UK ISP BT Criticised as Call Centre Staff Repeatedly Give Incorrect Prices

Consumers who call BT’s sales line in the hope of being quoted the best broadband, phone and / or TV bundle prices have been warned that the operator’s UK call centre staff sometimes give different prices for the same package, which could easily result in confusion.

Big providers often run special offers through various different outlets (magazines, price comparison sites etc.), which can also vary in price and change on a regular basis, but most people would still expect that an ISP’s own call centre staff should be able to give the right price for a specific package.

Apparently the same is not true of BT, which has recently been busy moving 80% of its call centre staff back to the United Kingdom (due to complete by the end of 2016) and that’s partly in the hope of improving service quality.

Unfortunately for BT an “undercover probe” by The Sun on Sunday found that their reporters were often quoted different prices for the same package, which seemed to at least partly depend upon which call centre their calls reached (centres in Dundee, Sunderland, Paisley, Canterbury, Doncaster and London were contacted).

For example, BT’s Total Entertainment bundle with Unlimited Infinity 1 broadband and Anytime calls is supposed to cost £55.49 a month (note: this may have changed since the investigation was conducted), but two calls to a centre in Cambridge resulted in two completely different prices (call 1: £63.49 / call 2: £49.99).

A BT Spokesperson said:

“We would like to thank The Sun and also to apologise to any readers who feel misled.”

In fairness with so many different offers around, which sometimes change more than once in the space of a single week and can differ depending upon where and when they were first seen, it’s easy to understand how call centre staff might get confused. On the other hand it still seems unusual that the same call centre would give two different prices, which has led some to speculate that BT’s staff may be chasing different levels of commission. BT of course denies that.

Hopefully this month’s move to a new all-in-one pricing model will make life easier for both staff and consumers alike. In the meantime a crafty consumer might well choose to make more than one call to the sales line in order to find out whether or not they can get a better price.