Upselling on calls

[eddiegee]

I called BT customer services last week regarding a billing issue that is being rectified. 

At the end of the call I was then offered a new router to replace my existing BT router. I accepted as it was pitched as just sending a new router out for the latest and greatest,  then naively I later find the ‘guide’ has entered me into a brand new 24 month contract. 

Perhaps it was buried in the contract spiel delivered, but I certainly didn’t hear it. Having telephoned again tonight I now have to wait until the order completes and then ring back to cancel. 

Has anyone else fallen victim to these shady practices? 

[chrisjp]

I'm afraid BT's phone agents are all incentivised by commission and some of them apparently will say anything to get customers to accept "upgrade" deals and get their commission payments.
When offered what seems to be a bit of a freebie (like your new router) it's necessary to closely cross-question the agent offering it to establish what you are also accepting as part of the deal.

[eddiegee]

Thanks for your reply Chris. 

Yes I foolishly accepted, but will be on alert if there is a next time. 

Just a shame that this goes on and some will be trapped once the cooling off period is done. 

cheers 

[peteratsylvan]

Yes, my partner called BT to query a 'non-return of kit' charge, got that sorted and was then asked if she'd like to save £5.00 on her mobile bill. Not realising what she was getting in to, she said yes and now has had her broadband and mobile arrangements switched to EE. This is at the very least misleading, and probably mis selling...

[iniltous]

TBH , BT agents are trained to be truthful , and are subject to audits etc  ( to make sure they don’t make false statements, getting caught doing something ‘wrong’ could lead to termination of that person’s employment ) so it’s ( in my opinion ) unlikely that anything untrue or a blatant lie will be told .

accentuating the positive and minimising the negative is the same with every ‘sales’ pitch, and not limited to BT …..I recently renewed my BT deal , ( and moved my mobile to EE as it was a much better deal than my  BT mobile one ) and didn’t at any point feel misled, or ‘forced’ into anything , however they are required to offer what their employer wants them to do  , and that’s BT consumers voluntarily joining EE as that’s the overarching plan , EE to be the consumer brand , not BT .

[peteratsylvan]

I understand that BT has a sales team, and that there will be incentives for them to hit targets, etc. But my disquiet is with the likely unexpected consequences of moving customers' contracts without fully discussing the possible downsides. For example, BT disks not working with the new EE routers...

[chrisjp]

"TBH , BT agents are trained to be truthful , and are subject to audits etc ( to make sure they don’t make false statements, getting caught doing something ‘wrong’ could lead to termination of that person’s employment ) so it’s ( in my opinion ) unlikely that anything untrue or a blatant lie will be told ."

I must respectfully disagree. In this example, asking a customer out of the blue (on a phone call concerning a different matter) "would you like to save UKP5 on your mobile bill" without also explaining that this would require a move from BT to EE is, at best, a half-truth, and at worst a lie by omission.
And judging by the posts on this forum, this is not an isolated example either.
These are sales tactics that you might find, and put up with, in street markets. You don't expect to get them from a once respected telecommunications provider

[iniltous]

Obviously you are liberty to take a different view , although it is worth noting your account is third hand , even the contributor that provided the example doesn’t have first hand knowledge of the call ,so  only two people who know for sure what was said on the call and neither have contributed here .

..and as stated , I very much doubt the call was along the lines of ‘ would you like a £5 reduction on your bill ‘ and that was it , caller hangs up after agreeing to a £5 discount seemingly for absolutely nothing , plus ( and TBH , this is where perhaps people should maybe take a little responsibility ) never considered why an offer like that be made without some sort of quid pro quo , and when confirmation of the deal was emailed etc , the opportunity in the cooling off period to cancel wasn’t taken even though apparently the consumer hadn’t appreciated what the discount was in return for ,   the email would have been specific even if the consumer didn’t think the customer representative was less than clear  with the customers commitment for receiving the discount.

As I previously stated , this is no different to what every other telecommunications provider does , and what happens in every other industry, yet seemingly some contributors on here think BT should be held to a higher standard.

[eddiegee · Accepted solution]

I’ll finish my side of the ‘saga’, that has now played out fully. I telephoned EE to be put back on to my old BT broadband contract and invoked the 14 day cooling off period on the new ‘mis-sold’ EE broadband contract.

The broadband was terminated on a set date, but had not reverted back to the old BT broadband. Cue another call to EE to query what was happening. I was then informed that it was not possible to go back to the old BT broadband contract as the account had been closed. I queried how that was possible as I had now technically escaped a BT contract that had another 12 months to run. It was confirmed that I now had no contract with either BT or EE, and no active broadband whatsoever. 

Believe what you will, but both are accurate recollections of what happened: 1) Moved to EE on misrepresentation 2) Not informed that termination of EE would leave me without broadband (would have been an opportunity to convince me to stay). 

The ironic thing is, the termination happened whilst I was on holiday, but to my surprise when I returned home, the broadband was still working and had not been ceased correctly.

Long story short, BT/EE have now lost a customer to Sky. 

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend it, moving from BT to EE, then cancelling within the cooling off period is an apparent loop hole to exit BT whilst in contract. 

[peteratsylvan]

Well, despite the (misplaced) confidence from some BT/EE apologists on this forum, I have now received an abject apology from EE and confirmation that my partners' account is being restored to her original BT arrangement. 

There is no doubt that 'some' BT call handlers / sales staff are misleading BT customers who call with non-related queries and switching them to EE without making this clear. 

I work in a sales environment - but train my staff to consider the customers' best interests at all times. Not just through some vague 'being honest' aspiration, but because many years experience has convinced me that satisfied customers return and recommend. I'm delighted when my competitors don't tell the whole truth and come to my business - I know that we'll make the sale!

BT can manage the switch of retail customers to EE by explaining the advantages (or lack of disadvantages..) and letting their customers choose to switch. Otherwise, trust and reputation will be lost and SKY etc will pick up the pieces.

Pity.