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BT Equipment Rental

Over the years I have tried to help elderly folk sort out their finances. Believe it or not there seem to be many avid BT supporters who, since the BT monopoly, are still paying rental for equipment long since discarded. They never read their bills; they just pay the quarterly totals. The latest find was an elderly gentleman who was paying £1.14 per month for a "Metallic grey Converse 1100 Phone". Could I find the phone? That is equivalent to £13.68 a year over say two or three decades. One simple phone call could have removed it from the bill. (You can buy a super large digit corded phone off EBay for £8.95 – with a year’s guarantee.)

I also put his phone use onto a BT package saving him about £30 per quarter.

BT is probably making a lot of money out of the unsuspecting elderly.
:(
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Comments

  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Even if you do still have the phone, they won't ask for it back if you cancel the equipment rental.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    There is no equipment rentals anymore - BT discontinued them a long long time ago. The charge is simply for maintenance for the handset, so if it went faulty, BT would replace the handset with another brand new one at no additional cost. You can certainly end this arrangement if you wish, and this element of the instrument maintenance cover can be dispensed with.
  • I have an associated scam to report. I telephoned BT today to amend my package and was advised that I no longer need to pay the equipment rental charge as my 'contract' had expired three months ago. When I asked why they were still charging for it I was told that I should have been aware, as it was in the paperwork, that I should have telephoned to cancel the charge as, because of privacy concerns, they could not amend my account without my instruction. Also, they do not have the funds to advise customers when they needed to take some action. As a shareholder I appreciate the additional profits but as a human being I am shocked! So, always check your bills and those of others who may need some help. I will raise a question at the next AGM nevertheless.
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    If your contract expired, your service ends. As it hasn't, the statement (from BT?) is nonsensical. The rental charge is now an equipment maintenance charge, if you pay you will still get a free replacement phone, and delivered/installed of similar value. At that point the customer is told the new phone s theirs to keep, and the maintenance charges removed.

    How is this a 'scam'?
  • Of course it's a scam, if BT wanted to stop charging for equipment rental, then it should have stopped charging for it. If it then wanted to charge a maintenance fee, then that is a change in the original contract, so the customer should have been informed, so that they could decide if they wanted to pay the maintenance fee.
  • The_Deep
    The_Deep Posts: 16,830 Forumite
    I have looked at the CAG forum. To be fair, he could be right there. Caveat emptor!

    However when I posted about an 0871 call back scam on MSE, he insisted that 0871 numbers are not premium rate numbers, (they are), and he argued that call backs to premium rates were not illegal, (they are). He argued that all four of my points were incorrect, and it took others posters to point out to him the error of his ways.

    Yes, I have an agenda. It is to get Master Buzby to raise his game.
    You never know how far you can go until you go too far.
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    Still you persist with this carp? Premium Rate numbers are defined in the regulations as 'having a cost exceeding 50p/min. Anything under this is not - despite your protestations to the contrary. PPP are most welcome to land grab anything they feel will make them money and just their existence, so as they are simply the third self-funded organisation to do this task, I wouldn't get complacent.

    As for something being illegal - great, now tell me WHICH Act has been transgressed - Mr Drip, I think we should be told. As for 'raising the game' you haven't reached the start point yet.
  • The_Deep
    The_Deep Posts: 16,830 Forumite
    edited 29 September 2012 pm30 6:22PM
    You never know how far you can go until you go too far.
  • Ypaymore
    Ypaymore Posts: 2,802 Forumite
    So this incorrect then Buzby ?


    "5/2/2009

    Ofcom has today announced that PhonepayPlus will take over day-to-day regulation of 0871 numbers on 1 August 2009, when numbers beginning 087 - with the exception of 0870 - will formally be recognised as Premium Rate Services (PRS), putting them under the remit of PhonepayPlus' Code of Practice "

    http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/News-...n-of-0871.aspx
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