Advice needed on BT service

regedit

I "ported" over from UTV Clicksilver to BT Plus in April. The service went live somewhere in May 2005.
Since than, I have not received a single bill!
I was on to them on the phone at least 6 times and sent them at least two emails. They are nice on the phone and always promise to rectify the problem soon. I was promised calls within a day or two and the last one was when I spoke to a lad called Brian 2 weeks ago who said that he was going to "raise a ticket" which would take 2 weeks and they would get back to me letting me know what happened.
It is the first time in Ireland that I have to chase someone for my money!
I am extremely unhappy with this sort of service so would like your advice on what to do.
Namely, I want to abandon their rotten ship and go somewhere where "I will pay for what I get". Some people here say that beside the billing issue, the service of BT is fine which I refuse to accept as the speeds are not any better than the Clicksilver Plus (1MB).
When signing a contract with BT I DID NOT say that I was going to pay lump sums therefore I am not prepared to be hit with a huge bill soon. Is there any advice you can give me on this matter? Does this happen to may people and how do they deal with it? I am planning to get on to them on the phone tomorrow one more (last) time just to see what they have to say. I intend to contact the consumer association and the Comreg as I think BT are in breach of many things here.
I am so sorry that I left UTV and I am not ashamed to admitt this!

bk

Take a look at this site and the forums linked from it:
http://www.btirelandsucks.com

There are plenty of other people in your situation.

Sponge Bob

The risk is that BT will send debt collectors chasing yo ass for a debt they refuse to collect because of their own ineptitude.

email bill.murphy@esatbt.com with your story above and some account details (sorry Bill)

woudn't mind but one of the minions was claiming they sorted the billing a week or two back in a post on this board ....how we laughed

dahamsta

They're still at it with me. See here.

vms7ply9t6dw4b

You will get a letter from a debt collection agency... i had the pleasure last week.

dahamsta

Louie Prehistoric Ladybug wrote:

You will get a letter from a debt collection agency... i had the pleasure last week.

Did they provide a postage-paid return envelope Louie Prehistoric Ladybug? You can have so much fun with those things...

regedit

Sponge Bob wrote:

The risk is that BT will send debt collectors chasing yo ass for a debt they refuse to collect because of their own ineptitude.

email bill.murphy@esatbt.com with your story above and some account details (sorry Bill)

woudn't mind but one of the minions was claiming they sorted the billing a week or two back in a post on this board ....how we laughed

:mad:
One of the BT lads told us to wait for a while and we would have the best BB service in Ireland. He was joking as I think he switched teams (he said he might be leaving BT).
Thanks for the email address. I will email Bill Murphy first thing in the morning. I will ask for an apology and a big discount if they want to keep me aboard!
I hope it does not come to the stage where debt collectors will become involved! I will keep you posted.
:mad:

parasite

yeah i got a debt collection letter last week too, some cheek :mad:

regedit

I was just on to the customer support in BT regarding the lack of billing in the past 5 or so months. Spoke to a rep (S.-J.) who was able to tell me that I was "hit" by an IT error! Unfortunately she was not able to tell me when I will receive my first bill:mad:Last time I spoke they said 2 weeks but today she wasn't even going to give any (false) promises!
I asked to speak with the IT dpt but was told that they do not deal with externall calls. Also mentioned that I was going to contact Mr. Bill Murphy if the problem is not rectified by next Wednesday but it did not seem to make her press any buttons! Indeed, I am going to contact their boss and tell him what a c**p company he runs. As soon as I get my first bill, I am moving from BT. I do not care, I might even join Eircon but for sure, i am not going to put up with this sort of service.

Leatherbelly

I hadn't gotten a bill from BT for months and was beginning to have a sh*t attack that they'd try and come after me for a big lumpsum before christmas. So rang their call centre last week and asked why the hell i haven't been getting bills. The lady said that my bills were all online and that I just needed to access my online account. She gave me a 7 digit customer number to log on. I asked her why they never notified me that my bills were always online and she said that they didn't have an email address for me, otherwise I'd get a notification each time to say the bill is out.

So logged on and lo and behold there they were. And the muppets have my email address now so hopefully no more problems. Won't hold my breath though.

I'd advise anyone who hasn't received a bill to ring them and get their 7 digit customer number and get to their online account. Give them your email address again.

You don't want your christmas drinking money going to bt's coffers.

dub45

It really seems extraordinary that this has been going on for so long and nobody in there has ever been fired. Surely this whole mess should have been picked up long ago by their internal auditors? Does anyone know who their external auditors are and maybe they could be direced to all the billing issues highlighted on boards.

A friend of mine was telling me that he has not received any communication from them in respect of billing and he has been with them for just over 12 months now.

Do they not require a direct debit when people sign up?

There is another friend of mine thinking of getting broadband and he is going to ask me to recommend a company. It is getting more and more difficult to recommend anyone that you can trust go give a good service where it matters reliability in service and reliability in billing. Imagine recommended BT to him and next things hes blaming me because they send him a debt collectors letter:eek:

ButtermilkJack

Same thing, no bill since live date of June 2005. I knew I signed up for online billing and for Direct Debit so I'd been logging on every second day since July to see my bills but they weren't showing up (tried using every browser under the sun incase they decided to tell me it would only work with this or that...).
Anyway, long and short of it, was sent a letter last week saying I had an overdue account of €165.78

Now I'm wondering two things.
1) How is my account overdue when I am definitely signed up for Direct Debit.

2) How am I overdue €165.78 when I've been paying eircom line rental up until last month cos BT failed to transfer calls etc at the same time.

What a mess.

curiosity

As someone who is planning to transfer to BT at the end of January, this is a little freaky. What about people who do get their bills? Do you find them accurate?

Whats the largest bill anyone has ever gotten from them in this situation?
I would also wonder if getting a letter from a debt collection agency would damage your credit rating.

Has anyone been with BT for a period of time, say over the minimum contract period, & cancelled the service without getting any bill??

I would imagine the wisest approach to this 'no bill' problem would be to contact them every time you expect to receive a bill and don't. At least then if s**t happens you can point to your reasonable efforts to remedy the situation, if things do get heavy. Tempting as it is to say 'happy days; no bill:) ', the day may come when BT get their house in order and come after all those unpaid bills.

Leatherbelly

When I checked the bills everything seemed about right.
My whole problem stemmed from the fact that they just didn't have my email address. Had they had that in the first place, I would have gotten a notification each time to say bill is online and in I go. To be fair, if they could get there bloody billing process right, I'd have no complaints. Very good service, good prices, no problems on that front.

And 99.5% sure that a letter from the debt collection agency has absolutely no impact on your credit rating.

dahamsta

Leatherbelly wrote:

My whole problem stemmed from the fact that they just didn't have my email address. Had they had that in the first place, I would have gotten a notification each time to say bill is online and in I go.

They have my email address. I never did.

curiosity

Leatherbelly wrote:

When I checked the bills everything seemed about right.
My whole problem stemmed from the fact that they just didn't have my email address. Had they had that in the first place, I would have gotten a notification each time to say bill is online and in I go. To be fair, if they could get there bloody billing process right, I'd have no complaints. Very good service, good prices, no problems on that front.

And 99.5% sure that a letter from the debt collection agency has absolutely no impact on your credit rating.

Feeling reassured!:)

ChickenBalls

curiosity wrote:

As someone who is planning to transfer to BT at the end of January, this is a little freaky. What about people who do get their bills? Do you find them accurate?

Whats the largest bill anyone has ever gotten from them in this situation?
I would also wonder if getting a letter from a debt collection agency would damage your credit rating.

Has anyone been with BT for a period of time, say over the minimum contract period, & cancelled the service without getting any bill??

I would imagine the wisest approach to this 'no bill' problem would be to contact them every time you expect to receive a bill and don't. At least then if s**t happens you can point to your reasonable efforts to remedy the situation, if things do get heavy. Tempting as it is to say 'happy days; no bill:) ', the day may come when BT get their house in order and come after all those unpaid bills.

I got a bill in the post for 328 euro! I have dd setup but I didnt have enogh money in the bank to pay it. I actually never knew what to put in until I got this letter - 4 months after my first bill.
A joke it is! You have to ring there customer service every few days to make sure your account hasn't changed round. I've been trying to get talk plus for ages and twice they told me it was activated but it wasn't - so my phone call charges are quiet big too....