On 2004-11-30 08:56:33 +0000 tom potts madtom1999@yahoo.com wrote:

Surely if someone steals money from my bank account by fraud the bank would not insist I pay it and their associated profits?

There is some liability for bank accounts. There's usually some protection in the terms and conditions, but it's not total on all accounts.

If someone puts a dialler on my machine without my permission they're attempting to steal my money. Therefore BT are an associate to the fact if they try and make you cough up?

BT's responsibility for security ends at your junction box (or major socket or whatever they're calling it now). If you hook up a telephone on the wall outside by your front door, you're held responsible for the calls, the same as if you connect an insecure call-making computer. Much as I love to blame BT, it's not their fault if you let others make calls from your line, so why should they be penalised? Whoever installed the dialler is probably committing an offence (Computer Misuse?) and you could recover the money from them, but that's easier said than done.

I think BT's failing is not offering credit limits, monthly billing and other helpful things more widely. For example, why isn't your current line account balance available by dialling a short code? The few they do offer, like the call cost information, aren't widely known.

Another failing is that BT can't withhold disputed amounts from international arbitrage, which is why so many are using international numbers rather than UK premium rate calls. Telephone companies can hold the money back and freeze access to UK numbers a lot more easily.

They should be helping to prevent theft - or is this some leftover attitude problem from their monopoly days?

For most of East Anglia, BT's lines are still a monopoly, but fortunately companies like www.itplc.com have broken the retail monopoly.