Elderly relative sold outrageously inappropriate contract

[lamb229]

Like your elderly relative, my elderly aunt lives in a small one-bedroom flat. She has been having memory problems for the past year and a half and I am now trying to help her manage her bills. November 2023 I found out that she'd signed up to a contract to have a signal booster installed in her bedroom to get a better wifi reception. The flat is tiny. She didn't need a signal booster. Especially for a bedroom that she only sleeps in and never uses any digital devices. She also has Halo 3+. All she uses is an iPad. She used to have a laptop before that, but that's all. Any she only ever used it for a couple of hours at night. She pays more for her broadband and landline than I pay for the highest level of broadband, landline, and full TV package including Sports and Movies. How is that right? My aunt doesn't even have a smart phone. She has an old Nokia one because she wouldn't know how to work a smart phone. She relies on her landline and pays for free evening and weekend calls. But I totted up the minutes she spends on average every month and applied the 7p per minute charge and it works out less than the charges for the free calls. She has agreed to whatever they've offered to her on the phone without knowing what it even means. I phoned to complain and was told there's nothing that can be done until her contract ends in November. I think it's outrageous. 

[Parply]

Sounds like identical circumstances to what I experienced with my relative. The only part of BT that has ever served me well are the moderators on these forums so hopefully they will also help you. Let’s just say I have some insight into how BT functions and the word function is the last word that I would suggest applies. The only reason it continues to even exist is the monopolies it inherited and the lackluster, and even worse, competition that resulted from this fact. Don’t be scared to contact the ombudsman they might not be good either but at least they are supposed to be independent and have legal obligations. TBH I would like the people proposing and implementing such aggressive selling sacked as much as those actually doing it. At least it’s not as bad as the post office whose leadership should be rotting in hell.

[Rach_H]

Hi @lamb229,

Welcome to the Community!

We want to make sure we find the best option for all of our customers, so they can get the most out of our network, so I'm sorry to hear you feel we've let your aunt down on this occasion. 

I'd recommend reaching back out to the team so they can make a record on her account of her memory issues, as this may be something they were unaware of in the past, and we do want to put protections in place for our vulnerable customers.

We might not be able to help with a plan that has been active for this long, but we can certainly look into a plan that works better for her once her upgrade is due.

Rach 

[andyanddawn66]

I have a very similar situation in that my mum has been 'sold' a new contract so she can do all her gaming and streaming at good speeds !!  She's nearly 90 and has also been moved to EE which has doubly confused her - all she needs broadband for is emails, very occasionally facebook and online banking.

Surely when BT are arranging new contracts they can see the customers' usage details and then tailer the new contract to their requirements instead of just selling the most lucrative deal to them ?

[Rach_H]

Hi @lamb229,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear this has happened. We should be able to get this cancelled within 14 days of the change going active, so this might be worth a try.

Rach

[lamb229]

Tbh, whoever spoke to my aunt on the phone should have picked up on the fact that she had problems. It would have been obvious from talking to her. Before signing her up to a signal booster, they would or should have asked her if she knew what it was. She would have told them she didn't. They also should have asked how big her flat was and what digital devices she had. Again, she would have responded that she wasn't sure or didn't know what they meant. She shouldn't have been given something that she didn't understand.

[lamb229]

That's the problem. It's all outwith the 14 days of it going active. I'm only just finding out the extent to what she has been signed up for. I phoned BT a month after finding out about the signal booster and tried to cancel it, but it was outwith the 14 day cool down period. I told them she didn't get a letter or contract, but I was told they sent her an email. She didn't and doesn't look at her email. She's only ever dealt with real letters that she gets in the post. If she had of gotten something in the post, she would have asked me about it. It's the same with Halo 3+. She didn't know what it was or that she was entering into a bigger contract. I'm disappointed that because she is in a current contract that it can't be changed, when it is obvious she was mis-sold the contract in the first place.

[TimCurtis]

@lamb229 

Contact the BT CEO - Allison Kirkby (email easy to find) - and then your complaint will be handled by the Executive complaints team who are best placed to help.

Dealing with BT/EE is fraught with danger these days as the so called "guides" who are I'm led to believe on commission and in the experience of many these days - including myself - cannot be trusted. I phoned to cancel a rolling 30 day contract & found myself on a new 24m contract with EE at a higher cost.

After 50 years with BT I've now moved on because of the underhand way these guides behave.

[zulu17]

@lamb229  I echo the advice that Tim gives . Contact the CEO  Google  for email address if need be.  

[COMPANY-PENSIONER]

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@zulu17wrote:

@lamb229  I echo the advice that Tim gives . Contact the CEO  Google  for email address if need be.  

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I recently had a BT Salesman knock on my door. His one-liner was "You'll have to make a decision, I'm only here today." He soon found out he couldn't do anything for me, 'in contract'. I inquired, as to what he was hawking door-2-door, 'fibre'. The building only has copper. He indicated the fibre box-conn in the hallway; I pointed out that it's an alternative ISP Fibre System Term Box, who I get sale-pitch letters from, at least once a month. "OH !" was the reply. "I've never come across anyone who knows his fibre-stuff"; he has now.
IT HAS TO BE TRAINING ISSUES, OR MISPLACED RELIANCE ON OFFICE BASED PROVISION SYSTEMS, THE GUY WRONGFULLY BELIEVED ALL THE POST-CODE-CHECKER TOLD HIM.
A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS FOR A ONCE QUALITY COMPANY ?