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BT Dirty Tricks Beware

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BT are getting ever more sneaky. Their latest trick is to charge you £0.06 even if your call does not connect. So if you use their 01471 service. I would suggest you stop using it unless you want to be mugged by BT.
 
Web Buddy wrote:
Their latest trick is to charge you £0.06 even if your call does not connect
I’ve neither seen nor received any notification informing me of this.
Is it already being charged or a planned for the future?

So if you use their 01471 service. I would suggest you stop using it unless you want to be mugged by BT.
AFAIK, 01471 is the dialling code for Broadford, charged at normal rate.
So why do you think a customer is being mugged when they’re being charged at normal rate for dialling an area code?

EDIT,
Did you intend to write 1471 instead of 01471?
AFAIK currently:
1471, is the number a customer rings to find the last incoming phone number, and there's no charge involved for either end. Charges for returning a call via 1471 are at the normal rate.
For a little extra cost on the line rental, there is a '1471 Extra' service available, which stores the last nnn amount of numbers.

If as I suspect, you intended 1471, are you saying there are now charges for the above ?
 
Last edited:
paul45 said:
Web Buddy wrote:
I’ve neither seen nor received any notification informing me of this.
Is it already being charged or a planned for the future?

AFAIK, 01471 is the dialling code for Broadford, charged at normal rate.
So why do you think a customer is being mugged when they’re being charged at normal rate for dialling an area code?

From August they will charge you an addition £0.6 in addition to any call charge & this will be charged whether the call connects or not. If thats not a rip off I don't know what is.
 
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Sorry Web Buddy, I'm still not with you here.
Their latest trick is to charge you £0.06 even if your call does not connect
So are you saying that if I dialled out on my handset and recieved an engaged tone, I'll be charged 6p even though I wasn't connected ?
 
I dont understand either. I cant see Offcom giving the nod to this.

How would they charge a call which does not connect anyway - Surely a transaction is not recorded until the connection.
 
rruwalton wrote:
I dont understand either. I cant see Offcom giving the nod to this
That's a very good point regarding Ofcom.
I've just looked on the BT site for any information (without success), so if I get a spare moment I'll try the Ofcom site.

If this is correct, I suspect BT are going to be saying goodbye to a lot customers.
And just think of the costs for those people who have to make multiple calls when trying to connect to their dialup ISP :eek:
 
paul45 said:
rruwalton wrote:

That's a very good point regarding Ofcom.
I've just looked on the BT site for any information (without success), so if I get a spare moment I'll try the Ofcom site.

If this is correct, I suspect BT are going to be saying goodbye to a lot customers.
And just think of the costs for those people who have to make multiple calls when trying to connect to their dialup ISP :eek:

It is on the BT Web Site hidden in the fine print. The charge applies when you use 1471 & dial 3 to call the number back. In addition to any call charge you may incurr they bill you £0.06 even if the call does not connect due to being busy or no answer or even if they are a bit slow answering it.

https://www.bt.com/SelectServices/i...@1354664581.1085571726@@@@&BV_UseBVCookie=yes

Call Return (press 3) element of BT 1471 - from the 1st August 2004, BT will be introducing a 6p fixed fee to the Call Return element of BT 1471. The fee will apply when customers press "3" to return the call to the telephone number of the last caller and will be charged regardless of whether or not the call is connected. Dialling BT 1471 without using the Call Return will remain a free service.

I think there will be a lot of complaints when people start seeing the charge on there bill although I suspect BT will hide it on the bill and it will not be itemised.
 
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Time to wait and see if they give a warning about this. Still chance of them to announce it better. Hopefully theres should be a warning about this. Think its a way to push people onto the advanced 1471 service to be honest. No a nice way I'll admit.

Could have worded you're first post a hell of a lot better Web Buddy too.
 
Now this is a hell of a lot different to what was originally posted.

I thought at one time, BT charged around 10p for using the return option (pressing "3"). However, it would seem that BT had dropped this charge some time back.

However, you originally said that using the 1471 service would cost, when infact it isn't and neither are call connection charges being introduced.

It's simply that if you don't make a note of the number and want the system to dial the number for you, you have to pay which I don't see as unfair. After all, directory services charge something like 49p per minute for the duration of your call, when they automatically connect you to your chosen number.

Basically, for what I've deducted from above, BT are charging 6p to connect the call, after the option for the system to dial the selected number has been initiated.
 
I think the confusion is because if you dial up your isp for internet access and it doesnt connect or you get an engaged signel BT DO charge you for the attempt.
This was mentioned in another thread in here a week or two back.
 
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If that's true Captain_Cretin there'll be a load of charges on members of fast4 accounts, and others.

That is very worrying :(
 
Kyle said:
Now this is a hell of a lot different to what was originally posted.

I thought at one time, BT charged around 10p for using the return option (pressing "3"). However, it would seem that BT had dropped this charge some time back.

However, you originally said that using the 1471 service would cost, when infact it isn't and neither are call connection charges being introduced.

It's simply that if you don't make a note of the number and want the system to dial the number for you, you have to pay which I don't see as unfair. After all, directory services charge something like 49p per minute for the duration of your call, when they automatically connect you to your chosen number.

Basically, for what I've deducted from above, BT are charging 6p to connect the call, after the option for the system to dial the selected number has been initiated.


Using the 1471 service will cost you £0.06 every time you press 3 regardless of whether you connect or not. It is not a fair comparison to compare it with Directory Enquires where you are paying them to lookup a number for you and also to connect the call. Thats a largely manual process.

With 1471 its an automated process which costs BT almost zero.

Its now only a small step away from BT charging you on all call whether you connect or not. Rember as well the charge is something in excess of what a 6 minute call would cost
 
Captain_Cretin said:
I think the confusion is because if you dial up your isp for internet access and it doesnt connect or you get an engaged signel BT DO charge you for the attempt.
This was mentioned in another thread in here a week or two back.
Its a bit of a grey area as it probably isn't a real engaged signal if you're been charged. I susspect there a dubious carrier arround telling BT its connected the call when is hasn't.
 
Thanks for the link Web Buddy.
And thanks to Kyle for an excellent summary, worded in such simple and precise terms that even a buffoon like me could understand.

All in all, it seems that a charge is incurred only when option 3 of 1471 is used to automatically call the last number dialled in.
Alternately, the customer can dial 1471 and then proceed to either use a memory button on the keypad or manually dial back the last number at no cost whatsoever (other than the normal charge rate, obviously).

IIRC, this is similar to BTs one-key call back facility for the 1571 telephone answering service, which is free when manually dialling back a number.
Again IIRC, 1571 and BTs call-back option for engaged numbers, both provide the user with a message that a charge of ‘x’ amount is incurred for using the one key option to automatically connect with the originating caller.
I would suspect and certainly hope that a similar message announcement is provided for the auto dial-out option of the 1471 service.

In addition to the use of the free services mentioned above, BT do not charge (and I doubt ever plan to charge) customers who simply dial-out a number and receive an engaged tone.
 
BT Bring in More Price Increases

BT seem to be bringing in a lot of big increases many of which BT seem to have been very quiet about such as an increase of £3 a month for the poor old ISDN users. BT Ring Back increased from 10p to 15p. Speaking clock from 10p to 20p. Enhanced BT 1571 from £1 to £1.50. Calls to International Mobiles increased to 25p above whatever the international dialled rate. The 6p on the 1471 service & I think there are a few more I have not found yet plus of course the Standard line rental increase.
 
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From what I've seen, the standard line rental is being replaced by 'option 1'.
 
I understand that people who rent their line from BT but make calls through companies such as One Tel, may find their line rental increases £1 per month.

However, BT customers who are currently on (or perhaps move to, as indicated by Kyle) any of BTs Together Options, will find a decrease in their standard costs.
I'm for instance on option 3, which has been reduced by £3 per month.
Charges for option 1 & 2 are reduced by £1 & £2 per month respectively, with the additional benefit of cheaper calls.


This is from BTs website:
BT Together customers will now pay a lower line rental than they were previously. BT Together Option 1 customers will pay £10.50 per month (previously 11.50). They will also pay just 5.5p for up to an hour (previously 6p an hour) on all evening and weekend calls made in the UK.

For £6 a month more(previously £7) than Option 1, BT Together Option 2 offers free UK evening and weekend calls, while Option 3 gives free UK daytime, evening and weekend calls for an additional £15 a month (previously £18). BT Together Options 2 and 3 customers will benefit from the revised packages from April 1 and Option 1 customers from July 1.
 
Charge increases, as a whole, are being introduced for extra services. For the majority of users, who don't use these anyway, no price difference will be noticed.
 
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