Tag: Contract
BT Billing, renewable 12 month contracts and free calls
by Mike on Jun.24, 2009, under Technology
I signed up to the BT 12 month contract with a promise of free evening and weekend calls out of apathy as much as anything else. Not that I wanted a 12 month contract nor would I use the free calls. Anyway the last three months BT seem to have rather cheekily charged me my normal line rental plus the cost of this package which is meant to be free. (They have also confusingly changed my billing date to align it with the date they take payment which also creates a bill that is difficult to understand.)
Anyway a quick call later and I have ditched the 12 month contract and gone back to £11.25 line rental only. The 3 months higher line rental charge was explained as an error in their new billing system where the free calls package for people under contract was actually charged for. They’ve agreed to refund the charges but it does leave a nasty taste. This was clearly a known problem so why did I have to call after it had been incorrectly billed for three months? The whole idea of auto-renewing 12 month contracts is also something that doesn’t feel right (although admittedly they make perfect sense for house insurance etc.)
I would ditch my BT landline in a heartbeat if I didn’t need it for my ADSL connection (from an LLU provider). I have unlimited Skype and more mobile minutes than I need so a landline really is just something that I need to get ADSL rather than a phone.
