BT = incorrect connection fee, incorrect address, cancelled direct debit, line termination and other abuse - HELP ME!!

[StudentInTrouble]

Dear All,

 

I write in a plea to kick these guys' buttockses to be quite honest. I have just written a 2500 word complaint to British Telecom regarding their SHODDY service but I need advice to make sure I stay on the ball and GET THEM!

 

Let me copy the letter here, obviously deleting my personal details to see if anyone can shed any light - if nothing else it is worth reading as it is so laughable.

 

RE: High Level Complaint – Please Forward to Management

Account Number GB **** ****

Dear British Telecom,

It is with regret that I must submit to you a complaint of the highest level with regards to my contract with British Telecom which commenced in November 2008. Since this time there have been several problems with both the service and treatment I have experienced.

I now serve you with this letter as a formal, high level complaint. Each problem will be dealt with in turn. My kindest regards to you for your full attention to each of these matters and the evidence produced in my favour.

1. Incorrect Information Provided by Sales Team

There was an initial error with the information provided to me by your sales team. During the 48 minute telephone call I made to place my initial order, I was informed by your sales team that the package I ordered would cost £27.99 per month for the first three months of the contract and £42 thereafter for the remainder of the 12 month contract.

Concerned that I had been asked for my bank account details three times during the phone call, I asked for clarification on this matter and was assured on four occasions that no more than £27.99 would be debited from my account each month for the first three months of the contract. I now present to you evidence contrary to these assurances.

12-Nov-2008

A payment of £25 was charged to my debit card as a deposit for the line.

02-Dec-2008

A payment of £34 was taken from my account by Direct Debit.

30-Dec-2008

A payment of £31.82 was taken from my account by Direct Debit.

02-Jan-2009

A payment of £34 was taken from my account by Direct Debit.

07-Jan-2009

A payment of £28.23 was taken from my account by Direct Debit.

The evidence clearly presents that in a seven week period, British Telecom debited my account to the value of £153.05 for the services provided to me. This works out at an average monthly debit of £93.70. Considering that I was assured that only £27.99 per month would be debited from my account I am sure you can understand my frustration with the fact that this value is 335% greater than that agreed by British Telecom. I trust that you understand my grave concern at this occurrence and realise that this could have resulted in serious financial hardship had these direct debits not been honoured by my bank.

 

 

[StudentInTrouble]

Incorrect charge of a connection fee of £124.99 for my landline service.

I was charged the standard connection charge of £124.99 on my landline account when I commenced service with British Telecom, in spite of pleading with several of your colleagues that a line was already in place and active in my property.

To dispute this charge, I had to make several telephone calls to your customer services department and submitted a formal letter of dispute to you at the above address. I received no written or telephone response to my complaint and after waiting some time, I had to again telephone one of your colleagues in customer services.

Your colleague informed me that the dispute had been closed and that I had ignored several messages left on the BT 1571 answer service on my telephone line regarding this dispute. Please may I make you aware that the BT 1571 service was not active on my telephone line. Your colleague spoke to her supervisor who agreed that the matter had been dealt with extremely poorly. This credit can be finally seen on my bill dated 05-Mar-2009.

[StudentInTrouble]

May I take this opportunity to thank your very competent colleague for finally discovering this error almost three months after it had initially been made by your colleagues in the Sales Team.

Please note that I was therefore short of £124.99 to British Telecom for almost three months – an amount that would have accrued a healthy level of interest had it been in my bank account and not property of British Telecom.

Non-delivery of BT Vision Equipment

I was given an initial delivery date for my BT Vision Equipment which did not arrive. After calling several of your colleagues in the Sales Team it proved impossible for them to track where the equipment had been delivered to and no electronic signature of its delivery was found. Therefore, a second, later delivery date had to be scheduled for a replacement package to be sent to my property. This inconvenienced me in several ways:

i. I had to pay for the rental of the package for the time that I was without the BT Vision Equipment through no fault of my own.

ii. I had to take time off work on both the original delivery date and the amended delivery date resulting in an un-necessary loss of earnings. This was necessary action on my behalf as I was instructed that if I was to miss the delivery I would be charged for delivery of any replacement packages that may have to be sent.

Please also note that I was promised on 14-Nov-2008 by your Sales Team a free Setanta Sports viewing card worth £10.00. I never received this card.

[StudentInTrouble]

1. Cancellation of my Direct Debit by British Telecom for Landline Service

It has now become apparent that some time in February 2009 your colleagues in Customer Services cancelled the direct debit I had set up to pay the balance due on this account. May I also highlight that until this point there had been no missed or late payments on my account and that all of the excessive debits from my account by British Telecom were honoured on time and in full.

[StudentInTrouble]

Incorrect Address

This account, numbered GB **** ****, was opened to honour a new order of BT services at my address of:

*******

 

However, the paper bills, which I have been charged to the value of £1.25 per bill, have all been sent to the address of:

********

 

Can it be explained as to why this happened?

[StudentInTrouble]

This leads me to the final chapter of my complaint, that is, the complete termination of my landline service with British Telecom and the problems that followed.

I will now present evidence true to your records that this is no fault of my own for two main reasons:

i. The Direct Debit I had set up to pay the outstanding balance on this account was cancelled by an employee of British Telecom without my instruction.

ii. The paper bills I was paying for to be sent were in actual fact sent to a bogus address and not the one provided by myself when the initial order was made, and not the one at which the actual services being provided were active. That is, the address of WRONG ADDRESS HERE

Please observe evidence from each bill.

[StudentInTrouble]

more tomorrow

im now sweating

[locutus]

WOW good luck!

 

Did you send these letters to these addresses here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/199136-bt-exec-management-contact.html ?

[StudentInTrouble]

I sent it to the correspondence centre already

I think I'll hold back on sending it to any email addresses until they have had a chance to read all 7 pages of my complaint and start formulating a WRITTEN response

 

but you an just imagine the amount of cr*p Ive had to go through to date!

 

Could I take them to court over this?

[Ell-enn]

If you email your complaint to ian.livingston@bt.com you'll get a response within hours and a dedicated complaint handler

 

Give them a mobile number to call you on

[t03spd8]

Ok so I've written to them regarding the engineers charges. I got charged about £300 for an engineers visit to repair a fault on the line. When I called up to make the fault report they told me that I would only be liable if the fault was with my handset or the wiring to do with the handset - any wires leading to the master socket in my property were then part of the BT network and property of BT.

 

in spite of all my other problems they have now offered me £50 compensation and a £50 refund for the late payment and payment processing fees.

 

I've written back to them totally disgusted RE-EXPLAINING the issue with the faulty phone line being at their end and even if it wasnt, that I was totally mis-informed by their faults team. Considering I'm studying towards an MSc in Computer Science I think I understand networks quite well at this stage...

 

IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO? I'm so sooo exhausted now

[Ell-enn]

If you email your complaint to ian.livingston@bt.com you'll get a response within hours and a dedicated complaint handler

 

Give them a mobile number to call you on

 

Did you email this guy?

[t03spd8]

Yeah thats who I emailed and he forwarded my letter(s) to a lady in the senior management team who was just as equally unhelpful as everyone else I've spoken to so far :'(