Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

katykitten

i think people should be aware of what happens when you switch to primus - i was with post office home phone and (like many on here) wanted to save money by switching to primus, little did i know that if i hadnt realised the error of my ways within a week or so BT would have charged me in excess of £100 to revert back to using their line (via post office home phone)
all was fine after the switch over day until a week later when my land line went dead, primus repeatedly told me there was a fault with my line or my equipment as there was no prob at their end, openreach have
twice told me there is no fault and that the prob lies with the billing dept at primus

primus have been staggeringly useless, via a non-uk call centre (suprise suprise) they have repeatedly failed to call me back, find the fault, keep in touch, be motivated to keep me as a customer,escalate the issue, answered my emails - the list is endless

the moral of my story is this, its not always productive to save money - think about the time and energy you will have to spend to resolve issues when it all goes wrong and the inconvenience of not having a land line over the xmas period and in adverse weather conditions

i have put the wheels in motion to return to post office which will take another 10 days which im prepared to wait for to get a better quality service - primus have said they will charge me a cancellation fee but considering they havent ever provided me with a serivce - what have i cancelled - a further 11 months of no service!!

anyone else had issues with this useless provider?

Widows_Son

I have posted this elsewhere, which was probably a mistake. I apologise.

Can one use override and/or calling card numbers on the BT Basic tariff? The BT web site is not clear.

OldGreyFox

Widows_Son wrote: »

I have posted this elsewhere, which was probably a mistake. I apologise.

Can one use override and/or calling card numbers on the BT Basic tariff? The BT web site is not clear.

You not allowed to use another phone supplier if you take BT Basic.

katykitten

dickiegay wrote: »

Just had an email saying Primus are cheapest for home phone. Indeed when moving house I went with Primus based on info on this website. However be warned; Primus have lousy customer service and messed me around big time. After informing them of my old provider and saying that I wanted to port my number they then simply didn't get in touch with me to inform me of things they needed like proof of address. I found this out after several calls being kept on hold for over half an hour. I then found out over a week later that it would be 14-21 working days before I would be connected. After waiting patiently for over 21 days I contacted them five times in the space of a week. Each time they promised that somebody would get back to me within 24 hours but it was another week before they finally got back to me to say that they could not port my number as they hadn't been aware of my old provider and that the line had been closed. I sent a detailed email of complaint following the complaints proceedure they informed me of and I have had no reply. I was without phone or internet for 5 weeks. I finally gave up on Primus and went with Plusnet who were very frindly and had me connected within 2 days. The "cheapest" actually ended up costing me more as I had to rely on BT Fon connections while working from home. I would avoid Primus like the plague.

can you tell me how you got out of primus's 12 month contract - ive had an awful experience with them and am waiting to post office homephone to take over the line again but primus have told me it will cost me £80 to cancel my contract - they havent provided me with a good service at all! How will they collect this money if i have cancelled the direct debit?:eek:

Snapelover

Snapelover wrote: »

We have moved from BT to Primus as our CPS with effect from yesterday.

Is the following list correct for getting the cheapest phone calls:

Mon-Fri 8am -6pm - 18185
6pm-8am - Primus

Sat/Sun - Primus

UK Mobiles (075, 077, 078, 079) 8am - 6pm - 18185
Sat/Sun - ??????????

056 Numbers - at all times - 18185

0500, 0800, 0845, 0870, 0871 - Override back to BT 1280

Can anyone help me with my query?

Heinz

Use 18185 for:

(a) weekday daytime (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday) calls to UK 01, 02 & 03 numbers - 5p each (regardless of duration);
(b) all calls to 056 numbers - 5p each (regardless of duration);
(c) all calls to UK mobiles (075, 077, 078 & 079 numbers) - 5p connection + 6p/min. weekdays (6p**/min. weekends);
(d) weekday daytime (7am to 7pm Monday to Friday) calls to 0870 numbers - 5p connection + 3p/min.

** Use 18185's freephone access number, 0808 1 703 703, instead of the 18185 prefix for this price.

Use BT (dial a '1280' prefix to 'hop back onto BT') for:

All 0500, 055, 080x, 0843, 0844, 0845, 0871, 0872, 0873, 00800 (international freephone) calls and weekday evening and weekend 0870 calls.

Works for me!

But it would, wouldn't it?

Snapelover

Heinz wrote: »

Use 18185 for:

(a) weekday daytime (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday) calls to UK 01, 02 & 03 numbers - 5p each (regardless of duration);
(b) all calls to 056 numbers - 5p each (regardless of duration);
(c) all calls to UK mobiles (075, 077, 078 & 079 numbers) - 5p connection + 6p/min. weekdays (6p**/min. weekends);
(d) weekday daytime (7am to 7pm Monday to Friday) calls to 0870 numbers - 5p connection + 3p/min.

** Use 18185's freephone access number, 0808 1 703 703, instead of the 18185 prefix for this price.

Use BT (dial a '1280' prefix to 'hop back onto BT') for:

All 0500, 055, 080x, 0843, 0844, 0845, 0871, 0872, 0873, 00800 (international freephone) calls and weekday evening and weekend 0870 calls.

Works for me!

But it would, wouldn't it?

Thanks Heinz!

ben.bayliss

Got my first bill today for this - £10.36. Line rental only. For Period 24 Nov 2010 - 14 Dec 2010.

Any ideas before I call them?

Widows_Son

OldGreyFox wrote: »

You not allowed to use another phone supplier if you take BT Basic.

Why do you say that? Are you guessing?

Little_Green_2

paulneale wrote: »

.......Also, none of the comparisons appear to include the cost of call features (like caller ID, voicemail, etc. etc.) -sometimes these can bump-up the bill quite a lot, depending on the supplier.

Please could the MSE Towers staffers consider revising the article to include this useful info next time it gets updated?

Much appreciated,
Paul.

In addition the BT Calling Plans also include free text messaging:
100 texts a month on the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan
200 texts a month on the Unlimited Anytime Plan. As far as I can ascertain BT is the only provider to do so.

Whilst this option does require possession of a 'phone with SMS capability, these are not uncommon and it is worthy of inclusion in the debate when considering the cost analysis of bt as a provider.