BT Line Rental Saver CON!

cidercyclist

Apologies if this has been covered before but....

Has anyone actually read the small print with this offer?

Line Rental Saver. Available to BT Calling Plan customers paying £119.88 for 12 months in advance by debit/credit card – equivalent to £9.99 a month (Full price changed to £119.88 on 13/11/10). Any additional charges to be paid by Direct Debit with e-billing (previous discount for the latter will no longer apply). At least two BT calls must be made per month or six BT calls per quarter to avoid a monthly charge of £1.50 or a quarterly charge of £4.50 being added to your bill. Advance payment is non-refundable. Exclusions and conditions apply.

So they are saying that basically you still have to make some calls via BT to qualify for the reduced line rental.

Seems like a very big con to me?!?:mad:

Mark_In_Hampshire

What that clause does is immediately discourage anyone like me (potentially) who thought "Ah - finally, a no nonsense way of getting a phone line for a year, paying upfrront to get a cheaper price, for which I have no intention of plugging a handset in to or making any calls as I only want it for broadband via some ISP" from using it.

But then that would be because they're not interested in people like that who don't use the phone.

stevelister

You may not have noticed the second condition in the small print, 'Any additional charges to be paid by Direct Debit with e-billing (previous discount for the latter will no longer apply). I currently get a discount of £1.25/month (£15/year) for paper-free billing, so, as I read this, I'm going to lose this discount. That reduces the monthly discount from £3.30 to £2.05, i.e. a saving of £24.60 per year, not £40 as reported. :T

I'm new to this - anyone know how to get in touch with Martin to share with him this revelation?
:money:

edda

Another hidden condition is that you must have paper free billing to move onto Line Rental Saver.

Not good for elderly and others who are without internet.

More details here:

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13962/c/761,2071,2087

geordieracer

cidercyclist wrote: »

Apologies if this has been covered before but....

Has anyone actually read the small print with this offer?

Line Rental Saver. Available to BT Calling Plan customers paying £119.88 for 12 months in advance by debit/credit card – equivalent to £9.99 a month (Full price changed to £119.88 on 13/11/10). Any additional charges to be paid by Direct Debit with e-billing (previous discount for the latter will no longer apply). At least two BT calls must be made per month or six BT calls per quarter to avoid a monthly charge of £1.50 or a quarterly charge of £4.50 being added to your bill. Advance payment is non-refundable. Exclusions and conditions apply.

So they are saying that basically you still have to make some calls via BT to qualify for the reduced line rental.

Seems like a very big con to me?!?:mad:

Its not a con. It tells you exactly what you have to do beforehand.. No con.

Heinz

Yes, I'm having a little difficulty seeing how this can be a confidence trick when the terms and conditions of the offer are clearly documented. I know most of us hate the small print and rarely read it but that hardly makes something a 'con'.

BTW, although my Orchid ensures I make the necessary number of qualifying calls (which I need to make to get free Caller Display anyway) by routing all my weekend 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 calls via BT instead of via my CPS, I haven't gone for this offer because I spotted the loss of paper-free discount and realised that, in reality, the saving was about 25p/week over the year and that it would probably be impossible to get back onto paper-free discount afterwards.

Inactive

geordieracer wrote: »

Its not a con. It tells you exactly what you have to do beforehand.. No con.

Maybe not strictly speaking a " Con " but the usual devious BT methods being used.

I am so glad that I got away from them, to a far better provider.

I pay my provider ( IDNet ) 12 months upfront, but I can cancel at any time and get back the months that I have not used if I decide to cancel.

( Not that I have any intention of leaving them, they are a breath of fresh air after BT ).

cidercyclist

Ok so "con" may not be the correct terminology but it is still in reality a useless offer that they big up in order to lure people in. Not on really!

Han_naH

You also have to pay upfront by CARD. BT like this. They now have your card details. Continuously Authorised Transaction anyone?
I'm assuming in 12 months they debit again "unless cancellation is received in writing, we suggest registerd post" and I would have to chase them in circles to recover the amount... who knows I'm not about to find out.