Confusing letter from BT about Line Rental Plus

Victor_Delta

Has anyone else received the letter I got from BT today entitled "Changes to your BT account"? And if so, do you understand it?

Apart from advising that line rental goes up to £16.99pm wef 1 December 2014, it announces the introduction of 'Line Rental Plus' from the same date. This has some extra bells and whistles including priority fault response.

However IMHO it is very confusing because:

1. It does not say how much Line Rental Plus costs - unless you look at the tiny print at the bottom of the back page (£18.99pm), and (more importantly)

2. It is not at all clear whether existing customers have to opt out to avoid being given the new 'service' automatically. The letter seems mainly written for people who do not pay by Direct Debit (I do) but, under the heading 'How to get Line Rental Plus', I quote "If you do not want us to move you to Line Rental Plus, you'll need to switch to direct debit..." What the....?

Someone called Libby Barr has put her name at the bottom of the letter but, frankly, if this is the best she can do, I'm not sure she should admit to being BT's MD of Customer Care.

Anyway, has anyone worked out whether one has to opt out of the new service or not...?

spyhunter

If you don't pay by direct debit BT will move you to line rental plus and the only way to opt out is to set up a direct debit.

If you pay by direct debit you will stay on your current line rental option but you can opt in to have line rental plus and all the extra call features that come with it.

This has all come about because BT can no longer charge an extra fee for not paying by direct debit.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

spyhunter wrote: »

If you don't pay by direct debit BT will move you to line rental plus and the only way to opt out is to set up a direct debit.

If you pay by direct debit you will stay on your current line rental option but you can opt in to have line rental plus and all the extra call features that come with it.

This has all come about because BT can no longer charge an extra fee for not paying by direct debit.

I should think not. And they should be made to repay all the "non DD charges" they have extorted from folk over the years.

Should be the next PPI and Bank Charges scandal. The fines people incur for not giving firms a help themselves option to their bank accounts.

What do I care - I dumped BT so no more £18.99s or £6 non DD fees and £5 caller display charges from me. Im glad i'm no longer being milked by the BT cash cow.

Truly hateful and despicable firm.

Croft12

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

I should think not. And they should be made to repay all the "non DD charges" they have extorted from folk over the years.

Should be the next PPI and Bank Charges scandal. The fines people incur for not giving firms a help themselves option to their bank accounts.

What do I care - I dumped BT so no more £18.99s or £6 non DD fees and £5 caller display charges from me. Im glad i'm no longer being milked by the BT cash cow.

Truly hateful and despicable firm.

Tosh. It costs more for a company to process payments in other forms. DD is cheap so you gained a saving for it being so. That people seem to think they are entitled to pay the lowest price even for paying in a form that if more expensive to the business it is absurdity.

Buzby

What IS tosh is your belief that the price you pay depends on how 'cheap' it is for the supplier to process said payment. Since the dawn of time, you paid the price and got the goods or service, it was the single price set by the seller/supplier. Unless you bartered or haggled, there was a single price.

If you seriously expect the customer to care about how 'dear' it is for the supplier to bank the payment, then why not insist they move their accounting to the Phillippines (or wherever) so they can sack more British workers or outsource it to Crapita where economies of scale mean it ceases to be an issue.

The customer is and remains king. After 35 years I ended my relationship with BT. I'm old enough to manage my financial affairs, so why should it cost me more because I can do so? Until 2012 I had NO direct debits - now? My bank gives ME cashback for doing so that works out at £60pa.

So I do so - but if you think that contradictory, it may be - BUT then, this is a CONSUMER money saving site. Businesses, can darn well look after themselves.

roxy28

Buzby wrote: »

What IS tosh is your belief that the price you pay depends on how 'cheap' it is for the supplier to process said payment. Since the dawn of time, you paid the price and got the goods or service, it was the single price set by the seller/supplier. Unless you bartered or haggled, there was a single price.

If you seriously expect the customer to care about how 'dear' it is for the supplier to bank the payment, then why not insist they move their accounting to the Phillippines (or wherever) so they can sack more British workers or outsource it to Crapita where economies of scale mean it ceases to be an issue.

The customer is and remains king. After 35 years I ended my relationship with BT. I'm old enough to manage my financial affairs, so why should it cost me more because I can do so? Until 2012 I had NO direct debits - now? My bank gives ME cashback for doing so that works out at £60pa.

So I do so - but if you think that contradictory, it may be - BUT then, this is a CONSUMER money saving site. Businesses, can darn well look after themselves.

Must say loved reading that Buzby, well said.

Croft12

Buzby wrote: »

What IS tosh is your belief that the price you pay depends on how 'cheap' it is for the supplier to process said payment.

I can't help it if you don't get basic economics. Price has always been variable. We didn't have DD 300 yrs ago but variable payments did. Many small stores offer different rates or additional charges for small payments precisely because of the cost of payment systems.

If you seriously expect the customer to care about how 'dear' it is for the supplier to bank the payment,

It has nothing to do with caring but cost. It costs less to run a DD scheme then to process cheques for example.

so why should it cost me more because I can do so?

Because it costs them more to have you as a customer that way. If you don't understand their price point is determined by the costs they incur (one of which is payments systems) there is no hope.

BUT then, this is a CONSUMER money saving site. Businesses, can darn well look after themselves.

They are, which is why they are charging less to the people who cost them less to do business.