This topic

Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:50:21 GMT

BT sent an email with subject "You'll lose your service if you don't take action" to my 93 year old mother.
The content of the email included

"The existing landline has become outdated and is being replaced with a digital service that works over a broadband connection. This is happening as part of a UK-wide digital upgrade that phone providers are carrying out to enhance the quality and reliability of your landline services. "

and

"If you don’t do anything, you could lose access to your current broadband service when your home phone service is upgraded. Contact us in the next 30 days to upgrade."

I used the online contact and eventually got through to a human being who
1) confirmed that she has not been upgraded to digital voice, and there is no date for that to happen

2) Spent the whole time trying to pressure me into an upgrade (presumably following a script)

I got him to log a complaint - and was given a reference number

Within a few minutes, and no further interaction the complaint was closed by email (from an un-monitored email address) with no explanation

Is it official BT policy to bully OAPs and try to pressure them into signing unwanted contracts?

And ignore all complaints?

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

licquorice — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:56:54 GMT

It seems extremely likely that the email was not from BT at all and in fact was a scam.

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Kimberlin — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:02:00 GMT

Well BT were being factually correct about the landline element being shifted to Digital Voice, so no bullying there.

You haven't stated what 'upgrade' you were allegedly being pressured into, so what exactly was the BT call centre employee trying to get you to purchase? If you made it clear you weren't interested and you told them to stop harassing you into purchasing an upgrade and they continued to pressure you, then that is clearly unacceptable and you're right to make a complaint.

If the complaint has been subsequently closed without any investigation within a matter of minutes, then that is equally unacceptable and warrants a further complaint. The call will have been recorded, so you can escalate if you see fit.

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:03:53 GMT

Not that I can see
It contained the account number with all except the last 4 digits masked

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:06:42 GMT

The bullying is the implication that your number will be taken away within 30 days if you do nothing when not only has the digital upgrade not taken place, but there is no schedule

The upgrade that they repeatedly tried to sell was to switch broadband provider to BT, and this was a "one-off" price which is only available right now

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:07:36 GMT

If it was a scam email not from BT, then why would they close the complaint without any investigation?

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Kimberlin — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:08:45 GMT

Was the email personally addressed to the recipient? Indeed, how was it addressed?

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:18:01 GMT

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Kimberlin — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:34:52 GMT

It does seem that BT don't always personally address emails to customers and they often just put in redacted account numbers apparently.

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:26:34 GMT

Included the partially masked account number and started the email text with a "Hello" - no name used

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Kimberlin — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:34:19 GMT

Well I could be totally wrong, but that looks legitimate to me but you should if you are in any doubt whatsoever, send it to BT as a suspected phishing email:

https://www.bt.com/help/security/scams

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Peter_W — Mon, 18 May 2026 13:11:50 GMT

Welcome back to the Community, @ItsMikeE

Could you please let us know what email address this was sent from?

You'll need to tap the address at the top of the email and view the full selection of contact details to see this, as there's a chance they could have set the contact name to look more official.

Peter

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 13:26:48 GMT

It was sent from hello@message.bt.com and has passed through several authentication checks (DKIM, etc.)
Has an 'unsubscribe' option, so that would make it an email that is not specific to that account

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Kimberlin — Mon, 18 May 2026 13:35:38 GMT

@ItsMikeE Do you know what? Even if that email is legitimate, out of sheer spite, I would report it as phishing email just to make myself feel better about being pressured on the phone and of course for receiving an email which is not in any way constructed to make a customer feel in any way valued. If that email is real, it could be worded in a far better way.

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

iniltous — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:12:28 GMT

Perhaps it just me but I can’t see the issue , if doing nothing isn’t an option, then the notification needs to be sufficiently ‘strong’ to gain a response.

As this notification was an email , it seems reasonable to assume that the customer has broadband or some other way of accessing emails , but that isn’t the normal notification of being migrated to BT DV for BT broadband customers , so it’s conceivable this customer has BT telephony with broadband from another supplier on the same ‘line’ …..( a shared metallic path facility arrangement)

BT telephone only customers, which in SMPF terms that’s what this customer would be , are currently being moved to PDPL (pre digital phone line ) and this doesn’t support third party broadband, so as the notification says , doing nothing potentially will remove this other company’s broadband from the ‘line’ , therefore this customer needs to make a decision about their broadband service, it can’t remain as two suppliers on the same line . What would the OP prefer, a less direct vague communication , and then the customer wondering why their broadband isn’t working anymore.

Obviously I’m assuming this customer has broadband from someone other than BT , on a SMPF basis because if they used BT for broadband as well as telephone, it’s a regular migration to DV notification they would have received not this one .

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

ItsMikeE — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:09:57 GMT

The customer does have a BT phone and broadband from another supplier

My mother was very worried by the email - thinking it meant she would lose either her broadband or her landline within 30 days if she did not take any action

I think that is threatening

Then when using the online 'contact us' they repeatedly badgered her to upgrade

I think that is bullying

And to reiterate - she has not been been updated to digital voice or given a date when that will take place

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

iniltous — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:44:21 GMT

As stated , she won’t get BT Digital Voice , she doesn’t have BT broadband , that in effect is the issue , if she wants to keep BT telephone without BT broadband it’s via PDPL , that will get rid of the third party broadband and this will happen by default when the PDPL is provided , hence the urgency to make a decision.

Want to keep broadband with the other provider ? , give up the BT telephone service completely or transfer it to them , want both telephone and broadband, it will need to be a single provider either BT or the broadband company , want BT telephone without BT broadband, its PDPL which means no broadband at all on the same ‘line’.

I’m guessing the current broadband provider has made no effort to explain this to your relative, the ‘tone’ of the BT email is to get the customer to actually make a decision, as stated the status quo is just not an option and time is running out to decide before a decision is made for her …what’s more I’m sure you’d complain more loudly if this third party broadband was disconnected from the BT line but the notification about that taking place were less ‘blunt’ .

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

Peter_W — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:24:19 GMT

Thanks for explaining these extra details, @ItsMikeE

I've had this double checked, and this is a genuine email from us, and the reasoning behind what's explained is exactly as @iniltous has outlined above.

I'm really sorry if you or your mother have felt pressured here, and especially so if you feel your complaints around this were not handled appropriately.

I'm going to send you over a private message so we can make sure that this is definitely addressed.

Peter

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

FEDUP2016 — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:03:37 GMT

Dear Mike,

I received a similar aggressive phone call from someone purporting to be from BT, particularly around the "one-off" price that was only available right now, last September. When I complained, initially BT said it was from a BT Contractor, later BT changed their mind. There was just one problem - only BT & financial organisations know my mobile number, so read into that what you may.

What you have set out is totally unacceptable and a total failure of BT.

I strongly recommend that you ring 150, have a chat and ask to be put through to the duty manager to escalate your reasonable complaint. May I suggest that you consider for your Mother https://www.bt.com/help/landline/getting-set-up/help-people-with-impairments-or-with-particular-needs. If you have any problems ask to escalate to Exec Complaints.

You will need a backup system in the event of power cuts, etc, etc. and there will be an issue over personal alarm monitoring, if Mum has one. BT technical should be in a position to assist. I suggest that you establish a good technical solution BEFORE agreeing anything with commercial sales, in my experience.

You will have a problem that BT and OpenReach are two separate organisations and that 'they' employ 'contractors' who don't actually know what specifics have been agreed so you will need to be around to make sure Mum has everything done to the agreed spec.

As I say iIf you have any problems escalate to Exec Complaints and since you are only requesting that your Mother is treated with respect and in a reasonable manner, stand your ground.

I sincerely hope this helps you both.

Re: Appalling Bullying Behaviour

iniltous — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:13:38 GMT

PDPL , doesn’t need local power , the switch to PDPL from PSTN is made within the exchange , no visit to the customer is needed , the telephone sockets and existing telephone equipment plugged into those sockets at the home doesn’t change , they are used in the same way as now , so BT have no need to provide any power ‘backup’ etc for PDPL telephony as PDPL doesn’t need any

…if on the other hand this customer decides to keep their broadband from another company for broadband only (having it reinstalled after they move to PDPL because they didn’t respond to the notification to act in time ) , that has nothing to do with BT and should they also use that broadband company for telephony (ceasing the BT PDPL ) again how that other company deal with power outages etc is a matter for them .