View Full Version : BT phonebill
cuddlepop
04-May-09, 13:53
Can anyone shed some light on BT charges.If you no longer pay by direct debit you pay an extra £4 odds,this I understand.Now I know you pay for using the phone in advance but its apparently cheaper if you pay by DD.My bill for this quatre is £147.00 of which £10 is phone usage.I think thats expensive.
I think that may be a mistake as £137 for rental charges seems way out, our last bill, which we pay by Direct Debit, was £62.41, which was made up of £52.84 in Line Rental and £9.57 in calls, i think you need to phone BT
I completey gave up on BT and moved to another company. My bills were always like this and nobody could ever explain why.
In the end I moved, I pay no more than £25 per month for line rental and free calls 24/7.
Kevin Milkins
04-May-09, 14:04
I thought all phone bills to BT was paid by the month on direct debit now.:confused
cuddlepop
04-May-09, 14:05
I think that may be a mistake as £137 for rental charges seems way out, our last bill, which we pay by Direct Debit, was £62.41, which was made up of £52.84 in Line Rental and £9.57 in calls, i think you need to phone BT
Gizmo we phoned and they said the bill is right.We get our internet from them and thats roughly £90 and line rental is £47 roughly.Apparently you pay more for not having a DD,it seems they're penalising folk with no access to "inlimited" banking.Our last bill was roughly £100 with £28 still to pay as I cancelled the DD.
cuddlepop
04-May-09, 14:07
I completey gave up on BT and moved to another company. My bills were always like this and nobody could ever explain why.
In the end I moved, I pay no more than £25 per month for line rental and free calls 24/7.
Starry who do you use?We got a quote from vodaphone for internet and its £26 a month plus a one off of £24 I think OH said.
I use TalkTalk, only for phone tho.
I didn't see much recommending them for broadband so it is with Orange.
This what I pay for my BT Line.
I am calling Package 2 which gives me Free Evening and Weekend Calls and this Costs £36.89 per Quarter.
Since I do Not pay by Direct Debit I have an Extra Charge of £4.50 per Quarter.
I also have to pay for any Phone calls made during the day Monday to Friday.
Then there is VAT to be added on the Final Bill.
I pay my Bill by BT Card and I pay as Much as I feel Like each Week at the Post Office when I collect my Pension. This means when my Bill comes in at the end of the Quarter then I have very Little to pay or sometimes I am in Credit.
If your Bill was £147 then it looks like you may have several Calling Features Like Blocking Calls from With-held Numbers and things like that. I would suggest that you go through your Phone Bill and examine it closely and see Exactly what they are charging you for. There could be things you are paying that you no longer need or want.
i pay around £47.00 every quarter thats for line rental and other stupid charges, i dont get my calls from bt.
ShelleyCowie
04-May-09, 14:52
I am on call package 3, unlimited and anytime.
We also have broadband with BT. And we pay £160 per quarter for both. And because we have the home hub phone we can dial over the internet so have 2 lines that we can use.
Was with Orange before and BT Phone line. Was paying about £250 then cos i use the phone so much! :Razz I like to talk!
I have only the landline from BT (as there is no other choice) That has just gone up to £11.25 per month payable in advance on a direct debit and includes a discount for paperfree billing too.
Every month the amount being billed is incorrect, this month they wanted almost £20. I phone up and complain the day the bill comes online, they sort it out and the correct amount is then taken out of the bank on the appointed day. It annoys me that they can not get something so simple right.
Poor dad who has his calls and broadband with them was paying megabucks until I got on the phone and discovered they had been charging him for the same line and broadband at two different addresses for thirteen months. The cheeky so and so`s wanted him to take it as a credit off future bills which by this time were to be paid monthly not quarterly. They took a bit of persuading (Oftel ombudsman was threatened) before making the refund to his bank account. I think they should have paid his bank charges too as there was never enough to pay the huge bill.
I wouldn`t even have a line from BT if I had a choice in the matter.
Definately go through the bill with a fine tooth comb as they are very good at adding on things you didn`t ask for, usually a month`s free trial, but it is up to you to cancel....though how you do that when you don`t know you have the free trial packages is beyond me.
I have only the landline from BT (as there is no other choice) That has just gone up to £11.25 per month payable in advance on a direct debit and includes a discount for paperfree billing too.
Every month the amount being billed is incorrect, this month they wanted almost £20. I phone up and complain the day the bill comes online, they sort it out and the correct amount is then taken out of the bank on the appointed day. It annoys me that they can not get something so simple right.
Poor dad who has his calls and broadband with them was paying megabucks until I got on the phone and discovered they had been charging him for the same line and broadband at two different addresses for thirteen months. The cheeky so and so`s wanted him to take it as a credit off future bills which by this time were to be paid monthly not quarterly. They took a bit of persuading (Oftel ombudsman was threatened) before making the refund to his bank account. I think they should have paid his bank charges too as there was never enough to pay the huge bill.
I wouldn`t even have a line from BT if I had a choice in the matter.
Definately go through the bill with a fine tooth comb as they are very good at adding on things you didn`t ask for, usually a month`s free trial, but it is up to you to cancel....though how you do that when you don`t know you have the free trial packages is beyond me.snap ats the same as me, only got the phone line cause there is no other option, in my eyes they are crooks charge what they want, when we moved i phoned up to tell them i still wanted to keep my old phone no, no problem they said, but we need to check the line, so they did this came back and told me it was hardwired, and cause of this we wouldnt get our sky or broadband to work unto it was sorted at the cost of £25, which i thought was fine as the work needed done, this amount would be added onto our next bill, but low and behold the lot came to install the sky before bt came and surprise surprise it worked, so the day bt came the guy checked the line and said it was fine nothing needed done to it, so heres me assuming that they wouldnt charge us £25 oh how wrong i was, checked the bill when it came online and there was the £25 in it, phoned them to sort it out, only to be told the work had been carried out but we know it wasnt, i paid my phone line part but i am still refusing to pay for work that was never done. [evil][evil]
A BT engineer over your door to "check your line" is now £99.99 plus VAT. That`s what they charged dad when he moved. Turned out they already knew the line was faulty, but I only found that out because I know two engineers in Inverness BT and hounded them to get it sorted.
Had the same £25 tale of woe when we moved house, but the bill was paid before I realised no work had been done. The £25 was shown as a credit on the next three bills, refunding it to me over a quarter.
I think they purposely make their payment plans difficult to raise extra money. For instance the line rental is per month (calendar that is) not four weekly, but if they take each bill forward a few days by the end of the year you will have made thirteen payments, not twelve, thus gaining them extra income. My direct debit was set up to be paid "on or after the 4th of each month" so if they try to have money early they don`t get it.
Oftel chappie told me that one!
cuddlepop
04-May-09, 16:59
BT are a nightmare to communicate with.The slogan "its good to talk" is only when they want you to listen to them and not you to them.Poppet that was scandelous what they done to your dad,what if you hadnt been there.
I got my phone bill in the other day, was about £65, £25 as final part of the installation charge and the rest is the basic rental as i only have the line for broadband.
It took over a year for him to tell me he was struggling and I couldn`t believe what I eventually found out.
When I got past the first person on the helpdesk to his supervisor then to her line manager my friend who was listening in to the conversation reckoned I had slipped from being slow and quite posh spoken to broad Caithnessian, verging on punjabi. Still didn`t do the trick, so after they terminated the call I waited until 3am one morning I couldn`t sleep and decided to tackle them again. Eventually I got through to a nice chap in Liverpool who spoke broad scouse and was easy to understand in comparison. BT would have to have paid him enhanced rates to work at night, so why can`t they just use their UK call centres for their UK problems?
My nephew is a BT business manager and he gets frustrated when business is lost because of the inadequacies of the call centres abroad. His boss on a training course was asking for feedback on what would improve their sales of phone systems. Nephew said "My auntie says we would be improved by learning Punjabi as a second language!". His boss replied that he has trouble understanding the folk in Alness and Thurso call centres and they were speaking english................. no, scottish, actually.
Please do not take offence. I am not racist, just practically tearing my hair out at not understanding why I have to battle with someone who can not even pronounce my name.
Sounds like you have similar problems with call centres as i do Poppett.
I was born in caithness but don't really have the accent at all. i speak softly and am quiet spoken which makes call centres struggle to understand me. i end up repeating the same thing at least 4 times. [evil] I absoultely hate having to repeat myself!
My partner investigated a phone line for the flat we are in jus now but found that it would cost £120 connection charge. So we decided not to bother. we'll have a phone line in our next place.
The only reason the connection charge was so much was because the flat has been vacated for 6 mnths before we moved in.
My partner investigated a phone line for the flat we are in jus now but found that it would cost £120 connection charge. So we decided not to bother. we'll have a phone line in our next place.
The only reason the connection charge was so much was because the flat has been vacated for 6 mnths before we moved in.
Thats what i had to pay, not great but i didnt have much choice.
Couldnt complain too much though as it wasnt like the engineer did no work.
He was out on his own in a blizzard on a ladder up a 3rd floor flat (which im sure wasnt advisable) had to fix some old wires outside and he rewired the line inside as it was knackered too.
In cases where its just a matter of someone pressing buttons on the end of a phone to get the line working i would grudge paying but i think BT charge the connection charge in almost all cases now.
captain chaos
04-May-09, 18:37
Poppett
You do have a choice!!
You do not have to take line rental from BT you can go elsewhere. For example if you go to SKY their line rental is £10 and their call packages are also good value.
It is not widely known that you DO NOT have to have line rental from BT.
My line rental goes to BT but I pay it to TalkTalk. That way I don't have to have anything to do with them.
As far as I know BT holds the contract to line rental in my area.
I am amazed they are stil in business as I so rarely hear anyone say they are happy with the service they provide.
Mrs Bucket
04-May-09, 18:59
[quote=starry;543797]I completey gave up on BT and moved to another company. My bills were always like this and nobody could ever explain why.
In the end I moved, I pay no more than £25 per month for line rental and free calls 24/7.[/quot I thought BT had a monopoly of the phone lines
Gizmo we phoned and they said the bill is right.We get our internet from them and thats roughly £90 and line rental is £47 roughly.Apparently you pay more for not having a DD,it seems they're penalising folk with no access to "inlimited" banking.Our last bill was roughly £100 with £28 still to pay as I cancelled the DD.
At least they are not making people who pay in an effiecient way pay extra for people who can't manage their finances properly.
Also if you are planning to start a discussion you should put all the details out at the start (ie that the QUARTERLY charge includes internet). I used to work for BT billing and had all these self - pitying callers who are saying "boo-hoo I can't pay my bill cos I am unemployed etc". Well no-one is making you buy it.
tommy1979
04-May-09, 19:02
I have only the landline from BT (as there is no other choice)
If you have SKY TV you can get your phone line rental through them, only £10 a month too :cool:
[quote=starry;543797]I completey gave up on BT and moved to another company. My bills were always like this and nobody could ever explain why.
In the end I moved, I pay no more than £25 per month for line rental and free calls 24/7.[/quot I thought BT had a monopoly of the phone lines
My line rental goes to BT but I pay it to TalkTalk. That way I don't have to have anything to do with them.
At least they are not making people who pay in an effiecient way pay extra for people who can't manage their finances properly.
Also if you are planning to start a discussion you should put all the details out at the start (ie that the QUARTERLY charge includes internet). I used to work for BT billing and had all these self - pitying callers who are saying "boo-hoo I can't pay my bill cos I am unemployed etc". Well no-one is making you buy it.
Nope, nobody is making anyone buy it, which is why many of the posters have decided to buy elsewhere.
Your post inadvertently I think, is a perfect example of what is wrong with BT customer service, the whole attitude is take it or leave it.
My line rental goes to BT but I pay it to TalkTalk. That way I don't have to have anything to do with them.
As far as I know BT holds the contract to line rental in my area.
I am amazed they are stil in business as I so rarely hear anyone say they are happy with the service they provide.
SURPRISE !!!
Now dont fall over or Faint !!
I am not only Happy but Very Happy with the service I receive from BT. I cant be the only one, Can I??
SURPRISE !!!
Now dont fall over or Faint !!
I am not only Happy but Very Happy with the service I receive from BT. I cant be the only one, Can I??
Oh was touch and go there Kodiak, but I have had hot sweet tea and a sit down, think I am going to be ok ;)
I am glad they work for you :)
SURPRISE !!!
Now dont fall over or Faint !!
I am not only Happy but Very Happy with the service I receive from BT. I cant be the only one, Can I??
Make that 2 :)
Nope, nobody is making anyone buy it, which is why many of the posters have decided to buy elsewhere.
Your post inadvertently I think, is a perfect example of what is wrong with BT customer service, the whole attitude is take it or leave it.
Well the more people that right in and complain the more chance the higher up people will listen.
butterfly
04-May-09, 21:57
Nope, nobody is making anyone buy it, which is why many of the posters have decided to buy elsewhere.
Your post inadvertently I think, is a perfect example of what is wrong with BT customer service, the whole attitude is take it or leave it.
You got that right,Bt customer service is rubbish.
I did try Sky for the phone line, calls, tv and broadband package when I discovered we couldn`t get Sky in without a landline and without Sky we couldn`t get Channel 4 and 5. They told me they were not doing that package in Caithness yet.
Have just checked again and have been assured by engineering at Sky we are too far from the Thurso exchange.
Will just have to practice my punjabi in the meantime.
Kevin Milkins
04-May-09, 23:37
SURPRISE !!!
Now dont fall over or Faint !!
I am not only Happy but Very Happy with the service I receive from BT. I cant be the only one, Can I??
I have to say that over many years I have had many issues with BT, however we do seem to be having a very good period just now(18 months without a problem) and I hope I am not tempting fate.:confused
tommytool
05-May-09, 03:13
i think no mater who you get service from up hear bt get money. landline or broadband. my 7 long years of in-experience working we bt tells me that any billing problems is usually customers no knowing what thay have chosen to pay for. bt cant just stick things on yer bill its illegal and iv not often heard o bt breakig the law. a contract usually covers them tho just in case.
bills can b confusing mibby evan dear but ther normaly right.
the international call centres have more educated and qualified operators too, i would imagine they get pretty frustrated talking to the great british public. i would hate to do my job if i had a hint o a foreign accent. (britons love the caithness toung)
i would advise people to check what on there bills. ye wouldna believe the amount o people who've no check what services thay have since 10 years or more ;)
Been with Bt since day dot. Have my broadband as well and it has never ever let me down.They are a bit expensive but you get what you pay for.How many times have we seen on the net people switching to a "Cheaper" company only to find there are catches and the service is even worse than BT!!!!
Better the devil you know methinks!;)
On three separate occasions BT have phoned to offer to change the package offering a free month of whatever service. Even after being told "no" it is still put on as a "free trial" and it is up to the customer to phone them within the 28 day period to cancel the service.
I check every bill as mine should only ever be the line rental for a set amount on a set day every calendar month, and most times it is wrong. Sorted out each time over the phone at no cost to me, but that is not really fair on old folk who can not see to check their bills, or in my fathers case, can not properly hear what they are saying in the first place and end up with add ons they neither want nor need.
purplelady
05-May-09, 13:10
I am on call package 3, unlimited and anytime.
We also have broadband with BT. And we pay £160 per quarter for both. And because we have the home hub phone we can dial over the internet so have 2 lines that we can use.
Was with Orange before and BT Phone line. Was paying about £250 then cos i use the phone so much! :Razz I like to talk!why does that not surprise me shelley lol but am on the same as you have internet to 17.50 per month x
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