MSE News: BT home phone customer? Check you're not paying to rent your handset

agarnett

Essentially BT should be forced to refund phone rentals to all private customers who were above retirement age twenty years ago when renting a phone became totally unnecessary.

BT has been exploiting senior citizens. Simple as that. The respective boards of directors know it but have continued and that makes them scum.

My parents are now well into their eighties and I finally managed to persuade them they could drop the BT rental contract only about 7 or 8 years ago after dropping heavy hints for years.

Those that argue that this is a matter of choice are oblivious to the way ordinary people grow old and do not understand change which youngsters take for granted.

Sure if you are an office worker until your retirement day, you may have grown used to sharp practice, but ordinary manual workers with limited education and experience of the ways of modern business are targets for greedy companies like BT.

It is despicable, and it is mis-selling in the broadest sense, to coin a well used phrase of our times. It is not individuals who mis-sell, it is the boards of big corporates who dictate a culture of exploiting the customer ruthlessly and without any fear of shame.

I found this thread this morning because I am about to start another on a closely related subject which has come up many times over the last decade.

birtles1010

I understood that if the phone is rented from BT then BT are responsible for the line maintenance up to the rented telephone? I have been looking for info on this but can't find any.........

dizzzybubble

I fail to see how this is the fault of the individual when BT has records of when the contract ends, they have programmed their computers to add the charge and have failed to tell their computers when to end the charge. In short they have continued to take money through the bill that is outside of the contract.

Many would assume that, as they still have the handset, they still need to pay the rental on it. I was told recently that my parents have owned their handset since 2006 and yet BT were still adding the £3.90 to the bill. They declined to offer a refund for the six years handset rental that has been overpaid. It's scandalous!

mije1983

dizzzybubble wrote: »

I fail to see how this is the fault of the individual when BT has records of when the contract ends, they have programmed their computers to add the charge and have failed to tell their computers when to end the charge. In short they have continued to take money through the bill that is outside of the contract

But that's just it, the contract doesn't end until the customer cancels it. Until that point, there is no date to put into the computer.

Like all telecoms contracts, after the original term it switches to a rolling contract. You don't get cut off automatically on the end date of the contract. If you did, it would cause far more issues than it solves.

handsoff

30 years ago, in the summer of 1986, British Telecom included a leaflet with the quarterly bill called "Your Guide to Telephone Equipment Rental Charges" and "How much does your phone cost to rent". It details new charges from 1 Nov 1986. It says it sent it to meet the regulations of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the bill will now show Telephone appartus you rent. It lists phones you may be renting (including the "Candlestick" and "Trimphone Dial" for £3.10 / quarter, and the "Trimphone Push Button" for £4.10 / quarter. You may also have been renting a payphone (£37.80 to £90 / quarter), a bell 4" to 12" Trembler" £2.60 / quarter or a Meter £3.15 to £10.50 / quarter. Prices were ex 15% VAT.

"The minimum hire period is 1 year. Should charges change you will be notified in writing at least 7 days in advance"

Until then the Telephone Bill showed:

Rental & other standing charges from 1 May to 31 July
£16.45 (£ quarterly rate ex VAT)

From Nov 1986 with increased prices:

Rental & other standing charges from 1 Nov to 31 Jan
System £13.95
Apparatus £3.10
Total £17.05 (£ quarterly rate ex VAT)

I returned my phone to the local British Telecom shop and cancelled the rental contract in 1988 when I could afford to buy a "cheap" £40 push button phone.