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

Mergic

Quentin wrote: »

You can't have seen how badly let down by the "values" shown by BT Rep over the issue in this thread!

(We were wrongly advised by BT rep that we could not leave without penalty over the price increases, but would have to forfeit any advance line rental paid. This advice was wrong, but many will have taken it as gospel as it came from the "Official BT Rep", and will now be tied in to BT and the price rises when the truth was that the Rep should have advised the advanced rental was rrefundable, and we could indeed leave "without penalty")

I was referring to their approach in trying to offer an accurate personal service, but not the accuracy of the service. In this instance I don't feel he has been given a chance to give an accurate or inaccurate response.

Zanderman

Mergic wrote: »

I can understand your frustration Zanderman when you just want a straight answer. But to be fair to Neil he doesn't have any personal account information so can only base a response on what you have said. By asking for your details he can check your account, give you a clear accurate response based on your personal circumstances. If he gave you a general response and had misunderstood your circumstances you would be more annoyed that his response was inaccurate. I feel by offering this personal service he is helping to meet the company values.

Did you read my original post? I was seeking info on whether BT were, or were not, charging for 1571 and Caller Display on BT Broadband Talk lines following the recent changes in those services.

Therefore my question was Generic - it had nothing to do with my account or 'personal circumstances' in any way - but was a general question relating to current charges for all.

Neil therefore did NOT meet company values! Or even read the question.

All the info he needed was in my posting - and the answer was a simple Yes or No.

Mergic

I don't know what a 'BT Broadband Talk line' is, but from your previous post it's seems to be some old telecoms setup and different from the norm. I can see why a customer service rep would want to check exactly what kind of line/account you have to ensure they give accurate information for your personal circumstances rather than give a response based on the kind of line and account they assume you have based on the general info you've given. As I said, I'm not saying that the response you would have got would definitely be accurate, but I think it shows good practice to offer a personal, specific response rather than give a generic response based on the general information you have given.

Zanderman

Mergic wrote: »

I don't know what a 'BT Broadband Talk line' is, but from your previous post it's seems to be some old telecoms setup and different from the norm. I can see why a customer service rep would want to check exactly what kind of line/account you have to ensure they give accurate information for your personal circumstances rather than give a response based on the kind of line and account they assume you have based on the general info you've given. As I said, I'm not saying that the response you would have got would definitely be accurate, but I think it shows good practice to offer a personal, specific response rather than give a generic response based on the general information you have given.

You might not know what a 'BT Broadband Talk line' is, but a BT customer services rep will. And the question I raised about it has no unique relationship to my account - which a BT customer rep would also know.

I'm not sure why you want to continue this discussion about it as you are not the customer rep and you are, obviously, not familiar with the service concerned or the fact that the account details are quite irrelevant.

That's it from me though - there's no further point in my repeating the same facts over and over.

Mergic

I'm just trying to give an objective view why the Rep may have asked for additional information before giving you a response. I agree there's no point going on; end of discussion.

k18dan

I too am unhappy about the rate rises, we were never told this was going to happen - in fact I called BT to find out why our bill was so high this month.

I asked if there was anything that could be done as we can not afford the increase and I was bluntly told NO.

Funny as a new customer I can get the same package for £4 cheaper per month.

This is our first experience of a Telecommunications company and from missed install appointments to rate rises and rude staff we will be voting with our feet in October when our contract is up.

Even then they will be getting our money via another company like Sky anyone fancy a game of Monopoly!

pixwix

Like others here, I'm upset at swingeing increases to my last BT bill, along with 'information' that - predictably? - answers none of the obvious questions.

In particular, I noted that BT 'refunded' the last month of my 'Unlimited' phone package, so they could re-charge me for that month at the higher rate.

Which leads me to wonder - given I'd already paid in advance for that last quarter, surely the price for the whole period was a matter of contract?

Can anyone advise?

Quentin

They will say their ts and cs allow them to revise prices providing they give the appropriate notice.

In this case they did, and offered us the chance to leave if we were unhappy with the proposed increases.

If you didn't get the notice of increases you have grounds to complain about them doing this to you.

gardner1

But anybody who has paid LRS upfront will be stuck till end of 12 months...t&c state no refund

Quentin

gardner1 wrote: »

But anybody who has paid LRS upfront will be stuck till end of 12 months...t&c state no refund

No.

When the price rises were announced BT (via their Rep on MSE) did try it on and say any who had paid line rental in advance would not get a refund.

This was not true, and many of us successfully left and got a refund of the unused line rental.

All discussed in this thread.