After recently discovering in the case of British Telecom, over-billing of my broadband account on a frightening scale and the failure of all subsequent attempts to have this error rectified by telephone, I was left with no other choice than to cancel my BT standing order at the bank.
To say, in the case of British Telecom, that the right hand, or one department, doesn’t know what the other hand or department is doing, is to put it mildly, an understatement of such magnitude that I am at loss to describe it.
Firstly, might I make one thing clear. The reason I have chosen to employ this method to make known my case against BT, is not for you as a reader and consumer to be enlightened as to the shambolic business practices of BT, but rather that it is the clearest way of communicating with said company and to highlight the error of its ways, resulting hopefully, in the return of all monies owed to me by British Telecom.
Let us look at some of those business practices first and what they mean in regard to customer satisfaction and the ability to have complaints or problems resolved.
British Telecom. Perhaps a more befitting name might be just plain old Telecom. Because it is far from British having to deal with a call centre situated on the Indian sub-continent. If, as in my own case recently, I could not get any satisfaction on the one occasion that my call was taken by someone in this country, then given the difficulty of understanding in the main, the regional accents which one encounters when dealing with a call centre in India, customer satisfaction is apt to be a rare bird indeed. Imperative too I think, that I mention that the call that was taken in the UK, was met with extreme rudeness by the employee of British Telecom who insisted that I was not a customer of their BT Broadband Option 3. A claim by BT that is made mockery of, by the various screen shots of contracts and emails below.
Taking the first graphic dated September 2010, ‘’Your BT Total Broadband Option 3’’ Ascertaining that at least one department at BT is aware that I am in fact an Option 3 customer.
Then followed by, again dated September 2010, by a notification that I had exceeded my monthly allowance of 20GB.
You will find my reasoning regarding this notification over-written in red, so little need for me to reiterate here. But it is what is written there that is the crux of the matter and the reason why the current situation exists today; lack of communication between departments.
Taking the next two graphics in turn, both dated 2009, we see a speed restriction warning at 80GB and a notice 100GB that my broadband will be restricted during peak times. No mention is made of a 20GB maximum and subsequent monetary penalties, simply because BT Broadband Option 3 is ‘unlimited’ but capped by a fair use policy of 100GB per month. (Fair use policy per month, then 100GB, now 300GB)
The following two scans, one of my original paper contract and the other of email conformation of my BT Broadband Option 3, need I think, no further explanation.
And finally, a screen shot taken today from British Telecom’s own webpage explaining the allowance for Option 3 customers.
It now rests with me, on publication of this, to contact BT, via my recently purchased ‘’3’’ wireless dongle, and see what they propose to do to remedy the situation. A situation that has been ongoing for years I must add, and no small amount of monies involved.
