BT Basic Line Rental: Get a landline for £4.50/month

darren72

1carminestocky wrote: »

LOL, my father has been transferred automatically from LUS to Basic. No letter, no phone call, nothing.

Exactly - BT said this themselves originally, but not recently - Now they won't admit it !!

PlutoinCapricorn

Transferred in error?

Well, I have posted this before but it bears repeating: one explanation is that OFCOM will not permit BT to close the Light User Service down until there are 600,000 people on BT Basic. As it takes ages to get the application form, and the high call charges negate the low line rental, not many people are applying so some LUS people were moved over just to make the numbers up. An interesting theory.

I wonder whether the people who are on BT Basic but who never applied and do not qualify will be taken off it?

The story goes on.

1carminestocky

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Transferred in error?

Well, I have posted this before but it bears repeating: one explanation is that OFCOM will not permit BT to close the Light User Service down until there are 600,000 people on BT Basic. As it takes ages to get the application form, and the high call charges negate the low line rental, not many people are applying so some LUS people were moved over just to make the numbers up. An interesting theory.

I wonder whether the people who are on BT Basic but who never applied and do not qualify will be taken off it?

The story goes on.

Or even worse, backbilled for the difference between the line rental figs of basic and 'normal' BT accounts? :eek:

PlutoinCapricorn

Carmine, that is a really horrible idea, but it would not surprise me if BT did that.

Well, at least we have some kind of an explanation.

I have scoured the Internet for reasons for keeping/cancelling landlines if you don't need them for broadband, and on balance cancellation is the best option for many people. There are many people on the LUS whose income is low, I think that they will cancel.

PGSchick

No way do I want you "BT company representative" interferring with my phone line & switching me to a tarriff I dont want.

To answer your question I first received my original letter from BT informing that I was being switched from BT light-user to new BT Basic end of last year - yes I've still got it & definitely says that I will be switched & says nothing about seeing if I'm entitled to be switched.

Since then I have tried to find out more about BT Basic but your BT webpage makes it clear that it doesnt apply to low phone users, and nowhere on your BT webpage does it state clearly what package current BT Light-Users will be moved to instead.

I cannot understand how BT can simply move customers without their permission anyway, other phone services cant, if you have a mobile contract price plan you are on that without being moved.

If BT ever move me without my permission to another price plan when I have not signed or agreed to be moved I will at that point go to OFCOM to register a complaint.

I'm actually rather surprised that Martin Lewis or someone connected to him isnt looking into BT's behaviour. And I bet when BBC's Watchdog programme is back on air that BT will get a starring role as a company behaving badly!

PlutoinCapricorn

Well, I am out of the game: I have been on the Light User Service so wondered whether I would be transferred automatically to BT Basic like some of the other cases mentioned on this forum and elsewhere. BT eventually wrote to say that I would be transferred to Unlimited Weekends unless I applied and qualified for BT Basic. I am on a low income and make very few calls, but I don't qualify so I told BT to cancel my account.

BT_company_representative

Hi PGSchick,

The Light User scheme was withdrawn from service recently becuase it was not necessarily beneifitting those customers in most need of it. Our research showed that that only around 60% of light user scheme users were from low income households. BT and other stakeholders, including consumer organisations, supported this view and worked to develop a new social
telephony scheme, BT Basic, to replace the light user scheme and BT's other social telephony scheme, in contact plus. The eligibility criteria for BT Basic have been developed as a result
of an Ofcom consultation involving a variety of stakeholders. it is designed to ensure that this highly subsidised scheme is available to those who genuinely need it. We have also undertaken an extensive consultation with consumer groups which included age concern to launch BT basic and designed it in a way that benefits people who otherwise could not afford a telephone line. Customers must receive, or be eligible for, income support, income-based job seekers allowance guaranteed pensions credit or the new employment support allowance to qualify. To ensure customers who qualify are those that need it most.
BT basic has been designed specifically for people on lower incomes who use the phone infrequently but rely on it for emergencies. BT is one of the only companies that offer a social telephony scheme for consumers and we believe BT basic offers the right level of help to
consumers who are not able to afford mainstream telephone packages. I am aware that there are exceptions and not all benefits do qualify as may be in your case.
Customers who are not eligible for BT basic or wish to use the phone on a more frequent basis are advised to perhaps consider moving to our Evening & Weekend call package.
Letters were sent to all customers advising of this and of the minimum contract period it entails.
All letters were enclosed with a coupon which the customer was asked to complete and return to switch packages. In addition a telephone number was also included so that customers could call with any queries. As things stand LIght User Scheme is no longer available. If you wish me to have a look at your account please PM your account details and I will do this and get back to you.

Many Thanks
Donna
BT Support

darren72

Just to confirm - I have been waiting for months to hear something myself.

I have today received a letter from BT informing me that I am being moved AUTOMATICALLY from Light User Scheme to BT Basic - With no need to apply !

1carminestocky

There are some rum goings on at BT, aren't they? That's exactly what they did to my father, even though he doesn't receive a qualifying benefit. You really have to make almost zero calls to be OK on BT basic, though. Gotta watch those mobile-esque call charges.

My big fear in my father's case is he will be retospectively put on the 'normal' line rental package and back-billed as such. Still debating whether to migrate him away. I'm afraid I trust BT less now than I did a couple of years ago.

PlutoinCapricorn

So you have heard from BT at last Darren. I did too last week, but we are being treated differently. I will probably spend the rest of my life wondering what is wrong with me: why didn't BT transfer me from LUS to Basic too? All the more as I am on a low income and make very few calls.

BT have said on here that the transfers were a mistake, so why are they still doing it?