We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

FREE £50 CALL CREDIT means new cheapest phone service for lighter users

MSE_Martin
MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272 Money Saving Expert
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
The Post Office home phone* has just launched a new offer, if you join before the end of March, it will give you £50 credit towards your bill. This comes off both your line rental and your call charges.

Now for calls it isn't particularly cheap, so higher users will be much better off sticking with my usual top buy suggestions as in the cheapest home phones article. However for those who spend less than £5 a month on calls then this is a good deal.

It's also good for phone tarts

For those people willing to shift around and play with their phone bills this is also very useable. The £50 credit is paid on the 2nd and 3rd bills, thus you need to have the phone for three months in order to get the £50 call credit. After that you can always cancel it and switch to a normal cheaper service

Also you can currently use the cheap call providers call1899 and 18185 (see
cheapest home phones) ontop of this to get even cheaper calls. However it is allowed to block these if it chooses, so if many do it that may happen
_____________________________________________________________

The following is the press release from the Post Office on the launch of the service. Remember this is a press release, it is a sales spin from the Post Office, so read their claims with a pinch of salt, however the facts in there are correct.
POST OFFICE® HOMEPHONE’S
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION – TO CUT YOUR PHONE BILL

The Post Office® today launches a new deal offering the equivalent of four months’ free phone calls to people signing up to Post Office® HomePhone between 1st January and 31st March 2006.

Simon Carter of Post Office® HomePhone, said: “For the next four months you can try HomePhone for nothing as the first £50 of calls will be -free. All you pay is your line rental and that is cheaper than any of the major providers, especially now that BT have put up their prices.

“HomePhone set out to take customer service in this industry to a new level – every call to our Freephone 24-hour call centre is answered by a human being (not a machine) and our bills list the names of the people you call most – not just a list of numbers. This is reflected in our customer satisfaction levels, where nine out of ten customers rate our service highly.”

The average HomePhone customer spends around £12 a month on calls, so in signing up before 31st March they could save the equivalent of four months’ of calls.

Simon Carter added: “As well as great service, many of our call rates are significantly cheaper than BT’s, meaning HomePhone offers a permanently low cost way to keep in touch. Sign up now to get four months’ of free calls and try it for yourself.”

To take advantage of this offer you can apply at any of the 14,500 Post Office® branches across the UK, online at www.postoffice.co.uk or call 0800 092 0500.

Post Office® HomePhone has a range of great benefits:

§ At £9.95* per month, line rental is the cheapest on the High Street

§ With BT’s announcement to raise line rental prices on 1st January 2006, HomePhone line rental is now 10 per cent cheaper than BT - £9.95 vs £10.95 per month for BT’s Option 1 customers

§ Calls are on average 16 per cent cheaper than BT Together Option 1 (with two in five households saving 20 per cent or more)

§ No hidden charges or minimum call rates

§ Calls to international destinations are on average 40 per cent cheaper compared to BT Together Option 1

§ No minimum contract

§ “Names not numbers” on your telephone bill

§ 10 per cent discount on calls to your chosen “Loved Ones”, with a free call to each “Loved One” on their birthday and at Christmas.

The £50 will be credited to new customers’ bills in two instalments, starting with the first bill with calls.



* Line rental £9.95 when paid by Direct Debit, otherwise £10.95.
- Ends -



About Post Office® HomePhone

Launched in January 2005, Post Office® HomePhone has quickly established itself as one of the best value, fastest-growing residential telephony services on the market

HomePhone’s main benefits include:
  • Average savings of 16 per cent against BT Together Option 1, with approximately 40 per cent of households saving 20 per cent or more
  • A simple, transparent service, and the first alternative provider to offer a single bill for both line rental and call charges
  • A single tariff eliminating the need to chose between complex and confusing call plans
  • No minimum call charges, just simple per-second billing
  • Itemised billing that shows the names of the people called, not just the numbers – initially for 10 nominated numbers, rising to 100 later in the year
  • Additional special benefits, including: an additional10 per cent off to user’s 10 favourite numbers, free five-minute calls to 10 nominated numbers on birthdays and at Christmas and discount/rewards on many Post Shop® products
  • Post Office® HomePhone prides itself on its customer service. Users can speak to a Customer Services Agent 24/7, 365 days a year. All calls are handled by real people, not a machine, and are completely free.
HomePhone price tariff:


UK local and national calls*

Daytime 2.4p
Evening 1p
Weekend 1p

International calls

Top ten international destinations (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, USA)

Daytime 8p
Evening 5p
Weekend 5p

NB. Full international rates can be found at www.postoffice.co.uk/homephone

Calls to mobiles

Daytime 13p
Evening 9p
Weekend 5p


Calls to UK 0845 numbers

Daytime 3.3p
Evening 1.1p
Weekend 1p

Calls to UK 0870 numbers

Daytime 7.5p
Evening 3.75p
Weekend 1.5p


* Numbers beginning with 01 or 02

Line rental is currently charged at £10.95 a month, or £9.95 a month if paying by Direct Debit – the cheapest of any of the major providers.



* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via commercial price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or Find, which then pay this site per click

You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it is still recommended and still included. The following www.potoffice.co.uk is an identical unaffiliated link provided for the sake of transparency. Click on the following link for more details on this site’s non-profit driven ethical stance
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
«134567

Comments

  • pricefighter
    pricefighter Posts: 2,829 Forumite
    Already a long thread here about this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=131090 The post by TheFirs sums it up nicely and he also tells you how to make another £6.75p . ( Amended if you look at cash back site he mentions you now get £15.00p.)

    Some minus points.

    If you value Caller Display Post Office charge for it £1.75p a month ,BT dont. So if you want it with Post Office up go goes your monthly rental to £11.70p. £8.40 a year more then BT

    Cant CPS your calls if you move your line rental to Post Office. So you could not get free E&W calls from Just Dial Saver Or Primus Talk.

    The possible line maintenance problems by moving line rental from BT are highlighted here. (You report fault to PO they report it BT)!!
    PF.
  • FF99
    FF99 Posts: 602 Forumite
    Can one use call routing via 18866 or 1899 etc with the PO line ?
  • pricefighter
    pricefighter Posts: 2,829 Forumite
    FF99 wrote:
    Can one use call routing via 18866 or 1899 etc with the PO line ?

    See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=131090 look at post no 6.

    They are at the present time allowing access but could pull the plug.Unlike BT.
    PF.
  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 680 Forumite
    500 Posts
    Oh pricefighter, can't remember where I read it so sorry can't give a link might be from other topic within here. But remember reading that how faults are reported have change to stop that advantage / disadvantage you talking about. Now BT retail have to report faults to BT wholesale, likewise POL, CPW, etc report faults to BT wholesale who than deal with the faults in turn as they arrive (might not be BT wholesale but a new seperate company just for repairs.) So the net result is that all will take the same time to repair, the downside is that if you are on BT complete lets say whereas it used to take 4 hours now will take 3 days for this relay system! :-(
  • mobilegossip
    mobilegossip Posts: 1,163 Forumite
    iceburn wrote:
    Oh pricefighter, can't remember where I read it so sorry can't give a link might be from other topic within here. But remember reading that how faults are reported have change to stop that advantage / disadvantage you talking about. Now BT retail have to report faults to BT wholesale, likewise POL, CPW, etc report faults to BT wholesale who than deal with the faults in turn as they arrive (might not be BT wholesale but a new seperate company just for repairs.) So the net result is that all will take the same time to repair, the downside is that if you are on BT complete lets say whereas it used to take 4 hours now will take 3 days for this relay system! :-(

    Did you read this thread which suggests their is some truth that problems will/might arise.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=132216
  • Does anyone know if a BT line is required for this? I'm with Telewest just now and looking to change...
  • Heinz
    Heinz Posts: 11,191 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    babysaver wrote:
    Does anyone know if a BT line is required for this?
    Yes - the below from their T&Cs:
    Do I need a residential line to qualify?

    Yes, you need a standard residential line to become a Post Office™ HomePhone customer. Unfortunately, we cannot accept orders from customers using cable, the BT Light User scheme or Kingston Communications.
    Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
  • iceburn
    iceburn Posts: 680 Forumite
    500 Posts
    Did you read this thread which suggests their is some truth that problems will/might arise.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=132216

    yes I did but problems like that happen with BT as well, that is more of customer service problem not the actual system. Was not suprise it was with onetel they in my experience with myself, friends, family and customers have terrible customer service with them. But the actual system of reporting a fault after got past through customer service is the same now for all. There is no delay or disadvantage not being with BT. But might be a disadvantage with worse customer service or advantage with better customer service. Like in POL case it is 24/7, no menu system and call centre base in UK. Know some ppl who think that is worth a bit, even if cost more. Or in the case you highlight with Onetel. At the end of the day price should not be the only factor but also how good customer service is I think cause in the long term might cost you more if have bad customer service.
  • mobilegossip
    mobilegossip Posts: 1,163 Forumite
    With BT Customer Service you report the matter to them, thats it they deal with it fullstop.
    With any other supplier you report it to your supplier if they can deal with it they do,if not they have to pass it to BT. So the reporting chain is lenghthened.

    I agree with you that price should not be the be all and end all.But many Moneysavers are in it for the price and are prepared to accept cheaper prices for lesser Customer Service EG JDS, 18866 etc.
  • phil999_2
    phil999_2 Posts: 228 Forumite
    i might have got this wrong but if you signup with quidco you get an £30 cashback making this a very good deal?
    I have finally acknowledged my debt.....
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 346.6K Banking & Borrowing
  • 251.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 451.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 238.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 614.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 174.7K Life & Family
  • 251.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.