For attention of Heinz - Primus & 18185

Allanon

Hi Heinz (and others),

I'm completely new to all this - this is my first post in the forums so please be gentle everyone

First of all, I just want to say thanks for all the time and effort you obviously put into finding, sorting and updating the list of cheapest phone call providers. Someone pointed me towards your "Heinz Program" last week and I signed up with Primus Saver 2, 18185.co.uk, and ordered an Orchid V4 Plus dialler (and I asked Orchid to pre-program it with the latest Heinz Program) about 5 days ago.

I've just got an email from Primus to say that I go live with them on the 17th April (which is OK because the Orchid Dialler is currently out of stock and should be dispatched in the next few days), but I've already started using 18185 - and that brings me to the whole point of this posting.

Your latest Heinz Program (27/03/07) suggests the use of 18185 from 8.00am to 6.00pm and then Primus because of the free (up to 90 minutes) evening and weekend calls. Well, I've been using 18185 for 5 days now - including weekday, weekend, and evening calls, and so far ALL calls have been 0p/min - and it's not me doing anything wrong because the automated voice tells us how much the call is being charged at and all calls so far have said, "Zero pence per minute".

Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems to me that, at the moment, 18185 is all I need - although, now that I've set everything in motion with Orchid and Primus, I'll obviously let it go ahead because things may well change again soon. Just thought I'd point it out and let people put me right

Allanon

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums Allanon.

You're not 'missing' anything - you're just misunderstanding slightly.

18185's charge for calls to UK 01/02 numbers is, indeed, "Zero pence per minute" at all times. However, they also charge a 5p connection fee. So, your UK 01/02 calls of any length will cost a total of 5p, at any time.

The purpose of also signing up for Primus Saver Option 2 is to get completely free evening and weekend calls to UK 01/02 numbers (i.e. save having to spend even the 5p 18185 would charge).

You refer to the 27/3/07 program. THIS PAGE (last updated 27/3/07) is what I call 'The basics - 7-steps to telephony money saving' and is the version intended for all - particularly those who don't want to bother with an Orchid or who want to program their own.

The latest version of the program for Orchids is THIS - dated 25/3/07. It happened to be convenient to update the program on the day the clocks changed because, by forcing diallers to call home that morning, the revised program and the change to BST were downloaded simultaneously.

There are slight differences between the two - the main one being the use in the latter of 6am as the start of a weekday rather than Primus's 8am.

If you want to register for Orchid's semi-automatic update service, see THIS THREAD.

Allanon

Aha, I see now :T

Cheers, my friend :beer:

Allanon

Anon

Sorry if this is a silly question, but does Primus Saver Option 2 require that you switch landline from BT or have any other requirements? I know I could phone them but is there no way of signing up online?

Many thanks

Anon

Heinz

Anon wrote:

Sorry if this is a silly question, but does Primus Saver Option 2 require that you switch landline from BT or have any other requirements? I know I could phone them but is there no way of signing up online?

Primus Saver Option 2 used to only be a CPS offering but, recently, they have begun ringing round customers offering line rental (at a small discount) too.

As always, I'd advise taking the CPS service but making it very clear that you do NOT want to switch line rental from BT.

[STRIKE]AFAIAA, there's no way to join online[/STRIKE] - see post #8 below.

muffinhead

Heinz wrote: »

AFAIAA, there's no way to join online.

Heinz, I signed up to Primus Saver Option 2 online via uSwitch last Tuesday - that's £16 cashback.

Only question is, how long should I wait for contact from Primus as I've only got a confirmation email from uSwitch? uSwitch said to wait 2-3 weeks, but should it really take this long?

Heinz

muffinhead wrote: »

Heinz, I signed up to Primus Saver Option 2 online via uSwitch last Tuesday - that's £16 cashback.

Only question is, how long should I wait for contact from Primus as I've only got a confirmation email from uSwitch? uSwitch said to wait 2-3 weeks, but should it really take this long?

Others have reported problems when they switch via uSwitch - I'd suggest calling Primus to check next Tuesday.

muffinhead

This is taken from my uSwitch confirmation email:

Date of order: 27/03/2007
Plan ordered: Primus Saver Option 2
Supplier: Primus Planet Talk
Summary of plan Free evening and weekend calls
Set up costs: £0.00
Monthly cost: £0.00

It comes up when you click 'Edit your phone usage' in the 'Step 3: Your results' page; zero all minutes, then type 50min in the local & national 'Evening minutes' & 'Weekend minutes' boxes. I just tried it then and it worked for me!

Heinz

Now that's clever!

Mind if I post a link to your post from Martin's thread?

muffinhead

No I don't mind, go ahead Heinz!

Ron_Stoppable

Heinz wrote: »

Primus Saver Option 2 used to only be a CPS offering but, recently, they have begun ringing round customers offering line rental (at a small discount) too.

As always, I'd advise taking the CPS service but making it very clear that you do NOT want to switch line rental from BT.

[strike]AFAIAA, there's no way to join online[/strike] - see post #8 below.

Hi Heinz!

Is line rental with Primus (or any other CPS provider) now something you'd recommend?

Primus' line rental, 1471, 1571 and caller display comes to 10.55/month, which is only 60p a year more than BT's 10.50 for the same - just without the hassle of BT being able to fleece you.