BT hidden charges - did you know?

Yoyo2118

Our latest BT phone bill for land line charges only, had an additional charge not seen before labelled "One-off charges". We called to see why another £2.55 +VAT was being charged. We don't use BT for anything other than simple line rental.

BT customer service advised that BT now charge this fee if you don't make two chargeable phone calls using BT each month. When we explained we don't use BT for phone calls, the operator stated you must use prefix number 1280 to make two chargeable calls every month to avoid this additional charge.

We had no info on this from BT and can find no other sources of info on BT website. We asked operator to send some additional info by post about this new hidden charge but were told BT do not have any such leaflets or information that they can send.

We managed to get this charge taken off the bill as a one off but does anyone know anymore about this. Have you had any info from BT?
Can anyone suggest a cheap alternative line rental only provider?

:mad: Yoyo2118

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums Yoyo2118.

That charge is for 1571 and has been applied for some time. The footnote on THIS PAGE of BT's website states:

Customers who do not make chargeable or inclusive calls with BT will be charged for BT Answer 1571 standard service. Customers who are billed monthly must make at least two chargeable calls with BT in that month (excludes calls made with BT Broadband Talk) or BT will charge (incl. VAT) £1.00 a month for the standard BT Answer 1571 service. Customers who are billed quarterly must make at least six chargeable calls with BT within that quarter or BT will charged (incl. VAT) £3.00 a quarter.

The same is the case with Caller Display although, with that, a higher charge £5.25/quarter) applies if you don't make 2 chargeable or inclusive calls via BT each month.

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face by moving your line rental for the sake of a few pence a month, get an Orchid and program it to automatically route your weekend UK 01/02/03 calls via BT.

Better still, be kind to your friends and family and DUMP 1571.

The HERE link in my signature below might help you too.