BT's misleading marketing & and charging systems

Question

I have been a BT customer for 9 years, upgraded to package 3 of BT Broadband three to four years ago - I was recently made redundant therefore am now self-employed working from home.  Last year I was having significant problems with my BT Hub phone, and despite signing up for a new contract the BT Help desk were unwilling to provide a working BT Hub phone until I finally contacted the CEO's office and media team, which finally resolved the matter.
My quarterly bill has gone from around £100, to £163, to £357, to £439, to the last one of £560, and according to BT I have only myself to blame - most of the calls are to landlines in the UK (again as I'm now working from home) and while there is a package available for £5 a month to have unlimited UK phone calls, at no point in any communication from BT has there been a suggestion to change plans, even when I signed up for a new contract.  As my billls have escalated dramatically, especially the last two, I have reviewed in detail and fixed MY mistake which has cost me HUNDREDS of pounds (how is it BT's pricing allows longterm customers to continue on a package obviously not correct for their usage?) - MORE IMPORTANTLY, in reviewing my bill I also learned:
 - BT CHARGE CUSTOMERS 9.3 CENTS PER CALL SET UP FEE, A CHARGE WHICH CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN SMALL PRINT IN TERMS/CONDITIONS, AND NO WHERE IN ALL THE WEB, PRINT, EMAIL, AND OTHER PROMOTION BT SEND OUT WHICH CLEARLY STATE 5.4 CENTS PER MINUTE TO LANDLINE, AND 12.5 CENTS PER MINUTE TO MOBILE
 - THIS SET-UP FEE WENT UP TWICE IN 2009 (A 34% INCREASE IN ONLY ONE YEAR) WITH NO COMMUNICATION OF ANY KIND TO CUSTOMERS
 - BT ALSO 'ROUND-UP' ALL CALL TIMES AND CHARGES - IF YOU MAKE A CALL OF 1 MINUTE, AND ONE SECOND, YOU ARE CHARGED FOR A TWO MINUTE CALL - IF YOUR CALL COSTS 21.1 CENTS, BT CHARGE YOU 22 CENTS - IT MAY NOT SOUND LIKE A LOT, BUT IF YOU MAKE A LOT OF CALL, IT IS SIGNIFICANT, AND IN MY LAST TWO BILLS ACCOUNTS FOR 20-25% OVERCHARGE COMPARED TO QUOTED RATES, NOT EVEN COUNTING THE WELL HIDDEN SET UP FEE
I've now changed my account to Anytime (£5 per month unlimited UK calls) so hopefully this will no longer be an issue, however I feel RIPPED OFF by BT's EXTREMELY MISLEADING MARKETING, which does not state the VERY HIGH SET UP FEE FOR EACH CALL, and over and above this SYSTEMATICALLY RIP CUSTOMERS OFF BY AGGRESSIVELY ROUNDING UP MINUTES AND RATES leading to significantly higher REAL rates. TALKTALK offers unlimited calls and broadband for £20 per month - BT is such a rip-off, and really should refund a large proportion of the rates they've charged me - I will be looking into alternatives, and posting details of their misleading marketing and charging with the ASA and other relevant bodies.  It is blatantly misleading, and BT should not be allowed to get away with this.

Answer 1

Hi MichaelT I 100% agree with you, I made a local call to my doctors last week 30second which cost me 15p this is more expensive than a mobile call, I have now also signed up to the unlimited uk call package, this is a ploy by BT to corral all thier customers into having this package, looks like its working.