No-one is billing me for calls........

[AnnieP]

Hi folks,

Please can anyone give me the slightest idea what to do to resolve the situation with my phone? The story is as follows, quite complicated so bear with me………….

I used to pay Pipex Homecall for my line rental (£9.99) and free evening and weekend calls (£4.50) and Pipex for my broadband (£9.99). I was always billed separately as Pipex Homecall was an off-shoot of Pipex. Never had any problems at all and in retrospect, I probably should have left everything as it was. However, on 2nd June this year, Pipex offered me a package of retained broadband service plus free evening and weekend calls all for £4.99 but I would have to change my line rental back to BT. It sounded too good to be true and how that phrase has returned to haunt me during the following months!

I duly contacted BT to start paying them for line rental ONLY and cancelled my service from Pipex Homecall. BT were to take over my line on 30th July and good enough, they did. Simple so far? Hmmmm………….

I then discovered (after my first bill) that BT were charging me for calls. Then started my endless round of expensive 0871 calls to Pipex to find out what was happening. All the people I spoke to assured me that they would rectify the problem and that each of them had personally re-ordered the phone package. It seems they hadn’t.

I eventually received a letter from BT telling me that another company (presumably Pipex) were taking over my call charges as from October 13th. I rang Pipex again on October 15th just to check that indeed they had finally managed to set up my phone account only to be told that it had been cancelled on October 14th! Since BT’s letter in October they have not charged me for any calls and having rung them again, received their assurance that they are definitely not responsible for billing me for any calls now. Needless to say, Pipex aren’t billing me either.

After five months of getting nowhere I decided to throw in the towel and asked Pipex for a MAC code. It took eight days and two phone calls to get it but at least it arrived. I subsequently contacted Sky and ordered their Mid Broadband and Unlimited Skytalk packages and in just 4 working days have received three letters and the router and thought that at last, I would have everything sorted.

I logged into my Sky account just to check whether the “track your order” system worked. There were all the details of my broadband service and it’s progress and under Unlimited Skytalk there were the dreaded words “ You have cancelled your oreder and your request is being processed”. ARRRRGH!!!!! Of course I rang Sky and a very pleasant lad assured me that the order would be re-processed and indeed, it is showing on the website again.

I really fear that this is going to be a re-living of the last five months and I’m starting to think that this is probably down to BT in some way. Possibly Pipex weren’t really to blame. No-one is taking responsibility for charging me for phone calls and whilst it’s very nice not having to pay at present, I am sure that at some point in the future, I’ll receive a large bill or get cut off for non-payment. I have contacted BT only to be told that it is the responsibility of my new provider and they are the only ones who can deal with BT Wholesale to sort it out. Help!!!

Sorry for the lengthy post but I was hoping that maybe someone out there had suffered with the same problem and could advise me on how to resolve it.

Cheers

AnnieP

[mike99]

AnnieP

On the free calls, my advice (which, of course, I can't take any responsibility for) would be to put money aside each month into an earmarked savings account. Base your contributions on what you have paid in the past and don't be tempted to start ringing premium rate lines based (notionally) in Antarctica.

You seem to have made every effort to try and get to the bottom of this. Keep a record of your efforts, and let whoever it is who is supposed to be billing you do the worrying from now on.

My parents were in a similar situation with gas - they had free gas for two years during which my mother relentlessly pestered British Gas to sort it out fearing the arrival of a huge bill one day. In the end British Gas "found the paperwork" but waived the charges and only billed my parents from that point on.

My brother was paying next door's electricity for a year but nobody was paying his electricity. His neighbours were therefore getting free electricity. Again he badgered the LEB relentlessly for a year and they sorted it out, but let the neighbours off.

I can't promise this will happen in your case, but at the very least you could negotiate favourable terms for paying off a large bill should it ever arrive.

As to why this has happened in your specific case, it is impossible to say. The problem is that all the utilities are now so fragmented and their customer service is so appalling that nobody knows what is going on any more and nobody cares. As I say, if they can't get it together to bill you in spite of your best efforts to sort this out, that is (IMHO) their problem not yours.

[silver]

it's hard to find the codes of practice on the ofcom site (not sure where they are) but in there it states billing must be timely,. how this translates to the real world is a matter of debate (I am not sure) but as mike says you may find you won't have to pay all of the outstanding bill (though better to assume you will in terms of budgeting)

[AnnieP]

Thank you for your replies and indeed, I am setting up a fund for phone use just in case........

It is SO frustrating trying to get any sense out of these companies especially when I'm sure the problem could be easily resolved. It's all about the left hand and right hand never knowing what the other is doing, total lack of liaison between departments. Mind you, when those departments are in places as far-flung as the Philippines, India and Lithuania, for goodness' sake, what can you expect! And, yes, I've spoken to them all. They all promise as much as their script will allow and it's never enough.

Thanks again

AnnieP

[Ed68]

If they do finally track you down and they try to charge you for all calls then refer them to Ofcom. The 'end user' (i.e. you) can only be back billed 4 months.