I’m at my wits’ end trying to understand how my BT landline and wifi can be cut off without the company receiving any instructions from me.
I’m a 79-year-old widow living seven miles from a town and depend on wifi to order medication from the GP, groceries and many other things.
I was called out of the blue by someone I presumed was a scammer, who said BT was “sorry to see me go” as of 6 October.
I denied that I was doing anything of the sort. Then I received a letter from BT asking me to settle my bill as I would be cut off on 20 October. I phoned and protested, but was still disconnected.
I have now spent a lot of time and money calling BT from my mobile and here I am, several months later, with no resolution. I have been given no real explanation as to how the initial error occurred, or why I cannot be reconnected.
I was also warned, by one of its workers, that I might not get the same phone number back that I have had for 23 years. My neighbour is letting me use his wifi, but it is an intrusion.
You are understandably upset by this experience, which left you without a landline and internet for more than three months.
We chased BT and it emerged that your fortunes were mistakenly intertwined with a near neighbour in rural Herefordshire. When it set up a new contract, the incorrect address was picked up and you were disconnected.
BT says: “We are very sorry for the issues HW has experienced. Our complaints team identified an address mismatch. They have corrected this and reconnected her services.
“We have provided compensation for the delay and she has accepted this as resolution to her complaint.”
You are likely to receive about £900, which reflects the length of the outage you suffered; you have also got your old number, which had sentimental value, back.
Nonetheless you are angry that when you told BT you had not cancelled your contract no one listened, and that it was possible to be cut off by the inadvertent actions of another.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions
