MSE News: BT reveals price rises - but you can escape the hikes

Quentin

will.moindrot wrote: »

Not sure if someone else more knowledgeable has already answered this but I foudn a bit about the term here about not refunding line rental: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/assets/downloads/BT_PhoneTariff_Residential.pdf

"Line rental

BT’s standard telephone service is provided over a Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) line. Line rental is payable
monthly, quarterly or 12 months in advance. Standard line rental
is payable following receipt of your monthly or quarterly bill, but
you can obtain an early payment discount of £44.40 by choosing
to pay in advance by taking our Line Rental Saver option. The
standard line rental charges are £15.45 per month or £46.35 per
quarter. The discounted Line Rental Saver charge of £141.00 is
available for customers paying 12 months in advance. This
discounted charge is non-refundable if you leave within the
period that the payment covers and is subject to terms and
conditions. "

(My bold). I felt that they were effectively making a gain out of me leaving by not having to provide me with the line rental.

This is an issue that has now been clarified by those contacting the CEO's office.

The cancellation staff at BT have wrongly used this as one of their tactics to put off anyone wanting to cancel who has paid LRS.

The BT rep on MSE also mislead us by first posting "no penalty" to leave, then saying advance payment would not be refunded, and then shamefully saying nothing when subsequently pressed!

If you want to leave because of the price increase "get out clause", then you should not be penalised by them making you forfeit the LRS paid in advance.

You definitely (should) get it refunded! Any problem, the CEO's office is the route!

anna2007

jimmyhart wrote: »

Either way, got this reply pretty quickly, so hopefully something will progress soon:

That's along the same lines as the acknowledgement I got, on a Saturday too).

I know that dealing with BT's CS can be frustrating/infuriating but I have to say, I'm really impressed with the way the CEO office have handled my case - all sorted really quickly, also the guy I dealt with couldn't have been more helpful or courteous. It was a welcome relief compared to a nightmare I had with EE's Executive Office earlier in the year.

The end result is that I'd consider going back to BT at a later date, but I will NEVER pay money over to EE/T-Mobile/Orange again.

anna2007

Quentin wrote: »

The BT rep on MSE also mislead us by first posting "no penalty" to leave, then saying advance payment would not be refunded, and then saying nothing when pressed!

So Robbie's not been back on the forum to retract his retraction?

Quentin

anna2007 wrote: »

... I'm really impressed with the way the CEO office have handled my case....

Yes, the CEO's office are efficient/helpful/polite etc.

But they are far removed from the way we were treated by the staff supposedly trained in cancellations, to say nothing of the seemingly misleading posts from the supposed special "issue solver" BT MSE rep!

The average customer who has been put off by the tactics of the first line staff won't have the benefit of the shared experiences posted in this thread , and will have given up their attempt to leave.

Who do you think was behind the "put them off any way you can" tactics?

I_luv_cats

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2434872/BT-opts-millions-customers-new-1-75-month-charges-services-used-free-prices-hiked.html


When are BT auto-enrolling (opt in) previous 1571/Privacy customers?

Thinking if I ditch them too early BT may re-subscribe me!

anna2007

Quentin wrote: »

Yes, the CEO's office are efficient/helpful/polite etc.

But they are far removed from the way we were treated by the staff supposedly trained in cancellations, to say nothing of the seemingly misleading posts from the supposed special "issue solver" BT MSE rep!

The average customer who has been put off by the tactics of the first line staff won't have the benefit of the shared experiences posted in this thread , and will have given up their attempt to leave.

Who do you think was behind the "put them off any way you can" tactics?

It's a sad fact that most Customer Services teams these days seem intent on doing little to help their customers. I now tend to give CS one attempt to resolve things then it's off to the CEO office.

I suppose EE are at least consistent - their Executive Office likes to misinform and mislead in the same way as their Customer Services!

Quentin

I_luv_cats wrote: »

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2434872/BT-opts-millions-customers-new-1-75-month-charges-services-used-free-prices-hiked.html


When are BT auto-enrolling (opt in) previous 1571/Privacy customers?

Thinking if I ditch them too early BT may re-subscribe me!

You should get a letter/email telling you about this.

http://www.bt.com/static/wa/account/pricechanges/vision.html?s_cid=con_FURL_mynewpricing&s_cid=con_email_131001_1579_BBRET-Notification_prices

I_luv_cats

Quentin wrote: »

You should get a letter/email telling you about this.

http://www.bt.com/static/wa/account/pricechanges/vision.html?s_cid=con_FURL_mynewpricing&s_cid=con_email_131001_1579_BBRET-Notification_prices

Just an email of the LR price change and new charges to 1571/Privacy.

Are they informing relevant customers of auto opt in?


MP's were slamming BT for introducing the Privacy charge, BUT will it make any difference?

Patr100

Has anyone been able to log in to their account and opt out of Privacy/caller Display or 1571?
You're supposed to be able to change add-on options there. But people might not be auto opted in til Jan when the new conditions start?
Go to "change your calling features" and follow the prompts. I haven't continued yet as I'm likely to want to keep Caller Display for now. I've never used 1571.

It's very confusing because you are prompted to create a "features pack" and the charge for one, eg Caller display is min £3.50 a month! So why is it also soon £1.75 as part of charging with BT Privacy?

Create a calling features pack
With our most popular Calling Features, the more you choose, the bigger the discount
1 feature
£3.30 per month 2-4 features
£6.60 per month 5 or more features
£8.80 per month

From 4 January 2014, the price will be £3.50 a month for 1 feature, £7.00 for 2-4 features and £9.35 for 5 or more features.
Calling Features pack
Call Waiting Find out more
Find out when someone's trying to get through.
Call Diversion Find out more
Divert your calls to another phone.
Ring Back Find out more
Get an automatic call back from an engaged number.
Reminder Call Find out more
Book an alarm call.
3 Way Calling Find out more
Talk with two other callers at the same time.
Caller Display Find out more
See who's calling before you answer.
Call Barring

Quentin

"BT Privacy with caller display" is a separate item to the caller display "feature"

Go here to opt out of BT privacy:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/edw/freecallerdisplay/?s_cid=con_FURL_myfeatures

Click on "change calling features", then after giving your account details you can remove BT privacy by clicking on the button "remove bt privacy"