Account disconnected due to non payment

[Joanne1963]

I live overseas but keep a UK package of broadband/landline/mobile and pay by direct debit. Due to my error I was transferring money to the wrong account every month. May and June 2023 bills went unpaid and their emails did not show any urgency so went unopened by me as I was busy.

Suddenly I came to find out that all of my services ceased to exist and my account has been cancelled and all numbers lost! I need the same numbers due to banking etc (since 2006) and BT were so rude to me on the phone. The bills were paid as soon as I became aware of the situation.

Now they have said that it was set to be disconnected on July 31st 2023 but they had disconnected it early, on July 23rd and I cannot apply for new services until August 1st. After which I can apply for my old numbers but no guarantees I will get them.

I'm in Despair to be honest. On the phone the chap said, oh you went on holiday and ignored your bills. No not holiday thanks, and they sent a letter about disconnection to my property and a voice mail to my landline, but I wasn't there to retrieve it. Why didn't they send the urgent letter via email? BT said that they don't have to exhaust all efforts to find me. I'm paying for a service that I rarely use, maybe for a week every year, and this is how I'm treated.

Who can I appeal to?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Joanne1963 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

This is just a customer to customer help forum, everyone here, including myself, are just customers.

The only BT Employees are the forum moderators, one of them may post here later this morning.

Bear in mind that BT Broadband is intended for UK residents. Might it be better to use a 4G PAYG broadband service while you are in the UK?

[Joanne1963]

Thank you!

[gg30340]

Keeping in mind that this has come about by your error, not BT's who have followed their correct procedures, I have notified the moderators of the forum about your problem. Once they have read this they may be able to help. They will advise you by posting on this thread.

[RobbieMac]

Hi @Joanne1963

Welcome to the BT Community and thank you for posting.

I am sorry for the problems you've experienced recently with your payment.  I understand how important it is that your services remain active and are not disconnected completely.  I've included the number below that you can call from abroad to speak with my colleague to make sure the account/payment details are up to date to avoid any further issues.

Feel free to post back and let us know how you get on chatting with my colleagues.

Thanks,

Robbie

[Joanne1963]

Thank you for your efforts, and yes I agree it was my error.

I called them again today and after a few hours talking to various people they told me that they had reversed the process for my landline and broadband. They are trying to get me the Pac number for the mobile that they cancelled and hope to get that to me in 3 days. 

To be honest it was not easy and until now the landline is not back but it might be by tomorrow. At least I have an email address for someone in case.

I understand that they have a fair policy for everyone, it's just that I was not expecting this, I thought that I had paid so I was not checking the emails and none of them jumped out at me as a red flag. Thanks to this community I took the chance of calling them back today. I'll come back with an update once everything is finalised.

Btw, this is why I hate direct debit. I'd much rather just pay my bills once a month and know that I I've done them.

---

@RobbieMac  cheers

[allanraymond]

I'm unclear why direct debit should cause any problems.  You set up a direct debit with your supplier in this instance it is  BT after which each month (or other defined period) they automtically take the cost of the service proved to you. With a Direct Debit you shouldn't have to manually arrange to pay the supplier, the supplier does this at their end.