In reply to a post by 4M2:

It was only after she informed me about the call that I discovered the online pre-registration for free BT Privacy and Caller Display (which she is unaware of) that my suspicions were aroused regarding the possibility of a new 12 months contract agreed on the phone which shouldn't be relevant to a BT Basic account.

There's no restriction from a contract law perspective to the imposition of a 12 month minimum contract term for BT Basic if the customer takes another BT service.


There may be a regulatory restriction on BT imposing a 12 month minimum contract period on BT Basic customers. BT Basic is the special social needs service required as part of BT's universal service commitments. I'm not aware of any limitations on minimum contract period imposed under Condition 2 of BT's Universal Service Obligation - indeed, I'm not aware any direction on the requirements for the special social needs service has been published under condition 2.2. There's certainly nothing on Ofcom's Universal Service Obligation web site.

Unfortunately, as you say, it's hard to find the full terms and conditions for BT Basic. These would be in the application form, but you can only get that application form if you contact BT to obtain one in a situation of potential eligibility for BT Basic.

Edited by deleted (Thu 24-Oct-13 14:31:07)

In reply to a post by johnjburness:

As well as all of the suggestions that you have received here (as well as your own proposals), may I suggest that you also consider contacting BT via:-
LINKY

This seems to be a specific point of contact for people who have raised an issue in a public Forum (which you have). It seems to go to a higher level of UK based support & can often produce results. Anyway, it is worth a try.

Thanks for the link

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Prod: If you yourself are thinking of pre-registering, don't forget to pre-register both your line individually.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm considering my options.

If it wasn't for the second line and my yet to expire BT line rental saver on one line, I'd take my line rental over to Zen. This way, I'd stop paying Zen's £5.40 per month charge for not having Zen line rental on one of the new FTTC packages. It's only because BT Retail's call packages are per account (Zen's are per line) and Zen has no line rental saver deal that Zen works out more expensive if I moved both lines across.

Possible answers include taking a call package on one line only, or porting the number on the second line (which is used for voice only) to a VoIP provider.

Historically she moved from "Light User" to "BT Basic" and I don't think there is any paperwork regarding T&C's, although, if I remember correctly, proof or a declaration had to be provided regarding her receipt of Attendance Allowance benefit (which incidentally isn't included in the list of benefits etc. required for BT Basic )

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

it could be quite likely that BT were requesting her, as a BT Basic cust, to pre-register for free BT Privacy and Caller Display, as many of us have already done online. In which case neither we, nor her, have yet entered any contract for it; we await to hear from BT on it.

BT's use of the term "pre-register" creates an annoying lack of clarity in the contractual position, as I mentioned earlier in the thread when discussing the contractual position.


I believe the most likely scenario is:

Offer from BT: We agree to provide you with free Privacy and Caller Display from a date of provision on or after 6 December, in return for you entering a new minimum period for your telephone service for 12 months from the date of provision.

Agreement from customer: I agree to those terms.


In that case, a binding contract exists from the moment of pre-registration, and the term pre-registration simply reflects the future date for provision of the service and start of the new minimum contract period.

The terms on the BT web site are depressingly vague. If anyone has the text of the e-mail confirmation following pre-registration, please would they post it with personal details removed.

Another advantage I find of BT Voice is that their fault reporting and monitoring is excellant. It can be done online unlike many other providers.

Unfortunately I have been unable to take LRS on one of my lines, cuz they want me to start a new contract and will remove the discount I have obtained on my Calling Plan. Also I don't want monthly paper phone billing; quarterly is sufficient for me but they have refused to offer it altho' there is no commercial justification in doing so.

I challenge you to call BT Retail and if you get any sense from them after waiting 30 minutes for a reply it would be a miracle LOL!

In reply to a post by David_W:

If anyone has the text of the e-mail confirmation following pre-registration, please would they post it with personal details removed.

Has there been an e-mail confirmation following pre-registration or is it yet to come by 6th Dec? I certainly haven't had any yet and, as I implied, pre-registered 2 lines.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by David_W:

If anyone has the text of the e-mail confirmation following pre-registration, please would they post it with personal details removed.

Has there been an e-mail confirmation following pre-registration or is it yet to come by 6th Dec? I certainly haven't had any yet and, as I implied, pre-registered 2 lines.

BT Retail really aren't getting it, are they? The wording implied they'd send an e-mail confirmation if you provided your e-mail address during the registration process, hence my request (as I'm yet to decide what I'm doing so haven't pre-registered my lines).

They're risking a breach of the requirement in Regulation 8 of The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/2334) to provide information in a written or other durable form about the information itemised in Regulation 7, including, in Regulation 7(1)(a)(ix), the minimum duration of the contract. This is serious, because of the consumer is unable to decide whether to exercise their right to cancel without this information.

There have been minor changes to these regulations in The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling)(Amendment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/689), but not in a way that materially affects what I've just said.

To be honest this whole charging of BT Privacy caller display has been a farce.

When I found out I tried several times to get it removed now as it would be done and sorted and I wouldn't have to sort it out in December.

After trying online, phone etc I had to put an order in to get it removed and then I had a phonecall from BT sales begging me not to stop it but to take out the 12 months re-contcact.

When I said no I wanted it taking off they started arguing with me about how it wasn't possible to remove it until the new year.

At that point I said i have been a BT shareholder since the 1980's and if they didn't remove it I would be writing a letter to head office and asking them to play the tape back to see how many rules they have broken.

Then they said it would be "taken off as a special request" which was carried out the next day.

The companies practices get me really mad at times and next year I will be moving the FTTC to somewhere else now and citing this as the main reason.

Hope you get somewhere with this OP as frankly it seems that UK companies at the moment would rather happily break all the rules and be fined rather than operating in an ethical manner in the first place.