Charged for BT caller display!

Quentin

Makes you wonder how many similar bills they send out that don't get challenged by moneysavers and are simply signed off.

dashforth

Related to this - BT used to treat 0800 numbers as chargeable calls. The charge in the price list was 0p. For the last couple of quarters they have changed this policy without telling customers or changing their T&Cs. As a result they tried to charge me for not making sufficient chargeable calls. They reason they gave for this change in policy was because they were no longer allowed to keep records of 0800 numbers. "0800 numbers are legally, never recorded, this is for security and safety reasons, ie, it is never recorded when someone rings an 0800 number like childline etc." I wonder how they go about charging the owners of 0800 numbers if they do not keep records? They have credited my account with the overcharge and I am now making my required number of calls at the weekend. The only problem is that they do not show up in the recent calls list in My Account on the BT website. I queried this with CS and they have confirmed that I have made the required number of calls for this quarter.

Nicholas

I know this is now an old thread, but I would be interested to know if anyone has had any problems with 'inclusive' calls (ie chargable calls made at evenings or weekends) counting towards the free caller display?

(I was thinking about moving away from Primus anyway because of their tardiness with billing and was thinking about going for the 12 month rolling contract and noticed the free HP printer and that clinched it.)

Heinz

No. I changed my Orchid program some time ago (the Heinz program now does the same) to route weekend UK 01, 02 and 03 calls via BT (i.e. with the 1280 prefix) and have had no problems. My quarterly bill's due in 10 days though so I'll be examining that closely!

I'm a little concerned about BT's latest alteration to its T&Cs though - which appears to require one chargeable (there's no 'or inclusive' wording this time) call per month in order to stay on the Unlimited Weekend Plan.

BT Telephony Services

Price Terms

Call charges for BT Telephony Calling Plans

26. The prices for calls to UK local and national numbers beginning with 01, 02 and 03 (not including calls to the Channel Islands, internet service providers or facsimile lines) depend on your choice of Calling Plan and the time period in which you make the call. The charge for first hour of calls made during the:

• evening with Unlimited Weekend Plan have a fixed rate of 1.5 pence per minute and during the weekend have a fixed rate of 0 pence;
• evening and weekend with Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan have a fixed rate of 0 pence; and
• daytime, evening and weekend with the Unlimited Anytime Plan have a fixed rate of 0 pence.

If you take the Unlimited Weekend Plan you must make at least 1 chargeable call per month with BT.

Nicholas

Thanks Heinz.

Now that I have your attention, I would like to pose you another question.

Last night, I left Primus and went back to BT.

Primus told me that I need to put the cancellation of CPS to them in an e-mail to go back to BT. (see clause 11.1.3 below)

11. Termination

11.1 Without prejudice to their rights under this Agreement Primus Telecommunications Ltd and the Customer shall have the right to terminate this Agreement forthwith in the event that:
11.1.1 The other party is in default in its performance or observance of any of its obligations under this Agreement and in the case of a remediable breach, fails to remedy the breach within a reasonable time specified by the non-defaulting party in its written notice to do so;
11.1.2 An interim order is applied for or made or a voluntary arrangement approved, or if a petition for a bankruptcy order is presented or a bankruptcy order is made against the other party, or if a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy is appointed of the other party’s estate or a voluntary arrangement is proposed or approved or an administration order is made, or a receiver or administrative receiver is appointed of any of the other party’s assets or undertaking or a winding-up resolution or petition is passed or presented (otherwise than for the purposes of reconstruction or amalgamation) or if any circumstances arise which entitle the court or creditor to appoint a receiver, administrative receiver or administrator or to present a winding-up petition or make a winding-up order; or
11.1.3 either party serves not less than 30 days written notice of termination upon the other


My (and BT's) understanding is that I request BT, to go back to them, and BT notify Primus.

Why would I need to notify Primus separately? After all, if it's left to the new provider everything is syncronised and goes more smoothly.

What do you make of it all?

ps I also found this on the ofcom website and it would seem that Primus are trying to make things too complicated.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]How can I change my provider or service later?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you then want to change your provider, contact the company of your choice. They will do this in the same way CPS was set up in the first place. This will also apply if you decide to change your service back to BT. If you are changing your provider, your current provider will be told of the change automatically.[/FONT]

Heinz

My personal opinion is that, as expected, the new Indian Call Centre haven't much of a clue and are into making it up as they go along already.

It has always been my understanding that, to change, you contact the NEW provider and they do the work (of telling the new provider and BT [in your case, that's one task of course]). If you're not tied into a contract with the old provider, that's the end of the matter.

Nicholas

Thanks for the reply.

BTW, it took 4 attempts to speak to Primus yesterday.

Attempt 1 - cut off
Attempt 2 - A really strong Indian accent I couldn't understand so I just hung up and tried again
Attempt 3 - Cut off
Attempt 4 - A Scottish accent. I actually spoke to someone at Glasgow and he sadly confirmed that they are losing their jobs. He was the one that said I need to give them 30 days notice.

I think I will go along with my first instinct and let BT do all the work. It's good that your interpretation is the same as mine though.

I still have £15.84 credit with Primus (which is probably nearer £6 when I take into account the fact that they are 3 months behind with the billing!), so there shouldn't be any fuss on a financial viewpoint. Shame that they have gone with the Indian call centre else I would have stayed with them. I have not paid them a penny (£60 credit from uswitch 2.5 years ago), and they would have started to make a little money out of me - oh well c'est la vie.

Timed it just right with BT as I don't mind locking myself in for a while (and still use 18185 during the week), and when I went to sign up online a free HP printer was being used as a carrot - I was going to choose the evenings and weekend package anyway.