What alternatives are there to BT?

ihatebt_2

Right, I'm totally fed up with BT now. In fact it's got to the point where I hate them with a passion. I'm sick to death with:

- This new "payment charge"
- Indian call centres - I can't understand what these people are saying for God's sake!
- Their poor customer service and their passing you around from department to department if you need to call them about something (I have to deal with them at work too quite often)
- And now I've been hit with a £5 late charge fee, yet my payment was late because I was waiting for them to get back to me with a query!

I only pay line rental with them as I have a broadband and free calls package with Tiscali (I'm dumping them when the contract runs out, but that's another issue), and yet I've just paid a quarterly bill of £42 including the late payment fee - just for line rental!

What alternatives are there for a telecoms provider? Is there a list anywhere.

Can anyone recommend a company that doesn't have Indian (or outsourced elsewhere) call centres?

moonrakerz

Yes, BT can be infuriating (perhaps not as bad as BG tho') .

Could I suggest you sit down for a while and go through a lot of the threads on this topic. I would say that across the board, if you are with BT, stay there. There are many harsh comments about other providers too.

Other line providers are at liberty to restrict your (or charge higher prices to allow you to) access to other service providers. BT, by law cannot do this. Also if you add on the bits you get for "free" from BT, you will find that other "cheaper" line suppliers aren't actually any cheaper.

suzzi2704

There's Post Office Home Phone. Whenever I go in to the Post Office they are always falling over themselves to sell it to me.
Free evening and weekend calls.
Cheaper line rental than BT.
No penalty for not paying by Direct Debit.
Freephone UK helpline number.

Heinz

suzzi2704 wrote: »

There's Post Office Home Phone. Whenever I go in to the Post Office they are always falling over themselves to sell it to me.
Free evening and weekend calls.
Cheaper line rental than BT.
No penalty for not paying by Direct Debit.
Freephone UK helpline number.

Er, that's not quite correct.

HomePhone offers free LOCAL calls and to other HomePhone subscribers (up to 60 minutes) evenings and weekends.

HomePhone line rental is £9.95/month (55p cheaper than BT) but there IS a penalty for not paying by Direct Debit - £1/month.

HomePhone Caller Display is £1.75/month (11p [9p from 1/8/07] with BT).

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump1?mediaId=19300217&catId=19300215

There are better options!

Heinz

rich0684 wrote: »

They have a flat rate of 9.9p to mobiles at all times too which is good.

Not in my book it isn't - that's more than 50% more than 18185's 6p/minute during the week and more than triple 18185's 3p/minute at weekends.

billsavings

rich0684 wrote: »

From past experience i would stick with BT for their line but definately go elsewhere for your calls. I am with a company called Euphony and i believe they about the best deal at the moment.

£1 per month for 6 months and then £5.99 for the remaining 12 months

free landline calls to the Uk and 28 countries at all times. The countries are the major ones such as US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand then pretty much most of Europe.

They have a flat rate of 9.9p to mobiles at all times too which is good.

The main issue for me is their local rate customer service which is in baisingstoke and they are extremely helpful with any questions. No holding for someone in india to answer.

The website to see the deals is joineuphony .com i think you can join online now too which is stright forward.

As i said i use them along with family members and they have been great.

Rich.

SPAM. SPAM. SPAM.

You would of course say that Richard because you are a Euphony Consultant promoting your own affiliate site/link.

Their Customer Service does not appear to be as good as you make out.See:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=470246&highlight=euphony

billsavings

suzzi2704 wrote: »

There's Post Office Home Phone. Whenever I go in to the Post Office they are always falling over themselves to sell it to me.

Did you mean missel it to you.:D

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/post+office+missold+phone+deals/564572

billsavings

rich0684 wrote: »

Hi,

Just to point out that i am not promoting my affiliate link. I came on here to see what people were saying about various services. I use Euphony myself and so do all my family therefore i have no problem in recommending it.

The customer service is far better than any other company i have ever used and the reason that Euphony are doing so well is through satisfied people recommending their services. They are connecting over 25,000 new customers per month and have launched 2 new countries this year. Not one penny is spent on advertising.

My money comes from my organisation, i do not need to be firing my link around hundreds of forums. The odd customer who joins through my link earns me a negligable amount compared to my organisation. And at the end of the day, if someone visits the site and can make savings from becomming a customer then where is the problem? is this site not about people saving money?

You might argue that people are here to discuss services that they already know about but due to the Euphony route to market no one will hear about them unless they are recommeded by someone who already uses the services.

Hope that clears the air.

Richard.

If your not SPAMMING your link to your personal Euphony site why did you mention it in your first post?,and why did you hide your interest?

The rules of this site are quite clear "Don't post links for personal gain. Except in the referrers section and always declare any interest.

SPAMMING for personal gain is not welcome.

Euphony is already known to MSE members anyway . Martin MSE mentions them here. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls

If the Customer Service is as good as you make out why have people been complaining lately?,surely they cant all be wrong.

rich0684

I am not going to get into a long winded argument about why i mentioned my link the first post. I mentioned it because it would be a bit pointless in me recommending to you a place where you can get a free Ferarri but not telling you where it is.

As for the personal gain, my apologies, next time i will put in big bold letters "BY THE WAY, I AM ADVERTISING FOR MY OWN PERSONAL GAIN AND BY SIGNING UP TO MY SERVICE I WILL BECOME WEALTHY"... but genuinely, i do aplogise for not stating clearly that i will benefit by recommending the service.

As for customer services. Euphony had a complete new £3 million computer system installed in December 2006. If anyone has any eperience in the IT industry then they will know that something such as this isnt very straight forward and causes a few problems. Those problems are now rectified and the new system will allow Euphony to continue at the rapid rate at which it is currently growing. This means that more products can be launched and more savings made. The company has been established since 1998 and there have been very few problems. I fully agree that no company is perfect and i believe that the savings which are made through Euphony are well worth a couple of hiccups in the system.

Richard.