Money alert: The battle continues against BT's unfair caller display charges

Reader Stuart Baker got his money back after a month of to-ing and fro-ing

Simon Read
Friday 20 March 2015 20:30 GMT
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The BT caller display unfair-charge battle continues. Reader Stuart Baker contacted me a month ago to say the telecoms giant was only prepared to offer a two-month refund on the charges it took from him, even though he was eligible for free caller display.

"What would you advise me to do?" he asked. I pointed out that several other readers had received a full refund for a year's charges and that it may be worth fighting on. He persisted and told me yesterday: "I have now got a full refund."

It took a month of to-ing and fro-ing with BT staff and Stuart reports that "at each stage I was offered a little more if I settled". But his persistence paid off. As he said: "Although it's a comparatively small sum of money, I felt it was a matter of principle."

Here's BT's view: "Customers can get caller display free by signing up for the 12-month-free caller display offer, which also renews their line contract. Customers can renew their free offer after 12 months to continue to receive it without charge. If a customer is charged and contacts us to renew their free offer, we'll refund the charges from the first bill they appear on."

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