MSE News: BT to charge some £7.50/mth for email - here's how to beat the hikes

Former_MSE_Stephen_B

Telecoms giant BT is set to charge customers who have ditched its broadband, but want to keep their BT email address, a whopping £90 a year from next month - here's how you can beat the charges...

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'BT to charge some £7.50/mth for email - here's how to beat the hikes'

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ValiantSon

'It seems like blackmail'

These are a few of the comments we have received from MoneySavingExpert users, expressing their anger at the latest price hike:

Mike Waldron, from York, told us: "I have decided this is the last straw and won!!!8217;t be bullied - it is a right pain to change e-mails, but at least I may dodge the endless junk e-mails I get with BT!"

Sue, from Thornton Heath, Surrey said: "It seems like blackmail, as BT know that it will be time consuming to give all our contacts a new email address."

And Nan emailed to say: "I feel they have me over a barrel here and could keep increasing the charge as often as they want. They have offered me a 'deal' whereby if I return to them I can keep my address for free but their customer service was so awful I'll never go back."

Are these people for real? What a massive sense of entitlement! Just to be clear, they were given an e-mail account as part of their subscription to BT Broadband. They then switched their broadband to another supplier, but expected BT to continue to provide services to them for free. They then accepted that they would have to pay a fee, but are moaning about BT choosing to give them notice of their intention to increase that fee. They are not being, "bullied"; they are provided with a service and are free to leave to another provider if they don't like the price (there are many alternative options). They are not being, "blackmailed"; blackmail is where someone tries to coerce another person into doing something they do not wish to do in return for not revealing comprising information about them: BT aren't doing this. They don't have anyone, "over a barrel"; customers are perfectly free to move to an alternative service.

This kind of comment (and MSE's giving oxygen to it) damages our society, by encouraging the view that everyone is a victim of companies and that we all have a right to whatever we want. It is part of a wider problem (again often encouraged by MSE) that fails to accept personal responsibility amongst citizens and consumers. It also undermines those who genuinely are the victims of injustice, whether great or small.

It really is quite depressing to read this kind of thing.

This news report would have been perfectly valid and informative without the inclusion of those moaning and whining entitled comments.

These are separate to the many frustrated customers who are to be hit with BT's second price rise this year - its fifth major hike in less than four years.

Quite right, they are separate, and completely unrelated, so why mention this here, other than to pursue the highly dubious, and horridly tabloid editorial line that has become the norm on this site, that companies are evil and out to do harm to consumers (unless of course that company is First Direct who are wonderful, apparently)?

Is there any chance that MSE might like to consider raising the standard of its tawdry journalism?

JJ_Egan

100% agree .
Of course most if not all of these are not Journalists in any shape or form just headline grab your attention editors .

pmduk

ValiantSon wrote: »

Is there any chance that MSE might like to consider raising the standard of its tawdry journalism?

Probably none at all got to get the mouseclicks in somehow

ValiantSon

pmduk wrote: »

Probably none at all got to get the mouseclicks in somehow

Sadly, I fear that you are right.

Rich2808

I think the point perhaps is the level of the charge. It used to be free, then it went to £1.60 and then to £5 and now to £7.50 a month. But they do at least give you the option - when you leave Virgin media they delete your account after 90 days and the post office remove it immediately. Sky allow you to keep your Sky email account for life for free.

The biggest challenge can be to get BT Premium mail set up when you leave them - as they don't make it easy!

gadgetmind

Way back when, we bought our own domain name and use that for email for (extended!) family. It saves a right load of faff and everyone can have a variety of addresses to cover various situations.

robin58

What will BT charge for next? The around thier cables?

BT still thinks it owns the telecommunications network. It's doesn't.

ValiantSon

Rich2808 wrote: »

I think the point perhaps is the level of the charge. It used to be free, then it went to £1.60 and then to £5 and now to £7.50 a month.

So what? Nobody is forcing them to take the service. BT have every right to charge whatever they want and the customer has every right to say, "No thanks, I'm going to move to a free Gmail account." They can forward any e-mails they want to their new account and change their e-mail address with the companies who use it. Doing so should take them an hour or so, at most.

First world problems of the entitled population of the UK.

ValiantSon

robin58 wrote: »

What will BT charge for next? The around thier cables?

BT still thinks it owns the telecommunications network. It's doesn't.

Yes, how dare a company charge for the service it is providing. (What a shame that the :rolleyes: emoji is not supported on this forum).

Your second paragraph is a non sequitur.

[Deleted User]

ValiantSon wrote: »

Are these people for real? What a massive sense of entitlement!

This kind of comment (and MSE's giving oxygen to it) damages our society, by encouraging the view that everyone is a victim...

and that we all have a right to whatever we want.

It is part of a wider problem... that fails to accept personal responsibility amongst citizens and consumers.

It also undermines those who genuinely are the victims of injustice, whether great or small.

It really is quite depressing to read this kind of thing.

That is an excellent post sir, if I could have given two thanks I would have done.

I've just highlighted the points that I've believed for a long time now, namely that too many people consider themselves a victim and that any responsibility (even for their own actions) lies elsewhere (Police, Government, School, take your pick).