Has anyone been approached by a company called BT Customerstreet? I have had a complaint here that I would like to share. If you have dealt with them or have any comments, please comment?
I have found information on Martin Lewis money saving expert forum which may shed light on BT Customerstreet.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1081011
Dear Sir/Madam
I have tried to find someone to write to about BT's new subsidiary company called BT Customerstreet. I was approached by this company last week. Naturally upon hearing the word BT I felt safe and protected.
I have been a loyal BT customer for many years. A high pressured sales girl told me that BTCustomerstreet were offering fantastic web design and hosting. As it was BT they were able to put me on the front page of google and build me a website at very competitive rates. It sounded too good to be true.
I asked for time to think about it but she said there was no time because they needed a caterer urgently for the Southampton area and my company was ideal to be listed. I told her I also had a Turkish house and she said she would build a website for that too for £50 extra. I was still very undecided but after some high pressure sales tactics I agreed to go ahead with two sites. I handed over my debit card details and she withdrew £353.00.
The following day she said she wanted all the text for the sites and was in a great hurry. She then said it was only two pages but any text would do. I started to get worried. I wanted a professional web site. I directed her to a site which looked professional and said I wanted my site to look similar to that www.heritageportfolio.com I explained my food was up market. "No problem" I was told. I still had doubts so spoke to her manager about my concerns regarding the web design and asked if I could cancel. I sent her an email requesting my money back. I was told that the money £353 for the websites and £60 plus VAT per month was for the benefit primarily of being on page 1 of Google and the high rankings on line. I was reassured that all would be well.
I was still unhappy so a manager agreed to refund £100 to my card and reduce my monthly costs to £29.99 plus VAT.
All was well until I received (from a friend who builds websites) some blogs about BTCustomerstreet and it's previous company Iomart or ufindus. It transpires that this company ripped off so many unassuming small businesses that they even had their own victim support website. The big question is why has BT taken on a company with such a bad history of conning the public?
I have since discovered that my website is up and running with text provided by me and some dodgy downloaded photo's which are probably doing my business more harm than good. One is a of a group of people eating sandwiches in an aeroplane!
The BT sales team are mis-selling by promising to deliver goods which they don't, they are using aggressive sales tactics and furthermore they then hide behind a legal loop hole which means that customers have no cooling off period as it's a business to business deal - even though most of the people are sole traders and they use private debit/credit cards. They target the most vulnerable. Furthermore they now have the weight of the name BT behind them.
I have contacted the Office of Fair Trading and Trading Standards and I have taken the matter up with my MP, Sandra Gidley.
BT Customerstreet have now agreed to refund my money in full within 5 working days but given the stuff I've been reading about this company (Iomart), it seems that what they say is not necessarily what they do.
How can we approach the people at the top of BT to let them know what's going on?
I've spent ages trying to find the chairman of BT's email address. Any ideas?
I look forward to your response to this.
183 comments:
Hello and I also have been 'had' by btcustomerstreet.com formerly ufindus ltd of Lancaster. I am just beginning a career in acupuncture and have not even begun trading yet. I'm still waiting for confirmation that my treatment room is OK and legal to use from British Acupuncture Council; sent BAcC the environmental health cert and sharps management cert just last week. I had an unsolicited sales call from Gareth Todd and agreed to have btcustomer street design me a website for £299 + VAT on Mastercard and monthly charges of £29.95 + VAT for 11 months (first charge went on M/C). Because BT was in the name and I have had a landline from BT since 1978 I bought into it with trust. I was told by Gareth Todd that I would be phoned before my site went live and could have my laptop on to correct it and make it how I wanted it. This did not happen; the site went live on 28th Jan 2009 at 5pm and was on www for 24 hours with 3 incorrect statements about my work history, my work experience and the services I can provide. Had spelling errors and did not have my name but I can be identified via photo, address and mobile number. I realised I had broken advetising standards rules and sections 38 and 39 of the British Acunpuncture Council's code of professional conduct through no fault of my own. I have been damaged as a health care professional and am getting legal advice from British Acupuncture Council legal team. The site was pulled on 29th pm after a tense and heated discussion with their finance manager. They did not seem to care about the damage they have caused me and that I could be disciplined or suspended by BAcC - great start to a new career. I have cancelled the DD but have been threatened with 'Unfair Contracts Act' 1977 if I pull out before the year is up. I will be pursuing this claim with great vigour and intend using every channel and watchdog I can to get redress. There are tort laws in this country where one company is not allowed to damage another they have a contract with. They refuse to refund my M/C money so I will contact M/C about purchase protection. Future customers beware of these cowboys who will hurt you and your trade without giving a monkey's. MLS
February 01, 2009There have been precedents to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 where judgement has usually gone in favour of the party with the least bargaining power and to the party who knew least about this Act when the contract was made. I have the least bargaining power and I knew nothing - I thought because it was BT that I would have consumer protection and did not know that they would try to hold me as a Company under a Company to Company verbal contract then use section 12 of 1977 Act to frighten me. Company Law is not the same as consumer law but you do not have to prove that they are being unreasonable in their actions, they have to prove that they are being reasonable. You can bring a County Court Judgement yourself it costs £30 for amounts up to £300 claimed - forms are downloadable. It costs £45 for amounts up to £500 and you do not need a solicitor; it is far cheaper to do it yourself. I do hope this helps some of you out there and that the County Courts will be busy soon.
February 07, 2009I've too been taken in.....very disappointed with myself!
March 27, 2009If we take court action and we are still being charged the monthly fee - do you make a claim for that paid or total for the 12 months bearing in mind that this will not be resolved quickly?
BEWARE of BT CUSTOMER STREET - sharks
April 15, 2009I, too was stupidly taken in.
I emailed to cancel 2 hours later after having a chance to read about the package and the company but this request was refused.
I think I have been mis-sold this package which is designed for local businesses and mine is not a local business - it an an internet only business.
I have been told lies and they have failed to deliver the service as described. The staff either don't know anything much about SEO or if they do then they give false information in order to cover up.
I was asked -"Would BT sell something which doesn't work?" Well yes clearly they would and do!
I have sent a recorded delivery letter of complaint to BT which they have failed to respond to.
I was bitterly disappointed to hear from Trading standards that the law fails to protect small businesses from sharks like this.
Thank you all for the comments above, they have all saved us from making the same mistake.
May 07, 2009We have already been down this road before with Iomart! and weren't fully aware of the situation.
BTcustomerstreet contacted us yesterday with the speel and very hard sales drive. Uncovering the truth is certainly not easy, but after picking them up on a few statistics (which they squirmed at), told them that we were going to look on the net during that evening, and upon doing so discovered your unhappy events.
Thought it was too good to be true - and it clearly was. These companies (and there are many) prey on the innocent trying to do the best for their business in a correct moral way, and cause financial hardship directly (by asking for immediate payment by card) and indirectly by the effects of poor misadvertising etc. IT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED NOW!!!!
(in the name of Jesus).
We were promised 1st page Google for our sole trader business. Page 8 i think we were placed! I wrote to Customer Street to cancel the following years website and i see we are back on Google, somewhere...
May 07, 2009There is no way this company are going to demand any more money from our small struggling business. Avoid at all costs!
Ah, how do we stop them, though?
May 07, 2009At least if we keep posting on these forums a few people will find out before going ahead
Thank you guys for this forum. I am an electrician by profession and i have been promised the same things and was to pay £199.99 + VAT and £29.99+ VAT. They have been pastering me since last week until today. I nearly agreed and later say i will phone them before 5PM today. Something came to my mind to check for the BT customer street online and found this forum. thank you everyone I am not going to purchase it.
May 28, 2009I've just been contacted by this company. I've had so many calls from people trying to get me to buy advertising, but this was one of the most high-pressured. Two things made me particularly suspicious - (a) the fact that they pressed me to decide immediately (b) that they halved the fees they had originally quoted when I said they were too high for me. I mean, if they are as good as they say they are, they wouldn't need to do that, would they? I left it that I would make my decision the next day, which they agreed to, and then found this forum. If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
June 03, 2009I have also been had... I have been running a small business on Ebay but due to there high fees wanted to branch out on my own. I was searching the internet looking for a reputable company to help me and was cold called by Customer Street. I, like others thought that with BT in the name they must be okay.
June 04, 2009I explained what I needed and that it had to be a shop with people able to purchase items via Paypal and was told no problem. It all sounded great.
I paid 199.00 plus VAT on the day and was told it would be 30.00 a month after that.
Well, I recieved a text message the next day to say the site had gone live without me even seeing it or agreeing to it. But the worse was yet to come. When I started to add pages I found that the `add-on`s` were extra. £600.00 plus VAT extra. I now have a website that is useles because I can`t sell on it. Which was the whole point in the first place.
I thought this was excellent at first and emailed all my customers to say that I was opening my own website, no need to use Ebay any more, and now I have nothing. I am not earning anything and quite honestly feel sick inside as don`t know what to do. I can`t even add a Paypal logo to the site !!
Oh no that's awful, I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you.
June 04, 2009I'm afraid that the sales team at BT customerstreet appear to have no scruples and will just tell any lie to get a sale.
I too have been had. The guy phoned me on my mobile whilst I was out working. I said that I would need to run it pass my business partner. I was told that if I put the phone down they would simply move on to a competitor. I was told that it was the best product and that I could not go wrong. Very hard sell. I reluctantly gave my card details but on the proviso that no payment was made until I had read the terms and conditions. When I spoke to them two days later,I told them that I was no longer interested as I had been advised not to proceed, the guy turned nasty followed by his manager. They have take £400+ and will not refund it.
June 10, 2009I have contacted them several times by phone and email and no one has ever called me back.
I will speak to CAB and OFTEL about this.
In the meantime I will cancel all other contracts I have with BT so they do not get any more of my money. I may not get my money back but it will cost them more in the long run.
obviously DO NOT TRUST BT CUSTOMER STREET!!
All I wish to say is thank you for informing us. I was called last week, just an hour after having posted a simple advert for my new healthy coffee/tea business on one of the free sites. They offered me fee of 299.plus VAT as well as monthly fee of £59. After complaining of this being too much, the gentleman said he could get a discount and I said I'd think about it. In his favour I must say that he wasn't aggressive and didn't push me for an immediate decision, either. Hasn't called back either, since, even though I do expect that will happen. Now I know what to (not) do and will continue looking for a site which can provide traffic to mine in a correct and professional way. Good wishes to all,
June 23, 2009Aero
Sorry to hear about all of the complaints about Customer Street.
June 24, 2009I work for a department in BT that provides a similar service and I do unforunately recieve a large number of complaints about Customer street.
I suggest that if you are looking at getting a site built then go to BT.com first. You will find a completely different experience.
I promise you.
Suckered me too, I feel so stupid.
June 24, 2009Cold called two weeks before Christmas 2008 on my (newly added to Yell.com) mobile number so of course I was going to answer it may of been a customer.
Hard, hard sell. Reduction after reduction after reduction on the price, got it down to £149.39, which I really needed for presents but with all those customers out there being able to see my services seemed worth it.
Was told or should I say lead to believe, the £149.39 was for first page Google listing and a website. Told to try it for 12 month, if I was not happy with the service and the amount of customers I could cancel and don't pay anything until next year. Because it was so late in the year, rightly or wrongly I assumed that ment I paid for 12 month out of the £149.39 and after the 12 month, If I didn't want it any more I could then cancel or continue by paying £30 per month for the website.
Debit card payment paid immediate. received no contract or welcome pack explaining the terms, website went like in January before I had even seen it.
Shock horror when in January 2009 I found a Direct Debit Mandate set up on my Bank Account for regular payments of £30. I immediately cancelled the D/D and informed BT Customerstreet of this and that after seeing Blogs and forums complaining about them and the art work they had used without Reuters permission the company name on the website was liable for fees and not the company that made it, I wished to cancel. I was given a case number and it was arrange for someone to call me back.
SIMON at BT Customerstreet informed me that I couldn't just cancel because I had changed my mind, only he could cancel the service contract and I had to continue to pay under business to business contract law.
I have refused to pay a penny for the last 6 months, they had a company called Black's Collections send me a demand for £103.32, for three months unpaid fee's. It would appear to be for a 'pay per click service' and dispite all the visits they claim have gone through them to my webpage I have had ZERO WORK GENERATED FROM IT.
Why should I be expected to pay for a service that doesn't work?
For all I or anyone know they could be paying other people sat at home in front of their PC's and Laptops to repeatedly pay a visit to a list of website's on their books simply to generate a 'CLICK' for which they can charge £30 per month for!!!!??? Funny how I have had NO WORK COME IN FROM ANY CLICK FROM THEM, don't you think?
I have contacted the DTi through the Office Of Fair Trading, they sent me a format for a letter to reclaim my £149.39 under Breach of Contract seeing has BT Customerstreet send me no contract or terms, I will keep you all Posted as to further out comes.
Hi Richard, Wouldn't you think BT would clean up their act in this? Sorry to hear you are getting complaints
June 25, 2009Customerstreet is, I gather, a wholly owned subsidiary of BT so BT are ultimately responsible for their actions. My letter of complaint to BT head office 2/3 months ago has not been responded to.....
Customerstreet are using the name of BT as a guarantee of success, honesty, integrity etc etc.
Very surprised they are allowing this to continue, I have to say.
Another similar discussion going on, on Federation of Small Businesses
I am not using my BT Customer Street websites to say how bad they are! I cannot get a refund. I feel such a fool at purchasing from them.
June 29, 2009We are currently (30/06/2009)being pestered by Adrian (also called Paul when it suits him!) of BT Customer Street to advertise with them and with the offering of a website.
June 30, 2009In two days he has pestered us with over 20 calls and then called back pretending to be someone else so that I could hand over my partner's mobile number to him. He called back pretending to be a customer of my partner's business and that he was waiting for a quotation just to dupe me into giving him my partner's mobile phone number. Little did he know that I am the fiery wife who will not be conned by advertising gimmicks.
He has been calling on various phone numbers and some of them are:
01253 362300 Ext: 213
01253 362310
07830697128
Please beware as this company is a complete con and will rip you off without a thought.
They wanted £299 to create a website for my partner's business and then £60 per month (YET WE HAVE HEARD OF THEM OFFERING THIS DEAL FOR AS LITTLE AS £17 PER MONTH). Have they not heard of the credit crunch!!!!!!!!!
They have been insisting that my partner hands over his debit card details on the phone which he has refused. I am now in charge of the advertising for my partner's business and so these guys will not get pass me.
Be warned, they are very persistent when they call and harrass you with continuous phone calls even after I had told them not to call our number again. I have now told them I will be reporting them to Trading Standards, BBC Watchdog and will also be recording any future calls they dare make to to our number.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY OR YOUR MOBILE NUMBER! THEY ARE SCUM!
Hi Everyone,
July 02, 2009Big Dumbass from Ireland here, had a feeling I was being had and after reading these post now I am certain. Paid £1,250 for a redesign of our fairly average site ( it is still only average) and am paying £50.00 monthly for a service which is useless! Also promised page one on google, I read on web design book yesterday that nobody can guarantee a page one listing on any search engine so be very careful of any company who says they can! Was duped by Switch media in Liverpool before too! Will I ever learn!
I have been with BT Customer Street nearly a year now, they promised first page feature on Google plus encouraged me to take a generic brand name which would generate more sales which i paid for.
July 02, 2009After contacting this company brand name to make sure i hadn't over stepped their copy right i was told to remove it, which i did and had to pay for yet another web address. Four months ago i was asked how i was doing, and to be honest i wasn't doing well, considering i was paying them £29.00 a month for a website that had a page of information which linked on to a website i designed myself.
I was told the low sales were due to my unprofessional site and needed a new look. Having only received about 5 sales a week i was desperate and lent £980, this was for them to re-do my one page site and design a separate shop.
It is now four months later, the shop was not designed to my requirement, the wrong pictures used and far inferior to the one i designed myself, i showed them what i required and now i don't get an email or a call. They have taken my money and haven't a website which i can use.
There aggressive sales pitch is what got me to join in the first place, as they never take no for an answer. Its very ruthless for billion dollar companies to make its earnings from the little man who is just trying to survive.
hi
July 08, 2009i actually work at bt customer street, and i am appaled at some of the posts here.
no one can guarentee number one on google, yet we have more front page positions on google than any other directory company. the websites we build for you are initially 2 pages, but you get a sotware package to make changes, so anyone on here who doesnt like their site, please use the software to change it.
with all the monitoring we have in place, the monthly report and the 0845 number we give you every opertunity to make sure this package is working for you, and to change key phrases free of charge if they are not working.
yes we used to be owned by iomart, and yes we had a very bad reputation, but we have had to follow very strict rules and regulations to become part of BT and those days are now behind us. please dont judge us on the old iomart days.
I refused the offer from BT Customer Street and now I receive, often offensive, phone calls from their staff on a weekly basis. Today one of their people spouted a tirade of expletives down the line to me and even threatened me with physical violence.
July 08, 2009How on earth can a company like BT allow themselves to be associated with this dreadful organisation.
Oh, I'm not - I'm judging you on present day, BT customerstreet behaviour!
July 08, 2009The sales techniques and bullying is appalling and the mis-leading information which is given out shouldn't be acceptable to BT, as it certainly isn't acceptable to us.
OMG, Cynthia, that's awful!
July 08, 2009At least I'm not being bullied because I'm paying them!
Crikey it sounds as if it's protection money - the penny's just dropped - I have abandoned the website as it is useless to me, but YES, I'm getting protection for my 35 quid a month. That makes me feel a whole lot better hahahah
im about to start work for them. BUT THESE POSTS ARE MAKING ME THINK maybe not. i may try and see how they operate for a week or two and then come to a conclusion on whether they really are a shambles or a high pressure sales team. lets wait and see. back in two weeks!!!
July 16, 2009I too have been a VICTIM
July 18, 2009Everyone Beware of Customer Street and another company called Search Rank Results. They both use exactly tactics with PURE lies. All they want is for you to give them your Credit/Debit card Details the rest is like taking candy from a baby!
You will not get your cash refunded and they will continue to extract cash monthly from your account. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...........free of charge!
I also have been contacted by bt customerstreet but after reading all your comments i will not be parting with any money this isnt the first time a company using the word street in there title have contacted me asking for me to join them, each time asking for me to part with the same sum of money. thankyou for all your comments you have really helped me out.
July 21, 2009Hi Everyone
July 24, 2009I am so sorry for each person who's been taken in by such unscrupulous companies and so angry and frustrated to hear that this 'agressive selling' is still happening.
Having been in business now for 15years, and having read the above emails, I am not surprised that unscrupulous companies like 'BT Customer Street' flourish. They may keep on changing their names and tactics yet ALWAYS promise the earth and demand payment or committment NOW.
I have been taken in on 3 separate occasions in the last 15years with different scams but in hindsight some things were similar. (1) awarding me an 'Award' for Best xyz organisation - for which you pay (Trading Standards knew about this company already); (2) advertising in a region specific Care/Social work publication with their deadline just around the corner; (3) advertising in a local school's desk book as a Stress Consultant - which I never even agreed to.
I now warn other sole traders and small businesses to be aware of ANYONE who (1) purports to be from a recognised or 'well known name' organisation; (2) who contacts you by telephone even though you are registered with the telephone preference society; (3) refuses to send you any details by post; (4)states "You MUST decide NOW"; (5) is persistent in their sale patter and doesn't take "No" for an answer; (6) claims to be THE ONLY person who has contacted you about this 'new' marketing idea when you know different; (7) states they WILL get you to first page Google without needing any pay per click charges; (8) won't give you a contact number or supervisor's name when asked and finally (9) starts getting VERY rude, sarcstic and downright abusive when you say you are NOT interested.
All of these are ploys are used by unscrupulous organisations to make money out of unsuspecting and genuine businesses like us. And as soon as one loophole is plugged, they find another one.
All we can do is to keep on spreading the word - AND the name of the organisation - this latest one being BT Customer Street. And if BT were genuinely concerned about bad selling practices - they'd do domething about it.
I receive 2 to 3 calls a week from them with exactly the same hard sell sales patter. Ive told them flat that I am not interested but they keep calling back - pure harassment! How on earth can BT allow such a firm to be associated with them in any way whatsoever?
July 28, 2009Hi we too have been had by bt customerstreet they promise us 1st page advertising on every search engine site as yet i have only found us on google and its not under the name they told us surprise surprise its under ufindus.com. After reading this complaint site i now know that we have been done. Stupidly enough we trusted them as they told me that they were BT. When they phoned us they were on the phone for nearly an hour and they also tried to sell us 2 more areas which luckily we refused. they also contacted me on my phone which is listed by the tps so they have broken the rules there. I have cancelled my direct debit straight away when I read all the complaints on this web site. I will now see how long they take to contact me over this I bet it will be alot quicker than any of you had got replies from them. Maybe we should all get together and set up some sort of protest group against them that should be quite interesting to see what Bt will do about this company then.
August 10, 2009I have read all the stories of the abusive hard sell tactics used by the BT Customerstreet sales teams and can tell you as an ex member of the Barrow sales team that these tactics are actively encouraged in order to achieve commission targets and if you don't you get your salary dropped. They put you through product training but its all really about hard sell when you are on the phone. The sales managers even con the other managers that all is well and the managers from BT have not got a clue whats really going on. I can also tell you that the support staff based in Lancaster are driven by commission to unravel the mess caused by the sales teams and I have a friend who still works there and she tells me its a disaster and that they are told not to say anything in case the BT managers find out
August 11, 2009Well, I don't know about that - that no-one from BT knows what is going on!
August 12, 2009I sent a letter of complaint to BT head office months ago by recorded delivery and have not had a reply - they must have binned it.
This is a public forum on the internet - can't get get much more public than this (and there are other forums with similar posts regarding Customerstreet)
Of course BT know what is going on, they are just turning a blind eye.
Yes, I think I'd guessed the sales team is commission driven - after being bullied by them I assumed they had practically zero salary and needed to sell to buy bread and butter.
We to were bullied by the hard sell from the sales team promising to quadruple our income within 6 months one job will pay for the ad they said, best move you,ll ever make they said what a loth of bull....! I was wary from the onset but my husband was totally for it so he went ahead one of the worst moves we have ever made. We are a small buisiness runing legitemately with rising overheads looking for a way to improve our income.Have received a letter to day from Blacks Collections. I will not pay this company another penny. By the way we paid £470.00 initialy and £68.88 per month for 2 pages that my 10 year old could hve done a better job of. We now feel like total fools. Always trust your instinct AVOID CUSTOMER STEET AT ALL COSTS they are using the BT name to reel people in. I just hope that everyone checks them out before they get involved as there are hundreds of dissatisfied customers on the net.
August 19, 2009I am just, thank goodness, coming to the end of my Customer Street contract.
August 21, 2009I joined them nearly 2 years ago with all the usual promises associated with them and the line about urgently needing a photographer in the Sittingbourne area yada, yada. I fell for it, unfortunately and was paying £29.99per month plus VAT. After some time and no sales I asked them why this was and they said that my site wasn't up to scratch and perhaps it needs some tweaking which they would do foc. Several weeks and months went by and still no work via ths site, which by the way although controlled by myself in as much as adding pictures and text wasn't very good as regards basic design.
They then offered to reduce my subscription to £23 a month including VAT and if I wasn't happy after 3 months they would cancel. I took advice from my bank and cancelled my DD. Then they took notice saying that I owed them a "debt" of £69. Anyway just to keep them quiet and to avoid any legal natiness I sent them a chweque for that amount with a letter politely asking them to go away.
It all comes to an end on 3rd September and I have directed clients (yeah right) away from the site to my new site which frankly has had far more success and is free. I can't reccommend Yola.com enough by the way.
So that hopefully is that.
If you receive a call from these people do not get involved as it is very difficult to get rid of them.
I have had two high pressure sales calls in under a week. I'm not impressed at all. I gave the first caller some time because of the BT association. I am extremely disappointed in their approach and have sent a complaint to BT.
August 25, 2009Hi,
September 01, 2009I have read through all the comments and I am extremely upset, because I have been conned too by the infamous BT customer Street.
I was contacted by an equally high pitched sales woman, who quickly laid out the wonderful prospect of having a professional website, with as many pages as I want, professionally desgined, complete with hosting and SEO, which would make sure my website would appear on the first page of Google.
BT Customer street's timing was perfect because they called me at a time when I was just about to find a contractor to build a website for my business and get it all optimized.
The woman who called me was extremely driven asking me to buy the service straight away, because if I wait I may loose out on the domain name which she had researched and selected for my business. And according to her it was this particular domain name which would secure the high ranking she had promised on Google.
It was at this point that I gave in and handed my card details.
She then sent the so called contract with terms and conditions via email. I paid £ 399 + VAT for the SEO, web design, key phrases and listing in 3 directories.
I was impressed. After all this was BT. The monthly fee was set to £ 129 + VAT (I am shocked to see that everyone else on this forum had to pay so much less in monthly fees).
But while going through the conditions and terms, which were emailed to me shorlty after I noticed that there was no itemized list of purchased items, instead there was one item repeated 3 times and each time billed for £ 99,98 and then one more item for the same amount (they somehow had to come up with that price), and the items were undescriptive and general.
I called the woman back and asked her to explain to me what I am paying for. She became very defensive and told me that I worry too much. The other thing she said was that they have 70.000 customers and it would be impossible to make an itemized bill for every customer (!!!).
We spent an hour on the phone and she reassured me that I received even more than what I paid for and that I will get a wonderful website.
I then called her the following day and wanted to send her the text for my website and specifications, but had to confront her very reluctant demeanour, in fact she said I should sent her only 100 words(???)
That is when I really got alarmed.
I thought how can they create a professional website according to my wishes if I cannot provide even the text for it?
I nevertheless sent her the whole text and the sample website (a nice, professional one - I wanted one like that), but to my utter disbelief, 3 days later I got to see the finished website, which was everything else but a site I would want. One boring image was on it, the text was changed and very brief and all other things I had asked for were absent. There was complete disregard for my request.
I have not signed the papers they sent me and hope, that it makes the contract less valid (does anyone know how much impact that would have, since I was told that the contract has been finalized, the moment I have supplied my card details?).
I decided to cancel the account and called customer service, but they would not connect me to the finance manager. I was told I would be called back.
It is clear to me by now that I have been taken for a ride by a very cunning group of people who pose as a reputable company.
They charged my card for over £ 600 (that includes the initial payment plus the first month of service - all in advance). I want to get out of this asap and fear that I will not be refunded or that I will not be able to terminate the contract, after reading the other comments.
I am totally aghast at the service and do not want to pay for a website which does not even slightly resemble the one I wanted.
I have been told both by BT Customerstreet and Trading Standards that the contract was made instantly when I gave my card details to these people over the phone because it is a business to business contract.
September 02, 2009I have been informed that because it is business to business there is no cooling off period, and no written contract needs to be signed.
As I understand it, there is nothing in law to protect small business consumers such as ourselves from large unethical companies such as this.
Me too.
September 10, 2009High pressure sales, false promises - also including promise of monthly phone calls to check on me and on site.
What direct action can we take? There must be loads of us who have been exploited. NO MORE! We can at least fight these shameless money grabbers. Where is Ufindus based? We could have one very nice big demo there.
Yes, they called that person - "Your personal account manager": That was part of the sales pitch - "Where else would you get a personal account magager like this?"
September 10, 2009When I phoned them to ask who mine was - the customer service man just laughed!
Well, i haven't agreed to anything with them, but they are consistently calling me nearly every day and leaving the same irritating 'sales' message.
September 18, 2009This has been going on since early 2009, and I've lost count of the number of times that I've asked them to remove me as I'm not interested in whatever their service is (I can smell hard sell a mile off and was ripped off by over £5000 in one year by various companies when I first started out a few years ago, so now I'm VERY hard to 'sell' too!).
Since complaining 2 weeks ago, the calls have become more increased, and they now call my mobile (which i gave them to REMOVE from their list) as well as my home office phone. I was assrued that I'd stop receiving their calls in 7-10 days but today's proved that was clearly a lie!
Not quite sure who to complain too, but think that if it continues I will answer their call and blast them with Gun's & Roses at rull volume and see how quickly they take me off the list then...espeically if I leave it playing and leave the room :O)
But seriously, anyone have any ideas on HOW to formally complain and to whom?? Debby, Birmingham
I wish to complain and cancel my contract with customer street. On the 14th of September I believe I was miss sold the product it is now the 28th. I have been told that i have no consumer rights as it was a business to business transaction, however if I am not refunded I intend to seek legal advice. I have been promised return phone calls time after time and these have never been received and are now no longer required.
September 29, 2009When my website was first published it was two businesses merged into one. ie carters pat testing and carters epc this is not what I wanted or what I believed I was buying.
I asked for this to be removed as it was damaging to the image of my business. I was told that I would receive a call back by the manager Robert the next day but over a week later and still nothing. This whole scenario is taking up too much of my time and causing me undue distress, I would like it to end a.s.a.p.
Maurice Carter
Fourteen months ago I was contacted by BTCustomer street to design me a website, because I need an online shop they told me this was very expensive.After parting with £1,500 I was still waiting for my website, to cut a long painful and very expensive story short I have been totaly ripped off.Please Please don't touch this company they are horrendous, they even at one point told me they never said my website would be able to be viewed by the public.After asking what the point of me spending this amount of money on something you could not see he got stroppy.
October 12, 2009Can we not all join forces and try to get this company sorted out.
A website which can't be viewed by the public? Now I think I've heard it all. Has the world gone totally bonkers????
October 13, 2009The company I work for has also been contacted by Bt Customer Service filling my ears with too good to be true promises, I felt comforted by the security of BT's reputation.
October 16, 2009However luckily I googled the company and found this page. I have since told them I am not interested in their offer and they will not leave me alone. They are getting quite agressive! What should I do?
I contacted the police and BT but no-one seems interested! I am outraged!
Well I have realised after reading these boards that the dosh I hand over to BT Custmerstreet every month is protection money - I never get a peep out of them least of all from my "personal account manager"!
October 16, 2009(I think really it would be more authentic if I were to send it in crumpled pound notes in a brown paper bag rather than by direct debit)
So a suggestion - you could just pay up? te he he!!
I believe I've just joined the club of BT Customer Street. Obviously when you here BT (the brand that has been built and promoted for so many years), you do not even question their reputation.
October 20, 2009I'm in process of making complaints about their oversold services.
It's funny how this company deals with you when you wish to make a complaint. They do not seem to be surprised in the slightest. But they are very protective over their sales people.
I've been working in Sales for 5 years but I have never seen anything like this.
Bt Customer Street- Please be aware !!!! - these sales personnel do not give up. Hounding you daily with sales talk and offering special deals each time. Thank goodness the credit card companies are made aware of the complaints and have put a stop on some of their transactions. Thank you all for complaining. I was lucky that I did not fall prey to their bad practices. Grateful - anonymous.
October 26, 2009I have been taken in by this company. Thay have not given me a service at all. how can bt support this company? No one is safe from this kind of selling and customer support. BT please sort this out they are giving you a bad name for free. If anyone is thinking of using this service "DONT".The reason Im anonymous is I will take is to the courts.
October 27, 2009This must be a great club as I got took to by BT was not happy with them at all over sold and over priced and you are very much rushed into making your mind up if I was to be asked about this lot it would be stay away have nothing to do with them
October 28, 2009i have just got off the phone to them as i believe i was miss sold and i had called them ten times prior and only just had a call back now at first i thought they was taking there time to call me back so it would go over a 14day money back situation but was disgusted to find out that they do not practice this!! i have just been told after this so called manager had listened to my recorded calls he dosnt think i was miss sold surprise surprise i could of guessed he would of said that. but you tell me if they give an exsample of a site that mine will look like because they also built the site. and it turns out they did not build that site and mine dosnt look anything like it and i was told its free to add a gallery and so on and it isnt then in my eyes that is being miss sold but obviously not in theres! the salesman also told me they was the only company that can guarantee i will be on googles first page and i have found out no company can say this. and before i took this out with them i said to the salesmen is this just lies to make a sale and get commission he replied no because i do not get commission until the 13th month and the contracts finished and your totally happy! and like a mug i feel for it! i paid £275 outright and they want £45 a month as well i have cancelled the direct debits. and i am trying to take this further but i don't know who to take it up with. if anyone has any suggestions they would be much appreciated.
October 28, 2009all i can say to other small businesses don't even give them the time of day they are scum i am sick to the stomach i feel bullied and mugged off i am stressed out and it keeps me awake at night i am that annoyed DO NOT DO IT!!! Shaun bryant
I advertise with bt customer st aka ufindus
November 02, 2009at first all was fine and dandy, i felt a little limited on waht i could change about my site, gif images, video clips etc but i had work coming in, now according to stats my btcustomer st listing recieves 500 hits a month and only 13 of them actually visit my site.
I feel that their customer services is pathetic and they rip your eyeballs out on " optional extras " such as more than one picture on certain pages.
but in fairnes i suppose the fact that i do come up top of the page on google listings does help but who wants to look at a 2nd rate website promoting someones livlyhood when they can look at much better non bt or ufindus related sites!
I was cold called in Jan 08 by Customer street who promised front page google for my photography business. As I was being made redundant from my full time job, I signed up.
November 03, 2009The monthly tally sheet of the number of hits my webs site supposidly has is 8600 so far. How many telephone calls have I had ZERO.
This is a complete waste of money. DO NOT THINK ABOUT SIGNING UP>
I have joined Customerstreet and find their manner so AGRESSIVE and ARROGANT. And to try and charge a one man band company £900 for a landing page website is OUTRAGEOUS.
November 03, 2009Unless they become more customer aware I will not be renewing very soon.
Hello customer street, there are better deals out there for online marketing!!! They think they are the best, when in reality a lot of other companies are much easier to work with and more flexible.
My story is same as above - three months ago nice young girl called offering me a domain name which was a bargain and would be ideal for me - counsellor in London. I told her I did not have much money to spend on advertising so had to be careful. She assured me that I would not regret it! Not one call from the website - not one!! £45 a month and of course the £200+ up front. I have to laugh really at being so naive. So am I really stuck for 12 months? If you know a way I can get out I would be grateful if someone could let me know.
November 06, 2009I have also fallen for this absolute useless service.
November 10, 2009I think Watchdog is the only answer!!
Yesturday i foolishly bought the deal £175 upfront and £45 a month. I am an idiot. After reading all the complaints on the internet i have cancelled my card but the initial 175 has already gone. I also called to try and get a refund but every time just fobbed off with "i'm gonna get someone to call you back". I've also called the police asking for advice and im waiting to hear back from them. There is no way im letting them take £45 a month. How can they get away with this seriously? Has anyone on the blog actually managed to get a refund?
November 10, 2009started out £299 but dropped to £199. But to be honest the deal to me seemed great. They offered me 2 great '.com' domain names that i would own out right. (they said they owned them already and would assign them to me, but i checked and both domains havent even been bought!) Now 2 days later after really thinking about what i've done i am really regretting giving them my details.
November 11, 2009They took £275 out of my account for the 'set up fee' and first months payment. I am now trying to cancel but the only number i have is the reception team and after many calls they keep telling me i have to wait 7 days to get a call back from the sales team who will cancel my account. Terrible thing is, I know that i have to cancel within 7 days of taking out the account or i'm liable to pay the rest of the 11 months payments! What can i do!
Does anyone have any advice on what to do? Please!
I signed up last night - so far nothing bad to report - but then i haven't had any product yet.
November 11, 2009I'm really worried now having read all this stuff - and very grateful I used my credit card so may at least have some protection.
I've got to say in their defense that the saleman was very friendly and helpful, not really pushy at all. I ended up dealing at £99+VAT set-up and £39.99+VAT a month.
Looks like I overpaid on the monthly fee...
BT customer street, and their subsidiaries electricians register/ufindus etc have been calling me for 6 years, and get argumentative/rude when I point out this is a TPS registered number.
November 12, 2009After giving them some abuse back I was told they'd call me more often to spite me- which they have done. blatant abuse of the telephone laws, harassment etc
What if a load of us clubbed together and hired an indian call centre to jam their switchboard with offers of a ford mondeo?
I too have been had by BT Customer Street. I was promised they had customers waiting for my services, but to date I've had ZERO response!! I paid £600.00 and £68.00 per month for absolutely nothing!
November 13, 2009We should all get together and do something about this fraudster company hiding under BT's name. Surely there's someone who could take up this plight who is in the public eye. Has anybody got any ideas?
I used to work there and start to finish this is a waste of money. The sales training is very good for obvious reasons - as the product is not. Basically this is an upto date timeshare enviroment. Good luck.
November 17, 2009Dear Sirs,
November 20, 2009I wish to add my comments about this fraudulent company who deliberately use BT`s once good name to dupe unsuspecting sole traders like myself into signing up with them.
I am in the alternative therapy business. And last April 09 I was contacted by one of their sales persons John Prempeh. The first words out of his mouth were BT.
If not for this I would not have given him the time of day. I was conned into signing up with them for what I was told would be a professionally designed website and first page listing on Google and for ten key phrases (sound familiar).
This first page presence I was told would appear after four weeks. I paid a total of around £420 to sign up there and then by credit card. And a further £210 in monthly payments (£70 per month incl vat)
The website they charged around £350 for I could have created myself for free using any number of free web designing tools. And after eight months I am still not apearing on the first page and only apear on the 2nd to 5th page for three out of the promised ten key phrases.
I was also charged for an extra town (which was in fact a different area of the same town) and which at the time was presented to me as a free option. At no point was I told it would increase what I had to pay them each month.
Please post this on your site and warn other potential victims of this criminal company.
Alan
Manchester
If so many people have not recieved the service thay have paid for, why not stop paying. the more people who stop the more bt customer street will have to sort out this mess. I no longer pay. this service is a joke!!
November 23, 2009I used to work in the Lancaster office.....all but 2 weeks I might add as the selling is totally wrong. "promise the dream" is all the say but reality is rubbish with terrible website that my kids could build (template sites) and all the staff are under terrible pressure otherwise they get wage drops.
November 24, 2009It has the worst reputation in Lancaster for staff and ALL and I mean ALL agencys will not touch them with a barge pole. In my first week I saw a fellow starter just sit and cry and all she was done was be picked on by the manager and made to look a fool.
IT IS A RUBBISH PRODUCT SO DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.
Because I don't want debt collectors knocking on my door which is apparently what happens if one just stops paying
November 24, 2009One bitten, twice shy. When Nile, the salesman from BT Customer Street mentioned Ufindus, I knew I did not want to have anything more to do with BT Customerstreet. Apparently, BT has bought them out and according to Nile, would not have bought a "lemon".
November 24, 2009I bought advertising in the Ufindus directory about 3 years ago and got, over 12 months, absolutely zero in Business and it cost £500 over 12 months.
Beware of this company.
I am Trevor and I too was taken in by BT Customer St.
December 01, 2009I have made several complaints along the way, and stopped DD payments twice. I did receive two months off, but when the last month was due I had had enough and did not pay. They now intend to sue me for £34.99, which is fine as I intend to counterclaim for a full refund.
I have a tracker on my site and it shows the number of referrals from them and it does not tally with their alleged figures.
I have an e-mail confirming that the sales guy would take an active role in helping me, which he did not. On the phone they say that that was not in his remit and he should not have done this. They will not put anything else in writing, so I will let you know what happens in Court.
I have been conned also. On 20 Nov a Nik Preston from BT Customerstreet called and I agreed to advertise my driving school with them. After much thought over the week-end I decided to cancel as I wasn't sure about them. On Monday 23rd I called to cancel and was told someone would call me back within 7 days but I insisted someone call me back. Amy Fletcher the account manager did call me and talked me in to staying with them promising me a great website and all the other stuff. I have again tried to cancel on 2nd December after seeing the rubbish website but like everyone else I cannot get through to anyone but the receptionist.
December 02, 2009I paid £199 on my partners credit card does anyone know if I can get that money back because it is not my business name? I will not be paying the direct debit and will cancel it tomorrow at my bank whether I talk to anyone at BT Customerstreet or not. ITS A DISGRACE AND THEY SHOULD NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!
FOWT
December 03, 2009Had a salesman who couldn't seal the deal with me, thought i was doing ok, then had the hard sell from the so called "female manager" she pushed hard and said it was a one off to new business's and the cost would be £229.98p, and £39.95 pm + VAT, i was informed that i could cancel at any time if i was not happy with the service.
However, after the site had gone live, and all was not what it was cracked up to be, the phone-call was made with a view to cancelling, ha ha try getting hold of the selling team and then see how many people you go through to get a NO result.
I am a new business and feel i have been robbed.
THIS WILL NOT END HERE,WE MUST FIGHT AND GET OUR MONEY BACK,AND LOBBY TO GET THESE "BANDITS", AND ANY OTHERS ALIKE, PUBLICLY SHAMED.
WE ALL MOAN ABOUT IT, LETS SEE IF WE CAN GET SOMETHING DONE ABOUT IT.
I have only just discovered this site and wished I had done so earlier.
December 11, 2009Guess what? I wont bore you with the details but my story is so similar to all the one here.I have also been conned of £390.00 for website and £45.00 month DDbt.I have spoken to Fair Trading, they couldnt help and referred me Small Business Advisory Service who also said they couldnt do anything for me. It leaves me with Citizen Advice Bureau to try to find a way to get my money back.
In the meantime It has been suggested to contact My Credit Card Co in regards to the first £390.00 payment made to BT Customer Street, and stop paying Direct Debit but I don't want Baillifs at my door. But I can not lose all this money!
I think we should all get together and take this to WATCHDOG. Any suggestions how we can fight this rip-off.
i used to work for them.....well for 2 weeks until I saw what I was supposed to do to get a sale.
December 15, 2009All I can say is I am proud I did not get a sale. I did my own website and got on the first pages of google for nothing within 2 weeks so their claims are total rubbish.
AVOID AT ALL COST PLEASE.
Thank you for this forum.
December 15, 2009I was called yesterday and after an hour of negotiating; and persuasion I agreed to an initial £200.00 (excl vat) start up fee which they deducted from my card instantly and 11 months DD at £40.00 (excl vat), I felt stupid that I hadn't been firm enough to decline and give it some further thought,but he insisted that he would sell it to someone else and I would lose the domain name, so I went ahead.
I woke up really early this morning worrying about it and decided to do some research and found this. I have now canceled and will hopefully get my money back in the next few days! Lesson learnt!!
It's fair enough people logging bad press, but what about the good press? Where is it?? Nobody bothers to go out of their way for something they are happy with, but are more than willing to make everybody know that they have been ripped off if things haven't gone as planned/promised.
December 15, 2009When "David" rang, I immediately asked if it was a marketing call. He denied this, and when challenged, suggested that he had a business lead, I find this very doubtful - why would someone contact a third party in Blackpool to to find a counsellor in London. Plus, as far as I can tell, very few people seek help via third-party sites.
December 15, 2009I am appalled that despite the company's poor reputation, displayed on several complaint websites, BT purchased the firm and appears to allow questionable practices.
HI,
December 16, 2009ME TO GOT CAUGHT BY THESE SCUMS. LAST WEEK.
HELP. ADVICE PLEASE.
HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS.
WATCHING THIS SITE EVERY DAY NOW FOR HELP. CHEERS
Please do not join BT Customer Street - There is no point joining when you can get linked directly to Google. The sales pitch does not give you what they say on the Tin.
December 23, 2009Carl Aldride will say " We get you noticed - I can see how many people entered your phrase etc etc" Dont sign up for 12 months when you are not going to get the results promished.
Once you sign up they just want the money.
Please do your research and compare before you sign.
I have wasted £34 each month - traditional advertising could have brought in more business.
Danny
I joined after several high preasure sales calls, one from a girl who literatley wouldn't take no for an answer. I feel a complete fool as I now realise I've been done big time. The guy who sold me the package claimed to be an account manager, I've since found out this is untrue. I was threatened with a debt collecting agency if I stopped the direct debits. To cut a long one short 2 months in and no work at all generated. AVOID THESE SCAM ARTISTS AT ALL COST!!!
December 27, 2009Bt Customer Street got me too, after a high-pressure sales call. But thats not my problem.
January 06, 2010My problem, is that I have become ill, and no longer operate as a business. According to the contract, in such circumstances, I can cancel. I've now had several e-mails and calls from 'Blacks Collections' as well as Customer Street, demanding money. They refuse to accept my proof that shows I am no longer operating as a business, and demand I get my accountant to speak to them. Thing is, I don't have an accountant as when I signed up with them, I was a start-up business and had no need of one. How do I provide more proof of something that no longer exists? I give up work to look after my ill partner, as well as myself now I'm ill too, is this is what I get in return from these con-artists.
I will go bankrupt before I give them a penny. I will fight them with solictors and the Office of Fair Trading. I advise everyone else to take them on - they can't stone-wall all of us.
We too have been conned out of a total of £720. Our 12 month contract ends in Feb and I have already sent a letter saying that we do not want to renew.
January 06, 2010As far as I am aware, there is no way to get your money back. It seems ludicrous to me that despite all these complaints that this company is still allowed to trade? Especially under the guise of BT?
Just be warned that I am now receiving phone calls from other companies saying that they can do all the things that Customer Street promised they could do? I am obviously declining their kind offers!!
They are complete con artists as simple as that, i only hope they go under and bt make a loss.
January 06, 2010My unwanted contract ends in February, too, and so I have sent a cancellation letter 3 times, at one weekly intervals by recorded delivery, just to make sure! (as I have read of others having trouble ending the contract)
January 07, 2010Hi I see all the companies who have been conned by BT Customer Street and the subsequent Debt Collection Agency who chases for the cash - The Debt agency in every case is Blacks Collections - I did a search and found the website - The site has no address or phone number and is a 5 minute effort - I then checked who owns the domain www.blackscollections.co.uk surprise surprise the registrant is a Stuart Forrest and the address is Lister Pavilion,Kelvin Campus, West of Scotland Science Park Glasgow G20 0SP
January 09, 2010This is the same address for Easyspace who owned Ufindus (the directory behind BT Customer Street) and sold the company to BT - I cant be 100% but it sounds very suspicious so my advice would be to ask Black Collections to put EVERYTHING in writing - I would be more than interested in hearing whats happened - I still cant believe that a reputable household name is mixed up with this bunch
During the summer of last year I got called up by BT Customer Street who claimed that they could get my translation business a lot more recognition if I would just pay them £264 for a site and £35 per month for a year. I originally refused but they kept on and on ringing up until I said yes. What a big mistake!
January 16, 2010Despite all the effort I have invested in the site, people do not ring me up asking me for my services, or even just to ask me for a quote. They have sold me a product which does not live up to its name; which is, of course, illegal.
I'm going to send the person in charge of their customer service department an email making a very serious complaint, telling them to cease my monthly payments and pay me back at once. I will tell them I will keep a record of it, and that if they do not do something about it immediately there will be "further action" taken.
I hate myself for this. I'm paying a fortune for nothing. And what kind of sales pitch is it where they say they "need" a customer for some sort of agenda that they are operating?
STAY AWAY!
I contacted BT on SEVERAL occasions asking them about this. Customer Street had phoned our clients and lied to them. I tried to warn BT over and over through various departments and numbers only to get nowhere.
January 20, 2010Why was I surprised that BT didn't really care I wonder?!
BT are now offering SEO services through "SearchSmart"... they love to get their fingers in every pie but the problem is, just as it is with their IT support services, they're not specialists and they're simply no good... they just have a big brand so people trust them when they shouldn't.
I contacted BT on SEVERAL occasions asking them about this. Customer Street had phoned our clients and lied to them. I tried to warn BT over and over through various departments and numbers only to get nowhere.
January 21, 2010Why was I surprised that BT didn't really care I wonder?!
BT are now offering SEO services through "SearchSmart"... they love to get their fingers in every pie but the problem is, just as it is with their IT support services, they're not specialists and they're simply no good... they just have a big brand so people trust them when they shouldn't.
I also had a phone call at work today on my mobile from BT Customerstreet.
January 27, 2010The chap calling was very friendly and chatty for the first ten minutes, promising me my own generic domain name, inclusion on umpteen search engines, first page on Google, blah, blah ,blah....It would only cost me about a pound per day, blah, blah...
The bottom line is that I have constructed my own website, which I am happy with, I don't want to pay out money on direct debits for advertising.
Anyway, after 32 minutes of him talking to me trying to get me to sign up and me saying no thanks, he finally gave up and put the phone down.
32 minutes on the phone, no commision for him today, I think...
Hi,
January 29, 2010I also worked at BT Customers Street as a Sales Person. I hope I can offer some good advice to those wishing to cancel....
First of all I can confirm that everything discussed here so far is correct. The high pressure sales approach is like nothing I have ever experienced before, and I have worked in sales for a long time.
The rule is either you get the deal, or the customer hangs up first. Annoying.
Anyway, BT Customer Street do record each call so if any of you feel that you have been mis-sold to (lots of you) then you can cancel your contract, in which case the 2 tier cancellation team will offer you the world to stay on board, and finally having listened to the recording of the salesman (whilst cringing probably) the contract will be cancelled.
Hope that helps.
Just purchased with them, so can't say how good they will be. However the guy I dealt with did not promise a website. i think I can see the problem here - its a techie subject and 'fast selling' is perhaps the least appropriate way of selling such a product to a customer base who don't really get it.
January 29, 2010They don't build websites, not in the truest sense. They build a simple site which then acts as a link through to your site. By focusing all their techie/SEO prowess (Im still to find out how much they have of that) on making that 'dummy' page high up in Google etc it will then drive traffic to your own real website, which you should have invested in yourself.
its all about driving traffic. Ill be seeing how much traffic and enquires I get. If the traffic stays the same, Ill ask for my money back, if it improves drastically Ill be very happy.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion here. I hate fast selling and Im lucky that I can slow them down and understand this quite a bit, but really BT needs to find a better model if they are going to win the trust and loyalty of the small business owner.
After several telephone conversations and lots of promises (top three listings on google etc) i signed up to bt customer street. After 10 months of no work enquiries i rang up to inform BT customer street that i would not be renewing my contract after the year expired. Was told that getting no work was due to the fact the website needed upgrading,which would have been at extra cost.I declined this and they said that i was speaking the wrong department for cancellations but could not put me in contact with them, but someone would call me back. Nobody called me back. After the 12 month contract had expired i cancelled the direct debit.They then contacted me when they couldnt get any payments and told me i could not cancel over the phone and had to do it in writing.The issue was then brought up that i never recieved any documents or contracts or any paperwork which stated this and also that i feel i was mis-sold the package, so as far as i was concerned i was in my rights to cancel over the phone. Bt then started an internal investigation into the phonecalls i made and sales tactics but surprise, surprise the majority of so called recorded phone calls have mysteriously disappeared so therefore the investigation was dropped. After 2 months of not hearing anything they sent me a letter saying i owed them 174.00 for the 60 day cancellation period which i have told them they will not get. The lady then said the information about the 60 day cancellation in writing was in the terms and conditions of contract, which i recieved by post 2 days after that call!!! I am now waiting for their next move. Bring it on!!! Bad, bad company. BT CUSTOMER STREET YOU ARE THE DEVIL!!!
January 30, 2010I used belt and braces to cancel my contract - I sent 3 separate recorded delivery letters one week apart, all 2 months prior to the end of the 12 month period.
January 31, 2010I have confirmation in writing that the contract has been cancelled.
But my actions must say something about how I feel regarding the integrity of this company!
I Also was had by those people. The hard sell followed three months later by another phone call offering to set me up a 'Proper Website' for a further fee. I will be taking legal actionagainst these guys.
February 02, 2010Hi I have been misold a service by BT Customerstreet last september - now have backs collections writing to me - shoody website like the one BT customerstreet make for u - I was never sent any info and nothing was explained - want my money back - blacks are not a registered agency - the letters from them and BT are second rate - anyone could do them on a home computer - whats the best suggestion? :-)
February 03, 2010I have also been tricked by BT Customerstreet. It is such a shame
February 16, 2010I am reading all these complaints now and I did not see them before. Of course, why would I have
searched for it, only after I realised that I made a huge, huge mistake by listening to
them I started to search if other people had the same experience. I felt such a fool.
I am now trying to cancel the contract I was coaxed into and get my money back. These are some of the things I mention in my letter.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to request the cancellation of the 12 month contract that I believe was
coaxed into and to ask you to refund the £ 583.96 set up fee.
I was approached by one of your sales executives over the phone called Lindsay
Potter. She mentioned BT which made me believe that your company is legitimate and honest. She told me that she was calling as she was able to direct business/clients my way. Naturally I was very interested. Next she talked about putting me in the front page of Google. At this stage I thanked her and told her that I was already on the front page of Google with the sponsored links and that I already had a professional website set up.
This is where my first issue comes in. At this stage it was clear to Lindsay that I did not need your service as I already had what I needed to promote my business. Should your company be trading fairly and treating their potential customers with honesty and respect, Lindsay would have thanked me for my time and moved on to someone else who did genuinely need your services.
However , she was an excellent sales lady and convinced me that what I had would not work. I feel very disappointed with myself that I was taken in by a well rehearsed sales pitch and only after I contacted Business Link and Customer Direct did I realize that what
I was told was untrue and the statistics quoted incorrect. Infact, both Business Link and Customer Direct advised me that my website was to a very high professional standard whereby the ones which your company provided me with are very poorly constructed and could potentially tarnish rather than improve my reputation.
Of course, it can be argued that I could have realized that myself during the call however Lindsay was a very highly skilled sales lady and asked me a lot of questions about my business, how I worked, who my cliental was, so on, which made me engage in the conversation as naturally I am passionate about my business. Alarm bells should have rang when I was not told the full price but quoted the price without VAT. When I pushed for the full price to be disclosed Lindsay got flustered and quoted me the percentage of 17.5% which does not say much and I was not let to think for one minute as she was
constantly talking to me. I applaud your brilliant sales techniques however they lead to
dishonesty and by not fully disclosing as to how much I was going to be paying and rushing me into handing credit card details over without me knowing the exact figure and an even biggest issue the fact that I would be tied to a 12 month contract must be illigeal.
This is not the full version but it gives you an idea of what happened to me.
I just started my business and I am on a really tight budget, so in all honesty I can't even afford this.
I just cannot believe that I let myself down like this and handed over such a large portion of my
advertising budget. I guess I was convinced that it will enhance my chances of success but as I
now have realised that is not the case.
I am currently waiting for a response from BT customerstreet however if no joy I will have no
choice but go down the legal route and also to contact the Sussex Times and various other
papers , possibly even get Watchdog involved so to expose BT Customerstreet. I am prepeard to
fight this as long as it takes.
I have the same experience with Ufindus Customer Street, lots of lies, and lots of money cost with no good answer back.
February 17, 2010Can we act legally against?
hi i just spoke with bt about the constant rude calls i get from bt customer street they gave me a number for off com and said to give them bt customer streets numbers that they call on and they can put a stop to them calling you.
February 19, 2010During my third conversation today with a Customer Street salesperson, (and an intervening weekend during which I tried to find out as much as possible about this company), I interrupted his sales spiel to politely decline his offer, the rotter immediately terminated the conversation without so much as a by your leave, or even an invitation to kiss his posterior! The fellow put the phone down on me!
February 22, 2010I swear I shall never deal with these impolite cads!
Furthermore, my annual renewal for my (Pipex) line rental and broadband service comes up in April; I seriously considered moving back to BT.
Alas! Not now. BT's previously assumed position as a company of some respectability and civility has, in my eyes, been thoroughly beshitten by the actions of this ill-mannered bounder.
Very sad.
wish i had seen this before i was dragged in last year. i was told the same rubbish about being on page one of google, and all the work i could handle. i can't even find myself, so what chance do my customers have? i will now be cancelling my direct debit, and if they want to take me to court for the rest, then good luck to them. i shall be taking all these comments with me. thank you all.
February 22, 2010I have just received a full refund from BT Customerstreet after complaining about their "service" which is every bit as bad as described by many others above.
February 26, 2010I would suggest those that who are unhappy with BT Customerstreet do the following:
1) Request a copy of the original sales calls (Subject access request) under the Freedom of Information Act, this costs £10. To do this you need to write to:
Graham Armstrong Senior Customer Relations Manager, Subject Access Department, Accountability Department, UFINDUS Ltd, Lancaster Business Park, Caton Road, Lancaster LA1 3RQ.
2) Write a detailed letter of complaint based on the fibs and lies in the phone calls and send it to Graham Armstrong and copy it to:
Sonya Sullivan, Head of Compliance, BT Directories, ppHWM019, PO Box 400, London N16 1XU.
3) Send a copy of your complaint to your local MP. If he or she is as good as mine, they will follow it up on your behalf.
4) Write a summary version of your complaint to:
Ian Livingtson, Chief Executive BT Group Plc, BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ
Do not be fobbed off. They will tell you all sorts of rubbish about how long they have to respond to complaints by telephone, letter, access requests, compliance case etc this is all designed to draw out the process.
They have 40 working days to sort out your complaint. In my case they exceeded that so offered a full refund. Unbelievably the other option offered was a partial refund and a reduced monthly rate. No thank-you.
If enough of you take the steps above, they may eventually get the message and stop offering such an appaling service.
Good luck
Nic
Congratulations!
February 26, 2010I've just paid my final direct debit under the 12 month contract so am out now with a heavy heart as it has cost me dearly.
Never again will I be caught and bullied like this!
Contacted today by a squeaky high-pitched female whose name I have forgotten but who was keen to ask me all sorts of questions relating to my business at some length (around 30 mins). Finally I got her to cut tot he chase and tell me what this was all about and it is essentially 4 directory entries for £299+VAT as a one-off payment and monthly £69+VAT. She claimed there were 138 enquiries for nlp in my town and that she could guarantee that I would get this much in hits on my website. When I pointed out she could not make guarantees like this backtracked quickly and said well about 138 maybe plus or minus 2 or so. I explained that th service was probably worse than useless, much like yell.com (no enquiries this year!) and I would not be spending upwards of £1300 to find out if I'd made a mistake. "how do you know that". Well I'm a webmaster and I know about SEO and directory response which has become pathetic. "Listen to me" she shouts, "you're not listening to what I'm saying". Yes I am and why don't you offer me a month's free trial to prove your assertions. "Ah not we don't do that". Why not? "We're BT". So? "We just don't do it". Well neither am I! "What don't you understand about having 5 google front page entries helping your business?" Not much. "You're just not getting what I'm saying". (too right!) Then more screaming and then she concludes rightly that I am not interested and just winding her up and says well "Have a nice week...". Click as I hung up.
March 05, 2010Scammy outfit. Ufindus was run by Iomart who are a cowboy outfit. Why BT bought them I know not, but they'd be as well dumping them pronto. Ignore these crooks and o for freeindex.co.uk. It's free, I don't work for them and produces at least some response.
I wrote on this site back in August regarding BT Customer Street. On 2nd September I sent them a letter with a cheque for £10.00 for a copy of the tape they had of our conversation regarding the advertising they had mis-sold us. We received a letter dated the 13th October sending me invoices apparently I had asked for. Today 10th March I received a phone call the first from them since September from Paul Cooke in the accounts dept regarding the outstanding payments I haven't paid. Bare it in mind that I actually cancelled the direct debits back in July/August they have only just contacted me about them. Anyway I was quite angry and said why haven't they sent me a recording of the tape I had asked for back in September and he replied that they never received my letter. When I told him I receive one from them in October stating that I had asked for the outstanding invoices which I hadn't asked for. I assumed they had received my letter and as yet haven't received a copy of the tape. He then told me they never received my letter and that I couldn't resend a copy to them because believe it or not they destroy the tapes after 3 months and that as we are a Ltd company apparently we are not class as an individual under the data protection act and they are not oblige to send us a copy of the tape and he only find that out 2 months ago what a joke is this company for real. I then said it seems weird that I haven't heard anything from them at all since October and he then tried to tell me that they have tried to contact me several times so I asked him to tell me when as he must have the time and dates in front of him and all he kept saying all through this telephone conversation was if i don't allow him to speak he would have to end this call and put it in writing. Well he didn't have to end the call I did by pressing the end button.
March 10, 2010I think it is about time we all do something about this we all need to complain to any organisation who will take this up eg. OFT, BBC Watchdog, Trading Standards. What are we waiting for. It's our money they are taking.
I have already started I have contacted the office of fair trading and also the data protection office who is taking this up once they have received my complaint.
I have complained to all of these and to BT head office. (over a year ago)Replies? Not a sausage.
March 11, 2010I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
March 13, 2010I cannot believe that there are 101 now 102 complaints about BT Customer Street on the BT Web Site since, first one posted in January 2009 and the latest a few days ago and the company is dragging British Telecom’s long and well-earned good name through the mud.
March 19, 2010If you should search on line for ‘BT Customer Street Scam’, you will be astonished how many sites are linked to complaints about this company.
I have been pestered for the last 4mths by this company and 10 times over the last 2 days. I have since registered with www.tpsonline.org.uk to stop all unwanted marketing calls.
What’s even more interesting is that out of all the BT employees I have spoken to complaining about the harassment hard sell tactics being employed by this so called BT linked company no one knew about it.
What’s more the 2 telephone numbers being used by Customer Street that I was given by them so I could phone them back cannot be linked to BT even as customers that are using the 0845 BT Number (explain that BT Customer Services).
Dear Sir
March 22, 2010I have been shown your site with the complaint about BT Customer
Street, unfortunately I am also a victim.
On 25 Feb 09 I took a telephone call from what I believed to be BT
with regard to setting up and hosting a Web Site for my son a Builder and that we would be on the first page of google.
In my defence of being taken in it was a really hard sell and I was in a somewhat emotional state due to the very recent death of my husband but even so I was taken in and promised so much.
To cut a long story short I
telephoned and asked them to put any work on hold as I had
resorvations about what I had done bearing in mind that they had taken £413.83 from my account.
I then wrote to cancell this work on 2 Marc h and also complained. I then received telephone calls and in the end they refunded me £130. Still not happy I again tried to cancel in June and was told that I was unable to do that but would give me a month free again.
I was still in a very upset state a just carried on paying as the easiest route but also telling them that i would not be continuing
at the end of the 12 months in the february 10. On 1 December I
wrote in to give them 90 days notice of cancelling and telling them that I would be stopping the DD after the paying in February. This i did and then received an email saying I needed to reinstate the DD, I responded and said that it was cancelled and to read my letter dated 1 December.
Today I received a very nasty telephone call telling me that they did not receive any letter dated 1 December and practically calling me a liar and that they were removing the web site and passing the account
to debt collectors for collection.
I am now a widow and could do
well without all this hassel from such an outfit, it is like last year
when I was being hounded by BT Customer Street for £600 to develop the website further which incidentaly is why I think they gave me 1 month free.
I have now been advised not to speak to them on the telephone but to request anything from them in writing but feel very very distressed at this as I really thought I had done all that was necessary to cut any ties with them.
If you wish to pass my complaint to the relevant bodies please do so.
Thank you
Kate Knapman
I have just been contacted by customer services who were really pleasent and wanted to know how they could resolve any issues. They listened and were very understanding. They are upset about all the negative comments but insist they have moved on and are trying to become more transparent.
March 24, 2010They do have a 5 day cooling off period guys. They are happy to give a full refund should you wish to cancel.
Sorry BT Customer Street. But since reading all the negative posts this is why I wanted to cancel.
Thankyou once again for refunding my money
Well that is good news if indeed they have changed their policy and now allow a cooling off period.
March 24, 2010Wish this had happened 12 months ago and I wouldn't now be £600 out of pocket! That's life, win some lose some.
I won't bother repeating my experience with BTCustomerstreet. It sees to be much the same as all the rest.
March 24, 2010Just to add that I stopped paying and sent a recorded delivery letter to explain why. The only response so far has been a threatening message on my answerphone from someone leaving no details about who they are or how to contact them. Watch this space.
I was caught when they were Iomart years ago - got a cheap deal due to some sort of government subsidy, so refused to renew at the end of the year. The moral if this whole saga is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM A DIRECT SALES CALL - EVER. Go with a supplier who is personally recommended, or who you have met through some sort of network (loads of these around now, not just BNI - which you can guest with occasionally if you contact them). Even now I'm looking at buying online webshop, I'm still taking up references on the supplier.
March 25, 2010Hi
April 06, 2010we was taken in by bt customer street some 3 months ago we was lied 2 on the sales call and hung out to dry £2300 down the drain a manager called neal at lancaster has refused to help with my complaint as all bt calls are recorded and monitored i wanted them to listen to the lies they refused this i am going to the media and off com and internet blogging this really hurts them i am also going to tape a sales call and u tube itas this is evidence please email me any more ideas
Good plan Andrew, BT customer street are scum in my opinion, high pressure sales and I am no-where near top on google and the website they made me is embarrassing to be polite about it.
April 07, 2010they couldn't care less if people are unhappy - they've got their money.
Lets hope all the posts about how awful they are will put some people off them.
I was told they have no cooling off period - as soon as you pay you're tied in.
Scam, Scam, Scam.....I had a call from these lovely people, somewhere up north judging by the accent. They called despite me having bought GUARANTEED net clicks from BT which leads me to believe this is not BT....if it was surely they would know that I'm already a customer getting decent traffic through my website from the clicks I bought. The guy I spoke to was rude, agressive and very patronising suggesting that I didnt know how to run a business as well as he did (wonder why he's working in a call centre for a company no one ever heard of?)
April 08, 2010I asked him to tell me what the number of the other telephone line I rent from BT was to confirm who they are and of course he couldnt, I always ask BT to tell me this and they always can.
I'll stick with whats working for me from BT thank you very much and might keep a whistle handy for when these cowboys call back which i'm sure they will.
Yes -they got me too.
April 09, 2010wont bore you with the same details.
My so called contract is dated 11 march 2010.
Has any one managed to get a refund and get out of the monthly payments successfully yet? If so how did you do it?
Is there anything that I can do to minamise the damaged to my pocket?
We asked bt customer street to cancel our contract and refund the money. They refused.
April 12, 2010We threatened them with legal action, they still refused.
We contacted concept business systems who supplied a detailed report on bt customer street and a full explanation of why our campaign was failing. We sent the report to the court and BT promptly refunded every penny, including court costs.
You should see the report... it's no wonder we were losing £100p/m.
Don't get ripped off. Stay well away from customer street and if you've already been sucked in, try paul at concept.
I too have been scammed by this unscrupulous company. I wont bore you with all the details but the one difference and what I thought I was paying my m monthly fee for was being put on the 118500 telephone service. This was supposed to generate around 4 calls a month and was given an example that customers were getting up to 17.
April 14, 2010I was shown a website that looked good but my turned out to be nothing like that just a generic load of rubbish with a lot of incorrect information. I spent a lot of time putting it right!
As to date no of this has generated a single enquiry!
I cancelled my direct debit straight away, I have been contacted and told I have no legal rights to stop paying and they would be taking further action.
I feel miss sold and intimidated by these people who are try to bully me into handing over my hard earned money for nothing in return.
Regards Graham
PS I am more than willing to become part of an action group?
April 14, 2010Regards Graham
Dear All,
April 14, 2010RE: HOW TO USE YOUR WEBSITE
This is a msg to everyone who has been had by bt customer street. I REALLY hope that you find it useful!
I was approached the same way as all of u, same techniques, money debited similar etc. The girl I spoke to was obviously going through training and so she was being helped by her manager. They took great interest in my work which reeled me in more so I accepted! They didn't tell me about the cooling off period but from reading all your comments above, doesn't seem like it would've done me any good anyway! My account was debited!
After 2 weeks of waiting, I hadn't heard anything from them and really started thinking I'd been conned! After sending an email for an update, they did email back 2 days later saying they'd tried calling and to be fair, I did have ONE missed call. They sent me an electronic pack with my username and password! When I finally saw my website, my reaction was - what on earth is this??
When I logged in to check my account, I realised that I would have to add/edit EVERYTHING myself!
Now here's the bit where I hope I'm helping everyone:
I selected a tab that says 'page editor' at the top of the screen. You basically have to add more pages with your OWN content with keywords etc. U add your own pages, pictures etc! It helps if u have a fast pc/laptop as it takes quite a while to do all this when u have a slow one :(
When you're happy with what you've created on that one page, You then click a small icon in the left hand bottom corner which tests to see if that particular page u have just created will be enough for google to pick it up on a search! It guides u a little bit to which key words to use and if u use a word too much (for example: if your business is making cakes, and u type in Bakery 15 times on one page) it will tell u that google may pick this up as spam. After you've added content, edited and re-edited and added pictures too, u then save and publish the page (icon near the top of the page) and this goes live! U can also change which style & colour u want ur website to be but generally its the same font for every single one of our websites! You can also select what the layout is of each page!
When u think you've completed a page and u ask the toolbar on the left side to check it, it will say if that page has passed, ok or failed - this refers to how good it will be for google!
I have to be completely honest - it does take quite sometime to get used to. I've managed to make 7 pages and it took me about a week! I can edit the info to suit myself! The only thing bt customer street recommend is that u keep the first page the same - change and add the rest on the pages to follow! Even though I've only got 7 pages, they said to me they allow me to have 1000 pages (I think). That's a lot of pages! Remember to save and publish each page at a time! U can also choose which order u want each page to go in!
This process is ideal for those who have been suckered in like myself and who have a little time to put in to the website! Keywords for your business will pick up the website when your potential clients google for these keywords so eventually it will work!!
Now for my results to give u guys some hope:
I've had it live for about 4 weeks with the details I put in myself and its generated me about 12 enquiries. So please please please use this! If ur still tied in to the deal, take some time to get yourself familiar with it! If we can't beat them, we might as well use it to our advantage! ALSO, I'm now on the second page of google when I google using the keywords my potential clients would use! Ok its not exactly page 1 of google, but hopefully one day!
Think like your clients and hopefully it will get u some work!
Good luck to all of you! I really wish u all the best and hope this information will give u some success!
Rosie
From another mug - why is it that we still trust BT??????
April 15, 2010I have just had an agressive young man phone me saying that he has been monitoring my site for 3 weeks and seen that although there had been hits no one had stopped to look at it. LIke everyone else I thought that BT would do the web page input - not being a designer that's what I thought we were also paying them for. He then tried to entice me to let them design the site professionally for £1135 less what I had already paid....... Could I get through to him that I was not spending ANY more money on them..... in the end I thanked him and hung up - spitting nails.
I wish I had listened harder to my initial instinct to have nothing to do with BT Customerstreet.
Thanks for the page building advice I can see I will have to spend many hours at it.
I just Googled "BT Customer street" after a call sometime ago and paying to set up some web sites and found and read this site
May 08, 2010Anyway.
I got a call around 6 weeks ago and spoke to an oldish guy who explained about the BT directory and explained at (great) length about SEO (?), generic websites and Google......way too much info.
I do have a successful business thats benifited from the internet.
We do spend well over £7,000p.a on advertising in Yell.com (£2,500), Thomson local(£1,500) and local papers(£3,000).
I spent £650 and pay £120 a month + VAT. (£2000 for the year)
Happy to say that all 4 of my websites are on the first page of Google for 2 main areas of my building business.
The guy at BT told me the sites were not that great and were just "landing" pages....but then he went onto my site and re-wrote the whole lot and even called me afterwards to show me what to do!!!!!
I have added another 5 pages to each of the websites to cover other areas of my business and used my growing knowledge of SEO to get us found for some further areas that were expensive to advertise.
Anyway......the results
Yell.com.....2 jobs this year
Thompson....Not a sniff in a year
Local Papers....Have stopped it as it was a waste.
Internet.....3 jobs....so far !!
I am also going to pay £100 a month to Google for pay per clicks for another more specialised business area across the UK.
Considering that 1 single advert in my local paper costs me £120 for 3 nights (or £400+vat a month)
It's not been bad so far.
Sorry to add a fairly happy story to this but I thought some of the gripes need to be put into perspective.
Henry Ford said; 50% of marketing doesnt work....It's knowing which 50%
My original website cost me £2,000+vat 2 years ago and the developer charged my £50 a time just to change a few words or even add a picture.
Never once appeared on the 5th page of Google never mind the first page.
After reading some of the posts on here I should have pushed the guy for some more discount.
We've had no phone service for 2 weeks now (as of 8th May). Everytime I ring customer services (on mobile!) I get a different date for the 'engineers to do the work'. I am told I will get a refund for the line rental (because I didn't opt to have my call diverted) but no refund for the call package even though I effectively have no services.
May 08, 2010This is outrageous that you are expected to pay for a service that you are not getting.
Even more outrageous is that the work has so far taken 2 weeks.
I am very unhappy with the service I have received from BT. I initially paid an amount of apprx £350 and also pay £80 per month and have had no leads from them despite statements from BT stating I have had many clicks on my website in Google. It has now come to light that my direct debit details did not go through correctly and they want to collect a lump sum for the past 3 months. I am now in a quandary as I have been very dissatisfied with their service. My counselling service for Woking states that I work in London and my coun selling service for East London mentions Surrey - a complete screw up and I was told that it would cost me money to put this right. What will happen if I just refuse to pay??
May 10, 2010Mandy
Dear BT
May 14, 2010I have been in the VERY unfortunate position of growing my company, you may say" that's good" yes it has been until BT became involved, firstly I asked for my phone line and business 0844 number to be moved, maybe I should have given more than 2 month's notice! The new number worked but no 0844, why because the stupid movers team forgot to add it, when I pointed this out I was informed " it will be 3-4 days and if I wanted it as an emergency it would be £150.00, what a joke", as you can imagine by now my patience was thin so I told them to just get it done and I will contest the charge.
Finally I get my 0844 and landline on 24 hours later and lots of customers pretty upset, next problem the number BT gave me is only one of the largest car franchise company that went bang a couple of month's ago, so low and behold I am now inundated with angry customers who bought a Mercedes. I rang BT told them that what are the implications of changing to a different number," we can do that but your 0844 number will be 3-4 days later" I explained " I need my 0844 as it is my business line straight away" No problem sir that will be another £150.00, I then told the sales team "that they gave me a very large old usage number but as I cannot wait four days then just forget it" what have the idiots done now? Well I sit here today with no line and no 0844, this is after 3 calls and each one telling me "it is there fault, your business is important to us" and the other crap, this service has been appalling and has cost me two full days in lost business which I want compensating for as this has been a total failure to give customer satisfaction. I await the usual pre-programmed response!
Regards reluctantly
Steve Stuart
MD
Little Claire Designs
18 May 2010
May 18, 2010Dear Mr Rake
Complaints Procedure
I read with interest on your website the Inclusive Design Toolkit, which covers the Inclusive Design Process, focusing on the real needs of the customer and the business, and the development of solutions. The message from Sally Davis emphasises that the ‘process of service is focused, from the outset, on how to make it as useable as possible for as many people as possible’.
It goes on to say that ‘BT's strategy includes legal and regulatory requirements but is driven by our determination to be a market leader in customer services. I particularly like the bit about being determined to be a market leader in customer services.
I see that you as the Chair of the Board have overall responsibility for setting direction in the company’s vision, mission, values, ethics and business practice. I wonder what these are.
Also worthy of note is that you are employed to have complete oversight and control of the operating and performance of BT.
I wonder if you are aware of the following website which I found whilst looking up your BT website; it is called www.btcomplaint.com and has been set up by a disgruntled customer fed up with the poor customer service he received. It has hundreds of complaints from other BT users who also cannot get anywhere with their complaints, and it makes me wonder how many more complaints have not been lodged simply because people don’t have the time or the belief in your ability to resolve them.
Surely you as chairman of BT are concerned and would aim to change this negative image using all the above enthusiastically promoted strategic and operation policies, procedures and processes that we the customer are urged to buy into. I find it hard to believe that you and the rest of the Board would rather sit back and ignore all of this feedback.
Are you actually aware that all of your BT statements are sent out to customers with OUR COMMITMENT TO OUR CUSTOMERS written out on each of them? It states ‘We aim to give you an excellent service and our Code of Practice sets out full details of what you can expect from BT.
What the customer seems to have found is that it is nigh impossible to get their concerns and complaints addressed. For my part this is what has happened to me:
You are unable to sort out a problem that you created in the first place and which is still not sorted out and shows, Mr Rake, that you do not have a clue about what is going on at grass roots level within your organisation or the feeling of customer dissatisfaction that prevails across the UK.
Just a quick one im not working for bt customer street or with them in any way but there are alot of rip off companies around which say they are bt but are not. They say this to get payments and swindle money of you. So just make sure it's bt your speaking with.
May 19, 2010We are fed up to the teeth with BT Customer Street cold-calling us all the time.
May 21, 2010This is a mega, mega SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi everyone.
May 22, 2010Just to clarify the situation regaring BT Customer street.
I was also conned by the Business to Business contract sold to me by Customer Street.
Having gone through the process of trying to cancell I decided to make the most of a bad situation which was going to cost me £1200 over the next 12 months.
I logged into the control panel and built the website, including the index (first) page. This took about a week although I have to say that I have a lot of experience building web sites and found the software they are using very tiresome.
To be fair to Customer Street, the web site is now (8 months later) on page one of Google for the chosen keywords I picked.
Try to stick to keywords which are local to your area and relate to your domain name. Mine are "joinery rotherham" and the related keywords are "upvc fascia" "kitchens" "stairs" and a few more. Build your web site with a different page for each related keyword.
The web site, it has to be said, is bringing in some work for us and has certainly paid for its self.
I will still be cancelling the packages however because I cannot come to terms with the underhand selling methods used by Customer Street, and also becuase I am more than capable of building my own page one web site as demonstrated by the link above.(From the name Ken).
In conclusion, if you cannot cancell the contract with Customer Street, use the facilities for the 12 month period and see how it goes, put a little work into the web site and don't rely on Customer Street to build it for you. It doesn't work like that, only you know about your business and only you can write about it and remember, text is for Google, pictures are for customers.
Hop this has been helpfull.
Ken.
HI MY NAME IS ANDREW
May 25, 2010I HAVE ALSO BEEN CONNED BY BT CUSTOMER STREET IN OCTOBER 2009 AFTER A VERY HARD SALE AND PROMISING ME THE WORLD IT IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER . THEY CHARGED ME £470.00 INCLUDING VAT THEN £82.14 A MONTH
IT HAS GENERATED NO WORK AT ALL FOR ME IN FACT FROM OCTOBER 2009 TO FEBRUARY 2010 I COULD NOT FIND MY DETAILS ON GOOGLE OR ON UFINDUS I COMPLAINED MANY TIMES AND THEN FOUND OUT THE HAD SET IT UP ON THE WRONG DETAILS SUCH AS I LIVE IN BANGOR NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE HAD IT SET UP FOR BANGOR IN WHALES . I DEMANDED MY MONEY BACK TO WHICH THEY REFUSED SO I CANCELED MY DIRECT DEBIT AND HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT THREATENING PHONE CALLS FROM THEM AND THEN TONIGHT 25/5/2010 I WAS SENT AN EMAIL FROM BLACK'S COLLECTIONS DEMANDING I PAY £246.42 I DONT THINK I SHOULD PAY THEM ANYTHING AT LEAST NOT UNTIL I GET A REFUND FOR THEIR MISTAKE
DO NOT USE BT CUSTOMER STREET YOU ARE JUST THROWING YOUR MONEY DOWN THE TOILET
Call them, 01257 224268 & ask to be removed from their calling list!
May 27, 2010Just moved to a new property only to find that BT would charge me £125 for a connection on an existing contract and when I tried to cancel the contract they told me that my contract had automatically been renewed onto another 12 month contract as soon as the last one finished. Something I had no idea about. There excuse was that I had to phone and cancel it when the twelve months expired. How the hell is anyone really supposed to (if they work and have a life) do that.Now I'm paying around £87 pounds which is for every month remaining on contract and I recieve nothing for that. This is incredibly slimy and sneeky of BT to do this it serves only to benefit themselves at the expense of the customer. Why are big companies allowed to get away this kind of stuff?!?!
May 27, 2010Oh well, I'll never use BT ever again and I advice other people to do the same.
I've just had a call from them and initially I was interested. When I asked them to send me some literature or for their web address so that I could read about it for myself, they told me that if I did not make a decision straight away, they would offer the service to my competitors. I told them I did not appreciate their blackmailing techniques and did not want to hear from them again. Seems I had a lucky escape.
June 01, 2010is this the number that bt customer street call people on-01484467340,had a call of these pretending to be bt directoies trying to sell me some advertising at around £850.00 pa.luckily i told them to go away.phoned bt 0800 800 500 to tell them that i thought it was a scam,and they said this number wasnt anything to do with bt,yet googled the number and this web site is saying it is bt????any answers!
June 04, 2010From what I understand BT own BT customerstreet
June 05, 2010I have also been approached by this company. I called my local BT partner and they advised they knew of them not. I checked this internet and found this site.
June 08, 2010I sympathise with all who have been scammed, I have by others, which made me check these guys out.
Thanks to all of you who have taken the time and submitted your experiences and thus helping others, like me, avoid this scam.
Ufindus, Customer Street, BT Customer Street...They are the bain of small businesses and need to be closed down now!!
June 08, 2010I have just found out via the website sales dept. that Black's Collections are a part of BT Customerstreet, in the same building, in fact! Mark Woodacre who I spoke to at Black's said he was an intermediary between BT Customerstreet and me on the phone yesterday. Another give away. I cannot seem to gain access to their Accounts dept. very interesting.
June 11, 2010Does anyone know whether BT Customerstreet are a Ltd. company or a PLC? I would be interested to know.
June 11, 2010In answer to those who have asked why b.t has employed a company which is known for conning the public..i would assume it is because b.t are very good at conning the public too...as they are not honest...it would make sense they would have a strong affiliation with a company that uses the same dishonest practices..as their own.
June 11, 2010Why would this site and b.t need to screen posts unless they had something to hide?
June 11, 2010After many issues with b.t that they would not resolve i had said i would write to sir micheal rake where i was advised that if i did the letter would not get fully addressed by him but would just sent back to the same dept who have expressed...They are not fully willing to resolve it.I am quite amazed at the number of advisors or depts after a complaint has been made and allocated to a particular manager the complaint gets thrown in the bin because they claim the manager you had spoken to does not exist and therefore you could not have made a complaint...after offering b.t evidence of these phone calls...backed up by their own systems they still refuse to aknowledge the manager exists...i find this all very convenient.
June 11, 2010Usually it goes though so many managers you give up on the complaint because no one has a clue what you complained about to begin with even yourself as they get you so completely confused..as you are given so many versions of procedures..that are mostly all incorrect.
It so many problems are caused by useless incomptetent managers/advisors in several different call centres in 2 different countries who still havent a clue what b.t terms and conditions states..and are obviously trained by the same parrot to speak to customers!..they dont deal with complaints but spend half an hour asking the same questions and then parroting your response and when you ask them to give you a run down and what you have just said they laugh and seem embarrassed and then parrot the whole thing again..where do they get these people?
I'm yet another victim of this scamming company and the details are similar to what others have been saying.
June 12, 2010I cancelled my direct debit after three months as the website never appeared on page 1 of Google, but sometimes pages 5 or 6. Not as agreed. A search a couple of days ago gave results for keywords as page 2,14,22,28 and 43. Page 2 result was by using the words in the domain name, surprising if that didn't get a good ranking. Paul Cook at collections, in one of his garbled letters to me pointed out that he got a page 1 result, using the domain name as above. I don't think that SEO is his area of expertise somehow.
Suffice to say that I have not received any business for our holiday letting property through this site. We have not received one telephone call on the 0845 number supplied.
In the original telephone sales call no mention was made of the 'business to business' contract. The term was only brought to my attention in a recent letter from Paul Cook. No mention was made of the different components of the package - it was sold to me as a package but I subsequently realised that I could have had the website only for much less than the £80.00/month currently charged.
Anyway they are not charging it now and I'll fight them into the ground over it and seek a full refund.
This is a thoroughly nasty organisation and it makes it more galling in the fact that they trade on the BT name. I just went back to BT for my telephone service, yes of course another twelve month contract, but at the end of it goodbye BT.
Personally, I find it very hard to believe that this Customerstreet are really a part of the real BT organization. I think there is a fraud ring which needs to be broken as soon as possible. I can't believe that the real BT would behave in this way, even in today's difficult economic climate!
June 14, 2010By the way, I am still awaiting the outcome of the investigation into the money they owe me, despite having sent an attachment copy invoice to Mark Goodacre at Black's Collections (For Black's read BT Customerstreet. They also don't appear to reply to questions on their website within one working day as they PROMISE (promises seem to be made to be broken in their case).
June 14, 2010Apparently there is a similar ring (if my hunch is correct) around Business Online Directory. When I eventually managed to contact the REAL company, I wasn't even on their books, despite many different people demanding I owed them money, using Online Business Directory. Is the same thing happening here with BT Customerstreet, possibly? Just my opinion, but how can we bring them to account if this is the case?
June 14, 2010A reply from a government dept. I received very recently which seems to reinforce my earlier suspicions.
June 15, 2010Dear Erik,
Thank you for your email.
Thank you for your email regarding BT Customerstreet. Unfortunately we were unable to find any trace of a company by this name on our register in the last 20 years.
Please check the spelling of the company name or, if possible, supply us with the company's registered number, which should be found on the company's business letters and order forms also as of 01 January 2007 the company registration number should be available via the company website, if applicable. The company may be using a trading name, in which case its company name should be displayed wherever it carries on business and shown on its stationery and invoices.
However, it is also important to make sure that you are searching for a type of business that needs to be registered. Companies House only registers private and public limited companies, limited liability partnerships, and certain other corporate types. There is no central registry for unincorporated businesses, such as sole traders or partnerships.
Yours faithfully,
Jenny Norval
Companies House Contact Centre
enquiries@companies-house.gov.uk
I have just been advised by BT Customerstreet that my invoice to them for over £1000 is invalid. In response I have told them that I therefore consider their invoice to me for £35.19 is also invalid. I stand by my original statement that until they pay their invoice to me, I will not pay theirs. The number came through from 01524 543399.
June 15, 2010Can't believe it - but stupidly I agreed to the high pressured sales calls and agreed to £600 one off fee and £129 pm. Something in the back on my mind told me that I should be more prudent and check out the provider in more details - but the BT branding reassured me and I stupidly provided my Debit Card details... only to stumbe across this site a few days afterwards.
June 15, 2010I have now put in a call to cancel but have been told taht an advisor will call me back in 5 working days... Looks like I can kiss goodbye monies paid. Feel so stupid! AaaaaaaAAARRRGH!
To get BT Customerstreet to pay YOUR invoice to them promptly, try contacting 01524 543399 as soon as possible. I'm sure they'll give you excellent service!
June 15, 2010BT CustomerStreet is a trading name of BT Directories Ltd. It is not registered in its own right.
June 16, 2010I'm aware that BT are making significant changes in an effort to resolve some of the issues with the service. However, it's very much a case of "too little, too late". For those unlucky enough to be in a contract, the only way to resolve it is to take them through the small claims track. Do not refuse to pay the bill or cancel your direct debit, that isn't the right way to resolve a legal dispute. Pay on time and in full; don't give them any ammo to use against you in court. Build your case, contact an expert if necessary (mindful of the fact you can only claim £200 for expert fee's through the small claims track) and stand your ground.
It seems a lot of people have been taken in with this group BT customer street including myself i am paying £69.00 a month i need to get out of it some how i have not had one call, it is draining my income. please help anyone
June 16, 2010I have also been a customer of BT customer street. The web site was actually OK and the very few clients I got from it commented that they thought it was nice. The main thing is that it generated very little business and was not worth what I paid for it which seems to be a bit more than some of the other folk making comments about it. I would suggest not using this company as the website (even if they are OK) simply do not generate the business. The intital set up fee seems reasonable by comparison to other companies, but is is the additional monthly costs that make it a very expensive option.
June 18, 2010I have been forced to pay my invalid invoice for 35.19 to BT Customerstreet to safeguard the threat of legal action and my wife's health. I now hope they will pay my itemized invoice (theirs was in the nature of a demand)for just over £1000 in due course!
June 18, 2010I trust that Anonymous above who paid £600 and then set up paymant for £129.00 per month will just stop his direct debit. That is what I now do with all unwanted direct debits through my internet banking, do they really deserve it for the shabby 'service' they provide?
June 18, 2010Don't forget to stop your monthly direct debits payments to this outfit if you are dissatisfied, kick them where it hurts! If you have internet banking, you can do it as easily as anything, just go for it. They'll have to cave eventually, surely! They have everything they deserve coming to them if we all pull together.
June 21, 2010No reply from my MP or Watchdog on my latest updates to them about the disgusting behaviour of BT Customerstreet, but I'm going to kick them till it hurts.
June 21, 2010I'm still warning all my friends and networks to avoid BT Customerstreet like H1N1 or the Black Death.
June 21, 2010I don't think BT Customerstreet would understand fairness if it stared them in the face! They are only interested in themselves, customers are just people to be duped and fleeced!
June 21, 2010To anonymous on June 16th. It's your money, just get the bank to stop your monthly payments, if you have internet banking you can do this quite easily. If not, explain it to your bank that they don't deliver what they promise and that you refuse to pay any more. Your bank should look after your money for you, not let it get into the hands of these sharks.
June 21, 2010To anonymous dated June 16th., we need to drain their account, put them out of business, they should be generating it for us. Stop the payments ASAP. Don't be intimidated, if this is a ring as I think it is, you won't hear any more. It's more important that you stay in business than them!
June 21, 2010I don't know how they dare to call this a service, it brought me nothing but pain and aggravation!
June 21, 2010I too have been subjected to a relentless "hard sell" by BT Customer Street. I was even called a "battle-axe" by the salesman and was hounded while out at meetings and shopping. In the first instance I was told that my current web marketing company only got me on the right hand side on the first page of Google and that they, BT, would get me on the right hand side and I won't swear by this, but thought he said "guaranteed first page" which he later rescinded. The upshot was that I declined to sign up because the total annual bill was somewhere in the region of £1,500 p.a. which as a small business was not worth it nor could I afford it. The salesman then reverted and halved this cost to £235 start up and £40 per month.
June 21, 2010I now find that I cannot afford this service and that in fact the reports say that it isn't very good so I phoned up to cancel it last week under the terms of the "21 day cooling off period". I am now told that this is only 5 days and that I am legally contracted to continue with this service, subject to them find reference to the 21 days on the recorded conversation with the salesman. I won't hold my breath on this one but live in hope that BT will do the honourable thing.
i have had a bt customerstreet add for about 10 months- what a con i paid £400 + 69+vat each month never want anything to do with bt after this, they didnt send a welcombe pack, although they said they did.ive never had 1 call from any adds placed and when i tell them how bad there service is i get disconnected, wasted about 1200 ,please ,please dont have anything to do with bt customerstreet, they are thieves
June 22, 2010persistant buggers too - kept ringing back even when i told em to f**k off!
July 05, 2010I'm still awaiting payment of my invoice sent to BT Customer Street. They hounded me for payment of £35.19 after a few days, but they won't pay my invoice! When can I expect payment?
July 07, 2010I don't have any complaints about BT and probably never will have. I don't use them anymore for anything not even my line rental, and wouldn't use them even if there were the last telecoms company left in the world. Talking to the wall achieved the same results as talking to a BT representative. I did use BT for everything at one time, including their top or the range broadband package, now I wouldn't use them, even if they paid me.
July 15, 2010Peter
BT are a joke & this is a rip off. Can any one help me get out of this contract, ive been with them for two months and like everyone else i have had no calls. Today i got a whole £5 off my monthly charge( what a joke) which is still £35 plus VAT plus the set up fee for a web site that looks like it took 5 minites to do. From what i have read there is not one happy customer. if you can offer me any help regarding this matter then please contact me at J.E.M.PLUMBING@HOTMAIL.CO.UK
July 20, 2010One of my clients got 'stung' by this - and some black hat SEO to boot (keyword stuffing in the header and footer). Helping to rectify his online marketing mess, I found that in order to transfer out your domain name (at a cost of £15) one must call the number quoted in the Control Panel to obtain the 'key' is out of service.
July 21, 2010"We will provide you with a licence key that will enable you to go online and complete the transfer process.
Please call 0870 755 5088**.(Lines are open 9am - 5:30pm, Monday - Friday.)"
Guess what? Not in service.
That and you have to call CS (a gatekeeper), then they have someone call you back, then another person will call back to confirm.
And forget the FAQ's, 'nothing found' is what I usually get. One empty database methinks.
Now to cancel, you must WRITE to them. Great.
We did.
hi everyone my name is mark from cwm we have also been had by bt customer st we found their conduct very intimidateing,and their service had no responce,and they had the wrong info,but still wanted payment
July 29, 2010This is the worse web company ive ever come accross.A total waste of time and money.Do not sign up with them as they have no idea how to run a web site.Why have they changed their name at companies House a few times????. you have to book an appointment to speak to an accounts manager which takes 5 days!!! All keywords are wrong etc etc. I have made several complaints to sort this out.I have just cancelled my bank account so I am not paying them a penny more.Crap Crap Crap
July 31, 2010Dont sign up no matter what they promise you.
This posting was found on a Customer complaint website today 31/7/10.
I joined this in February and when i first saw the finished product , i cringed ; it was as if a 6 year old had written it ..the grammar was awful and it was obvious they didn't have any understanding of my business. After being sure i was scammed i came across this site and my heart sank .
August 05, 2010BUT.....
After spending a week of evenings following the web site builder instructions on a fast learning curve ..I HAVE TO ADMIT ..Its paid my money back over and over ..i have secured some major customers in my field ..its way better than 6K i have been spending on yell.
THE PRODUCT IS GREAT ...they are miss selling it ...They are selling you a great web builder that will get you on the first page of google with as many keywords as you like ..BUT .. YOU HAVE TOO BUILD IT ..
Spend the time (and yes i am short of it too) but time spend on it is money in the bank ;-)
To the last poster... so it got you to page one on Google? That's funny because I work as an SEO and I know that a sitebuilder can't just get you to page one on Google. I know what it entails and no sitebuilder alone could do this.
August 06, 2010Would you mind sharing with us your URL and/or keywords that you're on page one for then?
Unfortunately I worked for this company last summer. They train you to offer a package with a monthly fee plus a one off set up charge, this initial fee can be lowered considerably. The websites are poor quality. I am not quite sure of how to cancel but if you contact the salesperson who rang and ask to speak to the manager at the time they may be able to help. Working for them was awful, suffice to say i only lasted 10 weeks. I would be happy to answer any questions people may have if i could.
August 09, 2010I too am a very dissatisfied BT Customerstreet Customer.
August 10, 2010I have written to them today requesting a full refund.
I would advise anybody who is thinking of dealing with them to keep hold of their cash and do something more useful with it.
Based on my own experience, it will not improve your business. It will not even pay for itself. So do yourself a big favour and tell them you are with the Telephone Preference Service and that they are not to phone you anymore.
If you are paying for the service then think very carefully about if you want to continue with it. I have cancelled and I have no regrets.
Thanks to the owner of this site for providing a place for comments. I only wish I had known about it earlier.
In conclusion: Do not do business with them.
Well, It now turns out that even most of the older management team have left and they are also looking to take them to court for not paying them the bonus's they had earnt. Not only are BT ripping of customers but also their staff. A friend of a friend has confirmed that at least one maybe more of there managers are or have recieved court dates to expose them (BT) as con artists who only care about themselves.
August 11, 2010Hi all
August 11, 2010Came across this today and thought i would have my say.
I to got caught out by not just BT CUSTOMER STREET/DIRECTORIES but i also got caught by UFINDUS. lol, if you dont laugh you cry, right?
I paid around £600 to the sales lady over the phone, then around £120 per month for three months.
On my first conversation with BT DIRECTORIES the sales lady guaranteed me at least ONE CALL A DAY. Yes it was a recorded conversation, but they were the ones recording. Grrrr...
After three months i phoned up to complain about mis-selling and they told me they would look into it. I phoned back complaining again because they did not get back to me and i asked for a copy of the original phone conversation. like someone mentioned in an earlier post, i am a Limited Company so i can not have a copy.
I instantly from that moment stopped my direct debits as i thought they would keep taking the money but resolve and refund my money. That after reading these posts was the right decision.
I now get a COMPLIANCE EMAIL once a month, but they do not ask for money.
This is what the email says, but my details are not included.
I refer to your recent allegation of mis-selling by our company which was passed to the BT Directories Compliance Team for investigation on 2010-03-10
Unfortunately we have not yet received the outcome of the investigation. Please accept our apologies for the delay. We will be in contact as soon as an outcome is received.
Whilst your case is under investigation we are regrettably unable to comment any further at this time. However, if you require assistance with any of your other products please call 0845 338 0500.
We will keep you updated on a regular basis.
Kind Regards
The Customer Relations Team
BT Customerstreet
Dear Sir/Madam,
August 12, 2010I am absolutely disgusted with the service that Bt DID NOT GIVE TODAY. There was a major breakdown with bt services which meant that from 2pm today no calls could be made or received and the problem has still NOT been resolved. I live on my own and am suffering SEVERE PANIC AND ANXIETY ATTACHS AS A RESULT OF THIS OUTCOME. Can someone please contact me on 01253 855639 (when my line IS working) as I am demanding a good will gesture for this great INCONVENIENCE. No news was sent out in any shape or form. The line just went down and I cannot seny any emails either. What kind of servie are you NOT REPEAT NOT PROVIDING to your loyal customers.
Miss Jenny Edwards
Account No; LC 2331 1306. I AM THOROGHLY DISGUSTED!!!!!!!!
@Brian H
August 16, 2010Whilst I understand your frustration, cancelling your direct debit and refusing to pay is not the correct way to resolve the dispute.
I've worked on many similar cases against BTCS; it's rarely black & white enough (from a legal standpoint) to justify cancelling the payments. My advice would be to pay the balance, ensure you make it plain that it's in dispute and you intend to take further action.
Send a chq for £10 to head office along with a letter requesting a copy of the sales tape. If the invoices are addressed to you, you can place a S.A.R (subject access request). S.A.R's and the DPA don't apply in a business to business deal, though BT rarely check and will simply forward the copy anyway.
If you do decide to take it to litigation, you will be contacted by BT's legal team (who from experience, are undergraduates with little to no experience or understanding of CPR) and will make several outlandish claims in an attempt to convince you to back down. Ignore them, seek professional advice if necessary (mindful of the limits set out in Part 35 and PD 27.14a) and push head.
The absolute first thing you must do is pay the balance. If it goes to court, you need to be able to show the Judge that you've taken the correct steps to mitigate any damage to your business. Simply pulling the plug on your agreed payment method is frowned upon; and even if you have a strong basis for complaint, I wouldn't entertain fighting a case when you're already on the back foot.
Good luck.
I also used to work for them and know first hand the lies they tell you too say, this is a company that works off paper and has no record of who they call, its just a random thing each day.
August 17, 2010They told us to say things like 'you the best plumber in your area and we would like to get you the top search listing on Google and a unique domain name etc'..
The website is really cheap and you will receive a call from them a week after buying it, telling you its crap and they can upgrade it for you ay cost lol.
During my training they showed us clips from the film 'Boiler room' a film about sales people ripping people off and saying anything to get the sale.
On my 3red day when they told me its ok to lie and streatch the truth, I quit.
Just remember that there sales people are actually allowed to sell the whole package for £150 but they start a lot higher to fleece you.
BT did not buy the company they purchased all of there trade listings and domain names etc.. and decided to leave the company trading for a coule of years to see what there like.
Wont be long till there gone.
Hi there , I had a call yesterday ! they said they want to takeover my business that i'm doing which is home business like data entry and i had like an hour conversation with them a guy called john rowland or joe? any one know him? I asked him if he can takeover my business say bout £500-£1000 then they go they need to see my business so i sent them a e-mail and then they go they`ll go ahead with the business but with bt customerstreet and they kept saying they chargeing £4.99 or £9.99 and i'm like okay but 2hrs later after reading the contract it said £99 monthly i have to pay and £600 one off payment then i feel like a fool now! now i'm getting my refund back! thank god! Stupid company like BT will go nowhere! unless it's rich people
August 17, 2010my company was ripped off aswell by bt customer street. sooo many lies there full of it.
August 25, 2010Now ive cancelled my bt phone line and will never trust them again.
Stay well clear.
From freeflow property services ltd.
Not going to write too much here but I used to work for Iomart Internet Ltd (now part of BT) as a sales person. I used sales tactics that I'm not proud of, but it's drummed into you to get sales no matter what. Plus this is also due to the fact that you can earn big money if you're a top sales person. I was young and stupid and went along with it for a while, but I saw the light soon enough.
August 27, 2010The package that they offer has been sold under many different guises over the years: Rapid Rank, Ufindus etc. My advice is "don't touch it with a barge pole." It SOME cases it works well, but it's no better than what you can get from a local reputable web design agency.
My suggestion is to get a well written (so the search engines pick it up) website from a design agency, and then do your own marketing using Google Adwords, it's really really easy. Learn about it on the internet and save yourself a fortune and get some quality hits.
Recently I was gutted to hear that the vet practice my partner works for was duped by BT Customerstreet. If only I had got to them first!
I was really lucky and got a full refund.
August 27, 2010I asked to speak to the guy who sold me the package, they refused me that request and when I asked why they said he wasn't my account manager, although he claimed he was. I made a couple of accusationsof which they must have been guilty of because as I said I got offered a full refund which I took. I still get 5 calls a week from them although I have requested a dozen times to be taken off their call list.
Terrible
September 02, 2010I was told that it would be a all singing and dancing site, they took £149. and want £49 a month. For what i could have build that website myself. Then i was told that i need to pay an extra £700 if i want the site that does what i need, £700 please. Thats over £1000 pounds to build a website, which you can probably get done privatly for £300,are the crazy or just rip off's
BT SHOULD PULL THERE FINGER OUT & STOP LOOKING AT REVENUE & START THINKING ABOUT REPUTATION
Basically it's a sham we have been taken for a ride.
I have just found out that the Original people that started the scam Ufindus/Iomart have started up again after selling the company to BT.
September 03, 2010I got a call from Local Link Up in Lancaster offering me free internet exposure etc, etc.
Then hit me with a similer line as BT Customer Street and a bill.
I would be very carefull of Local Link up as I have already found internet discussions regarding this scam
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