B T price changes

bill888

Update: After phoning BT yesterday and having my call plan changed from Option 1 to Option 2 (12mth renewable contract), I logged into my account on bt.com and noticed it said I was on Option 2 and cost was £13.95. There was no mention of 12mth contract or the discounted £10.50. This is same observation someone else had mentioned in this forum.

So I telephoned BT customer services on 150 very early this morning and had a confusing conversation with an indian call centre operative.

She confirmed I was on BT Option 2 but paying the line rental that is equivalent to BT option 1 under the special 12mth contract offer. Fair enough, so my online account info is wrong or misleading.

But then she went on to explain that I was entitled to free evening and weekend calls after April 1st. No problem there I thought.

I then asked her if my evening and calls were free prior to 1st April. She said evening calls were free, but weekend calls were not Free until 1st April.

She seemed to be under the impression that free weekend calls were only free since Feb 1st if I had stayed with BT Option 1.....

Update 2: rang the 0800 707 6028 number I used yesterday and spoke to someone in a UK call centre. The bloke I spoke to confirmed calls now made in evening and weekend were free with immediate effect on my account, and I only pay £10.50 for next 12 months for the Option 2 call plan. He added it will appear as £13.95 but there will be a credit of £3.45 on the bill I will receive to bring it down to £10.50. (This credit is mentioned in the small print but it's a shame my online BT account call plan details make no mention of this fact at the moment).

alared

go_braves wrote: »

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.

No doubt someone will correct me regarding the LUS.

I thought that you automatically got put on LUS if your "cost of calls", for three quarters,were below a certain amount.

Drunkstar

alared wrote: »

No doubt someone will correct me regarding the LUS.

I thought that you automatically got put on LUS if your "cost of calls", for three quarters,were below a certain amount.

Nope, you are mistake I am afraid.

Mr_McGoo

gt94sss2

The reason that my elderly relative paid £90 is that under the Local Call tariff she paid £14.50 per month for rent alone, PLUS the costs of most of the calls she did make. Option 1 may or may not have been cheaper for her than Option 2, but remember that it's difficult to say as BT are constantly altering the terms of these options.

Her best bet is almost certainly Utility Warehouse, in common with most of the country. I use UW but I'm NOT an agent, employee or whatever. I just check that they are the cheapest every 3 months or so for my package of phone X2, electricity, gas and ADSL X1.

Even if BT were competitive, their "Payment Fee" scam should deter anyone from using them. What a good way to generate a windfall profit when things are bad. I can hear the brainstorming session now "OK, we'll do that. The suckers probably won't notice, and if they do they're too lazy to switch just because of £1.50 a month, Agreed? OK, pass round the bonuses."

UW do not appear on most comparison sites because they do not pay the fees demanded, to keep costs down. (There's a message there about all comparison sites; you may not be looking at a complete list of suppliers' prices).

My story about the BT "error" over switching dial-up tariff was fact. Their claim that such an error was a one-off affecting me alone was risible. Was it deliberate? I think so, but that's just my opinion (based on the fact that they refused point-blank to provide any evidence that they even planned to check if it had happened to anyone else, let alone do that.)

BritBrat

Is she renting the phone (Hand set)?

Buy her a new one and get BT to pick the old one up after you cancel the phone rental, I suspect they will say keep it.

Drunkstar

Mr_McGoo wrote: »

Even if BT were competitive, their "Payment Fee" scam should deter anyone from using them. What a good way to generate a windfall profit when things are bad. I can hear the brainstorming session now "OK, we'll do that. The suckers probably won't notice, and if they do they're too lazy to switch just because of £1.50 a month, Agreed? OK, pass round the bonuses."

At least BT allow payments by non DD means, unlike many companies.

JustPassingBy

alared wrote: »

It was also pointed out earlier,that there is no such thing as "the line rental plan"

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Cust_Opts_Res_boo/3185_d0e1.htm#3185-d0e1

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..

From the document at the link given above:

"Evening & night-time and weekend calls are charged at 3.8pexc. VAT 4.5p( inc. VAT) for the first hour"

So not making that single chargeable call wouldn't appear to be too disadvantageous if your weekend calls are few.

Brian.

gt94sss2

JustPassingBy wrote: »

So not making that single chargeable call wouldn't appear to be too disadvantageous if your weekend calls are few.

Yes - the new 'line rental plan' basically seems to be the 'old' (pre Feb) BT Option 1 tariff.

I can't currently see BT moving many (if any) people over to it though

Regards
Sunil

JustPassingBy

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Yes - the new 'line rental plan' basically seems to be the 'old' (pre Feb) BT Option 1 tariff.

I can't currently see BT moving many (if any) people over to it though

Regards
Sunil

Please tell me if my thinking is unclear here.

Being on the Unlimited Weekend Plan means evening calls are 6p plus 1.5p per minute - 96p for the first hour. On the Line Rental Plan the first hour is 4.5p. Is that why you doubt BT will move anyone over to it?

Brian.

alared

BT just says "they reserve the right to move you" if you don`t make one charged call a month on option1.
Highly unlikely they`ll bother.