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Moving from BT to Primus

im sorry, im sure things like this have been asked many times.

my current BT line rental is £129 a year(£10.75 a mth) with the yearly line rental saver. This expires in the next few days so im looking at other options. I vary rarely use the house phone as me & the Mrs both have our mobiles so all i'll be using the the rental for is the broadband.

Primus seems a very good deal at £6.99 a mth. Are there any catches with this? My wife isnt keen to switch as she has heard it is tricky getting back onto BT in the future!?

Comments

  • Just noticed, to get caller display with Primus costs £2.50 a mth. seems expensive. Might be better of staying with BT after all!??
  • chanz4
    chanz4 Posts: 11,051 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Xmas Saver!
    Stay with bt, when things go wrong they help where the others have to wait for openreach todo it for them. bt come first
    Don't put your trust into an Experian score - it is not a number any bank will ever use & it is generally a waste of money to purchase it. They are also selling you insurance you dont need.
  • Unfortunately that is not true, everyone relies on Openreach (BT Retail included), and to prioritise BT Retail over other communication providers goes against the undertakings signed by the BT group.

    The "chain" looks like:
    Customer -> BT Retail -> Openreach
    Customer -> Primus -> Openreach
    Customer -> Plusnet -> Openreach

    Consequently the only different between communication providers these days are:
    1. Price
    2. Customer Service

    I believe Primus's basic pricing is good, but you might want to read the forums to learn about their customer service...
  • dreamypuma
    dreamypuma Posts: 1,343 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    im sorry, im sure things like this have been asked many times.

    my current BT line rental is £129 a year(£10.75 a mth) with the yearly line rental saver. This expires in the next few days so im looking at other options. I vary rarely use the house phone as me & the Mrs both have our mobiles so all i'll be using the the rental for is the broadband.

    Primus seems a very good deal at £6.99 a mth. Are there any catches with this? My wife isnt keen to switch as she has heard it is tricky getting back onto BT in the future!?

    I've just finished a 12month contract with Primus. Despite all the complaints, I haven't had any major issues. I'm currently switching to PlusNet, and haven't had any problems switching away.

    Like yourself I went with Primus as we don't actually use the landline, so resent paying excessive Line Rental for it.

    I'll probably return to them in 12months time.
    My farts hospitalize small children :o
  • chanz4 wrote: »
    Stay with bt, when things go wrong they help where the others have to wait for openreach todo it for them. bt come first

    Don't think that's true. OpenReach fix faults on your line and they have nothing to do with BT. So if there is a fault, its the same OR engineer who is coming to fix your line.
  • I'm a light phone user (only need it for the Broadband), so Primus' low line rental was attractive, and everything worked out fine for more than a year.

    However, I've recently changed my bank details and although these were provided to Primus in plenty of time before billing was due, 2 months in a row the Direct Debit has failed, 2 months in a row they've texted me (and subsequently written) to contact them and make a "one off" manual payment.

    2 Months in a row I've checked and double-checked with Primus that they have recorded my bank details correctly (they have), 2 Months in a row they've promised to resubmit the information to the bank, and 2 Months in a row the Direct Debit instruction has failed to appear on the list of automated transactions in my bank account. To cap it off, in my latest bill they've had the bare-faced cheek to include a surchage for not paying by Direct Debit! (which I can't do because they've screwed up along the way, Grr!)

    So in summary, Primus, like Talk Talk, are "cheap and nasty" with the kind of customer service that you only find in the 8th and 9th circles of Dante's Inferno, but if you can cope with that and not pop a vein, go for it!
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