Opps our mistake, but we will bill you anyways

I had vision packages last October and was not impressed so cancelled 3 weeks later. Today 8 months down the line, i get a bill for the value package and sports. I phoned them up to ask why i am suddenly being billed for packages i have not ordered and cancelled 8 months ago. The lady said, i can not see where you have cancelled it before After i told her i most certainly did cancel it and not watched it since, she decided to look in to it.

Well she comes back and says it was cancelled but they did not cancel it properly and left the packages on there, and we only just picked it up. So i asked why are you billing me? She said because you have the packages I said, i cancelled it and because i cancelled it i have not used it, you can surly check on that and see. So your telling me you made a mistake and your billing me for it? She said yes, because you still had them , even tho we never turned them off. I was not impressed, told her so. She went off to sort it out, came back and said we have canceled the payment.

So begs the question, if i cancelled and they canceled the account but forgot to switch vision off, why are they trying to make me pay for their mistake. The excuse was, you could of been watching it, so what if i was, the fact is i wasn't, so had no clue it was still free of charge and it took them 8 months to realise they made an error and their solution to rectify it, was to keep it on and start billing me.

So BT, why did you not just switch it off when you realised you made a mistake ? What you done was deceitful and taking my money that you have no right in taking.

When my contract runs out, i think i will go with Sky for BB TV and phone and get shot of BT altogether.

Edited by deleted (Sat 21-Jun-08 10:34:05)

I can understand your frustration on this matter but they did not take your money (yet).. That's why they send you a bill statement before actualy billing your account. Yes they should have cancelled it properly the first time but don't forget that the billing system is automated and can only be changed if someone on BT's end decides to 'Diver the bill in' which would flag it up for further investigation.

At least they have sorted your problem out.... some people don't even bother to check statements and could go on being bulled for years.

I don't work for BT (anymore) but will admit that mistakes did happen but always remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side

Your right they did not take the money but they were going too. If i was on holiday, it would have been taken. I do realise mistakes happen, but was this a mistake? The ladies reasoning is that i had it for all this time that's why i am being billed and at first said i was going to have to pay, until i protested strongly.

The bill was sent out as normal protocol, not to give me the chance to sort this problem out. They made a mistake and all they had to do was switch off the packages they left on, i would of been none the wiser for it. You just cant go round and start billing people for someones mistake at BT.

One of the biggest sources of headaches with large companies' IT system is their Billing Systems They are are extremely complex systems often serviced by muppets. They are also one of (if not THE biggest) causes of customer complaints. BT is not alone.

Well its not the being serviced by muppets part which is the problem, its the complexity.

Sit down your average computer user in front of a CLI and they will be completely lost. Most people who started using a computer in the last 10 years will be clueless with a CLI.

Not defending their actions just think its a bit harsh to tar them all with the same brush.

My biggest gripe is not the mistake, but the fact that they made a mistake when cancelling my order and the solution was to keep the packages that were meant to be turned off, on and charge me for them . This is not a billing error, this was a human error, that was picked up 8 months down the line and the solution was to charge me for their mistake. Her words were, we are charging you because you could of watched the package in those 8 months.

They cancelled my direct debit, but the staff member forgot to deactivate the channels.

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Jun-08 03:48:36)

I don't see why this issue has been let to run onto this board. This should have been sorted out when you called up and explained the situation. Call up and ask for a manager, get this sorted out quickly.

It is sorted, i wanted to use the forum for what is intended, either to ask for help or share my experiences.

Yeah I agree, just making sure you got it fixed

I got it sorted as soon as i received the letter, i just can not get over the cheek of it all.