that is an excellent response Zeb, many thanks. BT seem to use bully tactics on people like me who are not fully up to speed on their rights, but i know taking money from peoples banks without a reason is not legal and i am shocked BT can get away with it. also annoying is that they don't sound particularly ashamed or apologetic about it, as if they have a right to walk over you and break the law.

what really is bad though is how banks, or whoever including the likes of BT, throw the book at you and waste no time in penalising people for not sticking to the rules of their contracts, but they can do something clearly wrong and just walk away scot free. i wont be wanting credit for anything, i never borrowed a penny in my life and i never will. i don't believe in getting into debt and we were always raised to pay for what we get. i am not trying to get out of a contract because i found a cheaper option, i am just very very annoyed that a company can raid my bank for services i have not had, and they dont seem to care, and will not even pay the full amount back. it is scandalous to me. if anyone hacked into my bank and took 40 or 50 quid they would be in jail, how the hell do BT get away with it?

this is one reason why i never paid by direct debit before, i dont trust any company, and this just proves my point. i only paid by DD as BT said it saves me money. i dont care if it costs me money in future i am stopping all my direct debits so i can check bills before i pay in future. it isnt like i am asking the world from BT, i dont know how long they have been cheating me, but as i say in the past year £47 was added to my bills for 2 items i have no idea what they are. £47 to a company like is nothing at all to pay back. one of their bigwigs will spend more on lunch evey day and put it on expenses. It is one rule for them and another for the likes of me.

i am on a low income, self employed, i can do with all my money without multi-million pound companies stealing it from me. i am fuming. if the country could read all the horror stories about BT that i have read on this forum, hopefully BT would be boycotted and hit them where it hurts, in the pocket.

i have been sending emails back and forth to BT and getting nowhere, except they say they will repay the 6 months and not even consideriing paying me more as far as i can see, and as i said, they don't even appear sorry for doing this. Oh yeah, but ofcourse they remind me when my contract ends, as if i didnt know. contracts are very important to BT but taking peoples money without consent doesn't seem to be.

thanks again Zeb, will ponder over your advice

Not paying your BT bill is only going to end up one way - Badly!

You will of course eventually get cut off by BT, they will then issue you with a default for non payment and may even go the distance to obtain a County Court Judgement against you. These will also have the added effect that you will find it extremely hard to obtain credit and services from anyone else as these markers will show that you do not pay the debt that you owe - it doesn't give a reasons why, it just says you don't pay your debts!

What you should first do is write an official letter of complaint to BT to their complaints department. List and explain everything to them. Include dates and times of conversations and communications. BT is allowed up to 8 weeks to give a response and when they do it will either be to agree to your complaint and reolve the issue or to issue a Final Response which is their reasoning for not resolving the issue and will be their final comment and stance on the subject.

Once BT have issued their final response you have the choice to either accept it or to take the matter further by going to the ombudsman (BT will provide the contact details for the ombudsman). Just by taking the case to the ombudsman will mean that a hefty case fee will be payable by BT and this is often enough to get them to sort the mess out as the fee alone will be several hundred pounds where by it looks like you are only after one hundred pounds or so that you feel is owed back - Cheaper to sort out now than with the ombudsman!

The ombudsman is going to want all the details, names, dates and communications again so that they can fully investigate the problem. They can also take several weeks to investigate this but when they come back they will either fall on your side of the line or back BT with their argument. if they feel that BT are wrong they will order what they feel to be fair recompense for the problem, if they feel BT is right then you will be left with what ever BT have offered as a resolution.

The ombudsman is effectively the last route you can take to resolve this in a reasonable way. Don't go directly to the ombudsman unless you have followed the complainrs procedure first as the ombudsman will only refer the complaint back to BT and they will have a further 8 weeks to reply.

Good Luck

we as a household have been with Bt on landline for donkeys years, paying the usual over costly line rental for the phone line, so i thought it might be wise to put all my eggs in one basket and take their broadband too (mistake). i am now 1 year into an 18 month contract. while asking questions about my bills i stumbled on the fact that BT have for the past year (at least) been taking funds from my bank via direct debit, for services which i have not recieved, namely tribune phone,whatever that is, and also caller services pack, which i dont have.

i asked BT about this and told them i do not use any such things, i stopped caller display when i signed up for broadband and have no other services like call divert or anything at all. They agreed they had made some error and " within their terms" have agreed to repay me 6 months of what they have stolen. i added up the last 4 bills and the charges for the 2 services i did not recieve , came to £47, they have offered to repay £18.

in short, BT "terms" are that they can take money not due, and not pay it back. well to me it is theft and breaking a direct debit agreeement, and i want to stop my direct debit right now, and in doing so end all connection to thieving BT. as far as i am concerned they have broken the law, and i have several emails from India to prove they have done this and i have the bills to show all i was charged.

how do i stand by not paying any more money to BT. i dont mind losing my phone line, it costs too much anyway, i'd rather buy a dongle or a mobile phone to get online. i am just wondering the knock on effects of not paying for the rest of my contract ( 6 months). will i end up going to court for them to get the last 6 months money if i stop direct debit now, or should i wait 3 months to stop it then the money due to BT will be less and they wont take court proceeding maybe? if i go to court can i counter sue for them taking money illegally?

any ideas people?