I have just got off the phone with BT “customer services” in South Shields and, as usual with BT, I am fuming. I decided to check my latest BT bill online – I opted for paperless bills many months ago – only to discover I am being charged £6 a month for access to BT Sport. This is odd, as I never watch it, and nor did I ever agree to pay for it. It seems that as a BT broadband subscriber, I was given free access to BT Sport for a while. But the company has been charging me since August 2015. This is completely outrageous. I asked it a number of times at what point did I agree to pay for BT Sport but have had no response.
It claims to have emailed me to tell me that it would start charging me for this service unless I opted out. It now refuses to refund us.
I truly despair of BT’s treatment of its customers in situations like this. WE, Abingdon
This letter is a timely reminder to all BT broadband customers who get their bills sent electronically to check them, because it is highly unlikely that WE is the only one being charged for a service that they don’t use or want.
Originally, BT Sport was offered for free to all broadband customers whether they used it or not. It then became chargeable in August last year at £5 – since raised to £6 a month.
Somewhat controversially, the company took the view that everyone would automatically be included unless they opted out. BT said at the time that it would backdate refunds, but your letter shows that this has since been dropped.
We took up your complaint and the chairman’s office has agreed to credit you the £84 you wrongly paid plus £16 as a gesture of goodwill.
BT should have originally asked customers to opt into the service, which would have prevented letters like these.
However, it has to be said that if you are a sports fans you are now getting a lot of sport for a relatively small monthly fee on BT – a fraction of that charged by Sky and others for Sky Sports.
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