SLAMMING

[Jayc]

Anyone familiar with the term 'Slamming', unfortunately I discovered it today. Its when another company takes over your business telephone line without you knowing. A rival communications firm KCT took over my BT business line without my permission this July, Bt apparently have little power over such practiises and all they can do is cancell the rival companies order. I was approached by KTC back in May and to be fare their terms sounded great compared to BT, i even gave them my details i was that impressed. However when I went to BT to advise them that i was thinking of taking up with another company they sprung the penalty cluase thing on me, so i went back to KCT and declined their offer. They seemed ok about it and said if they could be of service int the future etc etc. However today 18/8/10  I received an invoice from KCT re July/Aug bill ! I called up KCT and they said they were in control of my business line. I then called BT who said they were also in control of my business line, but they ceased to charge me for calls July/Aug... Why? Because the account had been taken over by KTC. But I had not given any authority for this to happen. This took up most of my morning hence time I should have been working. I have basically been paying 2 companies this July/Aug for my line rental plus VAT!! I would like to hear from any other small business that have experienced the same - slamming......and what course of action did yoy take? So far ive emailed OFCOM and Bt says they will cancell the take over, fab.

[emma]

If anyone could contact me via email <email address removed by Moderators> to disscuse this KCT scam it would be much appreciated. thanks emma louise

[wendymclorinan]

I think I was almost slammed by a company called TML.  A girl called (I have her name and Mobile on my file).  Began saying she was from BT wholesale TML.  After about 40 minutes of blinding me with prices she asked for our bank details.  This is when I got suspicious and said I would contact BT Business just to check they were part of BT.  She then backed out and said she wasn't part of BT but left me her mobile in case I changed my mind.  This was in February 2010.  I keep records of everything!  I get calls like this all the time but she sounded so convincing.

[chrisbtlbnewcas]

Without a doubt, the communications industry can be a confusing beast.

BT Wholesale are the part of BT Group PLC that own the telephone exchanges and the line. There are countless service providers that buy services from BT Wholesale who then selll to you, the end customer. The BT that you all pay your bills to are just one of these service providers. TML and KCT are also service providers, they buy the services from BT Wholesale (or via a thid party service provider) and sell them on to you. Because these lines all sit on the same BT Wholesale network, it's very simple to transfer services between service providers. The process to transfer between providers is regulated by OFCOM but based on the experiences shared so far in this posting, it's clear that there are some providers that might be exploiting the order systems that allow service provider migration to take place. 

As stated, the way in which service providers engage end customers and the way in which they deal with other service providers is governed by OFCOM, specifically "General Condition 24 on Sales and Marketing of Fixed-Line Telephony Services". This set of rules can be downloaded from OFCOM's website:- http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/telecoms/policy/narrowband/statement.pdf

Download this document, read it and then pick out the parts that you believe have been breached by the company that you suspect has slammed you (section 24.6 would be a good place to start although I believe a good number of you may well take issue with every point in this set of rules). Contact OFCOM, tell them the sections that you believe the company to be in breach of and request an immediate resolution. Alternatively, contact one of the Admins that are monitoring these posts and let them know so BT can act quickly to help you get your service back. Every case that can be brought to BT will give them the power they need to get OFCOM to take the reglatory action required to stop this practice.

The TML issue is slightly different. Whilst there is no suggestion that slamming has taken place there is a suggestion that there is some misrepresentation of the BT brand. No service provider should feel the need to mention BT Wholesale (the big supermarket chains don't tell you who their suppliers are). This is clearly a cold call so perhaps this sales person felt that it is easier to engage potential customers and prevent an instant hang up by slipping those magic two letters into the opening pitch? I couldn't comment but I do know that this company is not a BT Retail agent (BT Retail being the service provider that you buy your services from).

BT does have third party agents who are in a postition to sell BT. There is a part of BT called BT Indirect Partner Sales who have a number of Authorised Partners (I represent one of those partners). My company is classified as a Distribution Partner and in turn we have a good number of select companies that engage end customers to sell the BT portfolio. We can be clearly identified by the BT logo that we are allowed to use. As a partner, my company uses the "Authorised Partner of BT" logo and our resellers use the "Reseller for BT". If you are contacted by an agent claiming to be connected to BT, ask for their website address and go and visit it (take a look at my company website address in my details and you will see the legitimate logo). If their BT relationship is legitimate, you should see either the Partner or Reseller logo on their website. To clarify, this will be the full colour BT Globe with the statements "Authorised Partner of" or "Reselller for" preceding it and NOT the full colour Globe logo on it's own or the BT Wholesale logo which is green.

I hope this has been of some use.

[laurafleming]

hi

same probs with KCT, Think and well hoping its all over, let me know if i can help you with any advise.

They sent me county court papers to pay or go to court, i opted for court, after sending all my relevant paperwork to the court i was awaiting a date for the hearing, but surprise surprise KCT didn't send the relevant paperwork to the court and the court has now thrown it out of court.......... now its my turn to chase them to regain my loses of charges from my previous supplier, they need to pay up or i will be taking them to court.

wish me luck

laura

[Leigh101]

Hi Laura

Yes I have been through court stages with KCT.  The judge basically threw the claim out as didn't make sense. If you want any advice or support, then email me on h_leigh101@yahoo.co.uk.

  🙂

[KS]

I have been trying to contact BT all day - to report 'slamming' or "Misselling' on our business  Broadband. We received an email from BT today, saying that Our business Broadband is to be stopped on 23 December. WE DID NOT AUTHORISE THIS CHANGE or approach any other providers.

After many hours on the phone to BT I was told to phone Aquisitions on 0800 1695067 to stop the order. There is a recorded message on this line (apparently the only line that we can get action to stop the order on), saying that the line is not operating. We urgently need our Order to stop our Broadband CANCELED. At no time did we request it being stopped and it will result in a loss of business. This is the latest of a series of errors on BTs part. We decided to stay with BT despite 3 months of problems with Business Broadband in July to Oct, but are now very angry and frustrated as we now have another problem that we cannot get a sensible solution from BT for via any of their phone lines or email addresses.

[gilb76]

I have had similar experiences with KCT as many others on this forum.  They rang me a few days after I set up my new BT business line pretending to be from BT.  They set up a London and Zurich Direct Debit which I fortunately deleted before they took any money.  They sent me bills after the contract was cancelled.  They admitted to re-instating the cancelled account after I had cancelled it without my knowledge.  They promised to send me a recording of the conversation I had with their rep and haven't.  They have sent me another statement with additional charges and have chased by phone for payment which they are not owed.  Can I advise that anyone caught by these guys should send them an invoice for loss of earnings.  I have.  And also have a look at their "testimonials".  "Cramp Sports" is owned by a Karl Cramp - spookily similar to KCT's MD K. Cramp.  "DLC" are, I suspect, the PI agency they use, Alison Leah is, according to LinkedIn, a PA at....you've guessed it, KCT.  Finally AM Partnership Limited have, according to Companies House, a previous trading name of "BODGET, BILLIT and SCARPER ACCOUNTANCY SERVICES LIMITED" - the name was changed 08/03/2004.

[marytheresa]

Hello,

I just wanted to thank you for your article which I found informative and helpful.

I was contacted by TML yesterday and they said that they had a contract with BT.

It was when I heard them mention BT that I thought that they were safe and legitimate.

They are also very persuasive, and told me that I would not be penalised in any way by BT when they took over the cost of my line renta.

I checked with BT this am and was told that they had never heard about them.

I contacted TML and was given the sales spiel again.

I then decide to do some research and found your article.

I have now cancelled my contract with them.

Thank you again.

I am a sole trader and would be grateful if you happen to know whether I can go on a different bundle with BT wholesale in order to save me money.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mary

[lindasymons]

Hi 

I recently opened a business in September.  I was approached by a company TML whom I told I already had a contract with BT.  They insisted they could offer far better terms and would save me loads of money but needed my account details to check if I had a contract.  They were supposed to come back to us with an answer.  A few weeks later I received a bill from them but they had never called us  back.

However I already had a call package with BT and it would have been pointless paying again for my calls as I had quite a lot of free minutes in the bundle, as well as capped mobile calls, etc.

Same story from BT - they could not stop them taking over the line. When I refused to pay any bills ( I cancelled the DDR they had unilaterally set up) they wrote a derogatory letter to my Nursery Manager - insisting she authorised the deal.

In fact she merely listened to the seller - mostly they spoke so fast she could not understand half of what they said, and the company then refused to deal with me, the sole owner of the business. They wanted nearly £600 to cancel the "contract".  They also wrote that they had numerous correspondence from us (I had only written one letter), and then all of a sudden they cut the line so I could not make any outgoing calls.  BT told me it was slamming and I will now deal with BT sales so they can reclaim the line calls.