sindydoll
03-03-2009, 07:48
A disabled pensioner has described his anger at being charged £100 by BT to change the batteries in his phone.
The communications giant was called in after 81-year-old Alf Clarkson, from Huyton in Merseyside, noticed his phone was not working.
His daughter Susan Blackman phoned BT and an engineer fixed the problem in minutes the following day by replacing two AA batteries in the phone.
A bed-bound Mr Clarkson said he was amazed when he received a bill for £99.99 for the call out weeks later.
A BT spokeswoman defended the company, saying: "A member of the customer services team advised Mrs Blackman to try plugging in a different phone, as remote tests indicated the fault was due to the set itself.
"We are satisfied from our customer service records the customer was properly advised about the possible charges ahead of the engineer's visit."
Ms Blackman expressed her disgust with BT, saying: "We thought there may be a charge of £30 or so but when the bill came we were shocked. How can they charge an old man this sort of money for changing two batteries?
"The engineer wasn't in the house longer than a few minutes. When I complained to BT they told me, 'Think yourself lucky. The call out should have been about £136.'
"It is disgusting and BT should be ashamed. They ought to refund some of the money as it is way over the top for replacing worn batteries.
"If they have done this to my dad then I'm sure they are doing it to others. People need to be wary about calling them out. If I'd known what they charged I'd have just bought him a new phone."
Mr Clarkson said: "I was very shocked when I read the bill. It is certainly a lot of money for a pensioner to fork out just for a change of batteries.
"I won't be staying with BT any longer. I'm not sure BT stands for British Telecom, its more like Blatant Theft."
:eek: thats really bad isnt it
The communications giant was called in after 81-year-old Alf Clarkson, from Huyton in Merseyside, noticed his phone was not working.
His daughter Susan Blackman phoned BT and an engineer fixed the problem in minutes the following day by replacing two AA batteries in the phone.
A bed-bound Mr Clarkson said he was amazed when he received a bill for £99.99 for the call out weeks later.
A BT spokeswoman defended the company, saying: "A member of the customer services team advised Mrs Blackman to try plugging in a different phone, as remote tests indicated the fault was due to the set itself.
"We are satisfied from our customer service records the customer was properly advised about the possible charges ahead of the engineer's visit."
Ms Blackman expressed her disgust with BT, saying: "We thought there may be a charge of £30 or so but when the bill came we were shocked. How can they charge an old man this sort of money for changing two batteries?
"The engineer wasn't in the house longer than a few minutes. When I complained to BT they told me, 'Think yourself lucky. The call out should have been about £136.'
"It is disgusting and BT should be ashamed. They ought to refund some of the money as it is way over the top for replacing worn batteries.
"If they have done this to my dad then I'm sure they are doing it to others. People need to be wary about calling them out. If I'd known what they charged I'd have just bought him a new phone."
Mr Clarkson said: "I was very shocked when I read the bill. It is certainly a lot of money for a pensioner to fork out just for a change of batteries.
"I won't be staying with BT any longer. I'm not sure BT stands for British Telecom, its more like Blatant Theft."
:eek: thats really bad isnt it