BT help

[olympic19]

I had a final bill in Feb 2013 from Bt of £286.75 due to becoming unemployed and not being able to pay the bill and so they cut me off and end of contract etc - since then i have paid £86 but today have had a letter from SRJ saying that i owe £291.69 - i spoke to BT and they say that when they sent the debt to SRJ they added a fee of £71.62 (25%) so the payments have been coming off the admin fee not the original debt

 

I think this fee is excessive so is it possible to be able to reclaim this money and from who BT or SRJ

[dpick]

Hi far as I am aware if there is no mention of debt collection fees in your BT contract then they can lump it just pay the bill till £71.62 is left then if the DCA starts tell them to take you to court.

 

 

dpick

[olympic19]

thanks for the reply i post this from BT T&C

 

If you do not pay your bill, we may ask a debt-collection agency to collect the payment on our behalf. If we do, you will have to pay us an extra amount by way of compensation to us for breaking the terms of this agreement. This will not be more than the reasonable costs we have to pay the agency, who will add the amount to your debt on our behalf (this will depend on the amount you owe us). Any extra amount added to your bill will not be subject to VAT. This paragraph applies even if your agreement with us has ended or 21 days if you pay monthly.

[Bazooka Boo]

Stay off the phone from now on, deal with BT in writing ONLY, and get ''proof of posting'' which is free from the PO counter.

OR email, but keep copies of everything you send them and keep a diary of events.

 

The fee is technically a penalty and can be argued out in court if needs be, any money you have paid so far YOU deduct that from the amount they claim you owe.

 

Once you have paid BT ''NOT'' SRJ the amount owing then stop.

Dispute the amount they claim you now owe due to this fictitious cost of using SRJ, I'll double check, but I think this is their in house DCA, basically the next desk along, another exploitation tactic.

 

OK, just checked, I have 7 missives from SRJ for an old Moby fone Acct, goes something like,

Trace Confirmation,

Agent visit,

Confirmed Resident,

Notice of issue of Litigation Proceedings,

Litigation Notice,

F&F Settlement offer,

Pending Litigation Notice,

Silence................

 

It is CCS and Jobling Lloyd & Co, if they're still knocking about, who are BT, SRJ are just another pet DCA who are foolish enough to chase these accounts, ignore them and deal direct with BT.

 

Has BT told you this is with their pet DCA? Sent you a NOA? Did you get a welcome letter of SRJ?

Edited April 9, 2014 by Bazooka Boo
Fresh Info

[olympic19]

BT emailed me :We've passed your debt of £291.69 to a collection agency.

 

We've sent you several reminders but you still haven't paid us what you owe. So we've now passed your debt to SRJ Debt Recovery, an authorised debt collection agency, to get in touch with you about paying it off.

 

We've also added a charge of 25%, included in the outstanding balance above, to cover the cost of us handing over the debt.

 

If you want to stop this going any further:

 

visit https://www.srjpay.com to make a payment, or set-up regular payments (you'll need your BT account number which you can find on your bill or any reminder letters), or

call 0845 313 7259 to make a payment, or to talk about your financial circumstances and agree what you can afford to pay regularly until you settle your debt, or

contact the agency by email through correspondence@srjdebt.com or write to them at PO Box 1173, Woking, Surrey GU22 2BS

If you don't pay, or make an arrangement to pay what you owe over time, we might recommend legal action to recover your debt. Legal action would mean extra costs to you, and might affect your credit rating.

 

SRJ on phone yesterday and letter but I dispute the amount owed - SRJ phoned Bt and said I only paid £10 since last February but today they managed to find £80

 

The last reminder sent was in July 2013 when they sent it to Moorcroft and the amount then was £331!

[Bazooka Boo]

Ah right, so this is doing the rounds then!

 

Ignore SRJ, deal directly with BT, start their complaints procedure if needs be.

 

Tell them that you will ONLY deal with them and you are prepared to set up a payment schedule with them BT, if they claim they want nothing to do with it and to deal with their tame DCA, then they don't want your money.

 

Remind them that they have merely passed it onto this DCA and NOT sold it, therefore there should be absolutely no reason why they will not accept your payments direct.

 

IMO their only reason not to accept your payments is that they are trying to fleece you out of another 25% penalty fee.

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

This penalty fee. I cannot see how a 25% fee is anything other than a penalty. To administer an account, they can only add what it has cost them, not an arbitrary fee.

 

For a £10 debt, 25% would be fine but for a debt of £200, not so. Challenge BT.

[olympic19]

Thanks for your replies

 

I have today emailed BT complaints saying that I will not be paying the £71 fee as they cannot justify it and that I will only be paying them not SRJ

 

They keep telling me that tehy cannot deal with my account as it is closed so how come i can still access my account online and there is still a dial tone on my phone line so they have not disconnected that

[Bazooka Boo]

Set up a payment plan with BT, send it in writing making your offer of payment, see what they come back with if anything.

 

Then set up a standing order your end to make that payment, and stick to it, anything that they then subsequently do would be IMO futile, as they are (hopefully) accepting your payments.

[olympic19]

Thanks

 

Have had a reply to my first e mail today stating that they have looked at my account and thats the amount owing that's the amount i owe that's what i have to pay and I can only pay srj as my account is closed and the only way BT would recall the account is if it had made a mistake which they say they have not

 

Have replied stating they have still not justified the £71 fee and that I will be paying them whatever they say

[olympic19]

Had a very nice irish chap on the phone from BT today - basically according to him the amount Bt transferred was the original final debt of £286.75 and that the debt collection agency added the £71 fee despite me reading e mails out to him from BT saying that "WE" have added a fee for passing the debt on. Also said they cant do anything as my account is closed with them so all dealings and payments have to be made to SRJ

 

He did try to ring SRJ to find out about the fee but they were closed so says he will contact them and me tomorrow but there is no way they cannot accept bank transfers for the amount is there?

[ashmk]

I am sure BT have a payments team. Find their address and send a cheque detailing your repayment plan and your name address etc, everything so they can identify you. Send it recoirded. Stop dealing with phone monkeys. Just stick to the plan and send the cheque each time, I wouldn't worry about 'the account being closed' they can see who is sending the cheque.

[Bazooka Boo]

Stay off the phone, you need to get a paper trail of evidence.

 

What they say over the phone is entirely different to what they would say in a letter.

[olympic19]

Latest update : I am getting nowhere Have had a F&F settlement offer today from SRJ of £182 if paid within 7 days or 3 now as letter dated 23 and delayed due to Bank Holiday. Do the idiots not realise that If i could afford £182 i would not be in this situation in the first place and that if they can accept that amount in one go they can accept it in installments!

 

Have emailed Bt saying I am only willing to pay them via bank transfer so will see what they say this time

[45002]

Thanks for your replies

 

I have today emailed BT complaints saying that I will not be paying the £71 fee as they cannot justify it and that I will only be paying them not SRJ

 

They keep telling me that tehy cannot deal with my account as it is closed so how come i can still access my account online and there is still a dial tone on my phone line so they have not disconnected that

 

Sound like they have just suspended your phone line, Out going calls barred expect for 999/150 calls ...

 

 

 

Latest update : I am getting nowhere Have had a F&F settlement offer today from SRJ of £182 if paid within 7 days or 3 now as letter dated 23 and delayed due to Bank Holiday. Do the idiots not realise that If i could afford £182 i would not be in this situation in the first place and that if they can accept that amount in one go they can accept it in installments!

 

Have emailed Bt saying I am only willing to pay them via bank transfer so will see what they say this time

 

Hello olympic19

 

A while back, friend of mine got into same problems as you, lost job, phone BB suspended and paid off the bill by paying regular amounts using pay point/post office ..

 

Have a read of this

 

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12730/~/pay-using-a-payment-card

 

 

You should be able to pay using the bar code on your Bill at a pay point or post office, pay the full amount or pay a regular payments "what you can afford"

 

Or you could ask BT for a payment card, again pay the full amount or pay a regular payments "what you can afford"

 

Keep All the receipts you get from pay point/ post office ...

 

If that does not work, you could try contacting BT forum moderates via it's forum

https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/bd-p/Billqueries

 

and see if they can help you at all !

[olympic19]

Thanks for your reply - had a phone call from BT today sayinmg again that they did not add any admin fee to the account and neither did SRJ so it looks like its Moorcroft that have added the admin fee of £71 so have to try and get in touch with them. AGain BT said there is nothing they can do as my account is closed and all payments have to be made to SR

 

However have just emailed BT again with the original email I had off them before it went to Moorcroft where it says WE have added a fee of 25%. Whoever it was I will not be paying it.

 

if my account is closed at BT and dont owe them a penny so it seems what chances of having a new account opened?

Edited May 28, 2014 by olympic19

[Bazooka Boo]

STAY OFF THE DAMN PHONE!

 

You really do need to get a paper trail of evidence, they will tell you the moon is made of cheese over the phone just to appease you and get rid of you!

 

Have you started their complaints procedure yet?

 

Forget SRJ, or any other tame DCA, deal direct with BT until you have exhausted their complaints procedure.

[olympic19]

Just got off the phone with BT complaints department - there is nothing they can do - the account is closed it has been passed on and all dealings must be made with SRJ - the fee also has to be paid as the woman on the phone said it costs for us to send the debt over to the agency who we employ but then goes onto tell me they didnt add any fees. Also they cannot set up any payment plan or pay via bank transfer as the account is no longer with BT - well BT just watch me pay via bank transfer - they can not stop me and i will have a record of all payments and no way am i paying more than the final bill less payments already made.

[SabreSheep]

Just got off the phone with BT complaints department - there is nothing they can do .

 

Why ask for advice when you are not willing to follow it?

[olympic19]

Why ask for advice when you are not willing to follow it?

 

I emailed the complaints department so that I had a copy of the complaint it was BT who phoned me!

[SabreSheep]

I emailed the complaints department so that I had a copy of the complaint it was BT who phoned me!

 

I would suggest in future if they phone to talk about your complaint that you say to them you have become exausted in trying to deal with them over the phone and that they need to put their findings and comments in an email or letter