8) 8) 8)

I was approached by a agent of the above recently who tried to get me to sign up on the basis that they were doing line rental at £10 a month, 50p cheaper then BT. I then found out that you have to pay a monthly membership fee on top of £1.50p a month plus vat for the privilege of being there customer.Ok they do offer you other Utility Services,and cashback.But if you just want Telephony it aint viable as there packages  are more expensive then  One Tel , and Talk Talk to name but two.Has anyone else had experience of these people. In the meantime i think i will stick to BT line rental,and use18866.

IIRC their T&Cs also prohibit use of any other provider for calls (so no 1899 or 18866).

Read the small print!

Don't knock Telecom Plus !!

I've been a customer of TelecomPlus for two years now and have been very, very satisfied indeed.  Their latest service offering to take over the line rental on a BT line is not 50p a month cheaper, but £1.50 a month cheaper.  All calls are guaranteed better than BT's best prices and calls between TP members are free.

Yes, they do charge a monthly membership fee of £1.76 (incl vat), but that also gives members access to their whole range of other money saving services as well.

This includes unlimited download broadband with free modem and free connection (256kb/s £15.95; 1Mb/s £19.95; 2Mb/s £24.95) - which I think is great (I've got the 1Mb/s). They have two great value mobile tariffs (one with free calls between participating members and the other with £8/month line rental then ALL calls at 8p/min to ALL landline and mobile numbers (including 0800, 0845 & 0870).

They then provide the UK's CHEAPEST domestic gas and electricity to their members (confirmed by ofgem's figures).

Finally, for anyone running a small business (like me) who wants to encourage callers, they do a great value 0800 freefone number for just £2 a month, with no minimum contract.  (in fact, apart from broadband (12 months) and the £8/8p mobile tariff (12 months), I think all their other services are offered without any minimum contract.  
As they say, it's a case of, "Try us . . .  if you like our service, you'll stay ;  if not, there's no commitment !"

Oh . . . And two other things which make me a 'fan' :  
1) Whatever services you take, they all come on one, single, fully itemised bill, every month (about a week before the money is taken by direct debit.)  My bill has always been correct (and very straightforward and easy to follow,  unlike some . . . )
2) Finally, to put the icing on the cake, so to speak,  each year, on the anniversary of joining, I get a £10 "cashback" for every service I have, after the first.
Guess what?  I've got every single service !!  (so, for me, that's been £50 a year).

Altogether, I calculate I've saved about a thousand pounds over the two years I've been a member.  
(. . . and yes, I also use 18866 for some of my calls; I've had no difficulty connecting, and I'll continue to do so until the 18866 bubble bursts perhaps . . .)

So I'm very happy to recommend Telecom Plus.
As a plc it's regulated by the rules of the Stock Exchange, and as an energy supplier, it's regulated by ofgem.  And since I've been a customer, I've seen loads of good press and media coverage, too, including "Which" and "What Cellphone".  Just this January, for example, the "European Business Magazine" engaged an audit firm to select their Top 100 companies in Europe.  And yes, Telecom Plus was there . . . at Number One!!

As Big John said, you can join via an agent face-to-face.  But you can also join via a website.  So, if you want to check it all out first (and join, or not, as you like) try :  http://www.SaveWithTP.co.uk ;  whatever you decide, here's to bargains !!!

wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2005 at 1:59pm:

IIRC their T&Cs also prohibit use of any other provider for calls (so no 1899 or 18866). Read the small print!

And charge an additional monthly 'membership' fee.

Although, as you will have gathered from the post immediately above this one, T+ agents (AIUI, all members are agents) still vociferously defend their commission!

Yes i see what you mean!!!!Deepjoy to  them!!!

I didnt think any body was knocking  them just trying to establish the facts.

wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2005 at 1:59pm:

IIRC their T&Cs also prohibit use of any other provider for calls (so no 1899 or 18866). Read the small print!

Here's the small print :

Extract from TelecomPlus T&Cs > Home Phone > 3(k) :
". . .  Once Carrier Pre-Selection (“CPS”) has been provisioned on your phone number, then all calls made from that number will benefit from our low call charges (unless you choose to route them to another service provider by using the appropriate prefix).  . . . "

Of course they will still charge you the minimum fee of £1 a month whether or not you make enough calls with them.

So if you used them instead of BT.but put your calls through 18866.Your line rental would be £10 plus £1.50 membership.plus £1 for not making any calls. A grand total of £13.50 a month againsts BT £11.50.

wrote on Apr 21^st, 2005 at 1:42pm:

So if you used them instead of BT.but put your calls through 18866.Your line rental would be £10 plus £1.50 membership.plus £1 for not making any calls. A grand total of £13.50 a month againsts BT £11.50.

I think T+ charges £10 + VAT, plus £1.50 + VAT plus £1 + VAT (a total of £14.68 ) whereas BT charges £10.50 including VAT if you pay by Direct Debit.