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

glossyhair

I use BT in the evenings and at weekends and my mobile free minutes for daytime calls (and mobiles all the time). It works well for me but I think I'll put a 7pm!!!! "post-it" on my landline handset as a reminder for a while . . . the "evening" has started at 6pm for decades!! I remember that very fact being drummed into me as a child. This change just smacks of corporate greed and under-handedness. Looking forward to finding out more about O2s offering from March . . .

Virus_2

I got an e-mail about this, considering we pay over £40 a quarter I think it's time to find a cheaper alternative!

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Hmmmm this doesnt really upset me in the slightest as i never use BT for my calls... I'd have a stab that most of the population have a billion free mobile minutes anyway..

Infact, its only in the last couple of months i have even had a phone plugged in as i only have it for Broadband.

What REALLY yanks my chain is that not only have i not had any leaflet about the change, but I also havent had an e-mail (yup - the correct one is registered).

Just a thought to those running for the post box with a pitch fork, cancellation letter in hand.. Consider the potential impact on your broadband if that say "certainly sir / madam" and disconnect the line..

kennyg123

I'm on the Evening and Weekend package. We tend to make a few calls at 6.00pm each day to elderly parents to make sure they're ok before they settle down for the evening. I want to get out of this contract and use 18185 instead. Do I need to write, email or ring India to ask about cancelling my package and changing to weekend package only?

Heinz

Use 18185 AS WELL for any calls you have to make outside of your inclusive calls periods - like the rest of us do.

You don't have to ask BT's permission (in fact, you're likely to confuse them if you do), or change from your exisiting BT calls plan. BT is obliged to allow you to access override providers as well.

brewerdave

Just checked my last two quarterly bills - calls made free between 6pm and 7pm would have cost me ~ £3 a month , still not enuf for Anytime - if I use 18185 til 7pm after April 1st it'll be ~ 30p a month - no contest!!

will-in-estoril

I've just moved to Madasafish, a BT subsidiary. The pricing structure is not overly different, the main differences being no tie in, free international call minutes and no announcment YET of any change to their off-peak time. Override codes allowed. Mixed reviews, I know, but OK for me so far.

Victor_Delta

I'm currently on the (free) unlimited weekend calls package. When the BT letter arrived, it wasn't at all clear what would happen if I didn't sign up to the new free evening and weekend offer - ie would I remain on the weekend plan or lose it altogether. So I decided to ring up BT via the number given in the letter (0800 085 2233).

This turned out to be a very interesting experience! First of all, it took over 40 minutes to be answered (you have to hang on after the system asks you to either accept or refuse the new offer).

The person I eventually spoke to was helpful but also sounded harassed and implied they are receiving a very large volume of queries about the letter (I'm not surprised!). He reassured me that if I don't accept the new offer I will remain on my existing call plan ie free weekend calls. However, he implied that signing up to the new evening/weekend deal was a 'reward for coming back to BT' so I don't know if that means that it changes one's CPS carrier back to BT?

Finally, I asked why the evening call period was changing to 7-7. Usually such BT letters, written by the marketing people, are full of such things as 'BT's been listening to it's customers...' etc but the current one doesn't even attempt to explain the reason for the change. I know the staff will have been given a comprehensive Q&A sheet to give the official line for answering customers queries.

Well, amazingly, the response I got was basically 'we've been looking at call patterns and noticed that not many people make calls between 6pm and 7pm so we thought it would be better for customers to change to 7-7 to reflect that'!!!! I therefore asked him if nowadays more customers really make calls between 6am and 7am than 6pm and 7pm. He and I both knew that the official line he was giving me was absolute rubbish.

Not long ago, some BT exchanges even used to have their 'busy hour' (the busiest hour of the day) after 6pm when the cheap rate started. I doubt things have changed that much. This is a blatant attempt by BT to raise extra revenue ie another price increase.

However, my main sadness it that a company like BT that so desperately needs to retain its existing customers and build loyalty, has managed to handle these changes so poorly. Is it trying to drive people away?

V

EdCov

Just to note that if you have only received information by email that they are materially changing the contract then you only need to email back that the material change to the contract is not acceptable. Of course I expect that BT will write and at that point it may become necessary to write back. Personally I would argue that if you email them the same message as you write to them, requesting that if they do not receive the message that they contact you, I would argue that you do not need to pay for recorded delivery.

Perhaps someone could suggest a standard wording and we could all email back the same response that it is unacceptable and therefore we wish to remain on the same terms. Surely if a template was sent out by Martin with a request to forward on to our friends, then BT might get the message.

I would propose (though I am sure others could better)

Please can I affirm that I do not accept your proposal to change my contract so that I no longer have free calls between 6pm and 7pm. The benefit of free calls between 6am to 7am does not compensate for the loss of 6pm to 7pm.

If it is not possible for the free time to remain as 6pm to 6am then I will treat this as a material change to our contract and will wish to choose a different provider and terminate my contract with you.

As stated if enough people write back then it is possible they may back down, I'm not certain when O2 are starting their home phone service, but I would really prefer to stay with a bill from BT. I am happy with CPS but from previous experience if you are billed by someone else and something goes wrong with your line then having the problems resolved can be difficult and you may be charged the cost of fixing it, or BT may just make a hash of it.

ACDeag

I would expect most other providers to follow BT, most of them seem to nowadays. If O2 don't immediately I suspect they will do when they have built up reasonable number of customers.