1280

[KARL]

I cannot find any better category for posting this, so here goes. Is there anyone out there who has a landline with BT but has calls normally billed through some other provider AND occasionally uses 1280 as a prefix to route calls through BT (for example to meet BT's stipulation on minimum useage for landline or add-ons) ? My interest is in finding out if anyone currently is able to use 1280 as a prefix to route calls through BT.

[boxtops]

I've never heard of doing that, how does it work?

[KARL]

You do not have to make your calls at your landline provider's rates and there are different ways to get a different call rate. One is to have a different provider entirely when it comes to call charging - your calls are automatically routed through that provider's system, not the landline provider's. Another is to use a prefix - many call providers offer such a service and what happens is that you dial the prefix and then the full number you are calling, the charge will be billed through the other provider (i.e can be and/or is neither your call provider or your landline provider) with whom you must establish an account. A third way is to use the various systems listed on www.callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com - here you normally dial a telephone number to enter the service, then dial the number you are calling, the call will be billed through your call provider at the rate stated by the alternative provider, a bit like premium call people charge their rate through your call provider. By using such ploys one can save a lot of money, particularly on international calls. Some landline and/or call providers resent you dodging their rates to save money and put hurdles in your way, but cannot usually stop you completely. BT are making conflicting statements regarding the 1280 prefix and I would like to find out the truth, hence my question.

[heathfield]

I'd like to know. too. I'm with an alternative provider and make no calls through BT on their landline. My last quarter BT bill, including line rental and BT's other charges for not making the minimum number of chargeable calls through them, was for over £50. Utterly scandalous!

[KARL]

Heathfield, this is precisely why I posted my question. When I took out the BT 12 month £120 landline contract, their staff pointed out that 1280 has been discontinued, as I had found out some months previously. However, other BT staff said I could comply with the minimum use stipulation by dialling 1471 and then option 3 to ring back the last caller. This would be a chargeable call and I could do this to meet the quota I had to fill. Now when I was signing up it was confirmed that the 1471 route would work. Then my latest bill (but not the first) suddenly charged me for underuse even though I had made the prerequisite calls via 1471. Now, when I called them, BT said 1471 does not qualify, and 1280 was gone a long time ago. Most importantly, when I signed up for the caller ID, I received an e-mail saying I could meet the requirement by using 1280 (i.e. now they said it worked) - this astonished the people I was talking to so they sasid they would refund the charge for underuse but that in future I would be charged. I wrote and got a telephone reply, now I was most emphatically told that 1280 still works and that the charge for underuse would stand. It is therefore entirely possible that the refund has been withdrawn and put back on my bill.

It is clear that BT will say anything to get a deal, and also anything else to levy a charge, then anything completely different again to cover their behinds when they are caught out. The contract I entered into with them has been broken (including by a higher charge rate for underuse than I was quoted initially). This is what I mean by provider's resentment of you planning your usage in a way that takes all possibilities of saving into account - they simply move the goalposts to ensure they then can levy charges. Sadly, apart from the courts there is nothing an individual can do - OFCOM will not take up individual cases, you can tell them the story but it will simply be filed. This is another example of how regulation has and is failing in Britain and the consumer is too frequently at a loss to find redress. This is not a model society.