BT robots and "Pay Now" sneak bills

Arrgghghgh.

I am getting really fed up with companies who have sneakly started changing their bills from the usual (please pay within x days) to "Payment due now". Two cases in point are MBNA credit cards (who as the same time they changed their payment due date also moved the "Pay Now" onto the back of the summary page, and BT.

But worse, BT have started introducing robots, which call you up, asking if you have made payment. And of course, the automated robot can never access your account, so it transfers you to a human, who starts with the security questions. But I never give out my details for somebody who has called me, then they get all annoyed.

I said "How do I know who you are" "We are BT - thats all you need" she says "Prove it" I say, "How?" She asks. "Ok, you work for Bt, what is your company house number, the name of the chairman and the registered address" says I. "I cant tell you that until you give me your details" she says.

When did these big companies get so really awful at what she termed service, and I wonder just how many people take these calls and give away all their information.

Or is it just me?

Reply to
JaffaB
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Yeah - I've had calls like that from BT (a person not a robot), they are as thick as pigshit - they expect you to prove who you are but they refuse to prove who they are - I asked them to give me a couple of digits from my BT account number but they refused - and they are so stupid that they get into a strop about it as if it's an unreasonable request!

Of course it may not have been BT.... but I suspect it was.

Reply to
Andy Pandy

Quite right but a well prepared scammer could answer these questions. Always return the call to a listed number. Any company that calls me and doesn't provide a free number to call will get a complaint raised. To be fair to BT they offer a freephone number to take calls.

Jim A

Reply to
Jim Alexander

And what good is that, if you're going to spend 15 minutes in the muzak queue and don't really know who to ask for.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

You are too negative. My revenge would be to complain in writing that "you said you wanted to speak to me urgently but when I phoned back I found out it wasn't true." Objective - to screw up their admin department with time bound correspondence at minimal cost.

Jim A

Reply to
Jim Alexander

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Jim Alexander said

You'd be wasting your stamps. I wrote to BT's purported customer service director (Jillian G Lewis) on 20th Nov/2006, and followed up (having received no reply) to their 'complaints review service' on 13/Dec. Also no reply. I phoned them twice this week, got transferred to the faults department (my complaint being about financial losses while a line was out - for 8 weeks) - the manager (for a miracle, actually in the UK) who was going to call back didn't, on either occasion.

Thos all follows a half dozen emails and 20+ phone calls to 150/151- free numbers (usually answered after 15-30 minutes by someone in India) yes, but still a waste of my life.

I gave up today and submitted a complaint via Otelo (the ombudsman). Maybe that will consume some BT time. I can only assume BT now recruits mainly from the shallow end of the gene pool ...

Reply to
GSV Three Minds in a Can

That's been my experience too. I sent 3 letters to BT's complaints address, one to their head office, all by recorded delivery. They denied receiving any of them.

Reply to
Simon

No, not a waste. Its part of the process in getting to the Otelo stage. Either deadlock or failure to reply within 3 months is sufficent, so even no reply is a result.

Jim A

Reply to
Jim Alexander

In message , Jim Alexander writes

You should go and look up your own number to call them back on, rather than one their telephonist provides.

Reply to
me

In message , Jim Alexander writes

This assumes they respond to complaint letters!

Reply to
me

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@from.is.invalid...

It's all about finding the correct person and threatening court action.

Reply to
whitely525

They've always been bad it's just that specialisation has increased the level of incompetence.

Reply to
Peter Saxton

If anything the Indians are trained to not provide a service.

I had a problem when Demon's server was rejecting my login attempt. They asked me what software I was using and when I told them they said they weren't trained on that software. I explained they didn't need to be trained on it and told them what to do to solve the problem.

Big companies don't believe in customer service they believe in the cheapest service.

Reply to
Peter Saxton

I sent a letter to HMRC that wasn't dealt with and when I phoned they said they hadn't received it so I asked why they had signed for it. They said that's a different building so I asked to be transferred to the people who would have signed for the letter. They said they couldn't do that but they could investigate the issue. Six weeks later I called and asked why I hadn't got a response and they said the person who was supposed to be investigating it would call me a week later when they returned from leave.

Last week I received a letter from HMRC that did not give the necessary explanation. I asked to speak to the person who sent me the letter. I was told I would get a phone call within three days - I didn't.

Last week an employee of a client company gave me a revised tax code form that I hadn't received my copy online. Another tax code for a different client employee was received that would result in the employee getting TWO personal allowances of £5,035 - she works in a restaurant and there's two payroll schemes (wages and tronc).

HMRC are badly managed and is totally incompetent and in chaos.

Whenever you phone anyone in HMRC they have a low level of understanding.

Reply to
Peter Saxton

Depends on the muzac. :-)

I called the 'repair shop' ALDI use and they had some decent 80/90's stuff playing. I was really choked when they answered in the middle of a Katie Meloua number. :)

Reply to
Gordon H

Who? Not *17*80/90s, then, I take it. :-(

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

Ha ha...

Reply to
Gordon H

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