Bill's unfair, to be Frank

Jul 12 2009 by Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

A CUSTOMER’S dispute with BT has been resolved, thanks to a little bit of goodwill and an excellent payment record.

Frank Hawley told me how he had to pay a call-out charge of £115 and an additional payment of £99 for an engineer’s time.

He said he was not told in advance that the job would cost so much.

Frank told me he had been with BT for 26 years and had never missed a payment in all that time.

He said the dispute started when he could not get a line.

Frank, 74, of Howden-le-Wear, Crook, County Durham, said: “I could not get a call, so I rang BT and they fixed it.

“Today I have just received a bill saying I have to pay because the fault was down to dampness. I’m disputing that and also the amounts involved.”

At that point Frank was set to leave BT and switch to a rival operator but has since decided to stay with them.

I passed the complaint to BT on the same day Frank contacted me and was pleased with how they responded to my call.

Within days they had called Frank and sorted it out for him.

They said: “The bill was raised correctly but the customer disputes there was dampness. He has been with us 26 years, never missed a bill, never late, and the case handler has decided to cancel the charges.”

Frank said: “They have waived all charges and I could not be more happy.

“They said they had scrapped the whole lot because I had been a good customer over the years and never missed a payment.