BT Customer Street review: Fraudulent company 45

This company has no regard for its customers, customer service is the worst i've ever seen. Quality of websites are beyond words, im sure the web designers are amatures.
I am advising EVERYONE stay away from this fraudulent company, which preys on humble small time businesses during times of a recession.
Shame on BT..

The quality of the websites is appalling. But what is probably of even greater concern is that if you ever challenge them on their dreadful product they will start to harass you. Today I have had seven calls from this company. On the last occasion I was sworn at and physically threatened. Customer Street should be shut down.

Hello!

I just got a "lengthy" conversation with a "Tim", today, Cold-Calling me from an alleged "BT Directories site"..: the so-called site is listed & viewable from:

http://www.btcustomerstreet.com/btdirectories/

* The guy was trying to get get me to pay up as we spoke;

* would not send me any litterature through the post;

* and, their "GETTING REGISTERED" link does not lead to any actual page to fill in...(only through the Cold-caller, as he said);

*More importantly, there is NO Company Number Registration or, any other link into any other current & existing BT service - for us to check wether it is Real or a Con.

Of course, I wasn't interested in settling ANYTHING on a cold call.
And, giving Bank details whatsoever (even as the Owner of my Business, I'd have Partners to suggest it to, first...>>

"TIM" would get annoyed with this, by the way..: "£3.99 to register on the 4 "search engines + 118500 ; then, also £19.99/ month from Now and thereafter- to allegedly set a webpage you can update anytime / and a webname they put in free...">>>"TIM" even got propping, in the background..from someone else..

IT'S A DEFINITE CON ! Am not happy some people blatantly think Business people can be so stupid (and, any person, for that matter!..)

the (UK) Telephone N0, I just got called from: [protected]

BEWARE, PEOPLE !

I'VE JUST BEEN COLD-CALLED BY 'LUCY POOLE' ON [protected]. SHE WOULD'T SEND OUT ANY LITERATURE, WANTED £299 PLUS VAT TO SET UP, &£70 MTHLY THEREAFTER. BT NO LONGER OWN THIS PART OF CO. ACCORDING TO HER THEY SOLD IT FOR XXX £ MILLIONS. HMMMM!
DISCRETION REQUIRED
KATY

Its working for us, they did exactly what they told me they would do. maybe some people could check facts and maybe listen to what they are telling you, yeah we were sceptical so we asked for email confirmation with the bt directories disclaimer my boy friend then phoned bt who confirmed the registration number. my web site was on google very quickly i was surprised, the websites not too important but google analytics tells me that my e commerce site is generating more hits from the customer street site than from any where else, including google, hits means sales, so i am definately happy.
wedding jewellery barrow into google we are no 1

I am someone who has had dealings with BT Customer street. Not one enquire has been recived from of my web site, that they put together. No one was able to help me to sort this out. I have had lots of phone calls from them, saying how mistaken I was about the service thay said I would get. I have the letter and will look at taken this on all the way. a wast of money and time. someone out there must be ableto sort this company out. DO NOT USE BT CUSTOMER STREET.

complete con men and if you was completely miss sold like i was on a bunch of lies. and if you complain they dont want to know they wont let you cancel the website will cause my business more harm than good its amature and child like then they have the check to send you something saying ive had 500 hits it 1 month yea ok hows comes i have had not 1 call its all ### they get aggressive if you question them and in my eyes i have just given them £300 for nothing ive canceled the direct debits and will not be giving them anymore of my hard earned money. cheating conman ###!

i want my money back!

shaun bryant

all completely true,
simply one of the worst companies you can deal with. ever.

Dreadful company and the rudeness is beyond belief, they're doing a good job of destroyed the BT brand ...

i agree with all the comments.btcustomerstreet called me up on the 9th july this year, a guy called tim told me he could get me a premium listing website which would get me 40 new kleeneze distributors per month.he then said it worked for people who done kleeneze in england.i have since been left with a useless free build website which cost £500 to start up, £114 per month, and nno chance of cancelling, even though i only done kleeneze 2 hours per week.BTCUSTOMERSTREET SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN.WHY ARE BT AS A COMPANY ALLOWED TO GET AWAY WITH THIS.IT IS PROFIT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.SHAME ON THEM

I agree entirely. I am a sole trader in the alternative therapy business. They cold called me (someone called John Prempeh) used BT`s once good name to lull me into a false sense of security. They then told me that they would get me on the first page of Google. I was ripped off there and then for over £400 (£650 in total). The website I received was simply a free build type which I could have done myself for nothing. They lied and misled me for months. My business never appeared on the first page usually it was page five, or eight and for only half of the key phrases they said it would. They are a blatantly fraudulent company. And their so called accountabilty manager a one Graham Armstrong is as pathetic as his staff and is accountable only for continuing to steal from ordinary people.

Tony.

Why have BT not responded to this long list of complaints about one of their companies?

Don't BT care about the way their brand has been dragged through the mud?

Obviously not.

And that's why I have now cut all contact with BT...literally. I now get my phone and broadband from my cable provider. I won't deal with any organisation that has a scammer division, which is what CustomerStreet really is.

BT have to realise that if you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.

Sorry to admit this, but I am another mug who fell for the chat up line the young sails person gave me. She convinced me that by signing up for a web site on BT Customer St it would be very good for my fledgling Energy Assessment business. Since the beginning of July I have had one customer contact me. As others have stated it's no use complaining because no one at Customer Street will take any notice. What a complete waste of money this has been. BT should be ashamed for allowing such shameful business practices to be carried out in their name.

Kenny G

To everyone who has a complaint you should do what I did, I took them to the on-line claims court and got my money refunded within 1 week £600. It cost me £60.00 but it was worth every penny and you dont need a solicitor eitherr. Just state your case with all evidence and details to back up your claim and everything should be fine.
Here is the website all the best, let me know how you got on.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

Bridget2009

Well done Bridget I take it that they paid up out of court ? The last thing they want is the BT name up in lights in court for the wrong reasons. It goes to show small one can win

I was recently conned in to paying for advertising by this dodgy outfit, the sales bloke kept me talking for hours promising the earth! when I finally agreed (WHY OR WHY!) the took a payment for almost £300 with a monthly of £46! since I "joined" them not a single solitary call for any thing related to work - but a good few advertising clowns!.

I was promised a professionally built website in the top 10 of goggle (first page) ha what a joke, the site looks like it was built by a 5 year old - well you say change it! I just tried! they have set up a really crap site builder which give you tonnes of really really really bad templates with a choice of some very generic pictures from an image supplier, I know one should not blame the tools but really this is a diy site builder program for very diy sites!

I was also told I would be able to change anything and everything on the [censored]e oops sorry site - No FTP access "You have to use our software" Oh great I'm thinking so there is no hope of them ever being able to produce a decent let alone a professional site as assured!

In Summary

BT Customer street are completely unable to provide what is offered by there sales teams,

The will promise you loads of enquiries an excellent presence on the internet DON'T FALL FOR IT.

The only thing they do well is collect your cash in return for NOTHING.

The scam continues, was contacted today asking for domain renewal fees, this is despite my site not being with customerstreet any more and having renewed registration with easyspace at the end of December, they also wanted £29.00 for a 1 year renewal. SHYSTERS

How do they get away with this? If you think the law should be changed, please sign the petition and get everyone you know to do the same:

http://www.thoughts.com/Justice_For_Small_Businesses/blog/justice-for-small-businesses-a-petition-469847/

Hi all,
few minutes ago I been called from [protected]. Cant remember name if that stupid women, but I said to her I have got a friend iand cant make the decision now. She was pushing for it so badly saying its your only opportunity and we need some one before weekend. I said i haven't got time because of friend waiting and she said but we on the phone for over 10 min already! And then I sadi stop be rude and stop pushing me I dont need your website, so she hang up on me! PEOPLE BE AWARE! So rude, so pushy, not worth it!

I get called from these muppets at least twice a week and because they aleays withhold there number I am obligated to answer the call.
Last week I had an argument with some idiot who then phoned 5 times within a 30 minute period. I use BT directories and spend quite a lot of money so I decided to call my BT Rep and complain about the cold calling. Customer street phoned me while I was on my mobile to my rep. She phoned them up on my behalf and told them to remove me from the list. A week later the same ### phoned me again just to annoy me because I had complained.

Total ### and costing me money and business everytime they phone.

BT Customer Street should beshut down and made to pay all us poor suckers back the money they conned out of us>
I have been with them for 8 months now..(3months to go until i can get out ..yupeeee) This will cost me over a £1000 for the year and i have had one yes one inquiry from them which didnt come to any thing.
TO ANY ONE THINKING OF JOINING THEM DONT!
Hard sell ...they was on the phone to me pushing and pushing for 1 hour 10 mins.
IF THEY RING YOU TELL THEM TO ***K OFF AND PUT THE PHONE DOWN ON THEM.

i was called by BT customer st in december 09. after a 90 minute phone call i agreed to pay a £353 setup fee and £82 per month for what i thought was SEO for my personal website. obviously what i got was something very different. i tried canceling the contract as soon as i realised but without success. i then sent a letter stating they were in breach of contract and gave them 14 days to rectify the situation. they were unwilling to do this so i made a claim against them in court.
their legal team have sent me a document outlining the defense against my claims. one point i raised was that there are many other people in the same position as myself who have been mis-sold a service by BT Customer St. their response was that they have no knowledge of this and i have no evidence to suggest so. i included links to several of the many webpages where people have complained about them, however this does not seem to be substantial enough. if anyone would be willing to briefly outline their complaint and send it to me i would be very grateful. maybe we can finally expose this company for how they have exploited many small businesses and get some justice.
please send your replies to David@DavAshMusic.com

thank you

Hi all
Mine is a much familiar story as everyone else’s.
Cold call high pressure sales technique employed from the start.
I have a website that is nothing like the quality of the one I was told to look at by the sales person. When it was made I was very disappointed with it and had to spend a lot of time making it better and correcting major mistakes. It dose however appear in the front page of google having just checked!

However it was not my main reason for agreeing to spend money with BT Street.
My main reason was the promise of work through the 118 500 directory, which they promised that major advertising campaign to promote is was about to commence, something I have seen nothing of since the date of sale.
It was implied that I would be the only one on the list in my area and could expect at least 4 calls a month. I was told that a similar customer to me in another area had had 17 calls in a week and did not even bother to look at his website because he was so inundated with work.

I agreed to a start up fee of £199 which when taken turned into £281.88, that was the extra for the first months monthly fee of £39.95 which I was told at the time I would not have to start paying for a couple of months, plus the VAT.

It was my understanding that that the fee was for the set up for the website and that the monthly payment was for the 118500 directory.

The day I agreed to become a BT Street customer I started to become concerned that it was likely to be a con so I cancelled my card and have not paid any more of my monthly fees.

So far the 118 directory has not generated a single enquiry for work and neither has the website.
I feel I was totally miss sold the package and it has failed on every level to live up to the claims of the sales man.

I have told them that I have no intention of paying them any more money and they can take me to court!

I’m interested in if anyone else was suckered in by the 118 500 claims and if anyone has actually been taken to court?

I have just had a phone call from Btcustomerstreet to say the cheque for my full refund is in the post.
How did that happen you ask? I had to take out a small claim out online the same as Bridget2009 Btcustomerstreet are going to pay it all back and fees and interest at 8%. And they now have a judgment against them. Go on and do it, they don’t defend it, and you will win automatically
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

I signed up to bt customer street in dec last year, along with 8 other driving instructors from my area. I was asked to pay a "one" off payment for my websight and £46.94 per month to be included in 118500, we were told we would be given priority on a rotating basis, also nobody else would be included, so i could look forward to regular calls and 1st page on google, never been 1st page or 2nd or 3rd, infact, its never appeared, as for the calls, I rang 118500 on several occasions, asking for driving schools in my area, you guessed it, not only did I never come up, neither did any of the other driving schools they had signed up. Trying to get a straight answer from a guy call nick pavey was like trying to get blood from a stone, bunch of scamming lying dicks, so online claims it is

There is a simple way this shower of shyte could be put out of business straight away by the people complaining.

Write a blog - all of you. I would, if I had been daft enought to be ripped off by them. Writing a blog is easy through Google Blogger. And it's free.

Write a story with the name of the company and lots of keys words that go with what they day they say they do do.
eg Website, search engines, and give it a title maybe like -

BT Customer Street - is it British Telecom?

Then tell your story putting in the phone numbers, name of the folk involved and your thoughts. It will be all over page one of Google in seconds and seen by anyone searching popular key key words in the IT website business. Even BT who they pretend to be from the name, would get hard with them.

Enjoy it and have fun!

Big Blogger, Birmingham

If all the unfortunate (and a little naive I'msorryto say) people who fell for these cold calling shysters want their own back - here's hgow to do it -

Write a blog. Easy with Google's Blogger. And free.

Title it - 'BT' or which BT? Would the real BT con in such a pathetic way?' Or something like that.

Then tell your story and put a few links in it like to this complaints site article.

Then the blog in minutes will be all over page one of Google by anyone searching 'BT.'
My guess is that our genuine BT - like them, or loather them- will start a firework party and 'BT Customer Street' will be on the end of a giant rocket! - They'll squirm and run a mile - and if any of their thieving staff have got anything about them they'll try and get a proper job. With BT?

ABSOLUTLY TRUE I HAVE BEEN CONNED BY THESE LOW LIFE SHARKS, WHEN I WAS DEFENDING MY CASE WITH THE VERY RUDE "MY PERSONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE TOAD" SHE KEPT SAYING TO ME ...SORRY I CANT HERE YOU SHALL I CALL BACK...HELLO I CANT HERE YOU I WILL CALL BACK ANOTHER TIME!
I WAS SAYING SORRY LOVE I CAN HERE YOU LOUD AND CLEAR! SHE SAID I CANT CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION AND OBVIOUSLY I HAVENT UPDATED MY SITE FOR SO LONG THATS WHY I HAVENT HAD ANY CUSTOMERS AND THEN WENT ON TO SAY THAT IS THERE ANY REASON WHY YOU HAVENT UPDATED THE SITE ? WENT ON TO SAY IF YOU DONT PAY YOUR MONTHY SUBSCRIPTION THE DEBT COLLECTORS WILL BE AROUND! I PUT THE PHONE DOWN AND IMMEDIATLY CANC MY DD...
SHE PHONED ME TODAY LAUGHING SAYING IVE RECEIVED YOUR EMAIL WANTING A REFUND FOR THE SET UP FEE PLEASE CALL ME URGENTLY...W.NKE.S I MAY TRY THE COURT DIRECTION, , THANKS GUYS

I know this is long - however, anyone contemplating taking out a BT Customerstreet policy, I strongly advise that you read through it for your benefit and hopefully decide to reject any business with this company!

Here I was thinking that we were the only ones that felt like we'd been ripped off by BT Customerstreet. My partner is self employed Sole Trader with just himself in the business. We were contacted in January 2010 and after numerous calls with this company we agreed to accept the contract having clarified several times what we expected from the site and domain names etc. and how long the contract was in place for.
So welcome to BT Customerstreet - set up fee and direct debit monthly charage upfront = £434.57 followed by 11 monthly installments of £82.13. The sales women advised that the site would only be paid for over 12 months (inc. figures mentioned above) and then nothing else (money wise) would be taken from us after this period and the SITE and DOMAIN NAMES would be ours to keep for life.
We stipulated which areas we wanted to be advertised in and were promised that when people who lived in these areas typed in plumer in ... that our website would come up and on the first page however also showing the web address as being situated in their area (so the client realised we worked in their area and would call us for business) - however, the additional domains that we were given really had no relevance and when someone in the desired areas would search for a plumber in their area - although we appeared - we never appeared as though we worked or were situated in their area. i.e. plumberinjesmond or plumberingosforth - these are the web addresses we wanted however, it diverted to plumberinmorpeth and clearly is not what was agreed over the phone and we were completely misled with the sales women. She promised one thing and we received the complete opposite. When I complained I was advised that they could only appologise however, could not amend it as the site had been set up already and there was nothing they could do. Every couple of months we would get a salesman on the phone asking us to upgrade our website to attract more business - but it would be a new contract and alot more money on top of what we had already set up. We were advised that we had a lot of people viewing the website however, the reason that probably no one is calling is because we don't have java (movement) on our site and therefore it can be perceived that we aren't as good a company as someone who does have movement on their website. We never took out this garbage that they were trying to sell us - however when I said we aren't getting any calls and this site is proving to be a waste of money and not happy with how much we are paying I was advised it only takes one customer to ring and for you to get that job and the website would have paid for itself.

I hadn't realised you need 60 days to cancel the contract, although now looking through the paperwork I see that. However, we were sold at the start a 12 month package whereby no other monies would be taken from us and the site and domain names were ours for life thereafter. Therefore when I received the contract I only looked at the figures that had been agreed to come out of our account and left it at that.

We are only 10 days out of contract and I emailed a couple of days ago advising our situation and that they need to cancel the policy immediately and that we have cancelled our Direct Debit and won't be reinstating it. We have received a phone call from a Sales person asking if we would carry on the policy if the payments were drastically reduced and I explained all the above and to contact my partner however in the meantime I still want the policy cancelled as originally requested.

I have had no confirmation that the policy has been cancelled. In their policy wording they state that we would get a renewal notice at least 60 days prior to renewal date and if nothing is amended the policy would continue - however, we have never received anything. When I brought this up with the sales person she advised that we have - and to log in to our website under publisher and it advises there that our policy renews accordingly. This is not satisfactory as I have never been advised that I can check these details or account details on the website. I was only aware that we could amend and add pages to the existing site and view which IP addresses were looking at our site and how many people had viewed it in so many days.

Really not happy with this at all. So really feel we deserve a refund as over 12 months we've not had 1 piece of business from it. WHAT A CON!

So writing to BT Customerstreet again this time by post and not email and advising I will be taking legal action if the policy is not cancelled with effect from renewal date 2011. What a joke! Companies should not be allowed to run like this especially ones that have such a respected name attached to it!

ARE YOU TIRED OF THESE COMPANIES WHO DO NOT PROVIDE GOOD WEBSITES.

CHECK ON REASON 8.COM THEY MAKE GREAT WEBSITES FROM SCRATH FOR ANY INDUSTRY.

I set up a garage last year and advertise as all of us to to push things forward
they tried 399 plus vat then 80 per month plus vat
luckily im tight so i halved both prices but that alone shoes you the scam if they can just half the price
id struggle to knock 10% off my invoices and stay afloat
your better off advertising locally and running your own google adwords
according to them i had 50000 hits on there poor website per month yet i had maybe 1 call in six months

there are soooo many companies out there like this google them first
cant wait to get out of this contract

Andy t

contact the Direct marketing Commission with your complaint you can do it on line!

Hi all,

I have had exactly the same experience with Bt customer street. I phoned them after 6 months of no phones calls and asked to cancel, I was told it would be put to the compliance team, they phoned me back and said that because it was over 6 months they couldnt do anything except offer me a £5.00 per month discount on the remainder of my contract. I pay £40.00 a month for nothing, I told them I had been mis sold and they just get aggressive and argue with you. What will happen if I just cancel my direct debit. They said if I agreed to sign up for a further 12 months they would give me a £10.00 per month discount, yeah right. Horrible company just a rip off. Be warned dont sign up, you will not benefit from this advertising at all.

Hi all,
DO NOT under any circumstances part with any money to this company! Their service is categorically and absolutely crap! I have been with them for 9 months and in that time I haven't had a ONE SINGLE JOB! And they had the audacity to call me after a few months with the offer with a new SUPER DUPER website... of course an EXTRA COST.. at around £500! I'm sorry to say I actually used some expletives such was my frustration!
SAVE YOUR MONEY... LOOK ELSE WHERE!

I forgot to add, if you check the small print, you need to give them 60 DAYS NOTICE in writing to cancel the following years contract. SNEAKY OR WHAT!?

I also have been screwed by bt customer st, at the end of a very unsatisfactory period with them, they are now involving a debt recovery agency, and it seems are prepared to bully me into paying £169 or taken to court YES, BEWARE, THEY ARE A NASTY NASTY COMPANY.

This is the worse web company I've ever come across. A total waste of time and CASH.Do not sign up with them as they have no thought 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 incorrect etc etc. I have made several complaints to sort this out.I have just canceled my bank account so I am not paying them a penny more.Crap Crap Crap

it all about moorecroft debt collection agency.

bt take your money when you refuse to pay anymore -its the heavys

Just told them to take a runnig jump. we want a refund on what we pay.

Anyone thinking of using them - BE AWARE! CON ARTISTS

Quick Accident Claims 4u ltd
www.quickaccidentclaims4u.co.uk
Tel: [protected]

If you need a proper website then call JUST WEB DESIGNS on [protected], We give away free google marketing with every website and are the only company in the country to do so. Get your Website noticed, can you afford not to ? We build sites to be proud of

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