Cancelling the phone service

[dcdick]

I'm trying to cancel the phone part of my broadband

I'm told on the phone that there will be a £2 monthly charge for NOT having a phone line  ??

The P.A.Y.G. service is the cheapest but not free & would cost from £2 monthly up to £5

This in effect would be "pay before you phone" & then "pay when you phone" as well, not good !

Due to a house move last month the DV service was applied to my account which resulted in us losing our existing number

Further complicated by "pending & open" orders we ran out of the 31 day "window" to retain that number due to bt refusing any orders/changes until the orders situation was addressed

As the landline has now not been used for over a month (& has not been missed) it's time to cancel.

I know the mods are busy but hopefully one of them could pick up on this please

The consensus here on the forum seems to be that there should be no charges if there is no phoneline or the P.A.Y.G. "calling plan"  .........  however getting bt to agree with this  is a different matter

D*ck

[garybs29]

Have you tried calling BT first? The mods here are a small team who usually only get involved when things go wrong, what you're wanting to do should be easily achieved by calling BT

[dcdick]

Garybs29

Of course, if it was just the matter of making a phone call I would not have had to resort to the forum looking for answers.
BT will offer a line cancellation but want to make a monthly charge for NOT having a working phone line !!
That cannot be right surely ?

D*ck

[-Richie-]

---

@dcdickwrote:
BT will offer a line cancellation but want to make a monthly charge for NOT having a working phone line !!
That cannot be right surely ?

---

I answered your Other Thread and stand by my answers.
As an existing customer, if you remove the voice element (ability to make/receive calls) the monthly saving will be the cost you pay now for a calling plan, your bill or order confirmation will state how much you're paying and the calling plan you have.

If you don't pay by direct debit, there is still a £2 monthly charge for non-automated payments.

[iniltous]

If you don’t take a phone service at all, so it’s a standalone broadband service , incapable of receiving or making any call, then you shouldn’t have a penalty payment added for not taking telephony, after all if the penalty payment is the same cost as actually talking the phone service, then standalone broadband isn’t actually cheaper than phone and broadband.
If offering standalone broadband is a requirement from the regulator, then they would also require it to be a little cheaper than telephony and broadband, so it’s unlikely that adding a penalty payment for not taking telephony would be allowed.
If standalone broadband could be had for £25 a month, and telephony can be added for between £2 and £5 ( so £27-£30 a month for broadband and telephony ) plus the cost of a call plan , the call plan called PAYG being ‘free’ if you don’t make a call, seems reasonable, although IMHO mis describing telephony as PAYG , it’s the call plan that is PAYG , having a phone number associated is still £2 to £5.
Wouldn’t it be simpler to describe it as , broadband £25, adding a phone number costs between £2 to £5 , plus a compulsory call plan , PAYG, 700 mins, or unlimited….what they shouldn’t do ( and would be amazed if it’s the case ) is to say stand-alone broadband £25, penalty payment for not taking telephony £2 to £5 , so £27-£30 total , the same as taking broadband and phone .

[dcdick]

Richie

Going around in circles here
All I know is what the bt call staff tell me & that is no call plan charges but £2 "service charge" if I close the calling plan
You believe that your answer is correct but my experience so far remains different

D*ck

[ljm]

If you only want Broadband (ie no telephone service) you only pay for Broadband Only.

If you want Broadband and keep your tel no. but only want to pay for calls as and when you make them it is called a PAYGO calling plan and you wud be charged £2 per mth for this Plan plus any calls you make.

If you're confused about this, best thing is to call BT again as you will get a different operator who may be able to explain it differently, and more accurately than the previous one. 😊

[-Richie-]

---

@dcdickwrote:
All I know is what the bt call staff tell me & that is no call plan charges but £2 "service charge" if I close the calling plan

---

There is 100% not a thing called a 'service charge' for £2 per month, can you confirm you pay by direct debit ? just to rule out line rental plus which is £2 for non-automated payments.

Whatever price you pay now will be reduced by the price of the calling plan you have now, I promise you I am correct.

[dcdick]

Richie
I pay my bt bills by direct debit
I don't doubt that the calling plan charge I have now will be cancelled & my bill reduced accordingly
What I do not get is why 2 bt call staff (1 was "retensions" or whatever they call it now) very helpful, but said there would be a £2 charge as well as the guy who originally set up the contract saying that there would be a £2 "charge" even if I did not take the line package which was an extension of my previous "unlimited calls" package.
Also 2 "Mod's" told me the same as part of previous issues that they were able to help me with.
Do you see why I am confused about all this ?

Ijm
Thanks, I have already spoken to 4 different bt people about this as described above

Cheers

D*ck

[-Richie-]

I've asked a passing moderator to take a look, they can clear up any confusion for you.