The point about the web page for new customers is that they get a free first year upgrade to Evening and Weekend if they sign up for 12 months.
All three packages are also available without a 12 month commitment, but on different terms, which are not mentioned on the page. The only options presented are those for a 12 month contract. Given the special offer, it would not make sense to sign up to Evening and Weekend for the first 12 months at the normal price, because you can get it for free.
This is how the marketing people chose to present the options simply to new customers. They want them to sign up for a year, hopefully with Anytime!
After your first 12 months with BT you become an “existing customer” and so have a separate web page -
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayCategory.do?catego.... This shows all 3 plans and their terms.
Details of the special offers available are not shown, they are available by following the link at the top of the page. The point is that you cannot benefit from a special offer by downgrading - e.g. you cannot switch from Anytime to Weekend and get the free first year upgrade.
One can argue for ever about the way the deals are constructed and presented. One can always find some element of dishonesty in marketing as there will always be some point of detail that has been omitted.
Different people will chose different packages and providers for all manner of reasons. That is a fair point for discussion in this area of the forum, however my concern is purely about the impact of this move on revenue sharing numbers.
These damned “penalty charges” can make calls to 084 numbers appear to be cheap, if they are presented as being typical. I am anxious to try to get across the point that very few people will actually pay them, because they will be likely to sign up for Anytime. This is very important, given the way in which the Department of Health has framed the regulations for the NHS, which refer only to relative cost, rather than the prohibition of use of all revenue sharing and premium rate numbers which would have been much simpler and more effective.
I cannot rely on the suggestion that BT customers would, or ought to, use 18185 when making an appointment with their GP, thereby making a geo or 03 number cheaper.
There may well be many people who will now choose to take a £5 discount on their BT Bill and pay for their weekday calls as they make them through another provider. There may indeed be many of the 5.3 million Weekend only customers who already do this. I am however most reluctant to start getting into details about exactly what people actually do as I do not have the relevant figures.
The simple point that I wish to make is that the non-inclusive charges for calls that would otherwise be included in a package are NOT the true standard charge and should not be seen, or presented, as such. BT’s heavy promotion of Anytime serves to assist and strengthen that point.
There may be some who will say that Anytime is an expensive load of nonsense, used by only a few people, and the so-called “penalty rates” are BT’s normal charges. They will continue by saying that they are actually saving people money by giving them a 0844 number to call more cheaply, as well as giving them a better telephone service.
That is what I am trying to fight. I am not seeking to promote BT, a Swiss bucket-shop or any other provider, so I may be out of order in this area of the forum. I do not necessarily expect members of this forum to share my views on this, or any other, matter, so it may be best if we simply agree to differ.