Um, £23.59 BT bill, but only £1.30 call costs?

blizeH

Hi all,

I just received my latest phone bill from BT, totalling £23.59.

Maybe that's not so low for a monthly bill, but I rarely use the phone, in fact I only have £1.30 worth of call charges!

The other costs are £13.90 a month line rental (which btw is a joke, why didn't I sign up with Be?!) £3.13 call plan costs (which I cancelled 2 months ago?!) and a fairly hefty charge for not making more than 10 calls on my phone!

Now my question first of all would be is there anyway to get this down? It seems very high to me but short of cancelling my contract I don't know what to do.

Also, the not using my phone charge - can I just randomly make 10 calls without them picking up? Or would they have to pick up?

Thanks

jackieb

I didn't know about the less than 10 calls thing. I remember (a few years ago now) when my aunt and uncle would get a low user rebate from BT because they hardly used their phone.

JimmyTheWig

Ok, here's what I would do...

1. Phone them up and tell them to remove the charge for the call plan that you cancelled. Check if you paid for it last month and get them to credit you for that, too.
2. You suggest you can get line rental cheaper elsewhere. Are you tied in to a contract with BT? If so, there's not much you can do and I can't see them lowering the price. If not, phone up to cancel with a view to moving elsewhere. It may be that they make you a better offer on the phone. Up to you whether to take it or not.
3. I presume that you were made aware (check t&cs, etc) that you would be charged if you didn't make 10 calls. If not, complain and ask for that to be wiped from your bill. Going forward from here, find out from them what 10 calls means (e.g., as you say, does the other side have to pick up, can they be freephone calls, can they all be in the space of a few minutes).

I think that you have to accept that you are not using your phone line in the way that BT intended. Therefore it is your responsibility in this case to stick firmly to the terms and conditions.

brewerdave

With BT standard rental packages you get free weekend calls - Just call a speaking clock every w/end once - that'll meet the conditions.

blizeH

Thank you so much guys - I didn't know about the 10 calls thing but then I doubt I read the T&Cs as well as I could have done!

I believe I am tied in for another 7 months or so but will call to confirm, since paying that amount when I don't even use the phone is a bit of a joke

The talking clock idea is a very good one, thank you

DUTR

blizeH wrote: »

Thank you so much guys - I didn't know about the 10 calls thing but then I doubt I read the T&Cs as well as I could have done!

I believe I am tied in for another 7 months or so but will call to confirm, since paying that amount when I don't even use the phone is a bit of a joke

The talking clock idea is a very good one, thank you

With low usage you may as well get rid of the line, however perhaps you need to include the cost of people calling you.
Until I cancelled my line I was paying like £16 per month for rental and ACR, never made chargeable calls, but 600 mins on my mobile covers all my month's calling pattern, so since Jan10 I have not had a landline at home

jhp

Did you not get a substantive discount off your line connection fee for agreeing to make at least 10 calls a month?
Workaround is to call a recorded announcement briefly eg speaking clock,weather line as suggested.Hopefully HEINZ will be along to post list of numbers you can use

blizeH

Thanks again, I need a line for ADSL but the talking clock thing sounds a great solution, thank you!

Or I could just call people and say "call me back!" instead of giving two rings as I do now

(cheapskate yeah, but everyone I call has free calls!)