Beware the cost of call-backs for hospital appointments

I AM under the care of a consultant specialist at my local hospital for a chronic condition (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, August 31). Whenever it was time for my review visit, I used to get a letter automatically from the hospital with an appointment.

Not any more. This time I received a letter simply telling me that if I didn’t contact the hospital within a specified time, I would be referred back to my GP who would have to re-refer me to the consultant. The tone of the letter was such as if I was somehow at fault. The number to ring was a 0844 number, for which my telephone provider charges 28 pence plus VAT.

I contacted the appointments desk, which was very busy, but to save time I was offered a call-back option, which was promised to happen within one hour. After two hours (and no call) I had to go out on an urgent matter. The appointments desk rang in the meantime, leaving a message on my voicemail stating the time of call and that I needed to repeat the process. This I did, received the call-back within the hour this time and booked the appointment.

A few days ago, I received my phone bill. To my utter amazement, there were four calls listed with the hospital’s 0844 number. It transpired that the call-back is charged to the person who is called! I am writing this to alert other unsuspecting patients to this fact.

The regular review of my condition has cost me £1.32 in telephone calls. I wonder how much money the hospitals make out of this scam!

From: Margaret Crawshaw, Halifax Road, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge.

YOUR letter writer GAW Heppell’s experience of communicating with BT is almost the same as mine (Yorkshire Post, August 31).

Like Jayne Dowle, who wrote of an experience with banking online and failing to check an email, incurring bank charges, I found my telephone and computer access cut off, through not realising I was apparently on online billing when I took out a new contract,

I had failed to pay a bill. I have been a customer of BT for over 50 years and have never failed to pay a bill but no check was made other than online, which I did not read because BT used a different email address from the one I routinely use.

Now you could say that this was my fault and if being born before computers ruled the world is a crime then you would be correct, however I am trying to use the technology but it is getting so complicated.

Like GAW Heppell, phone calls were a nightmare, long periods holding waiting for an operator, prolonged conversations with operatives whose pronunciation was difficult to say the least, being expected to simultaneously hold a telephone conversation and use the computer keyboard and remember passwords when by this time you could hardly remember your own name make for a very stressful scenario. Two additional letters to Durham did eventually result in BT telephoning me and I was able to pay the outstanding bill by credit card over the phone.

I have again written to Durham as some of the services I am paying for are still not functioning properly after several weeks and I have not got the courage to face another online or telephone so-called help service. I won’t hold my breath waiting for a reply.

Speaking to friends of all ages who are more computer literate than I, it would appear that everyone experiences difficulty communicating with this company, who are supposed to be experts in the field of communication. Would it be too much to ask for a simple way of communicating, with operators who we could understand? Or are BT quite happy to lose custom as they surely will?