Not happy, and not sure if this qualifies as stealing [ Edited ]

[Mitherson]

Hello,

Like most people I budget my Money from week to week, Most my direct debit's and standing orders go out at the end of the month and they are usually on the day they say. Sadly my income is paid to me at end of the month and doesn't show on my bank balance till the 2 or 3rd working day of the month.

Last month (Feb 29th) BT took four times the amount out of my acount by adding a 1 in front of the amount they should of taken i.e. £139.67 instead of £39.67. Okay they made a slight annoying mistake, but for me this was very bad as my mortgage didnt get paid got extra bank charges because of this. And after an hour conversation with a person from another country im looking at 5 - 10 days to find out why and hopefully have the money credited to my BT account.

Now, why so long to take a look at this? and why isnt it being refunded to my bank account?

Now if im not wrong im sure this is stealing and gaining interest from me, how often does this happen? does it happen more often than they like to say, extra £100 off 100 accounts out of a few million customers makes you think how much interest they make.

Not a happy chap

David Jones

Extra added: Forgot to add I upgraded begining of feb 2012 from option 1 broadband to option 3 and I have just seen other people with the same problems

link http://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Call-Packages/Cancellation-charge-for-upgrading/td-p/128927

[Webby]

It's not theft, it's a mistake. have you checked your bill? Your bill is produced at least 10 days before payment is taken, and the amount to be taken is advised on the bill.

The Direct Debit guarantee scheme enables you to call your bank as soon as you think an incorrect payment has been taken and have the amount credited back to your account that very same day. You then take up the issue with the company requesting the money from your account to find out why the amount taken was what it was. If there's an error, it gets sorted, but if the amount is correct, then the bank take the money back from your account.

Are there any additional charges on the bill that are maybe incorrect?

Check that your account hasn't been changed to quarterly billing as opposed to monthly - this could be an error.

Have you cancelled any services or ordered anything new from BT in the past month?

[Mitherson]

Thanks for answering quickly, but im sure if you went to a shop and bought something for £5.00 and they took £20.00 off you and you did not get any change, you would say "oh I think you made a mistake there, may i have my change of £20.00 please" and they say "no sorry, it will take 5 to 10 days to process and find out why i took the extra off you", "Sorry", "bye" Im sure you would want to find out more about this. Would you call or ask to speak to a manager, or ask to speak to someone thats not reading off there screen of instructions, perhaps maybe someone in your own country who can speak english and can understand someone with a welsh, scottish, geordie or cockney accent, or would you go round to the police station to tell them whats happened if your problem wasn't rectified in the shop. Taking £1, £5 or £100 and not repaying to me is stealing.

all the best

David Jones

~humour~

By the way I've just mistakingly taken your car from outside, I'll bring it back in a few days. Many Thanks, Bye.

[imjolly]

did you check your bill to see if there are any unusual charges being made on your account maybe for changing options as suggested by webby?

I would appear that you like many others do not check the bill when you receive the email from BT (assuming you are paperless billing) either because you are to busy or again assume it will be ok.  However had you checked the bill and realised the amount was wrong or there was an item your did not agree with then you could have queried it before any amount was taken from your account

a lesson for us all I think

[Webby]

Check your bill and let us know what it says. If it's wrong you'll get the money back. When I've took an item back to somewhere like curry's before, it's taken about 3 days for the money to go back into my account.

Same applies for online betting sites...the money is debited instantly but if you want to withdraw money back to your bank account, it takes 3 working days.

As I've said, as part of the Direct Debit guarantee scheme you can call your bank and have the money instantly credited to your account. You then sort it out with BT.

As the customer, it's your responsibility to check your bill.

[Mitherson]

Hi

Why do people assume everyone is stupid, yes i had my bill off bt, thankyou, for £39.67 on the 19th Feb, only for checking my own bank balance as i do at the end of the month I noticed the extra £100.00 taken out on the 28th of feb.

And yes always check your bills and cross them off with your bank statement monthly, this is how I found out on Friday 2nd, prob a bit late posting here but this is just a bt forum where discussions take place non urgently and to steam off your problems to have other peoples answers.

all the best

david jones

mITherson

I.T. PC Designer/Engineer, Web Designer, Programmer of Windows & Linux

[Mitherson]

Anyway main thing I wanted to know is

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why so long to take a look at this? and why isnt it being refunded to my bank account?

[Webby]

As this is a customer to customer forum that's not something we can answer.

You need to speak to BT and find out why it's taking so long.

The other option is that you leave the £100 credit on your account and your next few bills will be automatically taken from the outstanding credit on your account.

[DS]

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Mitherson wrote:snipped

And after an hour conversation with a person from another country im looking at 5 - 10 days to find out why and hopefully have the money credited to my BT account.

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It may of been better to have used the billing live chat facility. For future reference you can find it at the top of the billing section on these forums - http://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Call-Packages/bd-p/Billqueries

[pottyperson]

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Mitherson wrote:

Sadly my income is paid to me at end of the month and doesn't show on my bank balance till the 2 or 3rd working day of the month.

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The issue of BT's mistake has been covered, but there are a couple of points about this statement.

If this is wages or salary you are entitled to have access to the money on the payday specified in your contract of employment. You may need to take this up with your employer, particularly if regular late payment is causing difficulties with payment of bills.

While direct debits tend to be taken at the beginning of the month, some organisations offer some flexibility so that they can be coordinated with receipt of income. For example, the last day of the month with BT is not helpful if you are receiving income some days later. Did you know that you can change the date yourself? Go to MyBT (link at the top of this page) > My bills and payments > Manage your payments > Change regular payments > Change payment details. Or you could do it via Live Chat.