I am currently looking to reduce my telecomms bills at the moment – ever since I’ve been made redundant back at the start of September. Since then, my monthly phone/broadband bills have increased somewhat between 60 to 80%. It is all because of the 08xx numbers linked to various Government services, notably the JobCentre and Tax Credits office – plus other ad-hoc calls linked to my current predicament.
In short, I got to pay if I want information about jobs. There are free phones provided down at the JobCentres but they are no good as they don’t provide minicoms or offer to call on my behalf. I have to go home and pay to find out more details for jobs through JobSeeker Helpline. But this is another matter, which deserve a post on its own.
Anyway, tt has come to my attention that BT are offering free 0845 and 0870 calls if you are on the Anytime plan. So, preparing to abandon Virgin Media, I set out to find out more information whether these free calls will ring true if I use TextDirect prefix of 18001 before calling out. My first port of call – BT Customer Services……..
Connected text to text ga txd operator connected pls wait … thank you for ringing bt this is dawn how can i help you ga
hi dawn….i am looking for information as i am thinking of switching to BT. With the phone line rental and the antyime unlimited plan, does that include textdirect calls in the plan? ga
it wouldnt include text direct calls but you would get allowance of them same as at the moment ga
yeah i am aware that these type of calls are rebated but with anytime unlimited plan it said that any phone number with 01, 02 and 0845 or 0870 will be free anytime…but with textdirect, we have to dial 18001 then the std number and i wonder if the plan will recognise that i am on the plan despite me dialling the 18001 prefix? ga
no … you wouldnt get the free calls with that ga
so because i am deaf, i cannot enjoy this service which everybody else can use – is that what you are saying? ga
you do get a rebate but your charged for the call ga
but i want the free phone calls on this plan like any other customers – that doesnt seems fair isnt it? ga
but you do get a refund ga
how does that works out? Do you mean i pay for the phone calls to begin with and then i get all calls refunded? ga
i have the number of a colleague that can give you all the info about this 0800 .. hold on one second ….. 0800 800 900 .. ga
ok thanks very much dawn, i will give that a try and hopefully i will get some joy. many thanks. bibi sksk
ok thank you bi sksk thank you for using text relay. sk
Gee – thanks a bunch, British Telcom!!! It is short-sighted of them to not to include TextDirect calls on this plan, considering that TextDirect service belongs to them.
Undeterred, I will give that “colleague” a call and will keep you informed on my progress.