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

clark1982

Heinz wrote:

I thought the non-DD line rental increase from 1/5/07 was going to be 50p/month - to £12.50/month, not £1.50/month - to £13.50

their making the standard line rental £11.00 per month for ALL customers. Customers that don't pay by direct debit, will then be charged £1.50 per month.

So basically no £1.00 discount per month for direct deit customes, instead you avoid the £1.50 admin cost. So really the increase for non direct debit customers is 50 pence per month. just to confuse us!

teddyco

BT has just announced that they will increase their fees for anyone paying their bill by cash or cheque. Does anyone know when this will happen?

Taken from article:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23384577-details/Pensioners+punished+in+BT+purge+on+cash/article.do

BT is introducing charges for £5.5million customers who pay their bills by cash or cheque.

The penalty, which will work out at £4.50 a quarter or £18 a year, will raise almost £100million annually.

It is also putting up its late payment charge by 50 per cent to £7.50 a time.

The firm wants more of its 13million customers to pay by direct debit.

Pensioners, who traditionally prefer to pay bills by cash or cheque at Post Offices, will fall foul of the charge.

Customers who do not have a bank account, perhaps because they have a poor credit history, will also suffer.

These two groups are among those least able to pay extra on their bills, particularly given sharp increases in other outgoings such as gas and electricity charges and council tax.

While the move will raise £100million a year for BT, it is offsetting the full impact of the charge by lowering the line rental for customers affected from £36 a quarter to £33.

hurrah

Starts 1/5/2007

Already posted about here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=342453

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=369716

If you pay bill by cheque/cash it will actually increase by 50p month as BT already charge £1/month extra if you don't pay by direct debit/monthly payment plan and they have done for many years .

Better then Virgin Media(NTL/Telewest) £5.00 a month.

Heinz

teddyco wrote:

The penalty, which will work out at £4.50 a quarter or £18 a year, will raise almost £100million annually.

Although the facts in the report are generally correct, the way they are presented (at first sight, the increase appears to be £4.50/quarter when, in fact, it's really £1.50/quarter because it's offset by the 'lowering the line rental for customers affected from £36 a quarter to £33'), is designed to catch the eye and not to explain the whole truth.

At the moment, paying BT residential line rental by DD qualifies for a £1/month discount. In other words, line rental costs £11/month (£33/quarter) instead of £12/month (£36/quarter).

From 1/5/07, that £11/month 'discounted' price becomes the standard price - but those not paying by DD will be charged £1.50/month extra (i.e. £12.50/month).

As those not paying by DD did not previously receive the £1/month discount and were already paying £12/month, the increase is actually 50p/month (£1.50/quarter or £6 per annum).

The increase in the cost of line rental (which only applies to those not paying by DD) is about 4%.

Edinburghlass_2

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Spark

I personally do not like DD because I do not feel in control of my money.
They theorically could, by mistake or a glitch, take any amount of money from your account without you knowing or be capable of stopping this happening before it's done.
Obviously it rarely happens, if at all, but I am not at ease with the idea of that possibility.
I pay my bills through e-banking, as soon as I got the bill I go to my bank's website and make a payment.
If I don't agree with any of my bills, I can find out before paying, that makes me feel in control.
I am not paying by cash or cheque, but I suppose I still will be paying the quarterly "fine", even if I have been paying on time without fail for years.

Portlandbill

Being a true money saver i pay all my utility bills by direct debit to get maximum discounts,its so much easier and i have not had any problems.

I rather be paying £10.75 a month (paperless billing) for my BT line rental then £12.50p a month non d/d/. Thats a saving of £21 a year for starters ,and virtually covers my 18185 bill.

hurrah

At least BT allow you to pay for your calls by non d/d methods unlike some other suppliers eg Talk Talk who insist on d/d or continous credit card authority.

Heinz

hurrah wrote:

At least BT allow you to pay for your calls by non d/d methods unlike some other suppliers eg Talk Talk who insist on d/d or continous credit card authority.

And I'd strongly advise against giving any firms (one in particular springs to mind) continuous credit card authority because, unlike DDs, you cannot stop them making a call (even if you have closed the credit card account).

metrobus

Its worth pointing out that customers on the light user scheme do not
get any discount on the bill for paying by DD and have to pay the full increase.