Anger over BT charges for a phone line which hasn’t been used

In yesterday’s Sunday Times, Hunter Davies wrote a short piece in which he questioned BT’s charges, after receiving a bill for £46.62 on a line which hadn’t been used in the previous 3 months. He discovered that £36.89 of this figure was actually a payment made in advance for the next 3 months, and £4.50 of the charge was for not paying by direct debit. This £4.50 charge has been challenged by many people in the past, such as John Slater, an Oldham pensioner mentioned in a previous blog entry. Davies wants to get his own back on BT, so he has calculated a scale of charges, where he calculates how much it would cost to pay a BT bill, which he intends to send to BT staff in Durham. He considered 5 different costs: Envelope and stamp (62p), writing out a cheque (£5), use of pen (£1), damages (£10) and time spent (£30) These costs add up to £46.62, the precise amount which BT are charging for Davies not to use his phone.