Publican criticises BT over new charge for Phone Book business listings

17-Jun-2014 - Last updated on 17-Jun-2014 at 11:20 GMT

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Mel Richardson refused to pay £120 for a Phone Book classified listing for his pub, the Hour Glass

A west London licensee has accused BT of ‘sharp practice’ after it told him he would have to opt out of a classified Phone Book listing or face a £120 annual charge.

Mel Richardson, who runs the Hour Glass in Fulham, received a letter from the communications giant instructing him that he would have to opt out before 10 July or pay a charge of £30.72 (excluding VAT) per quarter.

While he immediately decided to opt out of an entry in the classified sectionn of the Phone Book, Richardson feared other “time-pressured” licensees may overlook the letter, and subsequently incur an unexpected charge on their phone bills.

Richardson, who runs the Hour Glass on a private leasehold, said: “The fact that BT was prepared to just add the charge to the end of my phone bill seemed like sharp practice to me.

“Thankfully, I’m pretty up on my paperwork, but I imagine a lot of time-pressured licensees won’t do anything about it, and then suddenly find themselves down £30 every quarter.”

He added: “To be honest, with the internet, phone books are obsolete now anyway. I can’t remember the last time I even looked at one.”

Complaints

Richardson also accused BT of poor service after being unable to issue a complaint.

“They said they didn’t have a complaints section, and that was no supervisor available. They also promised to call me back within 48 hours – but never did.”

BT said it had chosen an opt out policy to avoid the “significant risk” that customers miss an opt-in letter, meaning they would have to wait a full year to get their entry into the next Phone Book.

A spokesperson said: “Our opt-out policy will be applied in a reasonable manner with opt outs accepted after the four-week period outlined in the letter prior to the publication of the Phone Book, so no business will lose out.

“We also plan to issue refunds when required post-publication where customers decide they do not want the listing and it will be removed from future editions.”

The spokesperson added: “Businesses will continue to receive a free listing in the A-Z section of the Phone Book.”

BT said online listings on its Phone Book website were not affected by the charge.