Updated 24th March 2015.The only reason that I stayed with BT for fifteen years was the thought that if things go wrong they will get things sorted out quickly. Earlier this month my BT landline went dead so off I went to a BT phone box and used the animated service and reported the fault. I went home with the belief that it will be sorted in 72 hours. Seven days later I was back at the phone box being told by a BT member of staff that an engineer had tried to contact me via the landline that was not working. If the engineer had checked everything then he would have had to be near the property so if I wasn't in he should have left me a card if he required access. If I had not contacted them they would have left me waiting forever. Of course if you allow an engineer into your home that will result in a charge of 129.99 added to your next bill. I decided to close my account although the lady on the phone reminded me I have to give a months notice. As my phone line is paid in advance I was just over a month in credit and decided to accept the loss. The lady was very polite and it wasn't her fault that the engineer didn't leave me a card. This morning I received in the post a refund in the form of a cheque for just over seventeen pound so maybe they do have a conscience. I've paid the cheque into my bank. I now don't have a landline so I will have to contact Orange to close my internet account and then cancel my Orange direct debit. I wonder if Orange will take an extra payment from me by using the thirty day rule. At least BT decided to refund me rather than keep it. Updated: 13th January 2015. I received my BT phone bill today and was surprised but happy to see that the processing charge has been dropped. I had not heard that it was going to be dropped although it is the kind of thing that should be reported on the news as it affected millions of ordinary people and was totally unfair. BT had made many reasons why the charge was brought in but none of them held water. The original reason was that some people were paying bills late but they already had a late payment fee of around £7.50p they put on your next bill if you paid late so that was no excuse. I can also say that in the time since the processing charge began I had one bill that included the processing charge and a late payment fee of £7.50p. Let's hope that the processing charge is never brought back as it clearly was unfair to the people who couldn't cover direct debits and faced defaulting every month.

BT Processing Charges

Updated 14th April 2014. I am still waiting for the Post Office to get back to me. I have tried repeatedly to contact them using their website and although I have always received the automated email response it appears that the staff who receive the emails are not bothering to get back to me. It is worrying that the Post Office are not responding but the processing charge that I have to pay BT every three months is such an unfair charge that I am still prepared to give the Post Office another chance. In fact my latest BT bill for the last three months is £54.55p and the amount for calls made only totals 0.58p so I am paying almost £54 just for the line and processing charge. It would have been higher but I cancelled the 1571 service that used to be free but now comes with a charge. I only have the BT line as I have orange internet and I need the landline for that. I could switch to orange for the landline but that would mean I would have to pay it by direct debit and as I already pay my orange internet and BBC licence fee by direct debit I don't want to risk defaulting on a direct debit because of lack of funds when they are due. I will try once again with the Post Office but I am beginning to lose confidence in them.

Updated 30th December 2013 When I contacted the Post Office on the 18th December I received an automated email back stating that they would get back in touch with me within five days. It is now twelve days and counting and still no response from the Post Office. It was obvious that I was interested in switching my landline to the Post Office from BT and only wanted assurance that it would not affect my broadband with Orange. This lack of a response from the Post Office is worrying. Surely they would be keen to get another customer and would make every effort to get me to sign up. Anyone who has had to contact BT in the past knows full well how difficult that is but even they wouldn't turn away new business. I will contact the Post Office again and if I don't receive more than just an automated response over the next five days I will send a complaint regarding poor service. It's only because of the rip off charges that BT are charging that tempts me to give the Post Office another chance.

Updated 18th December 2013

I have been a loyal customer to BT for over 13 years and reluctantly paid the processing charge which we all know is a total rip off and makes BT millions every year from the poorest in society. Recently the charge for the 1571 service has left me looking for a new landline provider. My next BT phone bill is due around the 8th january and as the bills cover the next three months it would be handy to transfer my account before the 8th january. If that happens then I should only receive a bill for the calls and of course the processing charge and a bit for VAT. I have just contacted the Post Office from their website asking a question regarding my Orange Broadband. Basically if I transfer my account to the Post Office would my Orange Broadband be unaffected. I hope the answer is positive if I'm able to keep the same phone number. If the answer is positive then I will ask if my Post Office bill would have to be paid in advance or three months later. This is an important question as I don't want to have to pay my final BT bill and the Post Office all at the same time. The other question I would ask is how long would it take to transfer my phone line to the Post Office and for it to be up and running. I will post an update on how it goes early in the new year.

Updated - 3rd August 2013

I have paid the processing charge that BT charge for several years now and it is currently a £6 payment every three months just for paying with cash. I have a BT phone line as I have orange internet and need the line although I make very few calls on my landline. BT now charge £2 for the 1571 service that used to be free but is now only free if you make at least six calls in the quarter. I have had to make calls just to avoid the 1571 charge and that means I usually make around £1.50 of calls to avoid the £2 charge being added to my bill every quarter. It's a ridiculous situation to be in and I have considered alternative providers. I was going to join Virgin as my street is connected and I could just have the internet with no phone line for a total of £22 a month. It would be by direct debit with no extra charges of any kind and compares well with the BT line costing £15 and my orange internet around £12. It would save me at least £5 a month with no processing charge or additional costs. I recently went to the post office to pay my water rates and phone bill. The lady behind the counter saw my phone bill and suggested that the post office might be a better alternative. I took away the leaflet and she is absolutely right. A phone line from the post office would cost £12 a month and the internet another £8 making a total of just £20 a month. That would be £2 less than Virgin and £7 less than the combination of BT and Orange. Of course costs of phone calls would be additional but the good thing is that you can pay your bills at a post office with cash and not face a processing charge of any kind. I am seriously considering the Post Office for a landline and internet but it has to be done at the right time financially. I am fairly sure that I am not now under any kind of contract with Orange or BT but I have to make sure that I can pay any outstanding balance on any accounts that I close and be able to pay for the new contracts at the right time. The other problem is that sometimes you need a migration authorisation code(MAC) off your previous broadband provider although they are supposed to provide that within five days and it will be usable for thirty days and of course to make sure they don't keep billing you. It seems that the customer has to close the broadband account with the provider rather than the Post Office doing that for you. I like the idea of a quarterly bill payable at the Post Office with no processing charge. In the next few months I may well be saying goodbye to BT and it's rip off processing charge aimed at robbing the poor purely to boost BT's profits. Of course juggling the dates when to close an account and opening one with a new provider tends to lend itself to some inconvenience and maybe loss of the internet for a few days when it should all run smoothly has to be taken on board. At this moment in time I could do without any loss of the internet but over the next few months that will change and hopefully Post Office landline and internet here I come.

-----------------------------------

Bt have charged high fees because they have been allowed to get away with it by the previous Labour government and now the Conservative/Lib dem government. The government could easily bring in legislation that would make these charges illegal but I guess they enjoy letting big business rip off the poor. Many people on small incomes can't guarantee that they will have enough money in the bank to make direct debit deadlines so they need to be allowed to pay with cash or cheque without being charged extortionate fees. For example, from january 2013, BT are going to increase the processing charge to £2 a month although according to well respected organisations like the British Retail Consortium the charges incurred for a cash payment are pennies rather than pounds. I noticed on one banking site that they had a charge of 2.5% on the value of a cash payment so if you paid in £50 that would incur a charge of just £1.25 to the company so a £6 processing charge would indeed be an extortionate charge. The same site had a charge of £1 for a cheque so still £5 less than the BT processing charge. In my own personal situation, I have a quarterly bill and although my bill is processed and sent to me every three months I will still have to pay from january 2013 the equivalent of three processing charges. BT also created another charge not so long ago. We used to be able to use the 1571 service free and find out if anyone had called us but BT introduced a fee based on the number of calls you made. If you don't make at least six calls then they charge you £3 otherwise the service is free. BT are increasing the line rental from january 2013 and I am on the brink of finding another provider. When Labour were in power they would only advise people to turn to direct debit to avoid fees. They don't seem to understand that many people have so little income and can't risk the danger of defaulting and the stress and cost that would incur. Clearly BT are charging solely for profit otherwise they would not be charging more than £1.50 maximum on a quarterly bill. To charge £6 for a processing fee is clearly wrong but will any government do anything about it when it only affects the poorest in society? These charges show how uncaring people in government really are. In the old days when most Labour politicians came from working class backgrounds they would have shouted from the rooftops expressing their disgust regarding these charges. Now they don't care and just say “direct debits” to anyone who asks about processing charges. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this present government made these charges illegal, it's unlikely to happen but they could win the next general election by doing something the Labour party wouldn't because most of the poor people who are affected by these charges are Labour supporters who have been let down badly by a Labour party who have taken the poor for granted.