BT Price Increases and changes in T&C . (From 1/5/2007).merged

bbb_uk

sgue9 wrote: »

I prefer to pay my bill through PayPoint. This is all done electronically and there is no administration involved.

It still costs BT more money than DD though. The place where you pay by PayPoint gets paid otherwise they wouldn't do it, and PayPoint themselves get paid as well. The PostOffice get paid for taking payments.

I'm not sure of the payments involved but I can imagine it does cost BT more than those paying via DD.

As mentioned earlier, BT have always charged £1 extra for not paying by DD so it's gone up 50p per month extra.

The news article had people claiming they would go to alternative telephone providers but is there an alternative that doesn't charge as much as £1.50 per month extra for not paying by DD? If there is a such a telephone provider, then I can imagine there being only a very small handful or probably just one provider.

Everyone is making out that BT are the really bad guys for doing this when they've been doing this for ages now, the only difference is it's gone up 50p a month and they've changed the wording surrounding the cost of linerental for those paying by DD and those not.

Virgin Media (VM) charge £5 per month which as far as I'm aware is THE most expensive non-DD charge added by a telephone provider but yet the newspaper article although did quickly mention it, didn't ask VM to comment on why they charge so much more than all other telephone providers (that I'm aware of).

Let's compare BT non-DD charges to VM's charge:

BT
£1.50 per month (£4.50 per quarter)

Virgin Media (the old NTL and Telewest)
£5 per month (£15 per quarter)

This means a difference of £3.50 per month or £10.50 per quarter, or alternatively £42 over the whole year that VM charge more than BT do.

DonnyDave

bbb_uk wrote: »

It still costs BT more money than DD though. The place where you pay by PayPoint gets paid otherwise they wouldn't do it, and PayPoint themselves get paid as well. The PostOffice get paid for taking payments.

When you use your credit card, the retailer has to pay the credit card company. Most retailers absorb this cost but some don't.

bbb_uk wrote: »

As mentioned earlier, BT have always charged £1 extra for not paying by DD so it's gone up 50p per month extra.

Exactly. Prices these days seem to be quoted monthly, despite bills usually being issued quarterly. Take Sky for example, some prices are here. Now consider how much it costs per quarter, the most expensive package is £130.50!!

bbb_uk wrote: »

Everyone is making out that BT are the really bad guys for doing this when they've been doing this for ages now, the only difference is it's gone up 50p a month and they've changed the wording surrounding the cost of linerental for those paying by DD and those not.

BT puts up its charges, therefore it must be its monopolistic attitude. Others do it, like what was NTL, and admit it's to follow BT's increases and no-one bats an eyelid.

What is the wording that's changed? I see that they now list 'line rental' separately (see here). But haven't other providers shown it that way for a while?

utilitybroker

Jumped for those who missed it,and in view of BT,s latest e-mail.

bigpaws23

I'm very confused about all of this
Can anyone tell me, for basic line rental, paid by DD, with no calls routed through BT and with caller ID and 1571, how much should my bill be (or what is the best tarif option for me) please?

Thanks so much
Bigpaws x

Heinz

bigpaws23 wrote: »

I'm very confused about all of this
Can anyone tell me, for basic line rental, paid by DD, with no calls routed through BT and with caller ID and 1571, how much should my bill be (or what is the best tarif option for me) please?

Thanks so much
Bigpaws x

Get onto BT Together Option 1, keep paying by DD, also opt for paperless billing and make six (5½p) evening or weekend UK 01/02 calls of less than an hour per quarter via BT (the latter to keep 'free' Caller Display and 'free' 1571 [if you're not prepared to join the DUMP 1571 movement]).

BT bill £11.00 - £0.25 + £0.11 = £10.86 incl. VAT per month.

Call that £32.58 per quarter - give or take a small amount due to the varying number of days in a quarter.

timdiecast

Richie23 wrote: »

Evening All

Just to ket you all no really.. had a bill from BT today with 'Extra costs included' ..Bou £4ish i think.. so i thought it was a bit strange as i only pay my line rental to them and its normally a set amout each quarter..

Got on the blower and was told BT now charge for CLI if you dont have your calls with them :mad:

I wasnt aware of this..this lay said it was a new thing and letters had been sent to everyone..

Its about £5 per quarter i think she said.. i cancelled mine as trying to cut back on things.

Just a warning..

If anyone does know a work around on how to get CLI free then please let me know..

Hope this helps someone if they weren't aware of it like me!!

Richie

Did anyone receive prior warning of the caller id charges? I don't remember getting a letter and have now been charged a £4.46 "one off charge".

DonnyDave

timdiecast wrote: »

Did anyone receive prior warning of the caller id charges? I don't remember getting a letter and have now been charged a £4.46 "one off charge".

IIRC, from day one, they always said that you had to make some chargeable calls with BT for it to be free.

Biggles

I am getting very confused here (and am obviously not the only one).

I just got an email from BT: 'Changes to BT prices and payment terms and conditions'.

It says that if I continue to pay by DD, there will be no change to my charges. OK.

But if I pay by a means other than DD, the changes from 1 May will be:-

A reduction of £3 a quarter for your BT Together Option.
A reduction of £3 a quarter for your BT broadband package.
The introduction of a new single payment processing fee of £4.50 a quarter
These changes will apply if you choose to pay by means other than DD or MPP. The combined result of these separate changes will be £1.50 a quarter less on your BT bill when compared to current prices.

So, if I change back to paying by online banking, or even by cheque, I save money? Do they really mean that?

Heinz

Biggles wrote: »

I am getting very confused here (and am obviously not the only one).

I just got an email from BT: 'Changes to BT prices and payment terms and conditions'.

It says that if I continue to pay by DD, there will be no change to my charges. OK.

But if I pay by a means other than DD, the changes from 1 May will be:-
So, if I change back to paying by online banking, or even by cheque, I save money? Do they really mean that?

At the moment, BT line rental (ignoring the 50p paper-free billing discount) is £12/month but, those who pay by DD get £1/month discount - so they pay £11/month.

From 1/5/07, BT are changing their prices (increasing the basic cost by 50p/month) but, ineptly, instead of saying that line rental will be £12.50/month but that those who pay by DD will get £1.50/month discount, they decided to say that line rental will be £11/month but those who don't pay by DD will pay £12.50!

Of course, it amounts to the same thing - just the BT person who decided on the terminology to use is now probably trying to remove numerous daggers from his/her back!

Biggles

Heinz wrote: »

From 1/5/07, BT are changing their prices (increasing the basic cost by 50p/month) but, ineptly, instead of saying that line rental will be £12.50/month but that those who pay by DD will get £1.50/month discount, they decided to say that line rental will be £11/month but those who don't pay by DD will pay £12.50!

I get that bit. So, if I was a phone user only, my line rental would be going down £1 pm (from a notional £12, which would be going up to £12.50 on 1 May) and the discount would be £1.50, making me all square. But my email today tells me that my broadband rental would also be going down by £1 pm, leaving me 50p a month better off - but only if I pay by means other than DD.

The words in my prev post are copied directly from the email, and it very clearly says I'll be £1.50 pq better off if I pay by other means. I'm just reluctant to change my payment method because I think they've got the wording wrong in some way.