Phone handset

IreneWA5

Have recently found out that my 90 year old father in law was still paying £3.49 a week for his BT home handset which he had had for 40 years. The handset was as old as Noah and he was not aware. We have updated his package and his phone, BT gave him £50 discount.... good old BT! I wonder how many other pensioners could still be doing the same, makes you wonder.

Regards

Neil_Jones

This was the common model back in the day to rent the equipment from the provider. It still goes on I suspect. Perfectly legitimate practice, even though £3.49 a week seems excessive, sure that wasn't a month?

These days of course the cost of the phones have fallen through the floor (plus they're also cordless) and it will almost always be cheaper to buy it yourself and it be yours rather then renting.

iniltous

I’m sure I saw something in the media , that BT were stopping charging rental for the phone instrument in cases where rental was still being charged , but as far as ‘renting’ , as already said, it seems ludicrous to rent something of such small value these days, but ultimately it’s the consumers choice, and although harsh, it’s up to the renter to decide if the cost of renting is worth it, chances are if the renter was paying this for 40 years , then it’s probably £3.49 a quarter or £14 a year as quarterly billing was the norm 40 years ago, still a lot for something with small value.
Back when this was commonplace renting a handset there was always the option to rent a new ( better ) phone anytime you wanted ( no minimum term) and of course if it went wrong it would be fixed or more likely replaced as part of the rental agreement

[Deleted User]

He won't have been paying £3.49 a week, more likely a quarter...

Farway

IreneWA5 wrote: »

I wonder how many other pensioners could still be doing the same, makes you wonder.

My mother was, it took me ages to convince her she could buy one and save. But old school, thinking if it ever went wrong it would be repaired for "free"


The final "selling point" was me getting a big button one for her


However I never did convince her to get rid of the rental TV, she kept paying that until she died.

IreneWA5

Yes my mistake, was £3.49 per month come to think of it.