19 March 2007
A Suffolk pensioner has decided to abandon his internet phone in favour of his landline after BT's billing madness meant that he received one bill for his broadband use at £22 and another separate one for his internet phone, costing 31 pence.
Pip Elton, 80, told Suffolk and Essex Online: "It costs me the price of a stamp to send a cheque and then there is the cost of processing the cheque, not to mention how much it costs BT to produce and send out multi-page bills for such a small amount of money.
"I read somewhere that a customer in the same situation as me had stuck coins on a piece of paper and sent that off - I think I might do that next time instead!" he joked.
Despite repeated attempts, Mr Elton failed when he tried to get through BT's customer service system to speak with someone about the matter, resulting in him considering terminating his contract altogether.
"The biggest attraction to me when I got BT Broadband Talk last July was the connection speed and if the subscription wasn't such a good deal financially then I would cancel my contract," he said.
Mr Elton has now resigned himself to stick with his landline phone for making calls in future.
But a spokesman for the telecommunications company, Jason Mann, insisted that to switch Mr Elton onto one monthly bill was a "straightforward procedure" and vowed to have someone contact the pensioner to talk him through it.
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