V-Flyer

As advised by BT I rang them on 19th November to tell them that I did not wish to renew a particular one year contract, starting the following day. No problem.

Today I received a BT bill on which was a small amount for a "contract early cancellation charge" dated 18th November.

The amount was trivial. Shall I bother? This was overtaken by "why should I pay the wrong amount" and "they could make a fortune if they this this to everyone."

I rang. After the preliminaries this was the conversation:

ME. You have charged me a cancellation charge. Why?
BT. Because you cancelled early.
ME. No, I didn't.
BT. Yes, you did.
ME. No, I didn't.
BT. Yes, you did.
ME. I have an order reference number.
BT. Oh.
ME. Would you like it?
BT. Yes.
ME. (after giving the reference). What is that about?
BT. It is an order confirming you do not wish to renew your contract.
ME. There's lucky. Does it have a date?
BT. Yes.
ME. What is that date?
BT. 19th November.
ME. So why have you charged me a cancellation charge dated 18th November.
BT. Because you cancelled your contract early.
ME. No, I didn't.
BT. Yes, you did.
ME. May I speak to a supervisor please?
BT. I am a supervisor.
ME. Your boss then.

The phonecall ended up lasting an hour.

During that time it was escalated up two further levels. At each level I had to go through the entire conversation as above until, at the last level, by which time both my temper and blood pressure were increased somewhat, the chap said "I have no idea why you were charged and I will get it removed."

He then spoilt things by asking "and what did you think of BT's service to you on this phonecall?"

PS. The sum involved was 10p

I had an equally frustrating CS experience with AmEx on Saturday morning.

It is just so annoying to have rude CS staff telling you something you know is incorrect, and to spend time having to speak with a supervisor to eventually be told you were correct.

I wish I had your patience and self control.

The more people who stand up to firms on points of principal, the better - it may mean they are more careful in future.

I often start out on such a phone call with good intentions, but then soon think 'life is too short, and my time is worth more than this' and I put the phone down!


Nick

This is one thing I can't stand and will always complain where necessary!

If the staff that I manage were to treat customers how I have been treated by other companies, I'd have them all sitting down with HR!!

Service is key now in winning business - everything in terms of quality of product and price are so similar, it has to come down to service!

Well done for fighting! Hope the call itself was free and didn't cost you!!!

Luke

enyce085 wrote: Hope the call itself was free and didn't cost you!!!

Thanks Luke, it was indeed via an 0800 number, its one saving grace.

Nottingham Nick wrote:I wish I had your patience and self control.

Towards the end I got pretty angry but, by then, I was determined that I was going to have my pound of flesh or, more precisely, 10p. Perhaps I should get out more?

HWVlover wrote:The amount was trivial. Shall I bother? This was overtaken by "why should I pay the wrong amount" and "they could make a fortune if they this this to everyone."

PS. The sum involved was 10p

And fair play to you..If you'd wanted to throw your money at idiots, you could of just over paid your income tax..

thought it was just me who did things like this

Fair play to you - it's the principle that counts, not the amount.

I've had a number of such calls to, oh let's see, gas companies, broadband providers, DIY superstores etc etc - the people they get to field the phone calls really haven't got the wherewithall to work out what you're telling them - if it goes off script, they are clueless. And, they're not empowered to do anything anyway. I reckon they get judged on how many people they get rid of before it get escalated.

These big companies have forgotten how much customer service matters - they may get a rude shock one of these days...

Well done - and, have you got your £0.10 back yet?

In many ways it is our fault - it is all too easy to use the 'phone and CS can just lead us a dance.
Much better to write a letter - typically answering a letter costs a company about £25.
If they don't reply within 14 days, or if the answer is unsatisfactory, write another - and keep it up - with companies such as BT send a copy to Offtel with a complaint. Then you really start to cost them money.
Far easier for you to write rather than spend an hour on the phone; particularly if you keep a few proforma letters on your PC.

I had a similar call with BT when I first got landline.. £12 a month line rental and free evening and weekend calls. When I was being billed £18 a month I rang up to someone who didn't have a clue and said "it's there in credit for all other calls" needless to say I switched to sky soon after, they're much better, when I rang the other week after my phone line/internet died the bloke told me he'd ring me back so they were paying for the call and not me!

Just to show you how bad customer service can bite bad customer service staff back!

Recently i had issues with a national utility provider lets call them "company x"
despite a dozen calls i could not get the issue resolved, every time i rang the call centre the staff would pass me to different departments, give differing solutions and be downright rude. When i asked for the staff members names i encountered, "it's not company policy to give out our names " or "it's for security we don't give out our names " to health and safety legislation prohibits us from telling you who we are !

I even had the call terminated when they realised they were in the wrong and didn't want to deal with me.

I couldn't even cancel the account, as they wouldn't put me through to the right department, so i cancelled the direct debits which eventually got their attention and closed the account that way.

Anyway a few weeks later i was chatting with a friend who works in the call centre business, his company provide staff and centres world wide. When i told him the story he smiled and told me his company had been trying for 3 years to get that contract but "company x" had never been able to be won over to his company. In fact he was due to meet their board of directors in a few weeks to try again, and asked if i would go with him to try it from a different angle and get me to give them my story as a disgruntled customer, which i did.

He did his pitch to them, then brought me in as a customer, to give my experiences, and to explain how his company would have ensured no one would be treated like that, I have to say i was very nervous but just told it like it was, and was quite happy to see some of the board where genuinely shocked at the way things had happened. I guess being so far up the company ladder they loose reality with the people down at the sharp end.

A week later and his company were awarded the million $ contract, he got a 5 figure bonus and i got lunch ! Although he did treat me to a nice slap up meal.

The current call centre were given 3 months notice to end the contract which has now happened.

Anyway it shows that if you work hard and deal with people properly and don't lie to them then all will be ok. But always remember you never know who you are talking to or even who their friends are. !

Many years ago when moving into a new house my local water company refused to transfer my service until the unpaid balance was paid on the account, total balance was 1 cent.

I had to go down to their head quarters and cut them a check for 1 cent, even the lady that helped me was amused by the amount.