BT Line Rental charge..

HH62

I really hope this isn't a stupid question but my line rental shows on my bill as
£15.45. I have spoken to BT about this, twice, and they insist that I'm actually only paying £12.50. They said the difference is shown as a credit on my bill. Well I'm looking at the copy of my bill online right now for my most recent bill which was in August and I don't see those credits anywhere.
On my previous bill it showed as £13.40 a month. Which is stil higher than the £12.50 they tell me I'm paying.

Am I dense? BT rep can you help please?

BT_company_representative

Hi HH62,

I can understand your concern. Please send your account details to btcare@bt.com FAO Robbie. On receipt of this information, I will be in a better position to advise accordingly.

All the best,

Robbie

maveli

Look like Bt is running a scam. Here is one I got. I pay by direct debit quarterly. In this bill for BT Quarter means 3 months and 7 days b'cos of billing software changes. I can understand software changes and occassionaly changing the qarter to 3 months and 7 days. But it didn't end there, when calculating 7 days charge they don't use the formula (monthly charge/30) * 7. They charge extra

Just in case the BT representative see this the incident number for this is 091011-003736

Photo_Stylus

AHAH, so i am not the only one..

I have been trying to sort my father in laws account out with the same problem.

Billed almost £60 for a quarter with less than £5 worth of chargeable calls made (evening & weekend package).

Bill clearly shows the amount as £15.45 not £11.25 or £12.50 + an extra 16 days, because they have moved to the new billing system, Which it seems they dont understand themselves.

BT rep said it "MIGHT" be because of the new billing system. Or because the contract is coming to an end next month which is inside the 3 month billing period.

So i expect the 16 days and 1 full month to be charged at the contract rate then the next 2 months to be charged at the higher rate until the contract has been renewed which will then get refunded.

But BT seems to think different charged the 16 days at the £15.45 rate and 3 months rental at the same rate.

Where is the discount???

Reps were quite quick replying to my PM's but yesterday something was going mad with the system, I got the same PM everytime i logged into the forum pages or went to the home phone forum page.

Can the BT reps sorting me out please PM me again.

Thanks.

eribaman

Got my online BT bill today for July to Oct 09 and compared with previous quarters its gone up about £8.
On the bill was this which was to do with new billing date :

Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan 1Oct-8Oct 09 £ 4.12

This is the cost of your calling plan (which includes line rental) up to 8

Oct 2009 at £15.45 a month

So for this additional 7 days the full call plan cost was used.
Like Photo Stylus my 12 month contract comes to an end in December so for this next quarter I have only been given 2 credits of £2.95/month.
Looking at the latest blurb on BT call plans the discount is permanent, so why am I charged the extra £2.95?
I changed from Option1 to Option2 last year for no extra charge and I was about to revert back to the basic line rental option when this bill came in.
Looked at changing my call plan online but the basic level is what I am currently on, that is Unlimited Weekend Plan.
Can BT confuse the billing system anymore?
R!!!

Photo_Stylus

"eribaman, Can BT confuse the billing system anymore?"

Im pretty sure they can manage that, Its just a scam to get people to pay earlier, And it seems you have the same issue, They are charging the extra days at the full price not the discounted price you are under contract for.

Seriously considering changing from BT to another provider.

Where do i take this if BT still refuse to admit they have got it wrong?

maveli

Had a lengthy chat with BT representative. I still don't understand how the pro-rate for 7 days. According to me it should be (monthly charge/30) * 7 and my monthly charge is £16.14 (see the screen print of BT online). So for me it should be (£16.14/30) * 7 = 3.83. But they took some where around £4.32 (not sure the exact figure as I don't have the bill right now) It is only a few pence difference. But BT is enjoying millions of few pences thru this scam.

Poolie

Could this be due to VAT at 15%?

maveli

Poolie wrote: »

Could this be due to VAT at 15%?

Nope. The £16.14 is including VAT. And as per BT Rep £16.14 is after discount and discount is prorated. But end of the day we will pay for their software upgrade.

Oh. By the way the rep threatened to take action if I don't pay. Reminds me of Nationwide bank ad

maveli

eribaman wrote: »

Can BT confuse the billing system anymore?

R!!!

I used to work in their IT Dept almost 10 years ago and was part of the team which developed the CSS billing system. Looks like they are moving away from that to a new one.

BT_company_representative

Hi Photo Stylus/ Maveli,

If you want the line rental charge explained more please send your account details to btcare@bt.com for attention of Gail.

Once this information is received I will be able to look into this for you.

Thanks Gail