Paying a phone bill

[Graham71]

Good morning to you all.

An elderly relative of mine has just tried to pay her Home essentials phone bill at the Post Office in cash which she has been doing for many years.

However this morning she was told  she can no longer pay her bill the Post Office  and her only option is to pay by direct debit. Is this true?

I've looked at the BT and Post Office websites  and it still says you can pay your bill there. As she is 91 she's panicking that she might get cut off.

Any help on this would be appreciated

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Graham71 

I've checked and can't find anything to say that payments can no longer make payments through the Post Office. 

Our 'How can I pay my BT bill?' help page and internal information for our call centre guides both state it as a valid way to pay bills.

Payments can be made through any PayPoint store. Your relative would just need to take their paper bill in with them.

Chris

[Graham71]

Thanks Chris

As I say I've checked on the BT and PO websites and it still says you can pay a PO. She did take the paper bill in with as always so i am a loss as to what is going on. I'm going to see her on Wednesday so I I'll try taking it into the PO to see what happens.

[Christopher_G]

Thank you, @Graham71 

It could be a mix-up, or something related to that specific Post Office. Let us know how it goes on Wednesday, please. 

Chris

[Graham71]

Hi Chris

I went to see my relative yesterday and looking at her bill, where it says "Ways to Pay" the option for paying at the PO is no longer there whereas on last months bill it was.

I went with her to the PO and I was told that PO head office has told them not to accept any bills for payment. They say that BT is trying to discourage people from paying at the PO and trying to move everyone over to Direct Debit.

Although some individual PO's might accept payment it is generally discouraged.

I have now paid the bill for her over the phone and will set up a direct debit which She is certainly not happy with

[Christopher_G · Accepted solution]

Thanks for coming back to me, @Graham71.

Although Direct Debit is definitely the easiest way for most customers to pay their bill, I understand that there are people, like your relative, who prefer to pay in cash.

I'm really not aware of that change, but have fed it back to the relevant team to try and make sure that information is clear about ways to pay on our help pages.

Chris