In Leaving BT, I've been slammed?

I think I've been slammed under someone elses name! Really rather worried about this.

A bit of history first...
I joined BT almost 18 months ago and although I've had little trouble except a few dropped lines from the HUB2 there has been little to complain about expect the limited 10GB usage and high cost. I was also miss sold the package at the time but I was desperate after the Talk Talk(Opal) takeover of Nildram not to end up on their LLU as the service had dived rapidly.

I decided a long time ago that I was going to leave when the 18 months came up. With a couple of months to go when buying a new phone, I got an offer from Orange to buy out the remaining months on my BT contract and get an unlimited service for much less. I was originally with la Freeserve when I first got broadband and left just before Wanadoo took over, of course it is now know as Orange. So I thought I would give them a go for 12 months.

The broadband went active on the 15 Feb the day after it was supposed to, and to my surprise my BT HUB still connected with the BT service. I know Orange have gone back to BT supplied services but it is the first time I've ever been able to simply plug in a new router (the BrightBox) and have it connect in a few seconds and continue surfing a from where I was a few moments ago. Weird?

NOW here is the problem...
A number of months ago I got a letter from BT under someone elses name, a name of someone as far as I can tell does not exist. I phoned BT and they assured me it was a simple mistake and I could ignore it and they would deal with it.

After my broadband switched the other week (15 Feb) I get a letter from BT in the same fictitious name which says on it "To be opened by addressee only". By this time I had already talked to BT got my MAC code and received confirmation from Orange that things were going to change and an email from BT that they were sorry to see me leave.

On the night of the 26th Feb I get 3 e-mails from BT...

The 1st is addressed to Mr Fictitious mentioned above and says "Thanks for Choosing BT" and confirms that I (Mr Fictitious) have new phone services that starts on 25th Feb before midnight. A 12-month contract at £19.50 for Phone-Unlimited Anytime Plan. It carries an order number. It may be for Mr Fictitious but It has my address, my e-mail and I've no doubt this made up name is connected with my bank details as well. Although I checked and no direct debits have yet been withdrawn to that amount, yet. It says e-mail is from Warren Buckley, Managing Director, Customer Services but I can not reply as it is automatically generated.

There is a 2nd email that does not have a name attached to it, that confirms a cease of BT Broadband on the 25th Feb and that they may send a bag for me to post back my BT HUB2. Fair enough if they want it back, I’ve still got it's box . Again, it says e-mail is from Warren Buckley, Managing Director, Customer Services but I can not reply as it is automatically generated.

The 3rd e-mail is text only and is again addressed to this Mr Fictitious. This one says that I (Mr Fictitious) have chosen to close my BT Broadband Talk account. It is marked as from BT Broadband Talk team. I've never used the Broadband Talk service while I was with BT.

I've checked my account on-line at bt.com and my name is clearly on it, no sign of Mr Fictitious. So how is this happening?

So now what...?
The question is am I on a new 12-month phone contract I did not want? Orange said they would contact me when the phone was going to be switched but I've heard nothing from them since the broadband switched. I've only got all this post and e-mails under someone elses name but to my house and e-mail address from BT which does not make sense. Have I been slammed under another name? Weird thing is when we had Sky Talk a number of years ago we had an inactive ghost account attached to our Sky account. That caused all kinds of problems when we tried to leave them, they would not reveal the name on the account even though it was all linked to me, due to data protection they said. I'm rather worried about who/how to deal with this. Any ideas/advice/help would be appreciated, thanks.

Other than the letters/emails what has actually happened?

Are your phone and broadband both with Orange now?

It's probably a mix-up between BT & Orange.

In your online BT Home a/c what does it say about Your current Calling Plan? Did you have Unlimited Anytime Plan before? Does it show what you had before? It might show start and end dates.

What does it show under Track My Order?

What does it show under My contact details? Your name or not?

Under Regular Payment are your bank details and amount as you had them?

In the letters/emails to (Mr Fictitious) do they give any Account Number? Is it same as yours?

If not, what happens if you try to create an online BT Home a/c in that name & number?

Email 1 looks wrong, email 2 looks OK and email 3 could well have been sent out by default.

My broadband is with Orange as of 15 Feb. I've just been told by Orange this morning that they are taking over the line for definate on 1 March, in a few days. So things do seem to be proceeding as planned after all, Phew.

Only on the BT side I have a fake account in someone elses name with all my details. I'm still getting charged for Broadband and phone under my own name but I'm getting letters and e-mails in someone elses name stating "Thank you for changing you BT service". They have signed this fictitious person up to new 12-months phone contract and ceased BT Broadband and Talk on the line.

Orange advised me to contact BT and tell them this made up person is not at this address. I'm about to do that if I can find the correct phone number. They say the worst that could happen is that the phone & broadband will cease for a few days until they reactivate it on 1 March.

Mmm am wondering whether someone or a database got messed up, and you've got these instead of the 'we are sorry you are leaving, if you have not asked to move your voice line rental please get in touch' letters.

BT sent me 1 letter under the other name long before I even spoke to Orange. Everything from Orange has had my name on it and has been correct. I've not actually opened the 2 letters from BT, as they are not for me. The e-mail about the phone-contract shows a tracking order number on it and yes I did have the unlimited plan as well. The e-mail only states a start date of 25 Feb for the new phone contract that will run 12-months and I (or Mr Fictitious) have 7 days to cancel. The 2nd email states end of broadband on 25 Feb, no other dates are mentioned.

The 1st email is as your say definately wrong. The 2nd should be as well as it is tied to the 1st by date. It states broadband cease on 25th which is when the phone-only contract of the 1st starts. Orange started their broadband on the 15th. The 3rd one is as you say just a default one as it is tied to the broadband but it has the other guys name on it. I think they are all linked.

My bank account has not been debited. When I log in to BT.com and check my profile all my details are correct. No mention on that of the other persons name. I got an email informing me that my next bill is available for viewing on-line and it looks as if they are billing me as if nothing has happened. Not sure if i'll get billed for the other persons account.

I've just chatted on-line with a BT advisor who rung me up aswell, says she has deleted the link with the other account, but she has accidently deleted my profile as well. I've been told I can create another profile with the same email after 24 hours, so I'll have to wait a bit to check. Hopefully I can get to 1 March and on to Orange and then finalise things with BT. All a bit of a mess.

Not sure I'd want to create an on-line profile for someone I think does not exist, it might complicate things if they think he does.

I've already had the letter and an email in my name with the "we the sorry you are leaving" routine. I got them a few weeks back.

I had previously months ago recieved a letter with the other name on it and was told to ignore it, it was a mistake they said. This letter turned up last week along with these 3 emails at the weekend (after the alleged switch over date to phone only), with the other persons name on them.

I'm hoping that whoever this person is it is a simple database error as you say and they stop sending anything once I do finally get away from them.

In reply to a post by Kail:

I'm hoping that whoever this person is it is a simple database error as you say and they stop sending anything once I do finally get away from them.

Wouldn't get too hopeful... we had sort of the opposite happen - someone with the same surname but living in a totally different town, different account number, etc. etc. was cancelling their BT service but BT instead cancelled ours :| we had all sorts of fun and games trying to get reconnected and back on the package we were previously on, getting the original phone number, etc. back and finally had to go straight to the top to get things fixed (and it took my brother using his BT/Whitehall connections to get it fast tracked even then).

In reply to a post by Kail:

The 2nd should be as well as it is tied to the 1st by date. It states broadband cease on 25th which is when the phone-only contract of the 1st starts. Orange started their broadband on the 15th.

I was just saying this could be OK as there is often a gap between the actual service finishing and the contract itself terminating.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Mon 27-Feb-12 16:20:51)

Hi Kail,

This sounds like a strange problem.

If you want, feel free to send over your details via our contact form (below), including your full address so we can do an address search and see what accounts (if any) we have at that address.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Thanks,

Stephanie
BT Support