It's good NOT to talk! (BT)

Member Name: macutmore

Product:	BT
Date:	11/12/00 (501 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: The customer is nothing

I've heard a lot said about the big BT, for years they have been providing a monopoly service to consumers. With competition now hot on their heels it's clear they resort to providing, on the face of it, what look like competitive packages?

Nothing could be further from the truth. All of their plans are designed to sell use of the phone and encourage calling, thereby increasing your bills. Notice they don't advertise their 'light user scheme'- I should have been put on this well before I discovered it.

I only found out about this from other family members, and that they had been put on it automatically- not the case for me! I paid well over the odds for months before I confronted BT about it. They didn't care!

I finally got put on it, then later I was 'persuaded' to join their infamous 'friends and family' scheme. I had random calling patterns so it didn't 'save' me anything unless I actually made more calls, thereby increasing my bill (not my original intention)!

Before I could get back on the 'light user scheme', I had to have three months of virtually nil calls to qualify! - Then I had to sign a bit of paper to say that I am not using any other service provider or even a mobile phone!!! - Who isn't!

Fact is you CAN route your calls via 0800 through any service provider you darn well please as if you were on cable, so there! Oh, and I think I do have a mobile (now where did I put it)?

I have since applied call barring to my BT line (and to add insult to injury they even charge for this)!

I called BT to 'optimise' my line for Internet use only; surprisingly they were actually helpful here explaining that a 'gain tweak' was not unheard of.

Three days later a BT engineer arrived unannounced in a van. He said I had a major problem with the line and a fault had been reported. Later he uncovered a manhole
with cable
s immersed in six inches of water, (must have been like it for years)! He had to renew all the connectors in the wiring. No voice fault had ever been recognised, so it just goes to show.

If I had my way, I wouldn't be with BT at all, let alone line rental only. My advice is; do not under any circumstances touch them with a barge pole!

More recently BT have been spotlighted again, now with falling profits!

I don't wonder had it!

BT need more than a new director. They need a new philosophy if they are to please their shareholders and ultimately their customers (forgot about those did we)?

Empire building can only work for so long. Walls can come 'tumbling down'.
People (customers) remember being pi**ed on. (I certainly do).

'Political' restricting and delaying tactics for other ISP's and broadband (even placing individual data download limits) cannot be denied either. (Not good BT).

At the moment my BT line is used totally for 0800 (Internet access and service provision access). I have and pay for call diversion and call barring (very handy).

As a result my monthly phone bill is now less than six pounds!

If BT opened their eyes like companies such as one-tel and advertised services to get ALL customers no matter how small their bills, used their own technology to reduce beaurocratic costs (why not e-mail bills). It would be the more the merrier!

But no they won't will they?

Notes about 'gain tweaking'- Apparently it is worth having done if you live more than several miles away from your actual exchange facility. Since attenuation by distance is the factor regarding Internet optimisation.

As I live only a few miles away from my exchange, I am blessed!

As a specific update to my review on the big BT, I can now confirm that even since I first compiled this write up on their clever marketing techniques their unbel
ievable tactics still continue?

They have recently sent letters to everyone with calling features like the ones I mentioned (Call diversion, Call barring etc, etc.). The letter they sent me was dated March 2003. I received it on the 3rd of April. It was basically to notify everyone that BT was adjusting the price structure of its calling features from 1st April, which meant that the cost of the calling features I had would increase by some 75 pence!

Hang on a minute; since it was already April 3rd, this meant that the increase had already been implemented and that I had NO time to review any features that I may not require or could possibly cancel to actually prevent the bill rise from actually taking place!!

Another con to this is that, stated on the letter was the good news (quote) that I can now have up to FOUR calling features for the new price!!
Well the other calling features include gimmicks like 3 way calling, reminder call (as if I don't already have an expensive alarm clock), or call sign (a second number with a different ring tone)!

As it was, after a prompt (thankfully free) call to the big BT, I was assured that in order to cancel my call barring, they would stop charging me on the date they received notification (in writing), that I no longer required the specific service!! This of course meant that I, (and probably everyone else in the country) was 75 pence under without so much as a bye or leave! Now that, of course means that BT has made a few more crafty bucks don't you think?

Summary: