BT 12 month contract not renewed. Loss of calling plan discounts.

Grumpy_Old_G*t

Beware BT Rant!

History
April 2008 Signed up to BT's 12 month contract offer saving Weekend and Evening call plan rental charges.
April 2009 Received a letter stating contract would be renewed automatically unless I contacted them.
June 2009 Received bill which did not add up.

Difficulties deciphering charges
There is no breakdown of the rental charges which can vary depending on whether you pay by direct debit, use paper free billing or qualify for the 12 month contract discount.
It is also made even more difficult to figure out what exactly you are paying as the advertised rental charges and discounts are inc vat and the various parts of the bill ex vat so the numbers do not add up.

After a lot of head scratching I finally decided to contact BT and ask how exactly they arrived at the quoted line rental figure of £40.30 (ex vat).

12th June 2009 rang the number at the top of the bill. After listening to a whole series of irrelevant menu options cycling several times, the system defaulted and sent me to an operator.
BIG MISTAKE
Offshore call centre and the guy only wanted to follow a fixed menu of bill type enquiries. After a very long meaningless discussion he mentioned that I could save money by going for paperless billing and, if you haven't already guessed, a 12 month contract.

I explained that I already had a 12 month contract. Oh no, he said, it lapsed in April as you did not renew it.
Digging out the "renewal not required" letter I carefully read the relevant part about not needing to renew. He then offered to restart the contract from June to which I replied no, please backdate it to April and send me an amended bill to show the correct amount to which he agreed. Bear in mind that this was a 4 month overcharge as the advanced line rental was also at the higher rate.

22 June No amended bill had arrived so went through the 150 support number instead of the bill contact number. Sat through more irrelevant menu options and waited until the BT system recognised there was no input. This time I was prompted to press 9. Great! through to a call centre human.
Offshore again, this time female with a faulty headset which kept cutting out and a very hard to understand Indian accent. I explained I was waiting for an amended bill. Once again the set list of bill enquiry questions started so I cut her short and explained the particular problem I had.
Waited a while for her to get the account details up and there was no reference to my call on the 12 June or instructions to raise an amended bill.

AAAARRRRGH!

When will the utilities in the UK realise offshore is not good for customer service.

The good news was she agreed to refund the overcharge from April and stick it on the next bill. It was not possible to amend the current bill as BT have a limit of £50 before that can happen. This time I got her to spell out her name and was given a reference number.

Warning
Anyone with a 12 month contract should check that it has been renewed and the calling plan discount is showing on the latest bills as I believe this is a fairly widespread problem.

kennyg123

Oh yes, been there and worn the tee-shirt!

My 12 month rolling discount ended in April despite the fact that the contract stays in force until July! Strange that!

I sent a PM to the BT Representative and got a phone call promising to reinstate the discount back to April so will wait and see what happens next month.

Why not try sending a PM to the Rep? There is no point in ringing a call-centre in India.

Northern_Rock

I am thinking of returning to BT and getting an old line reconnected subject to if its free reconnection

If i have understood correctly by reconnecting back to BT i will be entering a 12 month renewable contract ( sounds like dellboy tactics that one),i was thinking of the £11.25 line rental inc evenings and weekend calls , hopefully inc 0845/0870 calls and calls to Republic of ireland landlines (im in n.ireland so i believe its a local call), however what happens after the 12 months?, do i still keep the plan at same price or will i be charged extra for the evening and weekend calls even if i agree to carry on with another 12 month contract

utilitybroker

Northern_Rock wrote: »

I am thinking of returning to BT and getting an old line reconnected subject to if its free reconnection

If i have understood correctly by reconnecting back to BT i will be entering a 12 month renewable contract ( sounds like dellboy tactics that one),i was thinking of the £11.25 line rental inc evenings and weekend calls , hopefully inc 0845/0870 calls and calls to Republic of ireland landlines (im in n.ireland so i believe its a local call), however what happens after the 12 months?, do i still keep the plan at same price or will i be charged extra for the evening and weekend calls even if i agree to carry on with another 12 month contract

A connection charge of £122.50 will be applied unless you have a fully working line and socket in situ. See: https://www.productsandservices.bt.com/btbusinessOrders/control/termsandconditions?docId=25017&pageTitle=%20New%20line%20connection%20charge&vendorid=SE7&s_cid=con_ppc_zedmedia_google_vidSE7_callsandlines_bt+call+charges_Broad

Or hurry and you can get BT,s free connection offer mentioned here,buts its an 18 month contract.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1640845

If you let the 12 month rolling contract for Inclusive Evening & Weekend Calls roll into another year their still be inclusive.You can only get this offer with 12 month BT Contract.The inclusive calls are only to numbers beginning 01, 02 & 03,and 0845/0870.

If your looking for a shorter contract Post Office Homephone dont have one.They may raise a connection charge like BT. They offer Free E&W calls like BT,and free calls to Eire at weekends etc etc.
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump2;jsessionid=HVFNA2YFCCY5CFB2IGVUTIQUHRA0UQ2K?catId=68600711&mediaId=19300217

Northern_Rock

thanks for info, i wanted to avoid an 18 month contract if possible,i have an old BT line in the house , not been used for about 5 years, hoping BT will reconnect it free, will ring them in morning