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BT Broadband - fed up with it

Lleucu
Posts: 334 Forumite

Hi I am really fed up with BT.
We only have BT for the broadband (no unbundled exchanges in this rural area) and were paying for Option 2 plus line rental, using mobiles for all calls.
I had hoped to control costs but there was never a predictable bill, the contract is so complicated. Recently BT claimed our usage of BB exceeded to option 2 limit but unfortunately sent the warning email to a dead email account so to cut a long story short we had to transfer to Option 3. (despite the fact that all bills went to a live email account!!)
Option 3 seems to automatically create BT Fon which then caused problems with my mobile phone as well.
My main complaints about BT are:
1.Lack of a predictable bill, by contrast with Orange I can log on look at current usage and make adjustments accordingly. I know I pay £20 a month for an 18 month contract which includes a new Blackberry. By contrast what do we get with BT?
2. Extremely sharp practice about contracts. I tried to explain contracts to my elderly mother and she was so confused that getting an additional facility created a 12 month contract.
3.Automatic creation of BT Fon account without my consent, no discussion etc.
4.Complete lack of transparency about broadband usage - why is not easily checkable via the main account.
5. You get very little for a lot of money.
I have this vision of a team of accountants looking constantly at these wretched contracts and setting traps for the unwary eg the extra charges if you dont use your phone. Where else do you get charged for non use?
We have stuck with BT mainly because of the trauma of transferring but also because of some good things such as reliable connection, but I really think it is time that BT should put the loyal customer base first rather than constantly devising methods to rip us off or to put it another way retention should be as important as recruitment of new customers.
What is OFCOM doing about all of this? I accept that we all need to make some sacrifices to maintain the network but BT goes too far in exploiting loyalty.
We only have BT for the broadband (no unbundled exchanges in this rural area) and were paying for Option 2 plus line rental, using mobiles for all calls.
I had hoped to control costs but there was never a predictable bill, the contract is so complicated. Recently BT claimed our usage of BB exceeded to option 2 limit but unfortunately sent the warning email to a dead email account so to cut a long story short we had to transfer to Option 3. (despite the fact that all bills went to a live email account!!)
Option 3 seems to automatically create BT Fon which then caused problems with my mobile phone as well.
My main complaints about BT are:
1.Lack of a predictable bill, by contrast with Orange I can log on look at current usage and make adjustments accordingly. I know I pay £20 a month for an 18 month contract which includes a new Blackberry. By contrast what do we get with BT?
2. Extremely sharp practice about contracts. I tried to explain contracts to my elderly mother and she was so confused that getting an additional facility created a 12 month contract.
3.Automatic creation of BT Fon account without my consent, no discussion etc.
4.Complete lack of transparency about broadband usage - why is not easily checkable via the main account.
5. You get very little for a lot of money.
I have this vision of a team of accountants looking constantly at these wretched contracts and setting traps for the unwary eg the extra charges if you dont use your phone. Where else do you get charged for non use?
We have stuck with BT mainly because of the trauma of transferring but also because of some good things such as reliable connection, but I really think it is time that BT should put the loyal customer base first rather than constantly devising methods to rip us off or to put it another way retention should be as important as recruitment of new customers.
What is OFCOM doing about all of this? I accept that we all need to make some sacrifices to maintain the network but BT goes too far in exploiting loyalty.
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Comments
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Sorry but if you don't like BT for your broadband then moaning about it here will not change anything - phone the up, get a MAC , and move to a different broadband provider. If you are that upset about them transfer your line rental too - Post Office maybe as theirs is cheaper and unlike some others which are cheaper still don't seem to attract much criticism.
Your choice of ADSL provider will be dictated largely by how much download you use as lower caps = lower prices. Nobody offers truly unlimited and many "unlimited" services = abysmal speeds.0 -
kwikbreaks wrote: »Sorry but if you don't like BT for your broadband then moaning about it here will not change anything
I disagree, it will certainly make people aware of the underhand way this company is now operating, and make them look elsewhere.Pants0 -
I disagree, it will certainly make people aware of the underhand way this company is now operating, and make them look elsewhere.
If you look at the complaintsMy main complaints about BT are:
1.Lack of a predictable bill, by contrast with Orange I can log on look at current usage and make adjustments accordingly. I know I pay £20 a month for an 18 month contract which includes a new Blackberry. By contrast what do we get with BT?
2. Extremely sharp practice about contracts. I tried to explain contracts to my elderly mother and she was so confused that getting an additional facility created a 12 month contract.
3.Automatic creation of BT Fon account without my consent, no discussion etc.
4.Complete lack of transparency about broadband usage - why is not easily checkable via the main account.
5. You get very little for a lot of money.
you must admit theres nothing there
Point 1 - if you don't have free calls and actually use your phone during the day the bills won't be predictable
Point 2 - they tried to explain the contract to an elderly relative, and blames "Extremely sharp practice" for failing to explain it properly. Whats that got to do with BT?
Point 3 - Automatic creation of BT Fon. Opt-out then.
Point 4 - lots of 3rd party software to do this, facility should be available to check for yourself, but warnings are sent
Point 5 - You get very little for a lot of money
What else do you want from broadband and phone, herd of elephants paraded outside your door every day.0 -
I think there are plenty of examples of that here already.
My advice is and always will be - vote with your feet.0 -
Unfair comments and I have tediously responded to them one by one.
Point 1 - if you don't have free calls and actually use your phone during the day the bills won't be predictable In fact we dont use the phone at all, BT charge if you don't make a minimum number of calls. I think this is very odd to charge customers for not using the facility.
Point 2 - Contracts: Until recently if you accepted a special offer, new home hub etc you were automatically in a further contract for at least 12 months, my point about my elderly relative was I was trying to explain this to her and she was incredulous at the cheek of it.
Point 3 - Automatic creation of BT Fon. Opt-out then. My point is that BT should not automatically assume that you are OK with this arrangement - apart from messing up my mobile connection, I do not know whether it is safe. It should be clearly explained.
Point 4 - lots of 3rd party software to do this, facility should be available to check for yourself, but warnings are sent Warnings were sent but to a dead email address. BT were billing to a live email address. Why can't BT offer monitoring as an online facility?
Point 5 - You get very little for a lot of money
What else do you want from broadband and phone, herd of elephants paraded outside your door every day. From Orange I get a new Blackberry every 18 months, unlimited calls to STD numbers, 300 minutes, 100 texts and a clear user friendly website. All this for £20 per month.
I cannot understand why you are being so dismissive of my point of view on BT. There are many other posters who share it. It is easier said than done to switch, I am not in an exchange which is unbundled and I am self employed and cannot afford the potential disruption of changing my supplier.
I used to rate BT highly and want it to listen to its customers, is that too much to ask?0 -
eg the extra charges if you dont use your phone. Where else do you get charged for non use?
This is communicated to you clearly when you take out a package. I've only ordered one myself in the last few weeks and it's clear - £1.50 a month unless you make at least 2 calls.
Also, what is a 'dead' email address?0 -
I really can't see why BT is being defended so vigorously, and the original post being dismissed.
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Some of us are stuck with BT for basic services; we can not move elsewhere - sorry, but there it is.
And have you tried getting a migration code - MAC - out of BT?
These people have: maccode.org.uk/switch/bt/be.aspx
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Spurious revenue generation?
I don't know, but if you don't complain, they keep it.
.0 -
DesPondOfSlough wrote: »I really can't see why BT is being defended so vigorously, and the original post being dismissed.
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Some of us are stuck with BT for basic services; we can not move elsewhere - sorry, but there it is.
And have you tried getting a migration code - MAC - out of BT?
These people have: maccode.org.uk/switch/bt/be.aspx
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Spurious revenue generation?
I don't know, but if you don't complain, they keep it.
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Utter rubbish, nobody is tied to BT these days, for landlines/calls or broadband.0 -
DesPondOfSlough wrote: »I really can't see why BT is being defended so vigorously, and the original post being dismissed.
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Some of us are stuck with BT for basic services; we can not move elsewhere - sorry, but there it is.
And have you tried getting a migration code - MAC - out of BT?
These people have: maccode.org.uk/switch/bt/be.aspx
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Spurious revenue generation?
I don't know, but if you don't complain, they keep it.
.
Please can you explain to us why you cannot move to any of the hundreds of other telecoms providers in the UK?
And please don't tell us it's because your exchange is not unbundled.No free lunch, and no free laptop0
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