h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This morning I received a phone call from some people claiming to be from BT's Potential Malicious Use department (or something similar). The woman said her name was Venniser. When I said I had trouble understanding her heavy Indian accent and she handed me over to a man whose name sounded like Dariel. They claimed that malicious software had been downloaded with my emails and that this was uploading more malicious software on to the BT servers. Because of this, I was going to be disconnected from BT internet. They claimed that my anti-virus and firewall wouldn't protect me from the threats.

I was unwilling to follow any directions given over the phone to resolve the 'issue'. I asked the woman for my BT billing reference as a way of confirming that the call was genuine. The number she gave me was wrong - it didn't even start with the right letters. If I'd know at the time that BT employees have an ID number, I'd have asked for that instead of their names. When I told Dariel that BT would have sent some kind of notification of their intention to disconnect, he told me it was probably in my Spam folder. It isn't. I haven't received anything from BT, email or post, since my last bill. When I said I didn't believe the call was genuine, he told me he was going to disconnect my internet there and then, and disconnect my phone at the same time. I said goodbye and hung up. That was two hours ago. I'm still here!

The call sounded like it was coming from an office or call centre - there were other voices in the background. Dariel gave himself a convincing job title - Senior Supervisor. When I dialled 1471 to find out who had called, there number was not available. This is a scam and they may be trying it on customers for other ISPs, too.

Sounds similar to one that's been going the rounds for a while... Someone rings you up from 'Microsoft' telling you that you've got a problem, gets you to download a programme to fix it for free, only you'll then have to pay through the nose to get rid of the programme itself.

In my opinion, BT's legitimate operations are just as dangerous. They once disconnected me for two weeks while they dug a hole outside the house. When they reconnected me, they claimed that I had been connected to the internet the whole time and charged me £300 (this was the age of dial-up). You would not believe the hassle I had trying to get them to repay it.

Once when I called BT with a problem they offered me something as a gesture of goodwill which, had I accepted, would have tied me in to another two year contract. Sneaky.

Deb

Actually, according to what I've got jotted down, it was the Potential Vicious something-or-other department, not Malicious. One word difference is enough to ring alarm bells. Who refers to malware as Vicious?

If you see Sid Vicious, tell him...

Three hundred pounds for two weeks of Internet service? No sane company would charge that much if they wanted to keep their customers.

I was on a very limited tariff at the time, and any over-utilisation was punitively charged. This was quite a few years ago.

I had a problem with BT.

I kept asking the person in the call centre how to make a complaint. All they were prepared to do was to 'try to sort out the problem'. I'd given them several days and had run up a phone bill talking to them AND waited several hours for non-arriving return calls.

I researched the MD's name and address and wrote a letter on paper and posted it via snail mail.

It was sorted out within a couple of days and I was apologised to and credited a few quid as a gesture of goodwill.

It used to be said that if you wanted a result, you talk to the person at the bottom or at the top. Now the people at the bottom can do little because they have a script to stick to.

PP.

I once complained to another utility company after they did some amazingly shoddy engineering work in my house. I gave the name of their incompetent works manager.

A week later I got a letter from the same guy, under his new title of Customer Service Manager, telling me I could go and get stuffed.

He got lucky. Or did he?

PP.

I gave up at that point. I was younger and life was too short.

I'm older, wiser and more cantankerous today.

Hang in there Icicle. One day you'll be as
old, and wise and cantankerous as I am. Yep,
it just gets betterer and betterer. Towards
the end the Givernment will send you money
just for being alive. It's a sweet deal; you
don't even have to be polite.

~jwf~

I wouldn't count on it...

After a while, people are amazed that you can do *anything* at your age.