18185 barred by BT?

babyboomer50

I have registered with 18185.co.uk for landline calls, which means that daytime calls to 01, 02 numbers are 5p connection and 0p per minute thereafter, as long as you dial 18185 before the number you are calling.
When I dial 18185, before I can dial the number I am trying to reach, I get the following message "If you are on BT Basic, the Light User Scheme or In Contact Plus, you can only use BT to make your calls."

18185 say that the message is nothing to do with them and BT say that there is no call barring on the line. The Light User Scheme ended on October and I am now on line rental plus free evening & weekend.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with using a call override provider? Any clues as to who us generating the message on the line? 18185 insist that BT must be blocking the call but I need some info on how and why to go back to BT since their customer service deny that there is anything wrong.

Thanks

Heinz

There's still a tag on the line which BT has to remove before you can use 18185 and the like.

Complain to BT about it HERE.

BT_company_representative

Hi babyboomer50,

Sounds like there could be something wrong at the exchange. Would you email your BT account details to btcare@bt.com and I'll investigate this for you. Include a link to your post and mark the subject field babyboomer50-MSE Enquiry.

Many Thanks
Donna
BT Support

neilcase

Hi,
I'm having the same problem and have complained to BT and gotten nowhere. I'm going to write to ofcom but I want to copy the e-mail to BT's chief exec. Does anyone know what his e-mail is or where I might be able to get hold of it?

Thanks,
Neil.

DVardysShadow

neilcase wrote: »

Hi,
I'm having the same problem and have complained to BT and gotten nowhere. I'm going to write to ofcom but I want to copy the e-mail to BT's chief exec. Does anyone know what his e-mail is or where I might be able to get hold of it?

Thanks,
Neil.

Just print off a copy and send it snail mail to their Registered Office.

stephenhj

Don't imagine that addressing anything to BT's chief executive will do you any good. Top management are far too busy worrying about their bonuses to worry about those trivial little people called customers. BT's folk lower down will quite often try to help, but the machinery ensures that you never get in contact with the same person twice---and promise (which the chap may sincerely mean) seldom translates into performancfe

Buzby

Heinz has the answer - it is an old restriction flag that needs to be removed from your line. Report it as a fault, and they'll do the business.

Howitiz

There is an alternative number 0808 1 703 703 instead of 18185. Does this work on your BT line? You dial it and wait for a connection before putting in the number you want.

Heinz

Howitiz wrote: »

There is an alternative number 0808 1 703 703 instead of 18185. You dial it and wait for a connection before putting in the number you want.

Correct, but prices are different - most importantly, UK 01/02/03 calls are not 0p per minute at all times, they're 1p/minute at all times!

neilcase

Buzby wrote: »

Heinz has the answer - it is an old restriction flag that needs to be removed from your line. Report it as a fault, and they'll do the business.

Easier said than done! I have been banging on to BT about this for near on a month and still can't get them to sort it! You can't speak to anyone in technical support you only ever speak to nice people in Delhi who want to sell you a more expensive package.

If anyone has a direct phone number of an engineer who can sort this out please let me know!

Neil.

Heinz

Please use the link in post #2 - that may get answered from India but, in my experience, they eventually get the message (you ma need to send a 2nd or 3rd reply asking them to answer the question you asked not the one they want to answer).