Leaving BT's unlimited evening & weekend plan?

2013yearofthehouse

My Mum's had the unlimited evening and weekend plan with BT for about 3-4 years, which seems to just auto-renew each year for a new 12 month contract, but doesn't cost extra i.e. they charge her £18.75 but also refund her £3.30 a month (it's paid quarterly). Is this just old ongoing plan that will keep going, but isn't offered anymore?

Would it be worth her paying her line rental up front for the year instead? What happens to her current plan if she does this? Would she be downgraded to unlimited weekends only or stay evening and weekends, but have to start paying £2 a month? Presumably this is still worth while, spending an extra £24 a year, but saving £56 a year? Although she uses 18185 in the daytime, so maybe she could use that evenings and not bother with the extra £2 a month?

I can't seem to find when the 12 month contract ends, presumably she'd need to wait until it finishes to switch?

Are there any other negatives or positives I should make her aware of?

Thanks

Buzby

This is the most basic of bundles. Depending on when it was offered, this is standard (as all suppliers offer this or a near equivalent). OFCOM outlawed auto-renewing deals like this, so it ended.

Assuming she has not added any other service, she may only have to give 14 days to leave - but safer to assume 30.

2013yearofthehouse

She's looked out some paperwork - looks like it started July 2010 and she had a letter in June 11 and June 12 warning her to cancel or it would auto-renew. She hasn't had a letter this month, but is still getting the discount, so does that mean it's probably just on a month to month basis and she can cancel anytime? Either way I guess it's within 30 days of the end of the 12 month contract anyway, so doesn't really matter!

Best to call and check, changing to the line saver that way, than just ordering online and assume starting one will cancel the other? Now all she needs to do is decide if she really needs to pay for the unlimited evening calls!

debbieme

Hi ,
I pay the bt line rental up front every year it reduces it from just over £15.00 per month to just over £10.00 per month then I just pay my unlimited anytime calls every month which is around £5.00 .any mobile calls I do on my mobile any landline calls I do through bt so all I pay bt a month is £5.00 for calls, reckon this is the cheapest option out there but maybe someone else can give me a better deal.
thanks
Debbie

evenasus

debbieme wrote: »

Hi ,
I pay the bt line rental up front every year it reduces it from just over £15.00 per month to just over £10.00 per month then I just pay my unlimited anytime calls every month which is around £5.00 .any mobile calls I do on my mobile any landline calls I do through bt so all I pay bt a month is £5.00 for calls, reckon this is the cheapest option out there but maybe someone else can give me a better deal.
thanks
Debbie

I had reason to log onto the BT website today and saw that their Unlimited Anytime Plan has been increased by 36% from £5.15 to £7.00. :mad:

I think this price increase is extortionate and will probably not renew when my contract is up.

We normally receive a letter/email when BT raise prices, as we did for the price rise of the Unlimited Anytime Plan in January, when they raised it from £4.90 to £5.15.

jhp

evenasus wrote: »

I had reason to log onto the BT website today and saw that their Unlimited Anytime Plan has been increased by 36% from £5.15 to £7.00. :mad:

For new customers yes but not existing ones.;)

2013yearofthehouse

Thanks for all the replies.

I think Mum'll only need the unlimited evening calls as a maximum. Any daytime calls she uses 18185 for and it only totals about 20-50p a month, so an extra £1.85 (or should that be £3.70?) a month would be a waste for unlimited anytime.

Just need to consider whether she even needs the unlimited evening call either - not sure she really makes £3.30 worth of calls in the evenings, so may have only just be worth it while it was "sort of free" (well it was free, but line rental was full price not saver, so swings and roundabouts I guess!).

2013yearofthehouse

Managed to find a section on BTs website where I could change the line rental from quarterly to annually (so made the line rental saver saving), but it also let me keep the "unlimited evening and weekend plan at no extra cost" plan! So Mum doesn't have to downgrade to just free weekends or switch to to paying £2 a month for what she has now, she can keep it for free


Looks like the 12 month auto-renew contract still applies, so not sure what changes ofcom made?

Thanks for everyones help

brewerdave

2013yearofthehouse wrote: »

Looks like the 12 month auto-renew contract still applies, so not sure what changes ofcom made?

I can confirm that they aren't auto renewing since last year - my daughter didn't want to be tied to another 12 months with BT so didn't contact them when her 12 months was up -she is now being charged £18.75 pm for the Evenings/weekend plan -I can only assume that your relation's plan was renewed somehow?? for a further 12 months and now you have agreed to pay a further 12 months up front it keeps the "free" Evenings & weekend plan.
EDIT -Rereading earlier posts I suspect that she would have been charged £18.75 pm without a rebate wef this June.

Candy53

No, they don't auto renew it anymore. I was told by cust serv that the Government had forced them to stop doing it.

Trouble is, I've been used to it auto renewing for so long, that I have a devel of a time remembering to ring up to renew, which I was told to do at the end of June every year.

Forgot this year, and there was no discount taken off the bill. But, the last time, they refunded on the next bill.


Candy

2013yearofthehouse

Just to update on this:


Mum received a letter from BT today that is basically the same as the old renewal letters she used to get (so somehow it's moved from June to September) except that it's basically opt-in rather than opt-out. There is no auto-renew (as correctly pointed out here by several of you, thanks), but she can still get the offer if she signs up again either online or by phone.

Apparently, the special offer she is on runs out on 1st November and if she does nothing she will be charged £3.50 a month from then on. So no idea how it's changed from July to November, when she's had it continuously 12 months at a time. Also, when she paid the line saver in June she had to pick what call plan she wanted and it included the option for free evening and weekend calls (saving £2 a month), so she chose that, but presumably it didn't count as starting the minimum 12 month of the offer (which should have been up for renewal then not now). This means she now either has to pay £3.50 a month until June by doing nothing (worse than actively choosing the same plan as it's only £2 a month) or she signs up for the free special offer and is stuck in contract another year, which will surpass when her line saver runs out.

It does say (in the small print) that if the change means you want to end your service then you can do so within 10 days without needing to pay a charge for ending the contract early - not sure that would apply to line saver customers though (i.e. Would they refund).



My Mum's quite happy to stay on the offer really, with line rental being cheaper on the saver and evening and weekends being free, it works for what she uses it for, but it just means now that her savings will be reduced for a while if they stop offering it in the future, if she can't immediately leave when it does i guess.

If there's a cheaper way to get what she has, then I guess she could ask what happens if she were to end her contract now.

It seems odd to me that she is still even being offered this, as it seems outdated for what they offer now and complicates things! Is anyone else still on it? Or been offered it recently?