Dispute with BT over BT sports bills.

I'll try to keep this brief but it is a bit confusing.
My mum who is 87 years old gets her broadband and phone through BT. She has been a BT customer for 60 years.
In May 2018 her contract for her broadband and phone came to an end. I don't know whether she called BT or they contacted her to renew. She ended up taking out a new contract on their highest FTTC 70/20 service with BT-TV, BT sports HD pack and Netflix as add ons. Remember she was 85 at that point. She doesn't watch any sport and didn't know what Netflix was, she thought it was a TV channel.

Within a few days she realised what she had done. She called them and told them she wanted to cancel the BT-TV, BT sports HD pack and Netflix. She received an email stating the contract, BT-TV, BT sports HD pack and Netflix had been cancelled.

Earlier this week she mentioned her bill was very high. I checked her account and saw she has been on the out of contract rate for the 2 years and she was also paying £18 per month for BT sports.
I called BT on her behalf to get a refund or credit for the 2 years of BT sports as that had been cancelled only to be told that she had not cancelled BT sports, she had only cancelled the BT sports HD pack and still had access to the app. As a gesture of goodwill they offered to credit her account with £30 as they can't credit for anything longer than 4 months ago and would definitely not credit the 2 years as it was so long ago.

I'm not worried about the out of contract rate as they did inform her that the new contract had been cancelled. The thing is she didn't realise the contract had been cancelled and just took the amount that came out of her direct debit was just the cost of the service which was around £50 per month and she was still in contract with them.

They said that they would also give her a discount on a new contract at £47 per month which I think is high for just phone and broadband. I said to downgrade her to lowest FTTC product. I was told the £47 per month was their lowest FTTC product.
I refused the £30 credit and the new contract and asked for the case to be escalated to a manager.
I will be getting a call from a manager tomorrow.

I was just wondering if anybody knows where we stand regarding this? The girl I spoke to said they had acted within OFCOM's rules and didn't understand why I wanted to escalate it.

Without hearing the original cancellation call it is difficult to say much. It is also difficult as people are generally responsible for keeping an eye on their bills especially where special term contracts are concerned. My mum has recently had a similar thing with BT where she has been paying for BT Sports and a £1 donation each month to charity (she has no idea how this came about). However, she didn't try to recover the payments and just put it down to her not checking the bill details.

You could try Citizen's Advice to see what they say. At your mother's age she could be considered vulnerable and therefore it may be possible to get more back due to that additional vulnerability to this sort of contract.

The agent said the same about not being able to listen to the cancellation call and BT sports has been visible on the bill for the 2 years and my mum should of cancelled it if she didn't want it.
Both my mum and me thought that when she received the email saying the BT sports HD had been cancelled it was a cancellation of BT sports as a whole.What wasn't made clear is that BT sports SD and BT sports HD pack are 2 separate products and if my mum wanted to cancel BT sports as a whole she needed to cancel both the SD and the HD pack..We could argue that when she called to cancel the agent should of asked if she wanted to cancel BT sports as a whole or just the HD pack. Without knowing what was said on the original call is making it more difficult.
The only recourse we might have is 2 weeks after my mum sent a letter to BT telling them she wanted them to send communications to a different email address. At the start of the letter she explained why she had cancelled BT-TV, Netflix and BT SPORTS. She specifically said BT sports and not just BT sports HD pack. The agent could see that a letter had been received but it was categorised as a change of email. The agent was unable to look at the letter as she was working from home and didn't have access to that facility.
I think it's because it appeared on the bill for 2 years without her querying it is the sticking point.

In reply to a post by funkydan:

I think it's because it appeared on the bill for 2 years without her querying it is the sticking point.

That's what being vulnerable is.

If they had any inkling that she was, then they should have taken appropriate care.

Typical response from these vast organisations. Suggest you contact the Daily Mail which seems to have a magic touch for getting results:

This is Money is an award-winning financial website and the money section of MailOnline, covering everything from personal finance to City, business and economy news.

If you have a story to tell, something you believe we need to know about, or think you've been wronged by a bank or company please email the details - briefly and with a clear subject line - to me, Simon Lambert, the editor of This is Money, or the team in confidence at [email protected]

Thank you all for your replies so far.

There has been a development. She has found some letters.
Amongst them is a confirmation letter from BT dated 30th May 2018 of the new service. This letter was received on 10th June 2018. It lists her new services as Calling plan, Superfast Fibre Plus Broadband and BT TV. There is absolutely no mention of BT sport anywhere in the confirmation letter. All services were to start on 31 May 2018. There is a 18 digit order number ending in 466.
In the letter it also says "A rooftop antenna is needed to receive BT TV". Her TV antenna is on the side of the house. You and I know it will still get the TV signal but she thought that she would have to get an antenna on the roof which she didn't want to do. That's when she phoned them on 10 June to cancel the order.

She received the email on 10th June saying the services are ending including BT sports HD which was not in in the original confirmation letter dated 30h May. This email has a different 18 digit order number ending in 757.

There is another letter from BT dated 10th June 2018. This was received around 21st June 2018. This letter is titled "Here's an update on your order". There is nothing in this letter regarding any services they were or would be supplying. The order number on this letter is the same as the email she received ending 757.
This is when she sent BT the letter asking what this new service was, explaining she had cancelled the services and advising them on the change of her email address.

Both the letters she received from BT in the post are addressed to Mr Friend XXXXX(our surname). Obviously she is a Mrs. The only correct part of the addressee is the surname.

I have not received a call back from a manager yet to put all this to him. I will update when/if they call.

Give the helpdesk until middle of next week to fully sort it out to your satisfaction. If that does not happen then a email to te CEO or Chariman that stresses how a vulnerable pensioner has been taken advantage of, along with copies of the letter should be your next step.

Not only that, but when the "upgrade order" and product was cancelled, a replacement retention offer should have been made rather than leaving her on the exorbitantly priced "out of contract" basis.

I agree with you totally......

I would also add, and I am sure you will, it is just that some don't, please keep your temper and language calm at all times.

By all means, enforce how important and upsetting this is for your elderly Mother, in the strongest terms. Just keep calm and polite.

As a trading company they are required to let you know that the phone call is recorded, if it is, you as a private citizen, don't have to inform anyone. I would personally record it, so in any future correspondence, you may quote the person calling you accurately.

Edit to correct grammar and spelling!

Edited by TrevorSP (Fri 12-Jun-20 19:27:00)

I know how stressful this can be, massive faceless firms and you never get to speak to the same person twice. I have had run ins with two telcos, two energy suppliers and my creditcard company. My standard complaint procedure now is to give their front line helpdesk one chance to fix it. I then escalate to their complaints team and then Ombudsman. No messing and in all 5 cases Ombudsman had found in my favour with low three figure levels of compensation.

BT Correspondence Centre, Providence Row, Durham, DH98 1BT. This should be your next point of contact, a firm letter sent recorded delivery with what you want to happen.

Edited by clmfsh (Sat 13-Jun-20 08:59:26)