MSE News: BT cuts 'free' evening calls by one hour

Searcher2

Further to my previous frustrations (see earlier in this thread) with BT I have returned refreshed from a weekend away. In short I was in email pingpong with the Indian branch of BT from my simple initial request to cancel my 12 month contract in light of their introduction of the 7pm off peak start time from 1st April and as of the 1st April I wanted my contract reverting to the normal weekends rate under point 48 of their TCs. BT claimed that I could not without penalty due to the conditions in their Tariff Guide. After I TWICE asked for them to point out the exact clause in the Tariff Guide they have finally replied :

"I have carefully reviewed the points you have raised and decided to proceed with your request. From 08/02/10 your account will be on Unlimited Weekend Plan, no cancellation charge will be raised. As mentioned earlier, you need to provide us 14 days notice before stopping the services in future."

No apology from them at all for feeding me lies.

No change of contract from the 1st April as I requested but an immediate cancellation.

Customer service at its worst.

Many thanks (not) to Mukesh Roy and Saurabh Dhayani of BT for your complete failure to deal with my request and turn a simple request into a battle for my rights.

Blondetotty

Can anyone give any advice to people on the 18 month free connection offer from last yr. Fortunately I'm on a 12 month contract and will be moving in early may but my mum signed a 18 month free connection contract with Eve/W'end calls last June so she's stuck. She makes most of her calls between 6 and 7pm so is fuming.
Think she would like to move to sky but we're not sure how to proceed.

ACDeag

Blondetotty wrote: »

Can anyone give any advice to people on the 18 month free connection offer from last yr. Fortunately I'm on a 12 month contract and will be moving in early may but my mum signed a 18 month free connection contract with Eve/W'end calls last June so she's stuck. She makes most of her calls between 6 and 7pm so is fuming.
Think she would like to move to sky but we're not sure how to proceed.

I doubt the Evening & Weekend was the free rolling contract version as that would be allowing her two offers and the BT normally do not allow it. She may be paying for the call package, if so she has no contract for that but still does have the 18 month contract for the line.

TooNice_2

Hello,

I was originally connected in October, and went out of the country two months, meaning that I've not really been using my land line. Now I am back, and found the an email regarding the change sent 9 days ago (cutting it close).

Though I have -yet- to be affected by the change, I do see myself more likely to use the phone between 6-7PM than 6-7AM (where I am most likely to be in bed). So I can't say that I am too impressed by the proposed change.

I was wondering how I should ask for a change. Would it be better to call them (which number) or send them an email (which address)? Would you advise me to do this today (9th day), or tomorrow (so that I can make a nice long call today).

On one hand I would rather stick with emails, because it is in writing (so to speak), but I am also worried that they may decline if I contact them tomorrow because it will be the 10th day.

Thanks.

Searcher2

TooNice,

See my post #127 on this thread to see how to contact BT via email. The advantage of contacting them this way is that you will have evidence of putting in your request for termination before your 10 days. It doesn't matter thereafter if they mess you around with excuses like they did with me as you complied with their terms (even though the "10 day" term probably wouldn't stand up in court there's no point pushing it).

The disadvantage is you will get a reply from India - hopefully they are equipped to handle it but they weren't with me.

There is a post on here advising which department to go through to when ringing so you got a department (in the UK) who could handle it properly but I couldn't find it.

I would email today (you will probably get a reply today or at latest tomorrow) and if you don't get a satifactory reply follow up with a call tomorrow.

Heinz

Searcher2 wrote: »

There is a post on here advising which department to go through to when ringing so you got a department (in the UK) who could handle it properly but I couldn't find it.

The 'advice' from BT was on BBC2's Working Lunch on Wednesday 10-2-2010 - to phone 0800 800 150, press Option 2 and then, after entering certain information, you should get through to someone who 'has been briefed' about the decision to let people off contracts.

mancuk29

i wasnt aware of this change until i heard it on the news, i upped my broadband to option 3 because i kept exceeding the 20gb allowance ... unfortunately bt signed me into another 12 month contract for my broadband ..... if they have changed the conditions of the telephone service can i cancel everything (ie bt vision, broadband and line ?) as i wanna go back to sky .....


thanks in advance

Bogof_Babe

BT customer support rep on Working Lunch today... squirming. I almost felt embarrassed for him. He really couldn't handle the conversation as he had no reassurance to give.

Searcher2

Heinz wrote: »

The 'advice' from BT was on BBC2's Working Lunch yesterday - to phone 0800 800 150, press Option 2 and then, after entering certain information, you should get through to someone who 'has been briefed' about the decision to let people off contracts.

Aye - but post #207 appears to confirm that they still don't appear to know the deal on this. There is another one somewhere stating a department that does know what they are doing.... Maybe worth seeking out if the 0800 doesn't help.

Heinz

BT actually put up a spokesman today (Thursday 11-2-2010). He was John Petter, Managing Director of BT's Consumer Division who, it appeared, had not bothered to shave before his appearance.

He came across as a very rude and 'pushy' salesman (he mentioned the £4.99 Unlimited Anytime Plan so many times it got boring) and argued about some figures quoted on the programme on Wednesday - that the quarterly bill of someone on the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan making a daily 20 minute call between 6pm and 7pm would increase by £83 or so because of the changes - were misleading. Again and again (interrupting the presenters at least three times) he repeated that such a figure was "2,674%* higher than the call profile that our customers actually have."

* He had clearly learnt that number specially so he could quote it repeatedly without having to refer to notes but I think that means the average customer spends just over 31p on calls each quarter.

As was to be expected, he failed to answer the "Why have you done this?" question convincingly (he came up with some ridiculous nonsense about it was bringing the charges into line with mobile and business providers).

Frankly, even ignoring his unfortunate affliction (he appeared to have a speech impediment whereby he stammered when under pressure) he was a very poor spokesman for the company. In fact, I doubt he will be put forward as the TV face of BT again.