26 January 2024 , 10:56
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Some BT customers are being charged for a gaming add-on without their knowledge - adding an extra £10 a month to their bills.
BT customers have reported being signed up for the Xbox Game Pass and having the extra charge added to their broadband bill without them having signed up for the gaming subscription, according to the BBC. The Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service which allows subscribers to access over 100 games in the Xbox catalogue.
Customers have reportedly flagged the issue over the last few months on BT's online forums with examples going back to October 2023. The most recent report was from this week. BT customers found out they had been signed up after checking their internet bills as well as through emails which thanked them for activating their subscription - alluding that they had signed up themselves.
BT customer Sue found out she had been signed up after noticing discrepancies in her internet bill. She said: "I logged into my BT account online and saw that they charged me an extra £10 and that money had come out of my account. Xbox Game Pass had been added to my accounts without my consent, I thought that's so odd, because I don't even have an Xbox. I actually thought I'd been hacked, so I phoned them up and they explained that it was a BT error."
Fellow BT customer Matt, from East Sussex, called up BT after they failed to respond to his query on X - formerly Twitter. He said: "To be fair to them, they refunded the £10 and cancelled the subscription immediately. But it is worrying to hear that it is still happening."
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Some BT customers were finding out they had been signed up for the subscription after receiving an email from BTAnother affected customer, Craig in Aberdeen said he found out about the charge when he received an email from BT. He then tried to contact BT through its webchat service to have the subscription cancelled and refunded.
Craig claims that BT told him it was an issue between BT and Microsoft - who owns the Xbox gaming system - and that in the terms and conditions, there was no free period with the subscription and you were immediately charged. However, the reason behind the extra charges has not been confirmed by the telecoms giant and it is currently being investigated.
Sue, Matt, and Craig were all concerned for others who may be affected by this but may not notice. It is yet unclear the scale of the issue. Craig said: "My concern is this might not just be me, this might be lots of other people who perhaps don't really notice you get an email through."
BT has apologised to those who have been affected by this issue and has advised customers to be on the lookout for similar problems. Sue, Matt and Craig have all had the extra charge refunded by BT.
A spokesperson for BT told the Mirror: "We're very sorry that the customers mentioned in this article have had Xbox Game Pass Ultimate added to their account without their knowledge. We recommend that all of our customers remain vigilant and if they notice changes to their account that are suspicious, to contact us as soon as possible to report this. We will support and guide them on how to take steps to ensure their account is secure."