BT Bashing the low incomers ?

BexTech

Bigted wrote:

I think that we will have to agree that we see things from a different perspective and I can only assume that perhaps, from the thoughts you have expressed and the way in which you have expressed them, you may be in a different position than me financially. When you live in fear of the next unexpected bill, when that car exhaust decides to fall off, when that washing machine decides to go pop, I think then and only then, you probably may just realise why you need absolute control over when your money, leaves your hands. It,s truly wonderful and a luxury to have the cushion of a bank balance that can always accommodate that next direct debit withdrawal. As I said previously, I am not in that enviable position.


Good luck to you.

Then you are living beyond your means, simply a case of spending less on unnecessary luxuries, and improving your budgeting and money management skills.

Gas, electricity, phone are all cheaper if paid by direct debit, by quite a high percentage with gas and electricity, with the right money management skills, you could organise things so they you had more money at the end of each week/month quarter.

...and yes, there have been times where I have had to live off benefits when I lost my job and also when off sick, but because we knew how to budget properly there was never a problem.

Bigted_3

Your arrogance is astounding - you no nothing about me, my family or my income. I don't drink, don't smoke, shop at Aldi, Lidl and alike. The last time I had a holiday was seven years ago. How can you make such a profound and arrogant statement with out any knowledge about me, my family and my financial position - astounding. I am proud of the fact we have no debt and struggle to keep it that way. We do not use credit cards.

Apart from actually undertaking voluntary euthanasia and thereby cutting out the need to eat and heat our home etc. I can not see how we can cut back any further.

I would like to offer you an invitation - I would like to supply you with my name and address and you are welcome to visit me and point out all the luxuries in my home and explain what it is we are doing wrong and how we are 'living beyond our means'. Or are you one of those people who secrectly, inside your soul, would just like to see the lower end of society silently and conveniently just disappear into the dust. Our existence may spoil your picture of the world. But despite the fact that I may not have much money, I can only be thankfull that I don't have your arrogance and lack of humility.

Oh, and by the way may I apologise for depleating the oxygen levels in your air we will try and keep our breathing to a minimum for forseeable future.

PS. BT - ' pay by direct debit - save £12 a year' - printed on my last bill.

kendalls_cave

Bigted

I sort of get you about DD's. i can't set up many DD's as I have an illness that means that I often end up in hospital.. going into hospital for a length of times reduces the amount of your benefits, which in turn means you may not have the ££ in the account to pay the DD. So what I do with the Phone is I went on the BT site and went through the motions of setting up a monthly DD, (but not fully doing it) found out how much they would like me to pay each month, and now I just pay that amount to them each month when I have the money. That way I'm not lumbered with a big 3 monthly bill, but also don't have to worry about a DD not getting paid if in hospital. It may not work for everyone, but does for me. Yes I do have to pay a little more for not doing it by DD, but I'm afraid it's a fact of life these days

Bigted_3

Hi, Thank you for that suggestion it sounds just the job for my situation, I will look into it very soon and try it.

You have restored my faith in people, you and people like you who make constructive and sympathetic suggestions to help out other people is what this forum and website should be about.

I'm sorry to hear about your poor health and regular hospital visits, life just doesn't seem fair some times. Keep your chin up.

Once again, many thanks to you, take care.

Ongobay

Hi,

Perhaps I can make a couple of suggestions which might be OK for you.

I don't know how you use your line etc, but I will try and make a few assumptions:-
You can set up a quarterly direct debit. Saving £3 per quarter. When you receive the bt bill - it says on the bottom left the date it will be taken from the account. Generally the same period every 3 months, and 10 days after you receive the bill. If once you receive the bill you know you wont have the money in your account in 10days time then you can quickly phone BT and cancel the DD. This will be a sufficient amount of time for the direct debit not to come out. You can even cancel it on the automated system to save queuing 0800 44 33 11.

BT In Contact plus - An incoming only system where you can make emergency calls, and put money onto a card if you absolutely have to make calls. £10.97 per quarter. Broadband is not compatible however.
This is soon to be replaced by BT Basic which requires you be on a benefits system - if this is the case then you'll swap over to that, which is still cheaper than a 'normal' bt landline.

MarkyMarkD

kendalls_cave wrote:

Bigted

I sort of get you about DD's. i can't set up many DD's as I have an illness that means that I often end up in hospital.. going into hospital for a length of times reduces the amount of your benefits, which in turn means you may not have the ££ in the account to pay the DD. So what I do with the Phone is I went on the BT site and went through the motions of setting up a monthly DD, (but not fully doing it) found out how much they would like me to pay each month, and now I just pay that amount to them each month when I have the money. That way I'm not lumbered with a big 3 monthly bill, but also don't have to worry about a DD not getting paid if in hospital. It may not work for everyone, but does for me. Yes I do have to pay a little more for not doing it by DD, but I'm afraid it's a fact of life these days

I understand your situation, Kendalls Cave.

My wife has also been on benefits and has lost significant amounts of money when she was hospitalised for a long time.

The government's logic for this is appalling.

For most people, domestic costs do NOT fall dramatically when they are in hospital. Most bills are fixed and still have to be paid.

For anyone who's not single, the house still needs heating and the phone bill still needs paying.

Furthermore, although the sick person might save a few pounds in food, the savings are minimal for a couple when one person isn't there. And don't get me started on the costs of travelling to hospital to visit the sick partner - at least in the days she was in hospital, they hadn't introduced hospital parking charges which are the latest joke to make people in this position suffer still further.

dag_2

Interesting discussion. I agree with Bigted that paying monthly doesn't solve problems. It's true, the more frequently you're expected to pay, the more frequently you're at risk of bouncing a payment.

But on the flip side, I think I can understand what MarkyMarkD and BexTech are driving at. If you do things as cheaply as possible, then presumably you'll make savings, and the risk of bouncing bill payments in the future will be lower, surely?

If that doesn't seem to be working for you, then to be honest I find that quite worrying. Forgive me for asking, but how many unexpected bills that you can't pay do you face in an average three-month period? And what have those unexpected bills been for? Thanks.

Bigted_3

Hi, I started off this thread by simply having a moan at BT's new policy of charging for 1571 and penalising non DD payers. I never said that I can't pay my bills. I said that I was not in a position to risk bank charges by having all my bills on DD. For the record I have used this web site to find the cheapest prices for the following :-

House insurance.
Contents insurance.
Vehicle Breakdown insurance.
Electricity supply.
Gas supply.
Home phone provider.
Dial up net provider.
Cheaper glasses.

In the last three months I have had to find the money for :-

CAT replacement on vehicle. - £175
Dental treatment - put on hold with dentist until money saved,
paracetamol 16p from ALDI for the time being - £350
New glasses due to deteriation in eyesight. Spex-4-less. £45.

I am suprised that you find it worrying that despite all my efforts to save money I'm still short of money, there's hundreds of thousands of us out here in the same position ! I currently prop up my monthly income by selling off personal possessions like books and ornaments and I have given up my hobbies and sell off any thing I can from them on Ebay, but the stuff I can sell has almost dried up now.

I find it quite worrying that you think that if you are careful with your money you are bound to have enough money. It's a nice thought but it's just not reality.

For example, how many subscribers are there to this web site, the number is phenomenal. All people interested in trying to save money.

Amounts of money or incomes are all relative, a small amount of money to one man, is a fortune to another man.

One man's annual income, is another man's annual wine bill.

craigmcc

Obviously if you make your calls through another company BT will use tactics like this to maybe persuade you to return to BT.. Why should they reward you when you provide them with a paltry 11 pounds a month.

BT do not value customers like yourself , the amount it costs BT to connect a line for someone who then goes to another company has to be recouped from somewhere.

Bigted_3

craigmcc wrote:

Obviously if you make your calls through another company BT will use tactics like this to maybe persuade you to return to BT.. Why should they reward you when you provide them with a paltry 11 pounds a month.

BT do not value customers like yourself , the amount it costs BT to connect a line for someone who then goes to another company has to be recouped from somewhere.

They do recoupe the cost's of a line connection many times over by charging the most for making phone calls, probably one of the highest charging telecomunication companies in the world, thier profits are as obscene as Barclay's.

It's quite interesting to hear you use the dismissive term 'a paltry 11 pounds a month' , it sort of backs up my point about a small amount of money to one man is a fortune to another, very telling.