Help needed - BT Basic on bill

amk515

Hi all,

I wonder if someone can help. My soon to be in laws have been with BT for many years and have recently asked me to look into there finances etc. They wondered if there was any other providers of phone and broadband so told them their options.

I have seen one of their recent bills and told them their options but there is a charge for BT Basic on there. I had a look into what it was and asked them if they ever qualified for it and they said they didn't know what it was and when I told them they said no.

They spoke to BT and they said that they have had it since 1998 and that they had it as it helped them with some sort of charges but they couldn't understand as they have never been on any sort of benefits.

From what I can tell they have been paying both the normal line rental and BT Basic for a long time when it looks like they should have paid one or the other.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks in advance.

Nada666

I agree. They should only be paying BT Basic or another line rental tariff. They should not be paying both.

They may well have call charges on top (one of the ironies of the BT Basic tariff is that the sorts of calls low users make are almost never included in the small included calls allowance. Technically it is £3 line rental plus £1.50 calls allowance but it is in practice it is £4,50 plus almost every call charged outside the allowance.)

Do they have more than one line?

Are you sure they aren't just ringing more than £16sworth of excluded charged calls?

amk515

Nada666 wrote: »

I agree. They should only be paying BT Basic or another line rental tariff. They should not be paying both.

They may well have call charges on top (one of the ironies of the BT Basic tariff is that the sorts of calls low users make are almost never included in the small included calls allowance. Technically it is £3 line rental plus £1.50 calls allowance but it is in practice it is £4,50 plus almost every call charged outside the allowance.)

Do they have more than one line?

Are you sure they aren't just ringing more than £16sworth of excluded charged calls?

No, they have line rental as one charge, BT Basic as another and then any calls outside of their allowance and only have one phone line.

I looked into why they could have BT Basic and they looked at what it was and they don't see why it would be on their bill. They aren't really well up on utilities etc as I have sorted out the car insurance, energy bills etc.

They are wondering what they can do as BT haven't given them a good enough reason why it is on there and told them there is nothing they can do.

Graham1

The regular BT customer support are no good at answering queries about BT Basic so make sure they are ringing the dedicated BT Basic number 0800 800 864 to get answers.

spyhunter

BT Basic was introduced in around 2007 as a replacement for the light user scheme so it would not be possible to have it 1998.

If they are on BT Basic it is most likely that they were previously on BT light user scheme that was replaced by BT Basic.

A lot of BT customers who were on the light user scheme were migrated to BT basic automatically even if they did not qualify to have it as BT needed to close the billing system that the light user scheme customers were held in.

If they are being charged for BT Basic and normal line rental it will say on the bill charges for BT Basic and also charges for an Unlimited calling plan. Does it mention this on the bill?

BT do have some customers renting old telephone handsets that show on the bill as "Basic dial phone" or "Basic equipment rental". could it be this wording thats causing the confusion and it is actually an old rented telephone?

amk515

Thanks for the BT Basic phone number.

No, it definitely says BT Basic and the correct price for that service as I have had the bill in front of me as they didn't know how to switch so I had to look at the bills to see what is best for them.

BT said around 1998 so maybe it was something before then and then switched over but they couldn't say any more than that. They just said there's nothing they could do.

spyhunter

amk515 wrote: »

No, it definitely says BT Basic and the correct price for that service as I have had the bill in front of meQUOTE]

But do you have the bill in front of you now to confirm my suggestions?

BT bills can be complicated but it is unlikley there is a a charge for BT Basic and BT line rental on the same bill.

amk515

spyhunter wrote: »

amk515 wrote: »

No, it definitely says BT Basic and the correct price for that service as I have had the bill in front of meQUOTE]

But do you have the bill in front of you now to confirm my suggestions?

BT bills can be complicated but it is unlikley there is a a charge for BT Basic and BT line rental on the same bill.

Unlikely it may be but that is the reason I am on here asking. It most definitely says BT Basic.

Graham1

I think it was 2008 when BT Basic was introduced.

Before that they may have had other services with a name having basic in it - maybe a narrowband (dial-up) Internet service.

amk515

Graham1 wrote: »

I think it was 2008 when BT Basic was introduced.

Before that they may have had other services with a name having basic in it - maybe a narrowband (dial-up) Internet service.

Well I'm going to ring up that BT Basic number on Friday and get the in-laws to provide authority for me to speak on their behalf.

If it is an error by BT for having that on the bill when it should never have been there since they pay their normal line rental in addition to this would I be wrong in asking them for a refund of it for them?

I know it's easy for people to say they should check their bill etc but until they asked me to look into things they just paid their bill whatever it was and always thought that BT would just be charging them for what they used.

BT_company_representative

Hi amk515,

Sorry for the mix up with this.

If your "soon to be" in laws are on BT Basic then there definitely shouldn't be any other line rental on their bill. I'm happy to look into things for you from here. To get in touch, you'll see our contact link in our public profile.

All the best,

Robbie