A HUDDERSFIELD mother is facing yet another battle with her telephone supplier over ‘lost’ payments.
Last autumn, mother of two Sarah Taylor, from Deighton was left without a landline for three months because of confusion over payments.
Her line was eventually reinstalled, thanks in part to the Examiner.
But now she is facing being cut off again because of a mix-up over payments.
Miss Taylor, of Glenfield Avenue, has just received a bill from BT for £500, despite having paid £240 on her BT payment card over the past few months.
But when she contacted BT to query the matter, she was told that they had no record of ever receiving any money, and that she shouldn’t have been using the payment card as it was for her old account.
Furthermore, the £240 had not been credited to her old account, and just seems to have disappeared.
She said: “BT told me that there is nothing they can do.
“When I first called them, they said that I couldn’t use the payment card, and that the £240 I’ve paid is not showing against my new account. But they said it’s not in my old account either.
“They told me I have to provide them with receipts for the payments I made, but unfortunately I didn’t keep them.
“Deighton Post Office have said that they will try to trace the payments I’ve made there, but my local Pay Point said they can’t help because of the volume of transactions they deal with.
“BT could cut me off any time,” she added
With two small children to look after, China, aged six, and eight-month-old Valentine, Miss Taylor relies on her landline in case of emergencies.
“I think it’s disgusting that they can just lose £240,” she said, “It’s a lot of money.
“I called BT a second time, and the person I spoke to was more helpful.
“But when I said I was concerned that I would be cut off, she just said that someone would call me back.
“This is what happened last time, and nobody ever did, so I’m really concerned that it’s all going to happen again.”
Ian Falkingham, 41, is the office manager at Deighton Post Office where Miss Taylor made some of the payments. He said: “I know she’s paid in money on numerous occasions.I will try to go through our transaction records but it really is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“It is important that people keep their receipts, just in case something like this happens,” he added.
A BT spokesman said: “We would like to reassure the customer that we are fully investigating her complaint and that there is no question of her line being disconnected while investigations are underway.
“We have a an extremely robust and resilient system for receiving and processing customer payments and will keep the customer informed until this issue is completely resolved.”
