Migrating from BT - "equipment rental" issues?

p3gg

I posted a couple of days ago on the "Internet access" board about my mission for the week, which was to launch an older relative into the world of broadband.

I'm happy to report I've encountered surprisingly little resistance to this plan from the side of my "subject"! We are in fact close to taking the plunge, and having perused the household phonebills (of which more below) the most likely way forward is to sign up with Tiscali for both unlimited broadband and "anytime" home phone, £19.99 per month including line rental.

So far so good. Ties with BT will be severed, and that be that. One small potential complication though. Among the various other horrors and atrocities in the household phonebill is lurking and item called "equipment rental" -- £5.80 + VAT per quarter. Presumably this means that way back when (by which I mean 20 years ago) one or more telephone handsets that were property of BT were introduced into the house, and these have been paid for handsomely ever since. :mad: I thought this practice had disappeared long since, but clearly not. If I'd've known about it of course I would've intervened previously.

But does anyone have any idea how this will impact on changing provider? When the home phone line is migrated from BT to Tiscali, will BT be wanting their telephone(s) back? I'm sure they're welcome to it, but how will they get it back? Will they send someone round to take it away? Will it have to be posted off somewhere? Deposited at a local "office" of BT, if such places exist? Will they require an extra notice period for terminating their responsibility for the line? And will they try to levy a fee for their retrieval of their own equipment which has been so immaculately preserved and kept over all these years?

I'm just trying to anticipate the repercussions before proceeding. If anyone can shed any light on what's likely to happen then we'd be very interested to hear it.

Thanks in advance

p3gg

far

Knowing someone who has rented their phone from BT, if they want it back (they may not be too interested in it) they will send a pre-paid envelope for it. Pack it in a box and pop it in the envelope, take it to a Post Office and ensure you get a proof of posting and keep it safe.

The reason I say "if they want it back" is over the years a couple of rented phones developed minor faults and BT have said more than once that they only wanted the phone back for recycling so weren't too fussed if it was sent back or not.

p3gg

Thanks far, that sounds less complicated than I feared.

You don't happen to know whether £5.80 + VAT per quarter sounds like equipment rental for one phone or for two, do you? If it's for one and they want it back it might be a bit hit and miss, as I don't think anyone in the family will have a clue which one of the two phones in the house belongs to BT!!

Heinz

Why not ask BT to give you the serial number(s) of the handset(s) for which he's paying - so that you can ensure you return the correct ones.

Bet they can't.

10_66

p3gg wrote: »

...the most likely way forward is to sign up with Tiscali...

Sorry if you're already aware of this, but Tiscali have a VERY BAD reputation. I had terrible problems with them with my first encounter with Broadband and, fortunately, managed to escape their clutches as they had failed to provide the promised service. I only wish someone had warned me about them beforehand, to avoid a LOT of frustration.

p3gg

10_66 wrote: »

p3gg wrote: »

...the most likely way forward is to sign up with Tiscali...

Sorry if you're already aware of this, but Tiscali have a VERY BAD reputation. I had terrible problems with them with my first encounter with Broadband and, fortunately, managed to escape their clutches as they had failed to provide the promised service. I only wish someone had warned me about them beforehand, to avoid a LOT of frustration.

Thanks for mentioning this. The thing is I've read good and bad experiences of Tiscali; the other "contender" was TalkTalk and to be honest it was a struggle to find anything good at all written about them. What were your experiences with Tiscali? And how recent were they?

gt94sss2

p3gg wrote: »

Thanks for mentioning this. The thing is I've read good and bad experiences of Tiscali; the other "contender" was TalkTalk and to be honest it was a struggle to find anything good at all written about them. What were your experiences with Tiscali? And how recent were they?

Both TalkTalk and Tiscali will have lots of happy users.

The problem comes if there is a problem setting you up (i.e. migrating from BT) or if you later have a fault on your line - then their support tends to be very poor in resolving these issues.

As such, most people on this board recommend retaining your line rental with BT, even if you get our calls/broadband from other suppliers - as their CS tends to be that much better. Though, this does mean multiple bills each month, unless you get everything from BT

TalkTalk/Tiscali are ok if you know what you are doing but for a 'older relative' I would be careful..

Regards
Sunil

KeithP

p3gg wrote: »

Among the various other horrors and atrocities in the household phonebill is lurking and item called "equipment rental" -- £5.80 + VAT per quarter. Presumably this means that way back when (by which I mean 20 years ago) one or more telephone handsets that were property of BT were introduced into the house, and these have been paid for handsomely ever since. :mad: I thought this practice had disappeared long since, but clearly not. If I'd've known about it of course I would've intervened previously.

I came across the exact same problem earlier this year - again with an elderly relative. Phoned BT about this 'equipment rental' line on the bill and the guy told me exactly which phone it was. I then ranted on about how could they continue to charge an 80+ year old gentleman over £5 per quarter for over twenty years! Thats over £400! I know it is the renter's responsibility to terminate the agreement at the appropriate time, and with that in mind I was quite surprised when the BT customer service representative agreed to cancel the rental and offered credit of £50 to the bill. He did say that I could enter a formal complaint and maybe get a bigger refund of the rental charges (but maybe not get anything). We accepted the £50.
By the way, they didn't want the old phone back - it is still in use today.

Very simple to sort out. Just one phone call.

far

p3gg wrote: »

You don't happen to know whether £5.80 + VAT per quarter sounds like equipment rental for one phone or for two, do you?

The rental charge for one phone is £3.25 + VAT so either something a bit out of the ordinary is being rented (combined answering machine and phone or maybe a seperate answering machine and phone) or perhaps BT offer discounts on multiple equipment rental.

10_66

p3gg wrote: »

Thanks for mentioning this. The thing is I've read good and bad experiences of Tiscali; the other "contender" was TalkTalk and to be honest it was a struggle to find anything good at all written about them. What were your experiences with Tiscali? And how recent were they?

Sorry for delay in replying. I had problems with them late 2005/early 2006. After placing an order with them for Broadband, they failed to provide the service, problem was in trying to speak to ANYONE who could tell me ANYTHING about what was going on. Unkept promises of call backs, no replies to recorded delivery letters etc. I eventually said I wanted to cancel the order, that was when my problems really began. Cutting a VERY long story short, I had to get Ofcom involved, and even when I did manage to cancel the contract (on the basis that they didn't provide the service), they then decided to start contacting me, on the basis that I was still a customer of theirs. In the meantime, I found out that this was their normal service, so was glad I had a lucky escape before being tied into a 12 month contract. I would never use anyone for BB with anything other than monthly contract, or at the max 3 months.

tly175

I signed up for broadband with Talktalk in April 2006. Today (Nov19)they phoned to say that I must migrate Line rental from BT to Talktalk now, in order to keep my broadband. I was assured this was part of what i signed up for. I said my recollection was that it was optional. I asked the caller to send me an email confirming it WAS what I signed up for. I also asked whether the extra £10 I pay each month because broadband was not available in my postcode back in Apl2006, was charged forever. I was told it should cease 'after Xmas'. The caller then met problems with the system and said she would call back in one hour. That call is already 5 hours late. Does anyone think this call may have been an attempt to hoodwink me into changing my line rental?