Is The New BT 12 Month Option 2 Rolling Contract Fair.

allanmc

Heinz wrote: »

It's not clear to me yet but I reckon BT is going to treat line rental and call plan contracts separately.

I reckon the 'up to £70' charge will continue to apply to people breaching the 12 month line rental contract but the call plan contract appears to be different. My reading of it is that, if you agree to the rolling contract for Option 2 to get the £2.70 monthly fee waived, you'd have to pay the remaining monthly fees if you wanted to change plans part-way through the 12 month period. So, if you wanted to change after 6 months, you'd have to pay 6 x £2.70 as a penalty.

I would wholeheartedly agree with that interpretation. BT are offering a sweetie (inclusive evening and weekend landline calls up to an hour) in return for 12 months loyalty. If you don't want the sweetie, or can't bring yourself to cope with a reasonable and very competitive deal from BT, look elsewhere, or pay for Option 2 or 3 if that suits you better.

It really doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. Maybe I am a bit naive.

ACDeag

BritBrat wrote: »

Where did that figure come from?

Do you have a link to the source.

If option 2 costs £3.45 a month then I would have thought breaking contract would be no more than £3.45 a month.

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Cust_Opts_Res_boo/FrameworkImpl187865.htm#FrameworkImpl187865


6th paragraph down

utilitybroker

ACDeag wrote: »

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Cust_Opts_Res_boo/FrameworkImpl187865.htm#FrameworkImpl187865


6th paragraph down

Thanks for link. I quote.

"Customers ceasing service during the initial minimum period or any renewal period of the tariff will be asked to pay, as a single payment, a sum which is equal to the total of the standard BT Together Option 2 charges left in the 12 month initial minimum period or any renewal period. This charge is £14.45 per month"

ACDeag

utilitybroker wrote: »

BT Together Option 2 - UK+ Evening and Weekend Calls free with a 12 Month renewal contract

This tariff is available to eligible new and existing residential customers who agree to take BT Together Option 2, for an initial minimum period of 12 months and any 12 month renewal period. This tariff is available for new supply from 1st February 2008.
This tariff allows customers selecting a 12 month renewal contract on BT Together Option 2 to benefit from a discount of £3.45per month for an initial minimum period of 12 months and any 12 month renewal period. Evening and Weekend calls, to UK+ landlines , for up to an hour, will be provided at no extra cost for the initial 12 month minimum period and any 12 month renewal period.
This will make the total line rental and package fee 13.95* per month.
We will apply monthly credits of £3.45 to the customer's bill in the Promotions Discount section.
Customers taking this tariff must remain on BT Together Option 2 for the initial minimum period of 12 months from the date of sign up and any 12 month renewal period.
Customers ceasing service during the initial minimum period or any renewal period of the tariff will be asked to pay, as a single payment, a sum which is equal to the total of the standard BT Together Option 2 charges left in the 12 month initial minimum period or any renewal period. This charge is £14.45 per month.

I believe they will only let you out of the contract by terminating the line. If you want to keep the line then they will not let you cancel the contract.

allanmc

ACDeag wrote: »

I believe they will only let you out of the contract by terminating the line. If you want to keep the line then they will not let you cancel the contract.

The bottom line is that you should NOT sign up for this if there is a possibility that you will need to cancel your BT service before any 12 month period is up. (The service is transferable if you are moving home). This has been mentioned many times earlier in this thread by various forum members.

Let's be fair, it really is not that difficult to understand, as long as you have your eyes open to what you are signing up to. If the 12 month commitment is a problem, choose another suitable BT Option and/or look elsewhere (CPS).

Heinz

allanmc wrote: »

If the 12 month commitment is a problem, choose another suitable BT Option and/or look elsewhere (CPS).

Or just pay for the option you want instead (£2.70/month from 1-4-08 for the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan) so as not to be tied in to a 12 month contract for the calls plan.

debsy72

How about this scenario then:

On Monday a nice man from BT called me to tell me that I can save money by coming back to BT on their unlimited plan from SKY. I currently have SKY talk unlimited (£5 pm), SKY bradband Mid (£5 pm) and SKY tv top package (cost varies depending on pay per view films).
Sounded good I'd probably save between £1 to £2 a month as the 0845/0870 numbers are free (don't call many of these). I asked if it would affect the other aspects of my SKY package and he said no and reiterated this on numerous occasions. So, I agreed to changed back.
On Friday I just thought I'd check my SKY paperwork just to make sure and saw the correspondence last year explaining that without the SKY talk package my SKY broadband would be £5 more a month (total £10 pm). I reaslise 1. that I will be worse off and 2. that the BT man mis-sold based on omiting information or however you want to look at it.
I have been trying since Friday to cancel the contract and explain my situation to the foreign (indian?) call centres I keep getting through to.
I seem to be banging my head aginst a brick wall.
My only option seems to be to cancel, incur the fee, not pay it so it escalates to someone higher. By the way I have always kept my line rental with BT, might have to change that now!
Sorry it's long, be nice to me as I don't post that often but find this site very informative.
Thanks

jhp

debsy72

The BT guy who sold it to you, could have been considered to be technically correct, in saying that by moving back to BT for your line rental it would not affect you getting the other aspects of your Sky TV or Broadband. Did you ask him if Sky TV or Broadband would be dearer ?

JustPassingBy

debsy72 wrote: »

How about this scenario then:

On Monday a nice man from BT called me to tell me that I can save money by coming back to BT on their unlimited plan from SKY. I currently have SKY talk unlimited (£5 pm), SKY bradband Mid (£5 pm) and SKY tv top package (cost varies depending on pay per view films).
Sounded good I'd probably save between £1 to £2 a month as the 0845/0870 numbers are free (don't call many of these). I asked if it would affect the other aspects of my SKY package and he said no and reiterated this on numerous occasions. So, I agreed to changed back.

If your query was put in exactly these words or something very close to them the only answer he should have given was "I do not know". Even if he was familiar with a competitor's offerings he had absolutely no knowledge of the particular contract you have with Sky and was in no position to offer advice.

Having said that, any progress you make with your complaint may depend on what record has been made of the conversation between you and the advisor. Is there a cooling off period you can resort to to cancel?

debsy72

Hi, thanks for your replies.

jhp - My words were "Would anything on my SKY package change" and he said no. As he was rereading my benefits of changing back to BT to me he again added "And it won't affect your other SKY packages at all".

JustPassingBy - He mentioned at the beginning that calls may be recorded for training purposes. I've checked contract laws and if I agree that service can commence straight away then I waive the 7 day cooling off period. BT are also adding this in their confirmation letter too.

I might have an option to use the unfair terms rule as I am gaining no material benefit from taking out this contract. In fact I'm losing out.

I need to call them again Monday during working hour and speak to a UK person then consider my options.