BT want a deposit!

babaduck

I decided to switch from Eircom to BT for phone & BB. All seemed ok until I got a letter from BT today wanting a deposit of €125 for service! I'm a homeowner, great credit rating & have NEVER been asked for a security deposit before from any supplier

Am I overreacting to be p*ssed off, or is this standard practice - and if so, how long is the deposit held for?

nearlyhappy

Do a search here about the deposit thingy, but heres a synopsis..

You shouldnt have been asked for it in the first place....as a homeowner

Paying the deposit is no guarantee of service....

The deposit may in fact disappear....

You wont get a recipt for it....

It wont appear on any bill, if you get a bill at all....

And it will take you at least 3 months to get it back if you quit BT, thats if they agree you ever paid it of course....


Have you quit Eircon yet???



nh

Foxwood

babaduck wrote:

I decided to switch from Eircom to BT for phone & BB. All seemed ok until I got a letter from BT today wanting a deposit of €125 for service! I'm a homeowner, great credit rating & have NEVER been asked for a security deposit before from any supplier

Am I overreacting to be p*ssed off, or is this standard practice - and if so, how long is the deposit held for?

I'd be inclined to ignore it, and call them up and ask them for a status update on your application. If they tell you they're waiting for a deposit, tell them they must be joking.

dub45

In this case you are sort of lucky!:rolleyes: they normally do nothing and then when you ring to inquire about your application they tell you they want a deposit. Up to now they have not requested one from homeowners as far as I can recall.

Anyways here I go again (apologies to those who have read this before and before and before.......)

Before paying them a deposit establish in writing what exactly it is for.

Under what circumstances it can be forefitted. (for instance if there is a dispute over a bill will they grab the deposit?)

Demand a receipt with a legible signature and a printed name and rank.

Establish from them the exact procedure for return of the deposit and the expected timespan.

Get a phone number for the section that deals with deposits.

Now any reputable Company would be only too happy to provide that information but we are after all speaking of EsatBT here:eek:

Remember this deposit lark represents a nice interest free loan for EsatBT
and think of all the hoops you have to jump to get a loan from your bank so why make it easy for them to get a loan from you?

Am I overreacting to be p*ssed off, or is this standard practice - and if so, how long is the deposit held for?

No you are not overreacting at all you are just lucky to be getting a warning of the madenss that is EsatBT. You are however in my opinon totally insane to be having anything got to do with them:)

Gandalf23

dub45 wrote:

You are however in my opinon totally insane to be having anything got to do with them:)

Exactly what he said.

Please look at some of the threads here detailing the massive problems people (including me) are having with BT. I would strongly advise you to look at other options.

babaduck

Ok then - we're in Arklow... is there any other alternative to Eircom or BT because I couldn't find one!

jor el

It's unfortunate that BT are so crap when it comes to customer service and billing as they have the cheapest available BB service. Others that come to mind would be Digiweb, UTV, Perlico, imagine, but none of them do bundled line rental deals like BT do so their prices are pretty much the same as Eircom. UTV seem to have stepped up recently and even offer an unlimited download cap for an extra €6 a month so they're probably worth looking into.

Smart telecom would be the best available, though you're completely dependant on their so far very slow rollout.

cc

i got a similar letter when i joined with bt last year, i ignored it...and nothing happened....so nothing new with bt!

MunsterCycling

Nothing happened they gave you BB anyway or nothing happened they didn't?

ixus

Have a query (no point starting a new thread) regarding BT cancellation.

Am moving out of my rented apartment in the next couple of weeks and want to stop my BT Direct Debit and close my account.

I had to give the €125 deposit for my 6 month contract.
Am now in my 7th month ( having received no notice of finishing my contract).
I was told I'd be entitled to my deposit back after the 6th month.
My next DD is in mid June but I'm going to the bank tomorrow to stop my DD's and will be posting a letter to BT requesting my account be stopped by a date in mid-june and requesting my deposit back.

Any advice on what I should do or be prepared for?

dub45

ixus wrote:

Have a query (no point starting a new thread) regarding BT cancellation.

Am moving out of my rented apartment in the next couple of weeks and want to stop my BT Direct Debit and close my account.

I had to give the €125 deposit for my 6 month contract.
Am now in my 7th month ( having received no notice of finishing my contract).
I was told I'd be entitled to my deposit back after the 6th month.
My next DD is in mid June but I'm going to the bank tomorrow to stop my DD's and will be posting a letter to BT requesting my account be stopped by a date in mid-june and requesting my deposit back.

Any advice on what I should do or be prepared for?

AFAIK none of the isps will notify you when your initial period has expired - it just becomes a rolling month's contract with a month's notice due from you from cancellation.

Previous posts have advised people who are cancelling to write to Esat with the cancellation instruction and obtain from them confirmation that all of your details have been removed from their system. Is is not unknown for EsatBT to debit people long after they have departed!!!.

Give your bank notice in writing that you wish to cancel the direct debit and enclose a copy of the cancellation letter to esat - in case of any future problems. And expect trouble!

babaduck

Well, things took a mysterious turn for the better yesterday. When I initally rang EsatBT to ask about the deposit, the guy at the other end of the phone couldn't give a toss & was a right PITA. I asked for a callback from a team leader because he was bugging me. Didn't expect a call so I rang again to cancel my order.

Then about 2 hours later, I got a call from one of the CC heads to (a) waive the deposit and (b) apologise unreservedly for the mucking around by the creidt control department & the agent I spoke to. She has guaranteed that she will monitor my account for 6 months to ensure that the billing is correct and I have both her direct line and email in case of any problems.

I've decided to give them a go, only because I have a direct line to a senior staff member in case of any trouble

Sponge Bob

babaduck wrote:

Then about 2 hours later, I got a call from one of the CC heads to (a) waive the deposit and (b) apologise unreservedly for the mucking around by the creidt control department & the agent I spoke to. She has guaranteed that she will monitor my account for 6 months to ensure that the billing is correct and I have both her direct line and email in case of any problems.

This is Unheard of in BT Ireland , normally the CS is trained NEVER to escalate and the senior manager , or indeed anything in any way 'senior' in there , are ALWAYS in a meeting or away from their desk.

Do not name this person, you have no idea how busy she will be if her name is published ....and I am not joking here.

I've decided to give them a go, only because I have a direct line to a senior staff member in case of any trouble

By all means do. If I hear any more stories like yours babaduck I will start to maybe think that BT are listening to all the complaints about their CS and Billing and taking them seriously .

Maybe This Explains Why !

May 2005 . BT Results Announced

We are experiencing good growth in the broadband area," said Maloney. "We now have 35,000 broadband customers as well as 100,000 internet dial-up customers who are fast replacing dial-up with broadband.

May 2006. BT Results Announced

BT currently claims 35,000 Irish broadband customers compared to 31,000 last year.

They did not mention good growth this year I noted.

Its a shame but they have combined technical competence and great technical support with the most abysmal CS and Billing and in the past year it has obviously caught up with them.

For the good of us all babaduck I hope that you are only the first of many sucessful escalations reported in this forum ! Your place in the telecoms history of Ireland is now writ large .......you legend you .

dub45

Sponge Bob wrote:

This is Unheard of in BT Ireland , normally the CS is trained NEVER to escalate and the senior manager , or indeed anything in any way 'senior' in there , are ALWAYS in a meeting or away from their desk.

..................................................................
For the good of us all babaduck I hope that you are only the first of many sucessful escalations reported in this forum !

Your place in the telecoms history of Ireland is now writ large .......you legend you .

Wait until the bill arrives before proclaiming legends!!!!!!!!!

cc

MunsterCycling wrote:

Nothing happened they gave you BB anyway or nothing happened they didn't?

...nothing happened as in i got my bb anyway after ignoring the letter