My aunt is on BT Basic and several years ago she was on BT Light User - obviously her line rental was still payable to BT retail although she did have to fill out an application stating that she was on a relevant benefit to get BT Basic.

In her case she was able to keep the same number but in the case of a switch from Primus to BT Basic a direct switch may not be possible since perhaps BT Retail systems require that a customer has a BT line (line rental payable to BT retail?) prior to applying for the benefit of the Basic package. Maybe the cease and reprovide and number change was the only method that could be used to allow FB to get BT Basic?

The cockup wasn't whether or not it was required, 4M2's suggestion being quite plausible, but that they ordered it and didn't tell the customer of the consequences.

As I said a long time ago in this thread, they didn't warn the customer that any broadband connection would also cease. If they had, he/she would have been able to clear this with PlusNet, or even cancel the PSTN move.

As I also suggested, it could be that BT Retail has a very blinkered view. If you haven't got BT Broadband and aren't migrating to it, then you haven't got broadband. So no warning needed.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 09-Aug-13 16:06:59)

In reply to a post by bpullen:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by bpullen:

We shouldn't have been asked to pay a cessation fee.

Something squiffy there? "We" should be "You"? And are you saying if he had just said "Bye-Bye" at that time he wouldn't have been charged a broadband cease fee? That would be very strange .

s/We/You - You're right, I meant to say 'You'.

If he left at the time of the call then no, he shouldn't have had to pay a cessation charge. The line was already ceased.

I've recently discovered that we *are* charged for PSTN ceases so in this instance the cessation fee should have been charged i.e. the agent @FurballB spoke to did the right thing.

I stand corrected.

@FurballB, don't worry, it won't change the terms of the agreement we made

Regards,

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In her case she was able to keep the same number but in the case of a switch from Primus to BT Basic a direct switch may not be possible since perhaps BT Retail systems require that a customer has a BT line (line rental payable to BT retail?) prior to applying for the benefit of the Basic package. Maybe the cease and reprovide and number change was the only method that could be used to allow FB to get BT Basic?

Yes this is what happened ..... the whole switch has been a disaster from beginning to end. Not only with the broadband side of it. The line rental has too.

Here's the scenario the line was disconnected & reconnected with a reprovide from BT on the 19th APR , it would take a extra month from the line being connected for the BT Basic to be applied & any over billing would be refunded. on the 21st of APR I Had a whooping £45.?? bill for the next 3 months (coz BT charge 3 months in advance unlike any other provider)


The BT Basic account was applied on the 21st May .....no refund was given , also a £7.50 late payment charge was applied which added to the bill of £45.?? I knew this Bill was incorrect and no way was I going to pay it. The next thing I knew in early June they put restrictions on my calls. I phoned BT and disputed the issue of the bill.


BT said to me... this is what you owe up to your next bill what will be in July. I disagreed the fact and said look I'm not paying for a full line rental price in Advance . when I'm on BT Basic package of £4.95 a month, It isn't right and not what I signed up for meaning you misold me the package. There reply was if you pay the £45 we'll refund the amount in July for the previous 3 months ((Back to your Account)) ....I said I'm not paying it!

Then they asked how much would i pay? .... I replied £4.95 for each month like agreed.
She went off to speak to the manager & said yes we'll do that for you! You just pay use what you owe us when you get your next bill in July.


Come a couple days before the July bill was due. I discovered they restricted my line. Nobody could phone me & i couldn't phone out. It wouldnt even put me through to customer service when making the call to find out what happened.

Basically went through the whole process again. If anybody think it's easy switching to a BT Basic package It ain't.

Think again! It's not something i'd recommend to anybody the amount of hassle it causes.

Edited by deleted (Fri 09-Aug-13 16:58:53)

In reply to a post by bpullen:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Plusnet did not cease the broadband. It was automatically ceased by Openreach as a result of BT Retail doing a cease and reprovide of the PSTN (phone) line with no mention of broadband. BT Retail caused all this, as I suggested earlier.

Yes, this is what happened.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

PlusNet found a way out of the mess by treating it as though they had ordered a House Move because that allowed them to absorb the cease charge raised by Openreach on them and without a 12-month term following that they could not swallow the charge.

Not quite. AFAIK we're not charged cessation fees for a PSTN cease as it's largely outside of our control. Neither did we order a house move. We simply recontracted FurballB and covered the cost of reprovision (which would mean paying early termination fees if leaving during the term of the contract).

To quote from another post though:

In reply to a post by FurballB:

They had to do a cease and a reprovide, which still leaves one question open. why was I asked for a cease charge of £25 by Plusnet if i was to leave, if i've been officially disconnected and free to join any provider I choose.....

We shouldn't have been asked to pay a cessation fee.

Since found out that this isn't strictly true (in fact it's not true at all). See here.

@FurballB, Have you managed to read the message I sent you yet? I don't seem to have received a response.

Regards,

In reply to a post by bpullen:

@FurballB, don't worry, it won't change the terms of the agreement we made

Regards,

Thanks very much Bob ....Great service by PN once again.

Yes Just replied to it.

Edited by deleted (Fri 09-Aug-13 17:04:22)

In reply to a post by FurballB:

Here's the scenario the line was disconnected & reconnected with a reprovide from BT on the 19th APR , it would take a extra month from the line being connected for the BT Basic to be applied & any over billing would be refunded. on the 21st of APR I Had a whooping £45.?? bill for the next 3 months (coz BT charge 3 months in advance unlike any other provider)

Looks like BT Retail put you on a standard line rental package on the reprovide with a view to putting you on Basic after one month. This does appear to be the procedure that they used when you requested the switch from Primus to BT Basic since a direct switch was not possible...

And to compound your problems Plusnet saw that Openreach were charging for a cease of broadband on the Primus number, due to the cease and reprovide/number change done by BT Retail, and Plusnet would have passed that broadband cease charge on to you if you had not agreed to a new 12 month broadband contract.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Looks like BT Retail put you on a standard line rental package on the reprovide with a view to putting you on Basic after one month.

In reference to www.bt.com/includingyou/redesign2012/assets/downloads/BTBasic.pdf:

Q What if I don�t have a BT phone line?

If you don�t have a BT line, you�ll need to change to BT before you can get BT Basic. You may have to pay a connection charge to do this. But depending on your circumstances, you can pay this charge over a period of time.

And application form states "The applicant must be the BT a/c holder".

What actually is a BT phone line? Guess there might be some cofusion when for example Plusnet say: "Line Rental for Broadband only - You'll need to pay line rental to Plusnet or another BT based landline provider to get our broadband."

As I said, blinkered BT Retail. To them a BT line means it is with BT Retail. To everyone else it means Openreach Wholesale Line Rental, (currently WLR3).