Why do BT have to make Line Rental Renewal so complicated?

[milleniumaire]

My Line Rental renewal ends tomorrow, so I've clicked on the link that came in the renewal email and it takes me to a webpage asking for my details, which I enter.

So far, so easy.

Then, it shows me a page with lots of options on it for broadband, broadband with line rental saver etc.  WHY?  All I want to renew is my Line Rental, not my broadband, which has another 6 months to run!!!!!

If I select the option with Line Rental (as a one-off payment), it tells me my monthly broadband payments will be £24.50 per month and it appears that I would be signing up for a 24 month broadband contract.  a) This is more than I'm currently paying for broadband and b) I don't want to sign up for another 24 months of broadband, I just want to RENEW MY LINE RENTAL.

Come on BT, what's the game here?  Do you want to keep my custom or are you trying to push me away with this underhand way of trying to sign me up for a longer and more expensive broadband contract?

Can someone please tell me how I simply pay a one-off fee of £219.84 for a 12 month up-front Line Rental?  That's ALL I want to do.  I do NOT want to change my broadband contract.

[cooperman]

It has been like this for some time and highlighted on this forum before. Because of this I elected not to renew online and tried to do it via phone but all I achieved is crediting my BT account instead of paying the LRS. A complete shambles so BT don’t have my lump sum in their accounts.

[Keith_Beddoe]

LRS is well past its sell by date, and used to make sense when the line rental a broadband were separate charges.

Now that line rental is included in all broadband packages, LRS is really only of benefit to people without broadband.

If you do opt for it, then the advance payment is taken off your monthly bill, and is shown as a reduction. I think the saving is about equivalent to one month.

[milleniumaire]

Hi Keith, yes, paying the Line Rental saver up front saves on a month of line rental, but I will not have it tied into my broadband deal so if this is the only way BT can now do this then as cooperman says, they won't be getting my money up front and in 6 months when my broadband deal ends I will be looking around.

[barnpiece]

I have Digital Voice (on FTTC) and when my Line Rental Saver came up for renewal was told by BT that it was not available with Digital Voice, so I just pay the package amount each month.

Richard

[pottyperson]

LRS was attractive when introduced but its value has been eroded to the point where it doesn't seem worth the effort. I can't be bothered to check, so stand to be corrected, but I believe at least one of the other major ISPs which jumped on this particular bandwagon eventually saw sense and dropped it. BT should follow suit; any simplification of their increasingly baffling product array would be welcome.

[allanraymond]

My experience is the same when I renewed my LRS last year I was concerned my broadband contact would change, but in the end my BB didn't alter after I paid my LRS. Please see: https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/Line-rental-saver/m-p/2073730#M127114

[milleniumaire]

Thanks for the feedback Allan.  I assume your Broadband term also didn't change?

If not, I would love to know why BT are confusing the renewal of LRS by showing all this nonsense broadband information.

Can ANYONE from BT comment?

[allanraymond]

My broadband tems did NOT change as result of paying my LRS. I kept a closer eye than normal on my monthly bills after paying my LRS to make sure nothing chanaged re my BB contract,