BT

Wife answered a call from BT with regards to me filling in a online/paper customer service questionairre and getting reduced line rental.  I was out so they are calling me tonight.

I am on the TPS so is BT still allowed to call?

Are BT that kind to offer reduced line rental?

Is this all a scam?

Thank for your help

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Comments

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    sounds like a scam

    but if they do call, say you're busy but interested and ask for a number to call them back on - if they give you one, try it but I suspect they won't

    alternatively, ask them to quote your BT contract number, address etc - if it is BT they will have it, but don't give them any clues
  • If you are a BT customer then they can still ring you I think.  But if you would rather they don't let them know.

    As for reduced line rental, have a look on their website.  It's getting cut throat on the line rental market so they could well be offering you a reduction to keep you.  There are much better deals out there though than BT, even with their short term discounts.

  • The caller probably won't give you your contract number or address and will cite the DPA unless you give them information first - I get that all the time from HSBC!

    Even if you're a customer you can opt out of marketing communications, which this is. TPS isn't necessarily the say forward, though.

    BT got in trouble a few years ago for calling their customers for sales & marketing purposes. It was determined that, given that they know everyone's phone number, they had an unfair advantage.
  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    "There are much better deals out there though than BT"

    my home broadband is with Plusnet who offered a good deal on line rentals as a combined package so I took them up on it as it was much cheaper than BT

    who owns Plusnet? yep - BT. go figure!
  • Could possibly be BT offering a line rental reduction if you pay line rental for 12 months in advance...I've had a call like this and when I looked into it afterwards this was the offer referred to. 

    Something like a reduction from £13 or so down to £10 per month...this was last year so these figures are probably incorrect now.

  • Being registered with the TPS should stop cold calling, but if you have a relationship with a company already then they're allowed to market to you, provided you haven't opted out. For a lot of people however who've been with companies for many years the opt out option didn't exist when they first signed up, and the companies have not gone out of their way to publicise that you have that option. I keep getting calls about BT infinity, despite the fact I get my broadband from someone else. I guess next time I ought to tell them to opt me out.

    It is worth noting that the number of calls coming from places like India are increasing, and obviously they aren't covered by the TPS. A lot of them are scams, particularly if they claim to be from Microsoft and start talking about virus problems with your computer

  • CheshercatCheshercat ✭✭✭

    Autumn66.  i think that is the price difference

    Wife took the call but always get me to deal with these people when they ring back

  • I had a scam call from India, claiming to be BT. Apparently, we hadn't paid our bill, did we want to pay over the phone now? All very dodgy, particularly as we pay by monthly DD.
  • As Autumn66 says, the current line rental deal they're offering is £120 for the year if you pay up front.

    fb - I never knew about the connection between BT and Plusnet until I got so sick of my slow connection from Plusnet. BT were claiming they'd manage line speeds of around six times faster so, for a few pounds more, I decided to switch. It was only when I phoned Plusnet for a MAC that the advisor wondered what was going on, as they're owned by BT, and noticed that I could be upgraded to ADSL2 for free.

    Result - but annoyed that no-one thought of ever mentioning my crap service didn't have to be crap until I threatened to walk.

  • BT were shit for me. They blamed our wiring for poor broadband speeds for over a year. Then the last time we complained, the guy at the end of the phone sped it up dramatically. It was so slow in fact, that we couldn't even use the Vision box to watch telly... So they were blaming us for something they could've sorted out.

    Re: Plusnet - Perhaps BT bought them out???
  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    yep - BT bought Plusnet a couple of years ago but they seem to operate a hands-off policy which allows Plusnet to carry on as if nothing has really changed. they still rank highly in surveys for customer service unlike BT.

    my office Plusnet is about to be upgraded to ADSL2+ for free - it's a backup to our main broadband with Demon - who aren't upgrading their service locally yet despite the exchange being ready. so I shall switch the router settings around and use Plusnet as my main line soon.



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