BT Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost – billing scandal

Premier_2

The plan is called Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost. You’d expect it to do exactly what is says wouldn’t you? Well I did, and that was what I was promised in return for agreeing to a 12 month contract (renewable)
It even suggests it’s available at the same price as their basic line rental on numerous locations within their website
e.g. http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=28760

In fact I can’t see anywhere in their marketing / promotional information that the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost is actually charged at extra cost and then because of the 12 month contract entitles the subscriber to a monthly credit equivalent to the difference between the cost of the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan and the basic line rental.

You may now be thinking what difference does that make? Well I think I’m a pretty reasonable person and normally I would say it makes no difference whatsoever … but it does with the way that BT bill customers as they make it so that BT are effectively borrowing money from customers at no cost.

Here’s what happened to me.

Following all the price increases from BT, together with their incessant marketing literature they keep sending, I was finally persuaded in March 2009 to take the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost together with online billing.

This I understood (assuming no other charges for additional services such as cost of calls made, etc) would mean a quarterly bill of £11.54 x 3 = £34.62 (or whatever the applicable charge was in March 2009)

When they sent the bill in mid March 2009, this is what I was charged and I assumed all was well. That covered line rental 01-Mar-09 to 31-May-09. I know I only asked for the contact after 01 Mar (but before I got the bill), but I presumed because the extra free evening calls part were included at no extra charge, the bill was correct.

Wrong! In mid June 2009, the next bill arrives. It cancels the previous charges for rental pro rata from mid March 2009 and rebills them at the full cost of the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan (at extra cost!). They then applied 3 lots of credit to balance out the extra charges. Fine
But, then they charge the following 3 months in advance (June – August) and only apply 2 credits. When I called them up. They confirmed that the way they charged is not the way it is promoted. They do charge the full rate and then credit the difference. However the credit is applied only after the end of the month it is earned. So as my contract started mid March, the credits applied to the rental charges that were for mid March to end of August only included credits for months ending mid April, mid May, mid June, mid July & mid August (i.e. 5 credits); the next credit wouldn’t apply until the month ending mid Sept and the bill only covered until the end of August.
So in essence what they said was at the very end of the renewable contracts (and that might be many years down the line), I would get a credit on the last bill for the final month.

Not really happy about this at is meant I was paying more than expected this quarter on something that was sold to me as being “at no extra cost”, but being the reasonable person I consider I am, I let it go knowing this was a one off and I should still get the money back eventually (if BT remembered).

Next bill arrives mid September. I open it anxiously to see the expected charge of £34.62 (or whatever it should have been) and again I was charged more than expected
This time it appears to be because BT have changed the billing cycle. Now, instead of billing to the end of a calendar month, they have decided to bill a full 3 months in advance of the bill date resulting in another 0.5 month bill charge (at the higher rate Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan)

Now this may be a very unlucky coincidence, but BT suddenly decide that my billing date should be the 14th of the month. I didn’t realise the significance of that but asked why, if they decide to bill an extra half month, can’t I receive a half month credit so that I can get the calling plan “at no extra cost” as was originally agreed. Oh no, the credits are still applied only as full monthly credits and as my contract month doesn’t end until the 15the, sorry you’ll have to wait till next month for the credit that covers the extra charge. Again I end up paying more than anticipated

Mid December arrives along with the new quarterly bill. OMG!, the bill is this time for the expected amount. Father Christmas must exist and hopefully all will be well in future.

Now the contract for Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost was due to expire mid March 2010, and so in February 2010 I get a letter from BT advising me of this, and the opportunity to cancel (which I would need to advise them of). However, it says that if I don’t want to cancel I can do nothing and BT will renew the contract automatically and I’ll be tied in for another 12 months “at no extra cost”.

So the bill arrives in Mid March. No worries I thought, BT have this all sorted. It’ll be a bill for £34.62 as advertised. Wrong. It’s over £40!!!
Now what they say is that the bill is dated 14 March, but the old contract doesn’t end until the 15 March, so I could call up on the 15 March and cancel the contract. Consequently, no discounts have been applied to this tariff that was promised “at no extra cost” as the new bill was created before the new contract started. I did get 1 credit which was the final credit of the previous contract as they said in June 2009. Hence the bill is £5.98 more than expected

Now I did suggest to BT that if I was going to cancel the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost on the 15 March (the only day possible after the bill was produced), surely I would revert it to the Weekend only plan and so not incur the extra charges in the first place? Errr…good point they said. Anyway, that’s not what we billed you for. We billed you for Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at extra cost even though we see now you didn’t cancel the contact and we promised you it would be at no extra cost.
As I said, I thought I was a reasonable person and if I did happen to have cancelled the contract in the 24 hour possible timeframe (despite having been given about 4-6 weeks notice) and did elect to stay on the higher rate Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan (at extra cost) I’m sure BT would have been well within its rights to either bill me the extra cost or bill me for the credits earlier awarded that I was not entitled to.
Oh no, not with BT. They want the money now, credits can wait, meaning once again I was paying more than expected this quarter.

And I’m told this will happen every year!



Hopefully this post will explain to others why they are being billed more than they think they should be under the BT billing system…because no one in India could explain this to me and I tried many; it finally came from a BT person located in the UK.
I’m not saying it’s right for BT to be doing this, (because I don’t think it is without them clearly explaining this process up front of agreeing any contract) but does explain their mentality towards the charges billed.

elektra

sounds an almost identical story to that of my parents bill. latest bill was much larger than expected , partly due to calls to mobiles but also because they have billed for the 'renewed' contract but not applied the credits.

It may sort itself out next bill but I phoned customer services and they applied £8ish credit. But of course they are getting funds upfront and we have to wait until next bill.

I think they have been deliberately altering billing dates as it is easy to bury mistakes in these changes - i.e. very difficult bills for customers to understand especially pensioners.

have left it too late now to not renew contract ( 2 days times) and arrange alternative so am trying to persuade parents to use 18185 for mobiles and daytime 01/02/03.

Terry_D

Same for me - took me an hour to get £3.37 back!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=31136327&postcount=20

kennyg123

I'm in the same boat, and that's why I'm changing to their weekend plan as soon as I can. I will be using 18185 for any calls made during the week.

Premier_2

kennyg123 wrote: »

I'm in the same boat, and that's why I'm changing to their weekend plan as soon as I can. I will be using 18185 for any calls made during the week.

That's what I was originally on, but here's part of the reason I decided to change. I have caller display as part of the BT privacy service. It is free ... but only if you make a couple of chargeable or inclusive calls per month (or 6 per quarter for those of us who pay quarterly).

Not a problem, until you see that the Weekend only plan may be withdrawn if you don't make at least one chargeable call per month.
If they withdraw it, I understand you'll effectively be on line rental only which means you don't get any inclusive free calls. (but it's the same line rental cost)

However, with the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost, no chargeable calls are needed. (perhaps because I've agreed to a 12 month contract). I just need to make 6 inclusive (free) calls per quarter to ensure I don't get charged for caller display too.

A strange business model that says if I use their service at their cost (i.e. make calls for which no one pays them), it'll save me money on another of their services (caller display), but who am I to argue? If they want me to spend their profit in order to save me money, I'll gladly comply.

TBeckett100

i gota leter to say my 12 month contract is up for renewal. i didnt realise that weekend plan was a contract in itself. somehow the way i read it, if i cancelled the contract i would pay more in cancellation fees than the cost of the product. i would assume a renewed contract is mis-sold when my calls go via sky talk,

Heinz

TBeckett100 wrote: »

i gota leter to say my 12 month contract is up for renewal. i didnt realise that weekend plan was a contract in itself. somehow the way i read it, if i cancelled the contract i would pay more in cancellation fees than the cost of the product. i would assume a renewed contract is mis-sold when my calls go via sky talk,

BT's Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan was priced at £2.99/month but, by agreeing to a renewable contract (the letter you received shows you're on that), you can get that for nothing.

It sounds like you have that but also use Sky Talk as your CPS calls provider. I'd recommend you return the letter ceasing the auto-renewal - you'll then drop back onto BT's (free) Unlimited Weekend Plan and can (or course) carry on using Sky Talk for your calls.

p_watkins

Hi can anyone advise me please !

Had B.T. phone bill £51.10 - £4.60 worth of calls rest standing charge.
contacted my internet provider Pipex they can do better deal !they will sort out transfer .!
Just had another bill from B.T. £38.40 because I`ve broken my Evening & Weekend calls contract !
Total = 89.50 for £4.60 calls
I`vve been with B.T for many years cannot remember ever asking to renew my Evening & weekend calls contract !
can anyone advise me please !

Premier_2

Heinz wrote: »

...I'd recommend you return the letter ceasing the auto-renewal - you'll then drop back onto BT's (free) Unlimited Weekend Plan and can (or course) carry on using Sky Talk for your calls.

Be careful. From the recent conversations I've had with BT staff in the UK, my understanding is that if you simply cancel the contract, you'll remain on the Evening & Weekend Plan, but they just won't give you the £2.99 per month credit (and of course you'll not be in a 12 month contract).

So if you want the Weekend only plan, make sure you cancel the existing contract before the renewal date and tell BT you want to down grade to the Weekend only plan.

Premier_2

p_watkins wrote: »

Hi can anyone advise me please !

Had B.T. phone bill £51.10 - £4.60 worth of calls rest standing charge.
contacted my internet provider Pipex they can do better deal !they will sort out transfer .!
Just had another bill from B.T. £38.40 because I`ve broken my Evening & Weekend calls contract !
Total = 89.50 for £4.60 calls
I`vve been with B.T for many years cannot remember ever asking to renew my Evening & weekend calls contract !
can anyone advise me please !

You don't ask to renew the contract for the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan. When someone originally signs up to the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan at no extra cost, they agree that it is a auto-renewable 12 month contract. Essentially there is a break clause at the end of each 12 month period and BT will contact the subscriber reminding them of the opportunity to cancel. But if they don't before the end of the contract, it gets auto-renewed for another 12 months.

If a subscriber does terminate the contract within the 12 month term, they incur a charge of £7.50 for each month left of the term.

p_watkins

Sorry am I missing something yes I signed up to a verbal contract , but now BT have changed the contract 6-6 now 7-7 for some reason ! Spoke to BT - they have the right to change contract without asking - its in the contract !
Are they correct ?