Simon Read: 'Why overpaying on a BT bill is very easily done'

An Independent reader was wrongly charged for caller display

My interview last week with the Chief Ombudsman, in which he encouraged us all to complain more to companies that give us bad service or products, prompted reader Bryan Cadman to get in touch.

"There are some companies, and BT is one of them, whose policy it seems to me is to charge as much as they can get away with," he wrote. "My current complaint with BT is that they charged me for caller display, which should be free as I have a year's line rental taken out in advance."

Bryan reckons it's a deliberate policy at the telecoms giant to have over-complicated bills on the assumption that not many people will bother to check the charges and therefore not be aware that they may be paying a relatively small additional amount – £1.75 a month in the case of caller display.

"I did check and after a long call to BT, they agreed to sort it out and refund the money." But Bryan reckons many millions of people could be unknowingly paying the charge, adding plenty to BT's profits.

BT told me: "Mr Cadman was charged in error. Our policy is that BT privacy with caller display is free to anyone who signs up to a 12-month BT line rental contract."

However, it's probably worth checking your statement to ensure you haven't been charged "in error" too.

s.read@independent.co.uk

twitter: @simonnread