They are completely un-trustworthy, I had problems with them 3 years back. They would tell me how much I owed I would say okay I'll have to arrange to borrow that get back to you in a couple of days. Then when I phoned back they would deny that and increase what I owed (even if it was the same day). My advice would be to only deal with them ...

You may say it is legal because it is stated in the contract, but so were the extortionate credit card fees. And we all know what happened when they were challenged with legal action.

These holding letters are standard practice for Barclaycard. They refuse to buckle down, even the threat of legal action doesn't bother them. They are a disgrace, it seems from my encounters with them that there is no communication at all between departments or people in the sam department. They even stick two fingers up at the regulators. ...

I don't know for definite but I suspect that you would have to pay the £19 plus the BT fees. One other option though might be mobile broadband, that is unless you actually need a land-line.

One other possibility could be mobile broadband, which at the moment is a growing market. The contracts I have seen are for a minimum 12 months, but as long as you up-date the address with the supplier if you move, you can take it with you. The downside is that there are caps on usage. The basic packages are around 3 gigs a month (vodafone who I ...

Hi Jake, One thing to consider is do you need a BT line for a phone? If not you could potentially go for mobile broadband. Most of the packages I have seen are priced at around £15 per month for 3 gigs. The deciding factor though would be if you are in a good reception area.

It may be best to set-up a new e-mail address, just in case (keep a list of your old contacts.) I had this problem when I was with tiscali dial-up, then switched to blueyonder broadband. Even though I cut the dial-up, the e-mail adress is still used years later.

I can't advise you about the legality of it, but my advice would be to write to them recorded delivery asking for a break down of the charges. Keep a copy of the letter and give them a definate date to respond by, if nothing else when you have gone through their complaints procedure you can refrer it the the ombudsman,

Alternatively if you go to the Citizens Advic Bureau (CAB), they may be able to negotiate on your behalf, but be warned they are trained to get the full story before they do anything. (Sometimes people go to them with one problem, but have others lurking in the background which impact on the first). So be prepared to put all your cards on the ...

I would advise against moving to Nationwide, they have a similar dismissive attitude to fraud. My account was scammed in June. I found out about it not from Nationwide, but from someone else who trades on the same auction site encouraging people to check their accounts after finding problems with her. I phoned the customer service number who gave ...