BT monthly payment plan - huge payment jump

twinkle1981_2

This has reared its head for me again. Just got my latest 3 monthly bill from 27 Apr to 27 July. Total amount : £161.18. Yet they say they have to increase my monthly payments to £85.00 per month!?

When I do the math, 161.18 over 3 months is about £53.00 per month. I have the following :

BT Vision bronze : £14.99 per month
Unlimited Broadband : £24.99 per month
Basic line rental : around £13.00 per month
I very rarely use the home phone to make phone calls.

When I first signed up with BT I agreed to pay £54.00 per month, which was the case for the first 3 months. Now they change my monthly payments all the time.

Am I missing something here?

ETA: They have also charged me a one off charge of £20.40 for a connection offer fee? Saying as I have not made more than 30 chargeable calls I am being charged this. I have no idea what it is, I have been connected with BT for well over a year now so I am baffled. Anyone know what this is?

HappyMJ

It is very confusing. If you have online billing you can changre it after the first payment has been made.

BT has a help facility http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14097/c/761,2071,2089

It explains it as such

We calculate the amount you pay by looking at:

• Your rental charges. Depending on your BT products, this will be things like your line rental, your broadband option charges, and your BT Vision pack charges.
• Last quarter's usage. We take the total of your usage over the quarter and divide it by three.
• Any outstanding charges. We divide anything you owe us by six and add it to your monthly payments.

Account in debit

We review your payments if your account is in debit when we produce your bill. We may then increase your payments to reduce the debit on your account and to make sure the payments match your rental and usage charges.
To work out your new payment we add your quarterly rental and call charges together, and then divide that amount by three. Next we divide your debit balance by six. We then add both of these totals together to make your new monthly payment.

Personally I think the best way to pay is quarterly, line rental in advance, call charges in arrears because if you read it correctly they want you to have a bill in credit when they make the bill and they want another payment within the next month which could mean you are paying about 5 months before you actually use the service.

twinkle1981_2

Thank you, now I think I understand it.

I managed to speak to someone and she said that the only way to keep the payments at a set amount every month would be to pay the balance off and then go onto 'whole bill' billing.

Does that sound right?

HappyMJ

twinkle1981 wrote: »

I managed to speak to someone and she said that the only way to keep the payments at a set amount every month would be to pay the balance off and then go onto 'whole bill' billing.

Does that sound right?

Yes. They won't be exactly the same but at least you'll only be billed what is due. i.e this time it cost you an extra £20.40 because you didn't use it enough. You need to call people more often or just waste calls on the weekend ringing people aimlessly for quotes for free.

Heinz

Change to Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit.

twinkle1981_2

So this £20.40 connection thing is because I didn't make enough phone calls?! I didn't even know I had signed up to this.

I have to phone them back tomorrow about this as for some reason she couldn't get into the bill to query it today.

HappyMJ

Heinz wrote: »

Change to Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit.

I wish I could...due to BT Basic I'm stuck on quarterly billing so they want 3 months of broadband charges upfront. Very annoying...

HappyMJ

twinkle1981 wrote: »

So this £20.40 connection thing is because I didn't make enough phone calls?! I didn't even know I had signed up to this.

I have to phone them back tomorrow about this as for some reason she couldn't get into the bill to query it today.

It may have been a special offer a the time. If you don't use the phone very much make sure you are on BT's standard Weekend plan with no extras. Just the plain ordinary free weekend calls only. NO friends and family for free. Every other plan is a auto-renewing 12 month contract.

nearlyrich

I am glad I read this thread, it reminded me to call BT as our DD shot up from £40 a month to £54 in April, been meaning to call but a bit of a problem when working a I need to be speaking to my customers not hanging on for BT!

Anyway I just got 6 months free BB and £4 a month off my anytime plan, result is £20 DD for 6 months and then £36 for 12 months not bad Moneysavng for a Thursday morning!

twinkle1981_2

Thanks for your help everyone, I understand it now I think.

I have decided to bite the bullet and pay off my balance and then hopefully my bills will be more reasonable each month.

yvonne13_2

BT Privacy at Home - use the Telephone Preference Service and Caller Display to help stop unwanted sales calls. Caller Display is free if you make two chargeable or inclusive calls a month using BT; otherwise it's £2.70 a month or £8.10 a quarter.

Have you read the terms and conditions as I found this on mine so I told them to remove it as it is not a free service as they claim.