£200 BT bill for 1 month

[stealthtax]

My BT package is £20 a month for basic youview tv box (freeview channels only), broadband and land line phone. They want £200 for last month, yet i've made no phone calls. I have watched alot of "on-demand" tv through freeview channels only, no box office or pay per view stuff. I dont get a paper bill with break-down of charges, and whenever i ring them i get indian people who cant understand english, who simply repeat "you must pay £200 now" in pigeon english.
The tv box is very buggy and unstable, and the broadband is a joke, always dropping its connection, and is slower than 3G on my mobile.
I've asked them to cancel my whole bt package but they wont do it unless i pay £200, which i dispute and will not pay.
I joined bt in october 2016 (worst decision of my life). I left virgin before that because the monthly bill was always double/treble what it should be, again i never made phone calls and did not watch any on-demand back then. Stupidly i always paid virgin.
Are all landline/tv/BB suppliers the same? Rip-off britain?
I have a very low income but feel annoyed having to permanently ditch having home phone and internet just because the providers are all scammers.
Any ideas on what i can do?

[leclerc]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

Ok, I am completely confused now. They want £200 for phone calls made? What or who did you call according to them?

Or do you want to cancel and therefore have to pay up to finish a contract?

[Lucifa42]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

Do you have an online BT account? You should be able to view a breakdown on there. If not you can probably create one - you might just need your BT account number.

[slainte caragh]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

please ask for a billing breakdown, once you have this you will be able to see what exactly you are being charged for.

Do you play games via your TV? Poker? Bingo? anything like that? Some games connect via a phone line and charge you, it may seem unfair but you are liable for them as it says in ittty bitty writing at the bottom of the screen.

As for your internet speeds, what have they said about rectifying this?

If the charges are termination charges, I am afraid they are legally allowed to charge you line rental till the end of your contract, but if i can help you I will

Good luck

Callie

[ostell]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

I have BT with phone, Freeview, broadband, mobile etc. and my monthly bill never increases more than a couple of pounds (usually overseas calls and calls to mobiles) Have you been watching programs from BT TV, selectable in the viewers section on your freeview box? These are chargeable per film. Ignore post #4, there is no connection between your freeview box and the phone line.

The suggestion by Lucifa to create an online account is good. You will be able to access all your chargeable details.

No India is not the best for support, they have great difficulty understanding basic English, I understand that plans are in place to move support back to UK because of dissatisfaction. I once had my phone problems fixed twice, including a visit by OpenReach when I only called to enquire about moving the physical location of the line.

If you have speed problems then keep hassling them.

[Peridot]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

Hi,
Also check which broadband package you have. I have BT and the download speed are not always brilliant, but then I'm also in the sticks which doesn't help!
If you're watching the films or playing games I would have thought that a basic package would not be sufficient, not a gamer myself but have teenager so well aware how juicy some of these games are. It is not cheap to get the unlimited package but for those spending a lot of time on games, downloading films etc it may be worth considering. Just be aware that the excess fees for over usage of your allowable download are pretty extortionate.
Check what package you actually have.

[Kati]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

not a gamer myself but have teenager so well aware how juicy some of these games are. It is not cheap to get the unlimited package but for those spending a lot of time on games, downloading films etc it may be worth considering.

tell me about it

I have 2 teenage sons and my other half (who ALL hit the internet for cr@p at silly o'clock) ... (Austrian) internet radio, streaming films, minecraft etc... all add up! I'm so glad we went for unlimited internet

[warwick65]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

I have unlimited download and when I watch a few TV frogs via catch up/ondemand i soon crack up several GB a day

If you have a capped package of say 20GB , that could easily be used in 4 or 5 days.

I suspect that is what has happened but you need to check the bill.

[stealthtax]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

I have never played any games on the BT tv box, never watched any pay per view or box office, i live alone so nobody else could have run up the bill.
They keep sending me letters which i just bin without reading, i'll wait for a court summons and then try to beat them with the old CCA request trick.

[warwick65]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

I doubt a cca request will work for a phone bill.
Have you actually looked at the bill to see what the changes are.
Watching on demand or iplayer uses a lot of data.

[slainte caragh]

Re: £200 BT bill for 1 month

If you refuse to open the letters or explainations, BT cannot be held responsible.

I strongly suggest you check the information as most contracts for telecommunications do not involve a CCA, and if they do you would have had this either by emai agreement/letter or been given a portal to access to check your payment history!