The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

IRATE Bahamas Telecommunications Company post-paid mobile customers yesterday told The Tribune they now have “issues of trust” and are contemplating leaving BTC for its competitor Aliv, after they were overcharged for services and did not learn of the issue until weeks after the extra fees were heaped on their bills.

Speaking to The Tribune, one customer who requested anonymity, said he learned of the issue when he checked his BTC bill online last month. While he admitted that BTC phoned him to admit the error, apologised and explained that he would be credited on the next bill for the overages, he questioned whether this was the first instance that the mistake happened.

Yesterday, Janet Brown, BTC’s chief marketing officer and senior vice president of sales, said BTC experienced a system glitch and once the company realised the error it was investigated. She said BTC moved to immediately reach out to the less than two per cent of customers who were affected and by now the overages should have been credited.

“BTC emails my bill so when I checked I noticed that there was an absurd amount for two months,” the customer explained. “I have the basic plan which is like $60 per month and since I have had it for around a year I have gone over maybe once or twice.

“But this time I checked it, it was like $200 for two months. I didn’t really go in to question it.

“Then maybe about two days ago I got a phone call about an error and I was told that I was charged $97 more than I would normally be for the month of January. They said they were going to credit my account.

“However, the situation has sparked some issues of trust issues with me and BTC. Yes they called this time and alerted me, but I can’t help but to think that maybe this has happened before and maybe they didn’t let me know.”

Another post-paid customer who wanted to remain anonymous said she was over charged by $200. She called this unacceptable and insisted that this error by BTC has forced her to consider Aliv where she had not before.

“I had already decided to switch to Aliv and thought to wait until they got over some of their growing pains, but this is just propelled me to switch sooner,” the woman said.

“It’s unfortunate on the one hand, but it’s good they are calling personally trying to temper the anger on the other hand.

“Two-hundred dollars is no little bit of money. Their level of service is already troubling to me. There is a level of trust that was lost that can’t be credited to my account. So from now on, until I decide to take the jump to Aliv, I will have scrutinised each and every one of my bills,” the customer said.

“I am honestly over BTC and will get an Aliv phone at the earliest opportunity,” another customer added.