Have I been scammed?

Question

Im hoping not, as I think BT do try to be a decent company, and when the service is working, it works very well,
but do read on...
So I just recieved my bill with 2 unkown calls to an extortionate premium rate service: 0911 699 7660
and as a result, 2 calls =£50!
I called BT billing enquiries -  The advisor said all he knew was that it was a premium rate helpline called 'iHelpline' that dealt with facebook problems, or MS Word, or that type of thing and said it was nothing to do with BT. — just to note this is not something I would ever call about.
Dumbfounded, he proceed to say that it was a call made on my number, so it was tough luck, nothing he could do, and promptly put the phone down on me.
Now, you'd expect that from a poorly trained BT customer service adviser, if someone is being rude or impatient, but I was being neither of those. But curiously he sounded slightly panicky...
I cannot for the life of me know how these numbers have been called or whether they called me?
The only thing that I can figure out is that when looking back on these dates, I think I had phoned the BT technical helpline a number of times, when my newly installed bt infinity had stopped working after a few weeks.
Typically when I tried to access the internet, a BT home hub technical screen was presented in the browser - once I had gone through the automated help steps, eventually after no success a helpline number came up on my screen which I think was an 0800 number.
(BTW The problem was apparently due to the BT infinity modem being an old model, which suffice to say, wasn't dealt with by an engineer until a week later!).
Anyway this is the rather disturbing bit, if it's at all possible... 
At the time, obvioulsy I was desperate to get through to the BT technical help assistant, but during the call I seem to remember that I was put through to a different line - it was indeed a 'helpline' to help determine which BT service I should be put through to - but only after a number of questions had been answered. 
So here's my question: Is it possible that BT have set up a system to put you through to a premium line service, even though you started the call with a BT 0800 technical number?
I can't actually believe that would be the case, but I dont know what else to think. 
Has anyone else come across this? 
Anyway it seems there's not much I can do about this... any advice appreciated.
Thx 
Robotic

Answer 1

robotic wrote:
Im hoping not, as I think BT do try to be a decent company, and when the service is working, it works very well,
but do read on...
So I just recieved my bill with 2 unkown calls to an extortionate premium rate service: 0911 699 7660
and as a result, 2 calls =£50!
I called BT billing enquiries -  The advisor said all he knew was that it was a premium rate helpline called 'iHelpline' that dealt with facebook problems, or MS Word, or that type of thing and said it was nothing to do with BT. — just to note this is not something I would ever call about.
Dumbfounded, he proceed to say that it was a call made on my number, so it was tough luck, nothing he could do, and promptly put the phone down on me.
Now, you'd expect that from a poorly trained BT customer service adviser, if someone is being rude or impatient, but I was being neither of those. But curiously he sounded slightly panicky...
I cannot for the life of me know how these numbers have been called or whether they called me?
The only thing that I can figure out is that when looking back on these dates, I think I had phoned the BT technical helpline a number of times, when my newly installed bt infinity had stopped working after a few weeks.
Typically when I tried to access the internet, a BT home hub technical screen was presented in the browser - once I had gone through the automated help steps, eventually after no success a helpline number came up on my screen which I think was an 0800 number.
(BTW The problem was apparently due to the BT infinity modem being an old model, which suffice to say, wasn't dealt with by an engineer until a week later!).
Anyway this is the rather disturbing bit, if it's at all possible... 
At the time, obvioulsy I was desperate to get through to the BT technical help assistant, but during the call I seem to remember that I was put through to a different line - it was indeed a 'helpline' to help determine which BT service I should be put through to - but only after a number of questions had been answered. 
So here's my question: Is it possible that BT have set up a system to put you through to a premium line service, even though you started the call with a BT 0800 technical number?
I can't actually believe that would be the case, but I dont know what else to think. 
Has anyone else come across this? 
Anyway it seems there's not much I can do about this... any advice appreciated.
Thx 
Robotic
Hi. Welcome to the forums.
In answer to your last question about dialling 0800 and getting to the premium rate system (which has nothing to do with BT), it's not possible.
Also, if this company calls you - again you would not be charged.
Are the times of these calls shown on your bill ? Is it possible that someone else in your property could have called that helpline ? Do you use a dect phone ? Have there been other numbers on your bill you didn't recognise ?
BT tech help is 0800 111 4567.
There are other possibilities - one of which is an engineer making calls on a random phone line, picking up yours.
To be frank, I would contact the billing people again and say you wish to dispute the calls to that premium number and can it be investigated.
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