Help understanding BT bill please

LittleMissAspie

Is it just me that finds BT bills impossible to understand? Nothing on them seems to add up or make sense. I have some questions about mine.

1. Paperfree bill discount is described as a 25p monthly discount, but they are giving us a £1.09 monthly discount. Why is this?
2. Why are we receiving a paperfree bill discount when we get a paper bill? Not that I'm complaining.
3. What is the promotion discount of £2.57 a month for inclusive UK evening and weekend calls for?
4. Why are the line rental charges for 1 May to 31 July £40.30? This doesn't even divide by three. The UK evening and weekend calls plan is supposed to be £11.25 per month (£33.75 per quarter), so where does £40.30 come from?

Thanks for any help.

Heinz

1. Paper-free discount is £1.25/month and the £1.09 amount you see is the pre-VAT figure.
2. Pass.
3. & 4. Sounds like you're on the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan and have agreed to a 'renewable' 12 month contract - which means you get the Plan f.o.c. - but that is charged and then shown as a discount.

LittleMissAspie

Yes we have a 12 month contract and the evening and weekend plan. But the numbers still don't add up. Are you saying that the plan is 40.30 per quarter (which is 13.433333333333333333333333333333 per month (???)) and then they give you 2.57 of that back? That would make 10.863333333333333333333333333333 per month which is 32.59 per quarter. So it still doesn't add up. And the online account says the calling plan is 11.25.

shark_2

BT billing is not easy to comprehend but basically 15% vat has to be added first :-

£40.30 + £6.05 vat = £46.35 per quarter
£46.35 - (£2.95 x 3) £8.85 incl vat call plan disc = £37.50
£37.50 / 3 = £12.50 per month with paper billing
£12.50 - £1.25 paper-free disc = £11.25 incl vat

Grumpy_Old_G*t

I was just about to post a new thread about this. I will make some observations and comments here first.
The figure of £40.30 is almost certainly the three months line rental for the evening and weekend plan without the 12 month contract discount and is the ex vat figure.
If you signed up for the 12 month contract about a year ago and received a letter recently saying you did not need to renew as it would be done automatically (as I did ) you need to contact them to reinstate the discount.
I have the same problem having signed up for the 12 month contract in April 2008 and which the call centre now tell me lapsed in April 2009.
There must be a lot of people similarly affected.

blisteringblue

I questioned it myself after the recent re-alignment of their billing dates, but it was described quite easily by "Bob" from their offshore call centre.

When you entered into the 12 month contract last year you got the contract discount. They split this discount into 10 or 12 parts (not sure which), and you would have seen a much larger discount in the first month of the contract as they actually applied more than one of the discount chunks (I remember when this happened in my billing), so now at the end of the contract you are paying the full price without the discount as you have already have that in the earlier months.

Once your contract rolls into it's 2nd year you will start with the £11.25 monthly amount, but only after your contract date. In my case it's 2nd July so I've still another month to pay at full price.

Yorkielass

Grumpy Old G*t thanks we've had exactly the same thing. thanks blisteringblue for the explanation, you got further with the call centre staff than OH did, was put on hold for ages and just gave up and we decided it would sort itself out on the next bill and if not we'd call again, sounds like it should sort itself out fingers crossed.

LittleMissAspie

shark wrote: »

BT billing is not easy to comprehend but basically 15% vat has to be added first :-

£40.30 + £6.05 vat = £46.35 per quarter
£46.35 - (£2.95 x 3) £8.85 incl vat call plan disc = £37.50
£37.50 / 3 = £12.50 per month with paper billing
£12.50 - £1.25 paper-free disc = £11.25 incl vat

That's it! What a bum about face way to do things, and none of it is explained on the bill. I didn't realise the 11.25 price assumed a paperfree discount, it doesn't say that anywhere either :rolleyes: No wonder none of my calculations matched BT's.

Grumpy_Old_G*t

It's all on the BT website but needs a bit of working out
Prices from BT website 22/06/09 I would have included the links but this site won't let me!
Pricing. All prices quoted include VAT.
Line rental is £11.25 a month with Direct Debit and paper-free billing. Otherwise add £2.75 a month (£1.50 payment processing fee levied by BT Payment Services Limited, a BT Group company, plus £1.25 without paper-free billing discount). Discount appears as a bill credit.
Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan. Only £11.25 a month line rental with Direct Debit and paper-free billing, for new and existing residential customers signing up to a 12 month renewable contract. This means you have a 12 month minimum renewable period. So, after 12 months, your contract will be automatically renewed for another 12 month minimum renewable period unless you tell us otherwise. We'll write to remind you when your contract is nearing the end of a renewable period. Exclusions and conditions apply. £35 saving based on comparison with cost of the same BT Calling Plan with no minimum term."
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I calculate that the real figures are as follows

BT Charges for Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan inc vat

Standard monthly line rental without discounts £14.00 3 month £42.00
Weekend and Evening plan rental charge £2.95 3 month £8.85
Total £16.95 3 month £50.85

Discounts
Annual Contract -£2.95 3 month £8.85
Direct Debit -£1.50 3 month £4.50
Paperless Billing -£1.25 3 month £3.75

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Overall charges for 3 months line rental

The maximum charge without discounts is £50.85 inc vat, £44.22 ex vat

The charge including annual contract discount is £42 inc vat, £35.52 ex vat

The charge including direct debit discount is £46.35 inc vat, £40.30 ex vat

The charge including Annual Contract and direct debit discounts is £37.50 inc vat, £32.61 ex vat

I think that LittleMiss Aspie has lost her Annual Contract discount and is only getting the direct debit discount as the ex vat price for line rental is £40.30