On 27th February I signed up for BT Broadband (moving from Virgin), for my daughter who has a mental health disability. So I ordered essentials broadband and TV. The package was activated mid-March. Since then I've been shocked that the quoted price of £25 was never charged, and her price almost immediately increased to (presumably) £29.43 per month which seems to work out as follows:
- £15 essentials (not subject to price increases)
- £10 TV + £1.43 price increase from 2nd bill onwards
- £3 paper billing
- £9.99 one-off charge in first bill
There's three issues here:
1. Is it correct that a price increase applied almost immediately, despite the fact her broadband package didn't start until mid-March
2. Why was the monthly price quoted as £25 when that was never the amount charged? Actually the charges were £37.99 in April (£3 more than quoted due to paper billing), £30.53 in May (no idea why this wasn't £29.43) and £29.43 in June. I would have expected to have been told when I signed up that the quoted price was subject to an immediate price increase and a £3 paper billing charge and for the total monthly cost quoted on the final summary to include the paper billing charge.
3. Why has she been charged £3 for paper billing? Even if I asked for paper billing, at no point did it say I would be charged extra for it. On the last page of the online order (I have screenshots) it does say "Billing delivery method Online and paper bill", but on the same page it shows the monthly charge as £25.00. Also, I thought that vulnerable customers weren't supposed to be charged for paper billing?
This is made difficult because, due to her disability, I never managed to get my daughter to activate her account and add me as an account manager, so despite me being added to her account (when I first made the order for her) as a person who can discuss her account by telephone - I gave my name and date of birth, BT customer services are now refusing to talk to me about anything to do with billing. So it's proving impossible to get what seems to be overcharging fixed. I set up the account in her name in the hope I could gradually encourage and help her to become more independent, but it's my job (as DWP appointee) to manage all her money that comes from her benefits.
My daughter is vulnerable, and on disability benefits, hence me moving her from Virgin to BT - yet BT seem unwilling to fix her billing problems unless she deals with them herself, something she isn't able to do.
