SAYNOTO0870.COM - BT "Service Charges"

rydaway Newbie Offline Posts: 42 Gender:	BT "Service Charges" Dec 30^th, 2005 at 4:13pm Anybody any suggestions, please, how one minimises BT's astronomical quarterly "Service Charge" of £36.00?
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DaveM

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #1 - Dec 30^th, 2005 at 5:52pm

You could try OneTel at £9.75/month (£29.25/qtr) which is a pretty good deal.

If recommended by an existing customer, you will get an invitation email which if you take up, will get you a bonus £20 credit to your account and £20 to the person recommending you.

On top of that you get FREE weekend calls to UK landlines (01 & 02 numbers). See the website for their other price plans. Also I can recommend the Evening & Weekend Plan at £3.99 /month which is brilliant value.

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #2 - Dec 30^th, 2005 at 6:39pm

Do you have any additional calling features? I'm asking because currently BT charge £10.50 a month for those paying by Direct Debit (£31.50/qtr) but this is increasing by 50p to £11 (£33/qtr) in January I believe. The price increase is discussed in more detail here.

BT offer free Caller display whereas OneTel charge £1.50 for this.

Can you therefore give us an idea what this £36 charge is made up of and when you mostly make your calls (daytime or evening/weekend) because it'll give us a better idea on how to advise you?

DaveM wrote on Dec 30^th, 2005 at 5:52pm:

Also I can recommend the Evening & Weekend Plan at £3.99 /month which is brilliant value.

This isn't really the cheapest option for those that pay BT line rental. The cheapest Evening&Weekend call packages are with:

Primus Saver which has free/inclusive geographical calls (those beginning 01 or 02) during evenings & weekends with NO
monthly fee as does Just-Dial Saver.

As mentioned earlier both don't charge a monthly fee for these inclusive/free evening & weekend minutes and the only differences between these two suppliers are:-

Planet Talk have a call limit of 1 and a half hours before that (single) call becomes chargable whereas Just-Dial have a 2 hour limit. To avoid being charged for those long calls then simply disconnect and redial within your time limit to get another 1 and a half (or 2 hours depending on company) again.
Just-Dial and OneTel are both owned by Centrica (who also own British Gas) and TalkTalk have recently purchased both Just-Dial and OneTel and overtime it is expected that both Just-Dial and OneTel customers will be merged/migrated over to TalkTalk's tariff and TalkTalk's tariffs aren't the cheapest.

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« Last Edit: Dec 30^th, 2005 at 6:53pm by bbb_uk »

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rydaway

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #3 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 8:31am

Thank you DaveM & bbb_uk for your helpful thoughts.

Have look at OneTel. At the time, they insisted on a combined line rental/calls deal. It was found their call charges were somewhat high.

Our line rental is with BT Together Option 1 (not that they gave us any option!!) at £36.00/quarter. There are NO special features like caller display, call back or any of the other BT gimmicks.
Our UK calls are combined with the Tiscali broadband arrangement and cost £4.00/month over and above the basic broadband cost. Continental calls (to D, F, NL, I) are with 18866 at 2p/minute.

Our Dec05 BT bill totaled £36.56. £36.00 was for service charge. £0.56 was for calls to monopolistic 0845 & 087* con numbers. This was eye-watering and prompted the call for HELP!!

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bigjohn

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #4 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 8:43am

The OneTel E&W package is now 99p a month for new punters.But how long that will last now that they are part of Talk Talk is anyones guess.
Primus Saver does appear to be the best E&W bet.Combine that with 1899 for your peak 01/02 calls,and 18185 for your cheaper mobile calls,for the best prices.

Apart from the fact that caller display is dearer with another supplier,their are a number of other good reasons why its not a great idea to move your line rental from BT.EG:
1. Bt are the only supplier that have to allow you to call cheaper providers access codes like 1899.other providers can bar them.(If you sign for OneTel line rental you agree to put all your call traffic through them).
2.You cant CPS your calls to anyone else unless your with BT.
3.You lose the advantage of using the BT override code 1280 for free to give you cheaper ngn calls(0845/0870) at E&W,and if your with OneTel cheaper 0844 calls at any time.
4.You lose the benefit if you move, of being a BT moving customer.
5.You might get a worst repair service.You have to report faults to them,they pass them on to Bt if appropriate.
6.If you use Call Sign no one else can support it.

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« Last Edit: Dec 31^st, 2005 at 8:44am by bigjohn »

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bigjohn

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #5 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 9:03am

Just a thought are you paying in advance and do you pay cash .If so BT line rental from 1/1/2006 for non d/d payers is £12 a mnth so x 3= £36. Otherwise its wrong or your paying for something you are unaware of.

If you pay by d/d Opt1 is £31.50p a quarter prior to 1/1/2006 ,and £33.00 thereafter, as has already been pointed out.

Dont forget to claim your free caller display Wink

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« Last Edit: Dec 31^st, 2005 at 9:05am by bigjohn »

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rydaway Newbie Offline Posts: 42 Gender:	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #6 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 10:34am Thanks, bigjohn. We pay by cheque or BACS 2 - 3 weeks after receiving the BT bill. Have just changed to DD. Even so, £33.00 is stilll hell of a chunk, is't it?
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bigjohn Supreme Member Offline Posts: 2,316 Gender:	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #7 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 2:42pm Talk Talk are putting theirs up to £10.49 a month by d/d in Feb so i guess OneTel will follow.
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DaveM

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #8 - Dec 31^st, 2005 at 9:37pm

bigjohn wrote on Dec 31^st, 2005 at 8:43am:

The OneTel E&W package is now 99p a month for new punters.

I think that offer finished earlier in the month - see Landline Rates, where it was shown before it's back to £3.99 !!

I can see that with the takeover I shall probably be changing my supplier soon as well. Heaven knows where I'm going to find another one with the same benefits ! Now we have to wait for them to change the prices & T&C's and I will be one of the first to get out !!

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joe65 Full Member Offline Posts: 143	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #9 - Jan 1^st, 2006 at 2:33am rydaway wrote on Dec 30^th, 2005 at 4:13pm: Anybody any suggestions, please, how one minimises BT's astronomical quarterly "Service Charge" of £36.00? That's only £12 / month. How many contract mobiles can you get for less than that ?
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mc661 Senior Member Offline Habitual FOI requester. Posts: 432 West-Norfolk Gender:	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #10 - Jan 1^st, 2006 at 7:20am But that £12 a month is before you get anything else. Least if your paying £12 a month on a mobile, you get 'free' mins with it.
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rydaway

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #11 - Jan 1^st, 2006 at 8:43am

Yes, joe65, you are right with your coment "That's only £12 / month. ". It was the disproportionate BT line rental/call charge in our Dec05 BT bill (see earlier pse) which precipitated this thread.

There are now many others providing a service for calls. The original enquiry was to ask if anybody has knowledge of others providing a line rental service. The only other landline provider appears to be OneTel. When they were "looked at", their call charges were quite high. A quick glance at their web site this mng suggested their service is littered with small print and conditions, afor example :

Onetel residential landline customer?
Requested a single UKTalk plan on or after 23rd February 2005?
Have received your Onetel bill for a single UKTalk plan?
Still have a UKTalk call plan on your Onetel account?
BT bill covers same phone number as registered on UKTalk?
Used BT for all calls prior to requesting UKTalk?
Have not already challenged the UKTalk Guarantee?
Onetel account not currently blocked for non-payment of bills?
Can enclose the quarterly (or three monthly) BT Together bill(s) in your name, for the three months prior to requesting a UKTalk plan

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joe65

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Re: BT "Service Charges"
Reply #12 - Jan 5^th, 2006 at 7:58pm

mc661 wrote on Jan 1^st, 2006 at 7:20am:

But that £12 a month is before you get anything else. Least if your paying £12 a month on a mobile, you get 'free' mins with it.

True, but isn't BT's now compulsory Option1 6p for an hour off-peak roughly an equivalent .
Not to mention calls being a lot cheaper than from a Mobile, & Vodafone now tell me they're going to put my £12/month up to £13 ?

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bigjohn Supreme Member Offline Posts: 2,316 Gender:	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #13 - Jan 5^th, 2006 at 11:28pm rydaway wrote on Jan 1^st, 2006 at 8:43am: The only other landline provider appears to be OneTel. What about Talk Talk ,Post Office Home Phone, Toucan, and Homecall to name but four of the providers now providing line rental.
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rydaway Newbie Offline Posts: 42 Gender:	Re: BT "Service Charges" Reply #14 - Jan 6^th, 2006 at 2:00pm bigjohn wrote on Jan 5^th, 2006 at 11:28pm: rydaway wrote on Jan 1^st, 2006 at 8:43am: The only other landline provider appears to be OneTel. What about Talk Talk ,Post Office Home Phone, Toucan, and Homecall to name but four of the providers now providing line rental. Am grateful to you, bigjohn. Will follow up, thanks.
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