trevord wrote on Mar 8^th, 2006 at 10:20pm:



Also, when you sign up with BT, there is a minimum contract term of 3 months.

I think other WLR suppliers should be able to connect a property that used to have a BT line in the same way as BT can.  I think BT charges a new customer fee to connect a property that hasn't had a BT line, but if you're moving house and carrying over the account at the new property then there's no connection fee.  Likewise, if you've not been a BT customer and the previous residents were, then BT will reconnect free of charge and impose a 3 month contract, rather than 12 month for new connections.

Perhaps the reason why the Post Office won't connect is because BT will only allow WLR rental to be taken on lines that are already live with BT.  Does Talk Talk have the same restrictions?

I'm pretty sure that the Post Office don't want to turn away new customers, and this sounds more like BT doing their best to hamper the efforts of WLR companies.

If people really must have a BT line already installed to use WLR, then maybe the 3 month minimum contract should mean no disconnection of the phone line (ie change to cable, or get rid of the connection) but allow the transfer to WLR companies with no penalty, in the same way as you're allowed to change CPS providers.

This amounts to anti competitive behaviour from BT.

Quote:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1768358&postcount=6

I signed up for their service back on 26 February.

I then received a welcome letter about a week later, saying that they will write again with the date to which my service goes live, and that it will be a painless transfer, and I'll keep all my current BT features.

I am still waiting for this letter, and wondering how long it will take to get set up.  I suppose that almost 3 weeks is not too unreasonable.

And remember the letter will be giving me at least a weeks notice, so I could still be activated by the end of the month!!

I'm leaving my switch until the end of the month.

We were with TalkTalk (TalkTalk 1+12) with free evening and weekend calls, but that expired about a month ago now.  I then moved to Planet Talk (Primus Saver Option 2) to take advantage of the free evening and weekend calls from them.

Since we get the £50 (+£15 from GreasyPalm) from the Post Office for moving to them provided we place the order before the end of the month, what we're doing is making the most of the cheaper evening and weekend calls with Primus.

Ignoring the cash back for moving from BT to the Post Office, the monthly saving would be £1.04 (cheaper line rental from the Post Office).  Given that the Post Office will be charging 1ppm for all evening/weekend calls, and we currently get them free with Primus Saver, what I needed to do was work out if it's costing us more to wait until the end of the month or if we should move now.

Since the Post Office are currently allowing users to place calls through other carriers (1899 in particular!), then the cheapest way to make evening/weekend calls will be with 1899 at the rate of 3p/call (assuming calls are over three minutes long).

So, £1.04 / 3p = 35 calls (approx).  If I make 35 or more evening/weekend calls then I'm best off waiting to move until the end of the month, otherwise I should move as soon as.

If only I watched all my pennies as closely as this - I'd be a millionaire by now!

(evening/weekend calls refers to local/national calls only).

Whenever there's a deal that sounds too good to be true, it's either withdrawn or an even better deal arises (as with quidco, lol)

Anyway, with that aside, after getting back from my holdiday on Monday, I called post office yesterday as I hadn't heard anything about when my line rental is being transferred.

They were told by BT that they couldn't convert me yet, as there was a bar on my line until 19 March.  It was because Talk Talk had taken over Tele2, and rather than just take over their name, they cancelled my agreement with Tele2, and set up a new agreement on CPS (I assume it's CPS and not WLR!!) with them!!  I have also seen on my online banking that they have set up a new direct debit although Tele2 direct debit hasn't been cancelled.

As this was in progress, the post office couldn't take over the line, but since the bar was lifted they would re-apply to BT to convert my line, so the whole process that should have been done about a month ago, will have to start again, all thanks to Talk Talk!!

Is there some law against companies setting up direct debits without permission.  This is slightly different to situations like One-2-One changing to t-mobile, Cellnet changing to O2 etc, and the name of the direct debit was changed, although nothing new was set up, and nothing was cancelled.  However Talk Talk have written to me explaining the changes and I could have called their 0870 number and asked not to be converted.  I just thought that it wouldn't interfere with joining the post office.

cowman wrote on Mar 31^st, 2006 at 9:59pm:


Moving to the Post Office HomePhone automatically cancels your Just Dial  Saver account because you cannot have CPS with another firm while you are with the Post Office HomePhone.  However I did get an email from Just Dial confirming I was leaving them as well as a letter from the Post Office saying my phone service with them was starting on April 3rd.  You did get your Post Office start date letter I assume>

It seems you and I only just got out from Just Dial Saver in time as I have just received this email from JustDial telling me I am being forcibly migrated to TalkTalk's LeisureUKTalk with InternationalCaller Extra service at 99p per month (well for now but I bet they try to put it up to £4 a month when customers aren't looking). So switching to the Post Office was definitely the right thing to do.

See below:-

-----Original Message-----
From: Just Dial [mailto:customercare@just-dial.com]
Sent: 30 March 2006 16:46
Subject: Important information about your Just Dial account

I am delighted to announce that TalkTalk, the landline company from The Carphone Warehouse, has recently acquired Just Dial Saver. So from 1st May your telephone service for "xxxxx xxxxxx" will be brought to you by TalkTalk.

From 1st May your plan will change to LeisureUKTalk with InternationalCaller Extra:

For just 99p a month you'll get:

Unlimited** evening and weekend calls to UK local landline numbers (starting 01 and 02)
Unlimited daytime, evening and weekend calls to over 2 million TalkTalk customers*
International rates from as little as 2p a minute
Access to customer services - via phone, website or email
To check out your new rates click here
To view your new terms and conditions click here

In the meantime if you have any queries we'll be happy to help, just email us as you did before at customercare@just-dial.com

Finally, I would like to thank you for your custom. I am confident you'll be happy with your service and all the benefits TalkTalk offers.

Welcome once again to the TalkTalk family.

Yours sincerely,
Donna Jones
Head of Customer Service

*Calls apply to the TalkTalk UK CPS and line rental residential customer base only, excluding CPS 'international calls only'. Maximum call time 3 hours per call. CPS means that all of the calls made from your landline are automatically routed through a particular operator without the need to dial an access code or connecting a PhonePal to the phone socket. Inclusive calls are those made from your residential landline and exclude non-voice calls. A minimum 5p charge applies to chargable calls from your landline. **Fair Use Policy applies. Excludes 0845/0870/0840, calls to Jersey, Guernsey and premium rate numbers. Subject to paying line rental to TalkTalk or another provider.

Quote:

As expected, no mention of those more expensive 0845 calls. Written in the same way as BT propaganda (marketing material).

Quote:


Did anyone else notice the word '' had quietly been inserted there?

Aha, I see utilitybroker did.