how do I make BT caller id service free?

annam_3

I have a line rental with BT but my calls go through my isp. I signed onto the BT website and selected their caller id service which was advertised as free. Great! But when the bill comes they have charged me £7.50 and tell me this is because I do not have my calls with them???

Still waiting for an intelligent reply from BT and don't expect to get one, but I did hear that there is a number you can use to make the 6 calls a quarter that they mention, to ensure that the service remains free. Can anyone shed any light on this for me, to save me giving BT an unnecessary £30 a month?!

Heinz

You lost me with the £30/month comment but I take it your ISP is also your CPS calls provider. Which ISP is it?

bargains83

Check your paperwork!, when you switched your calls from BT you should have had a 'sorry your leaving letter' which states how you can keep services like 1571 and caller display free of charge. Usually you need to make 6 calls per quarter (2 per month) with BT to keep them free of charge.

You can dial a prefix (1280) with some providers to route your calls back through BT. However this definately does not work with AOL, Orange, Sky or TalkTalk.

They have said on these forums that 'BT chargecard calls' and 'ringback' calls no longer count as chargable calls, however the letter I got from BT when I moved my calls away said they would and I have never been informed otherwise. Nor to this date have they bothered to update the website or terms and conditions to clearly reflect this fact.

I have just demanded my £7.50 charge be refunded on all these grounds.

They demanded a copy of the letter to prove it said they originally counted. lol, obviously thought I was lying.

Jemma-T

annam wrote:

how do I make BT caller id service free?

Be a customer, following their very long and winding T&Cs and pay on time.

It's never been "free". It's a service they provide and they must charge for it. They do refund or credit the charge or bundle it into anther charge but it's not "free".

No problem with that as long as they don't say it "free".

ACDeag

Jemma-T wrote: »

Be a customer, following their very long and winding T&Cs and pay on time.

It's never been "free". It's a service they provide and they must charge for it. They do refund or credit the charge or bundle it into anther charge but it's not "free".

No problem with that as long as they don't say it "free".

It is free, all you have to do is make two charged for or inclusive (i.e. not charged) calls a month, weekend calls to 01/02/03 numbers will do. It appears on your bill as "Charges for BT Privacy At Home" £0.00

If you fail to make two calls they will charge you £2.50 per month

OldGreyFox

You can read about the non-chargeable service subject to t&c here.

http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_sid=bVCT8tNj&p_faqid=8097&cat_lvl1=347&cat_lvl2=476&cat_lvl3=478&p_cv=3.478&p_cats=347,476,478

JustPassingBy

ACDeag wrote: »

It is free, all you have to do is make two charged for or inclusive (i.e. not charged) calls a month, weekend calls to 01/02/03 numbers will do.

"Inclusive" does not mean "not charged". In fact the overwhelming number of inclusive calls made are charged to a BT account.

It appears on your bill as "Charges for BT Privacy At Home" £0.00

This is BT trying to be helpful and getting it wrong. Privacy at Home is offered at no charge. The entry under the "Monthly charge (£) (if applicable)" column should have a dash (-) or say "no fee". The pdf version of the bill gets it right.