MSE News: BT to hike landline costs

sauvignon

I don't know if BT's customer services are much better. When I call which is rare, it takes me at least five minutes to start understanding the accent. On two occasions when I had problems with email and allowed their technical support to connect to my PC, I lost a} all my contacts b] all old emails - neither could not be restored. My BT bills which I consider part of the service are so complicated I have to spend hours poring over them to make sense of the dozens of entries and numbers.

But to my astonishment, when I received the latest online bill, I was apparently in debit and my payments "needed to be raised" because I "used more". I only use BB moderately and make few calls, so if anything, I used less. Indeed a little further down the 5 page online bill there was a £8.10 one-off charge entered as Minimum Calls Fee. CS explained that as I'd made less than the minimum number of calls which is 6 per quarter I had to pay for the Caller Display feature which would normally be free. That was news to me. BTW I made 5 calls, including a one second call to my mobile when I was probably looking for it and obviously didn't pick up, which cost me 25 p!

As for BB, I wanted to leave BT a year ago, but didn't have time to go through the hassle of changing my email address etc. Then I was offered a discount by CS in exchange of entering into a contract which I accepted. It runs out at the end of September.

They led me to believe the "special rate" stayed for as long as I stayed, the minimum being 12 months. How naive. So far there's been no warning or invitation by BT to renew, so I'd probably continue paying the same, unaware that I have quietly been put on another 12 month contract. Am I right to think that unless you actively seek termination it's basically a rolling contract? The confirmation back then didn't specify any T&Cs and there's nothing in the standard ones which you also have to spend a long time finding.

This new increase then would be a double whammy and this time I'm determined to leave whatever the hassle.

OldGreyFox

Sauvignon.

Useful way to contact BT http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Usually gets a response from UK Customer Service.

The minimum call fee has been around for Yonks. Its explained here.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12787/~/what-are-these-low-usage-charges%3F

They normally waive it first time if you complain.

Work Around call the speaking clock (02070431320) twice every weekend ,when 01/02 calls are inclusive for everybody.

bobstheboy

I have a BT land-line, with O2 Broadband. Will moving to another provider cause problems with O2 ? Also my O2 package is a Legacy unlimited deal, which I don't want to lose. Can I go to O2 phone without losing my Legacy package ? Lots of questions lol

gowgowuk

bobstheboy wrote: »

I have a BT land-line, with O2 Broadband. Will moving to another provider cause problems with O2 ? Also my O2 package is a Legacy unlimited deal, which I don't want to lose. Can I go to O2 phone without losing my Legacy package ? Lots of questions lol

Hi,
I am in exactly the same situation as you and coming to the end of my BT contract. If you search on the O2 forum discussions, it is quite clear that in order to get an O2 phone line, you need to switch to a new style Home phone + BB package, and therefore loose your Legacy deal. Personally I'm not going to do that. I called BT saying that I'm considering switching to O2, and they offered me to reduce my line rental to £9.70 per month instead of the £12.65 I'm paying. (that would be £10.20, I think after the December price hike). I have to check if this includes w-e or eve free calls (I'm not using my line much anyway). This didn't take a lot of arguing, it was offered immediately...

bobstheboy

gowgowuk wrote: »

Hi,
I am in exactly the same situation as you and coming to the end of my BT contract. If you search on the O2 forum discussions, it is quite clear that in order to get an O2 phone line, you need to switch to a new style Home phone + BB package, and therefore loose your Legacy deal. Personally I'm not going to do that. I called BT saying that I'm considering switching to O2, and they offered me to reduce my line rental to £9.70 per month instead of the £12.65 I'm paying. (that would be £10.20, I think after the December price hike). I have to check if this includes w-e or eve free calls (I'm not using my line much anyway). This didn't take a lot of arguing, it was offered immediately...

Thanks - but what if I go to another supplier, will that change anything with my O2 Broadband or does it just seemlessly continue ?

gowgowuk

gowgowuk wrote: »

Hi,
I called BT saying that I'm considering switching to O2, and they offered me to reduce my line rental to £9.70 per month instead of the £12.65 I'm paying. (that would be £10.20, I think after the December price hike). I have to check if this includes w-e or eve free calls (I'm not using my line much anyway). This didn't take a lot of arguing, it was offered immediately...

it's £9.65 actually. but today I received my bill and.. surprise surprise, the discount was not applied. I called the (Indian) customer center and to my disbelief they told me that I was offered an "evening and week end" package but refused it due to the price. Completely untrue!!! We never ever talked about this. Pure lies! She also said there's no trace of my £9.65 offer. Then she said she needed to call me back because her system just crashed! I decided to call the (UK) call center (choose the option " I want to order something"), and there, the guy was very efficient, had all the details of the £9.65 offer on his screen but said it hadn't gone though for some reason. He fixed it and now I received the confirmation e-mail. £9.65, and it's for Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan!

savemoney

Right I want to leave BT they can shove line rental where the sun dont shine, I dont never want to go back to them again, ist not acceptable 3 increase in line rental in just over a year they are clearly taking the Mick

The problem I have is I use Primus CPS, 18866 and I am off BT network for adsl, is there a provider (not talk talk) that I can just have for line rental if calls are cheaper than Primus I dont mind leaving them but still need to use 18866 cps

savemoney

Thanks I thought as much might go to PO £40 cashback http://www.topcashback.co.uk/post_office/ and free evening/weekend calls just wont be getting free calls during day less 5p connection. Love to tell BT to shove it where it hurts they are on a death wish with all these increases.

I assume them there is no companies that allow cps other than BT. Still nice to tell BT to shove it

Thanks for help (post above got removed)

djk99

OK, I want to terminate my contract with BT as it would seem my package price is going up. I would prefer to do this by Email but can't find a (normal) Email address whereby I have an ongoing record of correspondence.The BT site has communication options, but, no record is available Help anyone ?

I have Emailed BT on OldGreyFox's link, http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950
Let's see if that works !

djk99

Well that was a positive move, got a call from BT today to say I can cancel my line rental, but not the BB package as that has not increased. I think I will proceed and get a Primus line rental for 6.79. Do I need to have any further dialogue with BT or can I simply go ahead and switch ??