MSE News: BT to end paperless billing discount

Mikeyboy01

After this new I telephoned up to request papperbilling again and they were less than helpful told me all about the enviroment so I reminded them all about there profits and if they were that concerned with the enviroment then donate a lot of dosh to it, No answer to that one. I had to be quite forceful that I wanted it so beware they are ready for you but stick to your guns!

jrawle

Lily1 wrote: »

Thinking of changing to the upfront 12 month payment, but have just paid quarterly bill with advance rental charge on it. Will they refund difference if I sign up today?

They leave the amount you have paid as credit on your account. Now, for me that was useless as I never make any chargeable calls at all, so the credit would just have sat there. It took two e-mails to customer services to get them to refund the money to my bank account - the first time they just said it was OK as it was credit on my account.

This is really the only real downside to Line Rental Saver, particularly as you have to do it every year as you have to wait until it has expired (and presumably you've been billed for 3 months' line rental) before you can re-order. But then it only takes a couple of minutes to send a message from your online account.

tibbar

The only way to show BT is to all go back to paper billing!

camperman1

Try Post Office Home Phone for a reasonable deal and a minimum of button pushing when you want to contact someone.:j

Crabman

Surprised at how little interest there is in this thread, considering BT is the most widely used telecoms company in the UK.

I guess this is why they quietly got rid of the discount - they knew in the run up to Christmas that very few would notice.

Tharweb

jrawle wrote: »

They leave the amount you have paid as credit on your account. Now, for me that was useless as I never make any chargeable calls at all, so the credit would just have sat there. It took two e-mails to customer services to get them to refund the money to my bank account - the first time they just said it was OK as it was credit on my account.

This is really the only real downside to Line Rental Saver, particularly as you have to do it every year as you have to wait until it has expired (and presumably you've been billed for 3 months' line rental) before you can re-order. But then it only takes a couple of minutes to send a message from your online account.

Thank you for highlighting this, I hadn't thought about it as I am currently paid up to January 12. Like you, I don't make many chargeable calls and it would take some time to use up the credit.

I just did a web chat and asked what would happen to my advance payments if I took up Line Rental Saver and I was eventually told they would be refunded, but I am not convinced. Can I ask, how do you message them from your on-line account?

andreb_2

I have disabled paper billing as the person from India said that I could get paper bills for free because I complained about the online system being confusing and hard to use. Now that I see that I'm paying for them, I'm still going to carry on receiving the paper bill.
I have been so foolish to renew my contract with them last month and was not completely aware about the price hikes until quite recently. Is there any way to terminate the contract early?
Also I believe that BT giving customers Evening calls makes them feel like they are getting value for money. Well I would rather much prefer you didn't hike the prices up.
If I can't get out of the contract mess I will most certainly cancel at the end. I'm sure there are other fish in the sea that would appreciate my custom more.

pen1

Crabman wrote: »

Surprised at how little interest there is in this thread, considering BT is the most widely used telecoms company in the UK.

I guess this is why they quietly got rid of the discount - they knew in the run up to Christmas that very few would notice.

It effectively increases line rental in December for those customers affected, by more than 15% (from £12.65 to £14.60); and what's disappointing, in my view, is that it wasn't announced when BT issued a press release in August 2011 giving the impression of 5% or less price rises:
http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=FF343DA2-2CB2-47DF-AE45-385F50D5105A

It's this latter point (transparency) that has annoyed me- as a line-rental only customer (calls and Broadband with Sky) I was willing to accept the 70p increase that BT had announced, but am having a re-think (about taking the line-rental to Sky) now I've discovered (not from BT) that it's effectively an increase of £1.95 per month.

Hurdler

DJ_Mike wrote: »

Seems rather short sighted of them. I always opt for paper bills because I like the printed record of what I owe to a company, in case I need to use it for some reason (evidence in a dispute, proof of address, etc.) - only when companies threaten to charge more if I use paper billing do I then opt for online billing. BT doing this (not that I care, I'm with Virgin) would just mean I hop straight back to the convenience of paper billing again. And let's be honest, if it drains their profits a bit too I see that as a bonus.

I found when moving house and more recently leaving my job after redundancy and setting up a limited company/bank accounts - it is very hard to get through the paperwork without official paper bills from banks/utilities - so even though it costs me more - I have stuck with paper bills for everything. Until printed bills are widely accepted as proof of address etc, it is simply not worth the hassle!

jrawle

Tharweb wrote: »

Thank you for highlighting this, I hadn't thought about it as I am currently paid up to January 12. Like you, I don't make many chargeable calls and it would take some time to use up the credit.

I just did a web chat and asked what would happen to my advance payments if I took up Line Rental Saver and I was eventually told they would be refunded, but I am not convinced. Can I ask, how do you message them from your on-line account?

I just looked, and it seems they have removed this feature. The web chat is the closest you'll get now. Their complaints page says:

We're sorry you have a reason to complain. Please go to the Contact BT area and select from the list. You can then decide whether to contact us by email (by filling in the web form) or by phone.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10789/~/how-do-i-make-a-complaint%3F

However, when you follow the link to the contact page, there is no longer a way to send an e-mail through a web form.


At least BT do have a freephone contact number, and an 03 number too now for people with inclusive mobile minutes. It might be a pain, but at least it won't cost anything (plus, even after e-mailing, I received a call back from their Indian call centre asking if everything was OK).

I noticed another mistake on their contact page. Under "Paying of Checking yur Bill" it says:

Call us anytime on 0800 443311 (or 0800 1233311* from a mobile) to:
- pay your bill
- check your current call charges/balance
- change or set up a Direct Debit
- tell us you've paid your bill
- ask for more time to pay
For anything else:
Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm
Weekends 9am to 6pm
Please have your account number ready (it's on your bill).

• From a landline: 0800 800 150
• From a mobile: 0330 123 33311*
• From abroad: +44 179 359 6931**

The first mobile number is clearly wrong. It should be 0330.