Huge PAYG landline charges

[kavalier]

I have just discovered that my elderly relative has paid more than £1400 for calls from her landline to UK landlines and mobiles.  She was unaware that she was paying by the minute (29p/minute).  If she had an Unlimited Minutes landline contract, she would have paid £17.45/month for landline calls.  When I raised this with BT, they offered a refund of the charges for the past 3 months (approx £400).  There is no option to set a spend cap on landlines.  I am intending to take the case to the Communications Ombudsman, claiming that she was mis-sold an inappropriate contract. Any suggestions?

[gg30340]

While there is a requirement for mobile phone providers to allow the customer to place a spend cap on their call package, there is no requirement for landline telephone providers to allow the customer to place a spend limit on their landline call package. 

Did she specifically ask for a unlimited call package?

How do you propose to show that she was intentionally mis-sold the PAYG product without her knowledge of what she was agreeing to?

Did she have the details of the telephone package that she agreed to sent to her by either email or post and or was it showing in her MyBT?

What calling package was showing on her telephone bills?

How many bills has she received since the PAYG package started? 

[kavalier]

She has had PAYG for at least 15 months - I can't see her bills further back than 15 months. she was changed over to Digital Voice last year. She is 83 years old and pays by direct debit - I would like to think that someone at BT might have noticed that she was being charged hundreds of pounds for landline calls.

[gg30340]

The billing costs whether it is for the "old" system or Digital Voice are exactly the same.

Presumably you have now moved your relative onto a more suitable calling package?

Unfortunately what you would like and how the billing system operates are far apart. It is very unlikely that a human is involved in accounting the bill or even looking at the bill at any point and even if they were they would be unaware of the status of the person that is accruing the bill particularly if the bills are being paid in full and on time.

I suspect other than perhaps this being a moral issue which is not enforceable, BT has done nothing wrong and that getting a refund of £400 may be the best that you will get however it won't do any harm contacting the Ombudsman but don't get your hopes up that you will get your relative any further refund.

Please keep this post updated with how you get on.

[kavalier]

Thanks for your advice. As you say, it is a moral issue. But BT‘s offer of £400 is an implicit acknowledgement that she has been vastly overcharged. I will let you know how we get on with ombudsman. 

[licquorice]

This may seem harsh, but whatever happened to caveat emptor these days. PAYG or inclusive calls are available by customer choice at any time via MyBT.

[garybs29]

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@licquoricewrote:

This may seem harsh, but whatever happened to caveat emptor these days. PAYG or inclusive calls are available by customer choice at any time via MyBT.

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It seems BT (& EE) are not allowed to say that & everyone must have everything pointed out to them instead of keeping on top of things from what I've seen

[gg30340]

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@kavalierwrote:

Thanks for your advice. As you say, it is a moral issue. But BT‘s offer of £400 is an implicit acknowledgement that she has been vastly overcharged. I will let you know how we get on with ombudsman. 

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I hardly think that you can say BT offering £400 refund is an "implicit acknowledgement that she has been vastly overcharged" .

Don't lose sight of the fact that your relative has been paying the bills without complaint for at least 15 months.

BT had no need what so ever to make this  "goodwill gesture" . They have done that without any acknowledgment of having done anything wrong. It is up to the customer to ensure that they are on the correct package and that they are being billed correctly.

[kavalier · Accepted solution]

We decided to accept BT’s offer to refund £433. They also reviewed the account and offered to change the broadband and landline package from Halo3 to Fibre 2, reducing monthly bill from £88 to £40 (including unlimited landline calls). A fair result from my complaint.