BT profits up – but most loyal customers to pay the price

In a week that sees its third-quarter profits rise by 13% and shares reach a five year high, BT reveals new ‘stealth’ charges for phone customers, to be introduced in May.

Steve Weller, Head of Communications Services at independent price comparison and switching service uSwitch.com, comments: “Since January 2006 we have seen line rental rise from £10.50 to £11 a month, the introduction of per-minute rather than per-second billing and now these underhand charges. At a time when competition is thriving and prices for home phone and broadband products are in free fall, all of these initiatives can only be attributed to keeping BT’s shareholders satisfied.

“It’s a shame that BT is not paying as much attention to keeping its customers happy. Our recent home phone customer satisfaction survey ranked BT at the bottom for ‘value for money’, with over 4 out of 10 people dissatisfied with the value they were getting from their service. These new charges are especially likely to hit BT’s long-standing elderly customers who prefer to go to the bank to pay their quarterly bill and may not read the small print.

“Increasing the penalty for late payment seems equally heartless. It’s likely that the customers who pay their bills late are already in financial difficulties, so it’s a hard swipe to increase their charges even more.

“This week we have witnessed BT report a record hike in broadband revenues as household subscriber numbers have risen for the first time in four years. Unfortunately though, it appears that BT is willing to let its loyal home phone customer base take the hit in making up the revenue sacrificed in the aggressive broadband land grab.”

Weller concludes: “It’s our hope that BT’s competitors do not decide to follow suit with these charges. Our advice for the customers likely to be affected by these charges is to think about switching to a new home phone provider. The process is simpler than ever before and there are significant savings to be made.”