At last ~ Something Right! (BT)

Member Name: idodoyou

Product:	BT
Date:	26/11/01 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: - )

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Now it ain't often you'll find a member of the idodoyou household praising BT. In fact, from the amount of ops I've read, and complaints I've heard, it isn't often many households praise BT at all.
But fair dues. I call em as I see em, and for once, BT seems to have done something right.
I know, I know, I can't believe it either?
In fact, I'm still reeling because after a call to them the other day, I actually managed to get through to a 'real live' person with the minimal of fuss and wait. And what's more, the real live person was helpful, polite and sorted my problem out there and then.

Amazing ...... I think so!

Anyway, to tell a tale of my usually unheard of incident of getting through to a live person while ringing BT is not why I am writing, and subsequently, you are reading. No, my tale involves bills.
Y'know, those things that drop upon your doormat bringing with them doom and gloom, despair and coffer counting for some. Bills, pah, don't you just hate em? But, bills we get, like it or lump it. And, more often or not, you, I, the public can not make head nor tale of the print on the paper that demands your hard earned pennies.
Well, not until now that is.
Y'see, BT (ooh, it rhymes!!) have changed the format of their old bills and made the newer ones easier to read. Easier to understand. And hopefully, easier to see that once again you have been over charged (forgive me, I'm being cynical, and letting past experiences cloud my words)
Now, if I'm honest, the reason I actually wrote this op is because I read an op the other day where the writer (or writee) didn't like, and couldn't understand the new lay out. So, I'm trying to readdress the balance a bit? Not against the op writer you understand. I guess I'm sticking up for BT ??? (ver~rry spooky even if I do say so myself!!)
I have a copy of the new format in front of me as
I type, and I find the fact that the new lay out is harder to comprehend than the older lay out somewhat difficult to believe. But I guess we can't all 'see' things the same can we?
Anyway ........ if you are BT customers, it'll be up to you to make your own minds up. If you're not BT customers .... you're gonna find this op very boring ... I warn you now!
According to the small mauve box on the front page, the new style bill comes in 3 main parts.

The first part is pages 1 & 2. And for all bill payers, the most terrifying part of them all. For this part, page 1, the first thing you see when you open the envelope, shows the bill total. Arrgghhhhhh!!! <just a small indication of what happens when the first page is seen in the idodoyou household ~ it's not a pretty sight believe me> The final number isn't delicately hidden amongst other random figures. Oh no. The people at BT hate children/adults that don't have to pay bills, I swear. Well why else what they put the total in such a big font huh? I'm sure if they could get it to flash they bloody well would do! I dunno what font they use, but it has powers. Yes it does. Somehow it emits a force that swirls around my fathers head, and before his eyes, it talks, and taunts him (and me) with words such as, 'Look at me. Look at me. See my high price. See how much time she's spent yapping'.
Pah!
Still on page 1 and the second half believes in rubbing it in too. Not only do they chuck you in at the deep end with no thought for people who don't pay the bill, they also hold your head under water for the sake of it. The large 3 figured number is still a blurry vision in front of your eyes. You feel sick. You feel faint. So what does BT do? That's right, instead of being nice and gentle, and giving you some harmless 'addys' in case contact is needed, they give you a bank giro credit. Well, it's bad enough getti
ng the bill in the first place, but if you have to pay it ....... !!

Page 2, part 1. Ah, so now they decide to be nice. Too late. The fact that the old guy is having a heart attack because the insensitivity of page 1 really didn't impress. And now they give you the address' to write to in case of complaint.(Yes, I'd like to ... where do I complain that the bill is way to high?) They give you call charge information, their commitment to customers list, and payment details. Very helpful I'm thinking. That is of course you can get through and talk to some one ... Sorry, couldn't help it!

Page 3, part 2 is the second of the new 3-part bill. (ain't there a lot of parts and pages in this op hey?) This page is where you'll find the Summary. Here you can see in neat little sections and under neater little headings just why you have got to rob a bank, or sell a kidney in order to pay this quarters phone bill. It's easy to read, and so simple to follow. It really is. Under neat little section 'Cost of calls' is where you'll find the most discriminating of evidence. It's here where you can see just how much you spent on local, Internet, national, premium, mobile, and lo~call calls. All neatly labelled. All neatly telling you how much time you spent, and how much it cost you.
You then have all the other items that help to bump the bill up. Package benefits ~ Y'know, things like Talk Together, or Talk and Surf. Following closely and neatly underneath, we have Service Charges which are basically package fees, and line rental. Then it's the dreaded VAT that helps to bump your total up by a whopping 17.5%. And lastly, Brought forward, if for any reason you didn't pay part of, or your last bill, the nice, oh so nice people at BT will just keep adding it on for you!

Pages 4, 5, and 6, part 3 are all concerned with Detail. A break down of the information already given in the Summary sectio
n under sub heading Cost of calls.
Here you will notice a further change. Instead of the usual itemised bill where all calls over a certain time is logged and written down, here you have the number that you dialled, the amount of times you called, the total amount of time of those calls, and how much they cost. Instead of a bill about 10 pages long that we usually have drop, and dent the doormat, all of our call info is contained on 3 pages. And although we probably made the same amount of calls, it doesn't look half as much. Hehehehe. The different categories all follow the same system ~ area of number called i.e. Norwich etc. number dialled, number of calls, blah, blah,blah.
And, it has to be said again, all very neatly and easy to read.
The new bill sorts all of the different call costs for you, instead of the old style of bundling all the calls together ready for you to sit and go through them armed with pen and a calculator. It's great if you live in house with flat mates and you are responsible for your own calls. Or you live with a mean bald old man that picks through the bill with a fine toothed comb, marking and adding how many minutes you spent on the phone 3 weeks last Friday!! (I don't by the way ~ just in case any of you were thinking of idodoyou living a life of pain and purgatory??)The details are of course in a smaller font, but the costs from each section are bigger, and easier to see.
The pages are standard A4 instead of a more thinner longer sized page that the old style came on. Probably because of the bigger pages, the lists and the information don't look cluttered. They cleaner and crisper somehow? Ok, so it's only a bill, but it does look better y'know.
Although, to be honest with you, maybe my admiration (if that's not too strong a word to use?) for the new bill is because I don't actually pay it!?
However, I think, even if I had to pay for it myself, I would be impressed. Of c
ourse, if I did have to cough up the bill would be a hell of a lot cheaper, and not so many pages ... well, if I?m paying, no bugger is gonna use it : )

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