Millions of BT customers could be awarded £500 in damages if the legal claim goes to trial
MILLIONS of BT customers could get up to £500 in compensation thanks to a major class action lawsuit.
It comes as the £600 million class action claim against BT goes to full trial today (29 January).
The lawsuit alleges that the company overcharged older and low-income customers.
The class action was first greenlit in September 2021.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) expects the hearing of all evidence to conclude on March 22.
After this time a judgment may be made, but it is not known how long it will take for the CAT to reach a decision.
BT appealed this between the filing of the claim and the trial.
The telecom giant wanted the legal action to be an opt-in process.
That means the 2.3 million customers believed to be affected would have to manually sign up to participate.
It was feared that an opt-in process would mean many eligible customers would not sign up and, as a result, miss out on hundreds of pounds in compensation.
But the appeal was rejected in May 2022 and will now proceed on an opt-out basis.
This means that all customers eligible for compensation will be automatically enrolled in the claim, but will have the choice to opt out if they do not want to be involved.
The issue relates to the historical prices charged by BT for its fixed line tariff between 2015 and 2018.
The company cut the cost of its line rental from £18.99 to £11.99 per month in 2018 after a regulator investigation found there were “serious concerns about rising bills”.
BT made the £84 per year price cut to reduce future bills for customers, but did not compensate them for what they had paid to date.
It is estimated that a total of £600 million is owed to customers.
A BT Group spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities to our customers very seriously and are doing everything we can to keep our customers connected, while helping those who need it most.
“This claim relates to a technical landline pricing issue resolved by Ofcom in 2017.
“We do not accept that our prices at the time were anti-competitive and are committed to vigorously defending our position during the trial.”
Who could receive compensation?
The case is being brought by Justin Le Patourel – founder of action group Collective Action on Land Lines (CALL).
Class action lawsuits seek compensation for millions of customers who have been let down by companies.
In these cases, one person takes a company to court on behalf of consumers.
The trials have long been popular in the US, but did not take place in Britain until recently.
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 changed all that and 2023 has already seen many big things moving forward.
Le Patourel will be able to make a claim on behalf of BT's “Voice Only Customers” who had a fixed line service between October 2015 and April 2018 and who did not also receive a broadband service from BT or another provider.
He can also make a claim for “Split Purchase customers” who had BT landline service and broadband at any time since October 2015 in a separate deal from BT or another provider.
If the trial is successful, around 2.3 million BT customers could receive compensation of up to £500 each.
All eligible customers should now be automatically represented and you don't need to do anything.
But you can unsubscribe if you don't want to be involved.
You can find out more information or register for updates about the CALL website. You can also contact CALL by calling 0333 212 1617.