BT broadband disproportionate over usage charges

Ollzz

I apologise if this is covered in another thread elsewhere but I couldn't find anything which specifically referred to this problem.

My parents are currently signed up to BT Broadband Option 1 which caps your data usage at 10GB per month. BT set them up with an email at the beginning of their contract although my mother informed the sales lady that she didn't use email so it wasn't necessary. My brother has moved back home and the Internet usage spiked above the 10GB cap each month from December 2012 until now with whatever he has been downloading. Apparently BT has sent emails warning of the overuse but as my parents don't use the email which was created by BT they haven't received them. I do understand BT are not required to send these emails in the first instance. After they were recently confronted with an enormous quarterly bill I've phoned BT to see if anything can be done about the charge of £5 for each 5GB of data over the 10GB cap each month. Apparently they will provide a discount of £15, which isnt much use on a bill of £220!

Whilst I appreciate it is not BT's fault for my family's overuse of the service I think that the charge of £50 per month for the extra data above 10GB is wholly disproportionate to the charge BT set for their unlimited broadband package of £18 per month. I have read about disproportionate bank charges and parking fines which the relevant ombudsman or regulator has stepped in to clamp down on but I haven't found any information regarding the charges for overuse of broadband. I am currently working my way through BT and their complaints escalation process but thought I would ask if anyone had similar experience while I wait for the callbacks?

Surely it isn't possible for a company who offers a service providing unlimited broadband to charge more than double that fee to someone who breaches a cap on another broadband package which they offer? I could understand if BT did not offer unlimited broadband, but the fact they do at a cost of £18 leaves me flabbergasted as to how they can then charge someone else £50 for essentially the same thing! By going over the 10GB cap I can't imagine this impacts BT in a manner which is worse than they would have been for an unlimited customer using the same data and I can't see how my family's use of the broadband service is any different to that of an unlimited customer, albeit on a different package! If I am wrong or missing something please let me know.

I have asked BT if they would be willing to amend the bill to reflect a charge of £18 per month for the period so that they are in effect treating the histrocial service from Dec 12 as unlimited broadband and going forward to actually switch the service to unlimited, however so far I have been told this isn't possible and the extra charge of £50 per month is valid because they clearly state £5 for each 5GB over the cap. If I'm way off base please tell me, it just sounds astronomically disproportionate for the service provided!

Many thanks

closed

it's in the contract, so they can

keep on at them until they give in, maybe offer to upgrade to unlimited for the year.

lee111s

The terms of the contract do say that the email address they provide is a valid way of contacting the customer regarding their product/charges/usage.

They have recieved the emails, they just haven't checked it. I doubt you'll get far with this one as ultimatley the data has been used and BT contacted them to let them know.

If I chose to not open my post and I was sent a bill, it doesn't mean I can get away with not paying it.

Ollzz

Thank you both for your replies, I know it's stated in the contract but so are bank charges and these have been judged to be excessive in their application recently, payday loans are under scrutiny at the moment due to the interest being disproportionate to the amount borrowed, in my opinion it's a similar problem with telecom companies who cap services and charge extortionate sums for over use, even when they offer a cheaper alternative. A customer on an unlimited package uses 50GB of data in a month and is charged £18, a customer on a capped service uses the same 50GB of data and is charged £50, I don't understand the justification for charging the latter customer £32 more for consuming the same product!

Lumox75

How much cheaper is capped vs uncapped per month?

Bradfield

Ollzz wrote: »

Thank you both for your replies, I know it's stated in the contract but so are bank charges and these have been judged to be excessive in their application recently, payday loans are under scrutiny at the moment due to the interest being disproportionate to the amount borrowed, in my opinion it's a similar problem with telecom companies who cap services and charge extortionate sums for over use, even when they offer a cheaper alternative. A customer on an unlimited package uses 50GB of data in a month and is charged £18, a customer on a capped service uses the same 50GB of data and is charged £50, I don't understand the justification for charging the latter customer £32 more for consuming the same product!

I do not think you can fairly describe the 10 GB package and the unlimited package as being the same product. Customers on the 10 GB package have to be monitored, sent emails and billed for extra usage. This takes up staff time where-as those on unlimited do not need the same staff attention.

Customers (like me, currently) on the 10 GB cap, pay less per month than those on unlimited. If I use 5 GB more than my limit then I am charged an extra £5 which is still less than the £18 for unlimited.

So there is a financial advantage for those with small data needs.

The problem arises when data usage spirals far in excess of the 10GB cap. Then the customer on the 10 GB cap pays more (sometimes far more) than they would if they were on unlimited.

I do agree with you that there should, nevertheless, be a cap on excess charges. Perhaps a limit of at most an extra £20 per month. You make a good case as to why excess charges should not be disproportionate.

The 10 GB plans are only for those with low data needs who can monitor their data usage (and take notice of their emails).

I am surprised your parents get quarterly bills. I get monthly bills. Had they done so they might have noticed much earlier the exorbitant excess charges in their bank statements.

Good luck with your case.

Ollzz

At the moment the capped service is £1 per month cheaper than the unlimited, capped service is £17 per month, unlimited is £18 per month, I don't know what the difference was last April when the contract was taken up, needless to say it definitely makes sense to switch to unlimited given it isn't much more expensive now!

Ollzz

Thank you Bradfield, out of interest how much is your capped service? Ours isn't much cheaper than the unlimited at all!

Bradfield

Ollzz wrote: »

Thank you Bradfield, out of interest how much is your capped service? Ours isn't much cheaper than the unlimited at all!

Hi

It is difficult to make direct comparisons because people seem to get different deals with their combined phone and broadband plans.

I am on Plan 1 Broadband (10 GB limit). I also get free anytime phone calls. I paid line rental a year in advance and now pay £10.40 a month.

I am a little unhappy with BT because I checked my BT data usage monitor and found it had added (wrongly) an extra 3 GB to my data usage on the last day of last month. But that is a whole new and different ball-game.

10 GB plans must work for some - those with low data needs. But for most others they are just not worth the bother.

duchy

1 Get your brother to pay it

2 Move to a different provider -Sky uncapped £7.50 a month springs to mind (if they move their phone too they can still keep their number)

Ollzz

Thank you all for your responses, it seems that the capped service is fraught with other problems as well as the disproportionate charges for excess use, hopefully an amicable agreement can be reached with BT and in the future we might even witness a clampdown on disproportionate charges for telecoms like we have seen recently in other industries.