B T price changes

BritBrat

Quote:
Originally Posted by utilitybroker
You could adapt the Tart Alert Facility to remind you when the rolling contract is nearly up. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/credit-card-tart

Excellent idea Utilitybroker; why didn't I think of that?

Am going to do that straight away.

Go to the top of the class.

Or use Hotmail/Gmail calendars or even all 3.

Butterfliesarepretty

I pay my calls through tesco homephone which is brilliant and pay £10 a month direct debit to my bt rental. I am on option 1 and get charged £28.07 rental (quarter) plus £4.71 vat.

Can I get cheaper rental?

Mr_McGoo

Just had a major row with BT. I happened to see a BT bill at the home of a 96-year old relative, who uses the phone relatively little, for just under £90 for a quarter, covering rent and calls.

This is more than I spend, with another supplier, on a package with two lines, 24/7 free landline calls on both, and very good ADSL connection on one line.

I quered it with BT and discovered that they have kept her on an old and expensive tariff, not offered for at least 4 years, called Local Call or something like that.

They replaced this in 2004 with the much cheaper Option 1 etc, but did not withdraw the old tariff so that those, such as the lady in question, who did not realise what the reams of small print they were being sent meant and therefore did nothing would go on paying through the nose. Her sight is very poor now, which presumably is something else BT hope for.

BT refused to even accept that this was to put it mildly, dishonest. There are presumably thousands of people unwittingly paying 200% more than they should be, and the longer BT can keep this running the better for them.

A payment reflecting a small fraction of the total overcharged was agreed, "but without any admission that we are in the wrong over this", after at least 30 minutes of absolute denial that they could possibly make any kind of restitution. She has been using 1899 as a temporary measure and she is moving to another supplier asap.

The person form BT had the gall to suggest at one point that it would be better to talk about how they can "help her in the future", than about whether they have done something wrong in the past!

Those with elderly independent relatives may want to check this out.

Mind you, BT have got form on dishonesty. Some years ago they replaced a dial-up tariff with a new, better one. As usual all their customers paid quarterly in advance for the old tariff (£15 or so per month), and the new one was similarly quarterly in advance. The change was made 2 months into a quarter, and the new charge was started at the time it changed. This meant that a refund was due for the advance payment of £15 for the third month in the quarter. It was not made, so i contacted BT who immediately admitted that it was an error and paid the refund. So far so good, but when I enquired about whether they would refund all the other short-changed customers without waiting for them to spot the problem they said, without even laughing, that I was the only customer to whom this had happened. When I asked why the computer had singled me out instead of following the same instruction for all 2,000,000 plus customers they advised me to get lost. I contacted the then regulator; was it Oftel? They advised me to take it up with BT, not their problem. This was like the Police advising a burglary victim to contact the burglar, and I gave up. BT's little windfall? Maybe £30,000,000? Think of all those £15 oversights.

gt94sss2

BT Together - Local Calls Option hasn't be available to new customers since June 2003 - however, it only costs £43.50/quarter not £90. Its not the most competitive tariff but its still very popular and not that bad value (as all 'off peak' local calls are included and most people don't make many national calls).

I don't think you can accuse BT of being dishonest though - for a variety of reasons there will always be people who don't read the information companies send them - BT certainly promoted its BT Together Option 1/2/3 range since they launched it..

BT do (or certainly used to) write to customers if they thought another tariff was better value ..

Also, while their billing system is not perfect, I would be careful accusing BT of deliberately mischarging millions of people - its just not true..

Personally, I would strongly advise you not to move her line rental from BT - even if you want to move her calls from BT.

Regards
Sunil

Heinz

I wouldn't normally suggest it but, in the case of this elderly lady, it might be simplest and easiest (and reasonably good value) to just get her switched to BT Together Option 3.

alan99_2

alared wrote: »

I`ve just read through all ten pages of this very informative thread.
Thanks to everyone,especially Heinz and Sunil.

In my own case, the way I see it is:
I`m on option one and I don`t really make a lot of calls.

If I stick on this package,I get free weekend calls,as long as I make one call a month of less than a minute on a weekday evening,this will cost me 7.5p.
(whether BT enforce the one call rule is another doubtful matter)

I pay by DD and I`m paperless, so the line rental will stay the same at
£10-50p a month.

I`m with Fast4 for unlimited BB up to 8 megs for £15-95 a month.
(although on a monthly contract,if I move before my one year is up in Nov.,I have to pay back the original connection fee of £80 )

If anyone would like to comment ---- feel free.

Hi

I also am thinking of staying on Opt 1 , maybe, and carry on using Primus Opt 2 . The thing here is this business about making one call per month during the week with BT or lose the free weekend calls. What happens if someone has a slightly long holiday or goes away to work . You then get charged for your weekend calls via BT(will you ?) . It would be much better if BT made it 3 calls per quarter or 12 pa. But you still need 6 calls per quarter to maintain free CLI.
Is confusing , appreciate any comments.

Alan

jhp

shawtj2 wrote: »

I pay my calls through tesco homephone which is brilliant and pay £10 a month direct debit to my bt rental. I am on option 1 and get charged £28.07 rental (quarter) plus £4.71 vat.

Can I get cheaper rental?

You could reduce your BT line rental from £11 a month to £10.50p inclusive of vat by taking online billing.

You could get Inclusive Evening and Weekend calls by moving your calls back to BT. Tesco charge £24 a year for this, plus they charge for caller display where as its nearly free with BT.

alared

alan99 wrote: »

Hi

I also am thinking of staying on Opt 1 , maybe, and carry on using Primus Opt 2 . The thing here is this business about making one call per month during the week with BT or lose the free weekend calls. What happens if someone has a slightly long holiday or goes away to work . You then get charged for your weekend calls via BT(will you ?) . It would be much better if BT made it 3 calls per quarter or 12 pa. But you still need 6 calls per quarter to maintain free CLI.
Is confusing , appreciate any comments.
Alan

Alan, as regards making one call a month

---

this what BT actually says about it.
The key wording is "reserves the right to move"
It was also pointed out earlier,that there is no such thing as "the line rental plan"

I know what you`re saying but I don`t think one call a month is unreasonable.
If you do go away for longer than that,you`ll just have to get someone to make a call from your line for you!


2.

Available to eligible residential BT Together Option 1 (‘Unlimited Weekend Plan’ from 1st April) customers who make at least

one chargeable call a month with BT. BT reserves the right to move customers from the BT Together Option 1 (‘Unlimited
Weekend Plan’ from 1st April 2008) to the Line Rental Plan if they make less than one chargeable call a month.

The reason I`m reluctant to move to option 2 free evenings and weekends at no extra cost is the 12 month contract.
At the moment I`m still on a Fast4 BB contract unlimited for £15-95 a month.
Recently,Fast4 have changed all their BB packages which now make them unattractive.
If they try and alter mine to a worse or dearer package,I want to be able to switch to whoever I like and not be tied to BT.

alared

Heinz wrote: »

I wouldn't normally suggest it but, in the case of this elderly lady, it might be simplest and easiest (and reasonably good value) to just get her switched to BT Together Option 3.

Wouldn`t the LUS be OK for her?

go_braves

Someone else will correct me if I'm wrong, but the Light User Scheme is not open to new applicants any more.

There is a 'replacement', BT Basic, but you need to be on means-tested benefits to get on it. That would not include state pension. But if she gets the means tested portion of Pension Credit she may qualify.

My parents-in-law hardly use their phone and are on the LUS and have been for many years - we tend to call them using Primus Option 2. However if for some reason they came off the LUS (started making lots more calls), they would not qualify for BT Basic, on means tested grounds.