda

Digital Care Advisor

 

This was my response. I afraid this answer is not acceptable. Unless you can prove with documentation that I have actually used the data you have charged me for I insist on a full refund to my account within seven days. Failure to act on this request and refund the amount debited from my account will result in a legal challenge through the County Court small claims procedure.

 

Further more unless you cease to debit my account with excess charges I request you to disconnect the Broadband service until you are able to supply a system capable of monitoring usage, similar to the methods employed in the telephone system.

 

Regards Berwick.

[AA99]

So glad to read others have picked up this. It is an absolutely ludicrous situation. Have you seen how many pages this very same issue is running to on the BT Community Forums???? There are a couple looking at taking court action. Unfortunately, I have more pressing issues (can you imagine?!) otherwise I'd be taking it further!!!!!