Esat BT Billing>...HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

the gobbler

Hi,
We have had East BT cust off at the start of December...as it was unbelievable shoddy service...enuff said...i have recieved a Bill from them for 178euros (50euros PM my arse), which includes line rental and 2 months broadband until 8 february, but i am not with esat anymore..and they have charged me, after 2 hours waiting for cust care for 3 days in a row...i still could not get thru..now i have checked my credit card and they have taken this money out of it without my authorisation!! my credit card company could not stop the transaction as they needed auth from BT to cancel???!!! What am i supposed to do here?? who do i call? what do i do?? Is'nt this theft as they took it without my auth?? Does anyone have any numbers/emails anything that i can get a response from?? Will i see this money again??? Has anyone had this before?? PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

blahblah06

ring bt and leave your number. they always ring me back

aaf

See my posts on this similar thread.

Sponge Bob

the gobbler wrote:

What am i supposed to do here?? who do i call? what do i do?? Is'nt this theft as they took it without my auth?? Does anyone have any numbers/emails anything that i can get a response from?? Will i see this money again??? Has anyone had this before?? PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

email customercare@btireland.com .

state your case (what you do and do not owe)

demand that

1. They reimburse what you do not owe , to your cc, in full by friday
2. They assure you that you will not be billed by them again and that your cc records are deleted after the reimbursements .
3. They further assure you that the debt you do not owe is expunged from all their systems and will not be referred to a debt collector to be fraudulently extorted from you in future

and

if points 1 2 and 3 are not addressed in full you will go to the Garda Fraud squad on Friday to report them . they are within their rights to bill you if you ended your contract early , you had a 12 or 6 month contract depending.

tell us how it goes.

dub45

This just goes on and on and on. Surely it gets to a stage where action has to be taken against a company for such negligence? But is there any governing body anywhere at all to deal with this sort of behaviour?

At this stage Esatbt have to be aware of the shortcomings of their billing department and yet someone somewhere at a high level in there has made a decision to allow this to continue.

for every one case of this thats reported on boards there must be 10, 20 out there thats not reported?

Has Ireland Off Line ever considered making reps to someone about this sort of thing?

Auvers

My bill 2day and yet another fcukup, Now I have been charged for line rental and broadband separately and I am meant to be getting the promotion of €35 a month for both :mad:
aggghhh now I will have to spend an hour trying to get through for them to fix the problem, I pity the staff it must be a nightmare to work there with all these problems.

Here is a run down of my latest bill.

Line Rental 78.61
Ireland Mobile 12.77
International Mobile 4.15
International 0.21
All Ireland 3.90
Other Call Types 0.77
Broadband PLUS Two-Monthly Subscription 70.24
Other charges and credits 0.00
Total Discounts Received -28.93
Total Charges (ex. VAT) 141.72
VAT @ 21.00% 29.76
Total Charges this period (incl. VAT) 171.48

the gobbler

excellent..thanks for the info...i don't think it's a contract thing,as we had BB since nov04, i cancelled nov 05 and timed it so we would not be billed anymore,,when i called to cancel, i said to him that i do not want to be charged any more, he said i would not be charged, i have his name somewhere, when i called tech support when our BB stopped working, they said i would not be charged, i have his name also,,he said to me it would be backed up by the logs,,looks like ur having the same prob as me,aaf,,best of luck with a manager as i had that before and never got a call, in my 20 odd phone calls to BT, i'll give that e-mail a shot spongebob, but the last time i mailed that address i got a response a week and a half later...i could let it go and was tempted to let it go as i am sick and tired of calling BT...but then again folks its the principal!!!!! It's amazing the government/comreg/ireland offline cannot do anything about this and boggles the mind really why people go with BT,,,maybe they have no probs initally as i had, but when they want to cancel/change name/upgrade they have serious problems...i am going to try once more 2nite and call to see what they say..i will send an e-mail also..once again, thanks folks,it's good to know i am not the only one having these problems.

the gobbler

Amount Owing 131.49

Payment Received -131.49

Overdue Amount 0.00

Disconnect of PSTN Line Rental Charge -3.28

BT Internet 18.91

Broadband PLUS Two-Monthly Subscription 119.75

Broadband PLUS Self-Install Charge 41.32

Other charges and credits -3.28

Total Discounts Received -28.93

Total Charges (ex. VAT) 147.77

VAT @ 21.00% 31.03

Total Charges this period (incl. VAT) 178.80

Thats my bill,,,,,,,highlighted in red,,dunno where this came from, tech support sent us out another modem at start of november when our BB 'broke down' this bill is for dec05 to feb 08/06

Sponge Bob

the gobbler wrote:

Broadband PLUS Self-Install Charge 41.32

41.32 + Vat = €49.99 . Seems they charged you €50 for a replacement modem.

If the original modem was less than 1 year old this should have had a 1 year warranty anyway so they were doing a warranty replacement in my opinion but Others may know better than I and may advise you more precisely . Did they ask you to send the broken modem back to them so that they could send it back to the manufacturer ???

A netopia (is that your model ?????) has a one year warranty, see

http://www.netopia.com/equipment/products/2200_models.html

This also assumes that the broken modem did not suffer an 'act of God' because of lightning

the gobbler

nope, i still have 2 Zyxel perfectly working modems in my house,i did'nt get the chance to send the modems back yet, there was'nt anything wrong with the modems, as Esat said there was a prob with the line, but they cut us off my mistake,again. i have the netopia modem as i am back with eircom now. The funny thing is, when i called to cancel, they did'nt even ask why i was cancelling, either don't care or are getting alot of people cancelling.

Fredo

I had my first bill today. I availed of the special offer 25 euros per months for bB and line rental. 1-> I was billed €57.26 (25*2 =50) my colleague next to me ordered the same package he was billed €54.54 ...
2nd issue is that they advertise on their website that it is €25 per month and then they add vat but they never say anywhere that there is VAT on top of this or I did not read it correctly.

I am feedup with all those problems if some of you guys would like to join me to collect all the complains and set up a meeting with a representative that could shake things a bit?

Fred

dub45

Fredo wrote:

I had my first bill today. I availed of the special offer 25 euros per months for bB and line rental. 1-> I was billed €57.26 (25*2 =50) my colleague next to me ordered the same package he was billed €54.54 ...
2nd issue is that they advertise on their website that it is €25 per month and then they add vat but they never say anywhere that there is VAT on top of this or I did not read it correctly.

I am feedup with all those problems if some of you guys would like to join me to collect all the complains and set up a meeting with a representative that could shake things a bit?
Fred

Funnily enough I was just going to suggest it was time for a 'Collating complaints about EsatBT Billing sticky. In my opionion messing around with people's bank accounts, involving debt collectors etc and the stress it causes is far worse than bad bb quality. As I have posted elsewhere in the past week I have spoken to two people seperately who paid EsatBT money that they were convinced that they did not owe just to get them off their backs.

Has anyone ever thought of contactig the Joe Duffy show or emailing them and directing them to some of the BT threads here?

Sponge Bob

there is a WHOLE WEBSITE dedicated to BT and Its Billing

Gegerty

I'm trying to figure out my bill too. It's a little complicated because they had to reimburse me for a mistake from my last bill but they way they have it is complicated. Can anyone tell me does the €30 + €10 for broadband and line rental include VAT?

BTW: email complaints@btireland.com if you want something sorted properly and promptly (provided you have a genuine issue). Why can't all their depts be as good as the complaints dept??

dub45

Sponge Bob wrote:

there is a WHOLE WEBSITE dedicated to BT and Its Billing

Indeed but it only reflects one person's problems and is hardly widely known.

dub45

Gegerty wrote:

I'm trying to figure out my bill too. It's a little complicated because they had to reimburse me for a mistake from my last bill but they way they have it is complicated. Can anyone tell me does the €30 + €10 for broadband and line rental include VAT?

BTW: email complaints@btireland.com if you want something sorted properly and promptly (provided you have a genuine issue). Why can't all their depts be as good as the complaints dept??

Surely though there is a failure for the ample material received by the complaints department to be acted on by EsatBT? The billing and complaints departments must exist in seperate universes or surely there would have been some improvement by now?

And what does lavishing praise on a complaints department say in general terms about an organisation?:rolleyes:

Gegerty

Fredo wrote:

I had my first bill today. I availed of the special offer 25 euros per months for bB and line rental. 1-> I was billed €57.26 (25*2 =50) my colleague next to me ordered the same package he was billed €54.54 ...

When i was speaking to the guy from BT Billing today he told me that you do not get charged in full for your 1st month unless of course you get a full months use. In my case I was activated on the 28th of November, so I was only charged 2 or 3 euro or something for the month of November. If you were connected before your colleague it might explain the difference.

lasno

Why not get in touch with Joe Duffy on liveline. (RTE Radio1)
Tell them the story and let their researchers do the legwork.
It seems to be the one thing that gets companies like BT to wake up
to customers needs.
Its worth a try

Gegerty

dub45 wrote:

And what does lavishing praise on a complaints department say in general terms about an organisation?:rolleyes:

Don't get me wrong I'm in no way defending BT I'm just offering a suggestion to anyone who want their issues resolved. I went thru 4 months of torture switching from UTV to BT and ended up in broadband limbo. As soon as I explained the situation to the complaints dept it was sorted within the week, if I'd known sooner I would have saved myself 4 months of hell!

dub45

Gegerty wrote:

Don't get me wrong I'm in no way defending BT I'm just offering a suggestion to anyone who want their issues resolved. I went thru 4 months of torture switching from UTV to BT and ended up in broadband limbo. As soon as I explained the situation to the complaints dept it was sorted within the week, if I'd known sooner I would have saved myself 4 months of hell!

i was not suggesting that you were.

Gegerty

dub45 wrote:

i was not suggesting that you were.

ok apologies I read it with the wrong tone of voice

the gobbler

just an update folks, i did'nt get through to BT, i done the callback thing yesterday,no call, i was on hold yesterday evening for 1 hour and 40 minutes, i even walked around tesco with my phone still on with the 'all our agents are currently on calls' singing out of my pocket.i gave up after a while.
Would joe duffy actually air something like this, i was also thinking about Matt Cooper or G Ryan or Adrian Kennedy??? Dunno if they would be interested or anyone know how i would contact??

Gegerty

Do they usually dicuss companies? They might be worried about the legal implications of blasting a company on air. It's worth a try though. Try www.fm104.ie

lasno

Liveline definitely would investigate companies. They had a programme on
Eircom some time ago and it was about the difficulty of getting through
to Eircom customer care. The Eircom P.R. lady got a right grilling.

the gobbler

I found these e-mail addresses for joe duffy,

joe@rte.ie or liveline@rte.ie, i may send him a mail,,

so i'll mail,,,,www.askcomreg.ie /joe duffy/ BT customer care/BT complaints
anyone know the bossman in BT so i could CC him also?? and anyone anymore suggestions who i could mail??

I think if a few people sent in mails, you'd never know,,,now to get a list of all people on the boards that had problems like this, and if everyone sent in mails we may get some sort of action!!

UPDATE I have collected another 2 emails from these boards.
bill.murphy@esatbt.com and pat.2.mccabe@estbt.com

so i will send a very long winded mail to comreg/joe duffy/gerry ryan/BT customer care/BT Complaints/pat mc cable@bt/Bill murphy@BT, not sure if i'll get a response,but i will try anyway, as i'm not gonna let this pass. No point calling cust care,as i won't get thru.

dub45

the gobbler wrote:

I found these e-mail addresses for joe duffy,

joe@rte.ie or liveline@rte.ie, i may send him a mail,,

so i'll mail,,,,www.askcomreg.ie /joe duffy/ BT customer care/BT complaints
anyone know the bossman in BT so i could CC him also?? and anyone anymore suggestions who i could mail??

I think if a few people sent in mails, you'd never know,,,now to get a list of all people on the boards that had problems like this, and if everyone sent in mails we may get some sort of action!!

UPDATE I have collected another 2 emails from these boards.
bill.murphy@esatbt.com and pat.2.mccabe@estbt.com

so i will send a very long winded mail to comreg/joe duffy/gerry ryan/BT customer care/BT Complaints/pat mc cable@bt/Bill murphy@BT, not sure if i'll get a response,but i will try anyway, as i'm not gonna let this pass. No point calling cust care,as i won't get thru.

Why not try some of the Sunday papers? The Business Post or Tribune might be worth a phone call even?

aaf

the gobbler wrote:

UPDATE I have collected another 2 emails from these boards.
bill.murphy@esatbt.com and pat.2.mccabe@estbt.com

Who are these two geezers? I want to fire off an email to these guys to complain aswell.

LegacyUser

Bill Murphy is no longer CEO - I reckon that will bounce.
pat.2.mccabe@estbt.com bounces - I tried it the other day. :mad:

aaf

Anyone got any more Esat email addresses that I can use for complaints or any organisation that I can go to. Was promised that an Esat manager would call me back inside 48hrs so I should've had a phone call by lunchtime yesterday. :mad: :mad: :mad:

dub45

aaf wrote:

Anyone got any more Esat email addresses that I can use for complaints or any organisation that I can go to. Was promised that an Esat manager would call me back inside 48hrs so I should've had a phone call by lunchtime yesterday. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Why should a customer with a serious grievance have to wait 48 hours for a call back? Did you inquire why they could not call you back within the hour?:mad:

dub45

bubby wrote:

Bill Murphy is no longer CEO - I reckon that will bounce.
pat.2.mccabe@estbt.com bounces - I tried it the other day. :mad:

It still might be worth trying the bill murphy one - there have been posts on here where people tried it even after he moved on and got a response. Apparently h was good at following up on complaints however the billing department was just as bad during his term and he apparently did nothing to sort it out in spite of theh volume of emails he must have got from boards people never mind the rest of their customers:rolleyes:

aaf

dub45 wrote:

Why should a customer with a serious grievance have to wait 48 hours for a call back? Did you inquire why they could not call you back within the hour?:mad:

Asked the customer care agent that very question. Procedure she said. I've had it with them. IMO, they've stolen money from me and have made no effort to return it to me so now the gloves are off. I talked to someone in the bank the other day and they said that I'd have to request a form (can't remember the name of it) from my branch to get the money back and then they'll chase up Esat but it'll take 3 weeks to get my money back. Still, better than the 6 weeks that Esat said it would take. I'm going to lodge a serious complaint with Esat and anyone else who'll listen (comreg anyone?).

dub45

aaf wrote:

Asked the customer care agent that very question. Procedure she said. I've had it with them. IMO, they've stolen money from me and have made no effort to return it to me so now the gloves are off. I talked to someone in the bank the other day and they said that I'd have to request a form (can't remember the name of it) from my branch to get the money back and then they'll chase up Esat but it'll take 3 weeks to get my money back. Still, better than the 6 weeks that Esat said it would take. I'm going to lodge a serious complaint with Esat and anyone else who'll listen (comreg anyone?).

It is outrageous that it is not possible to report Companies for abusing the direct debit system. As far as I can see big companies like EsatBT can do what they like with dds and there is no sanction that can be taken against them.

Imgaine if it was possible to initiate a process which would result in the likes of the dd facility being withdrawn from a company like Esat and the inconvenience it would cause them.

Imagine too what would happen to you if you could hack into Esats back account and remove a certain amount of money and tell them you would get it back to them in six weeks and might ring them up in 48 hours ot have a chat about it?:rolleyes: