Discussions on changes to Terms and Conditions
My understanding is that you must charge (no more than) local call rates (01, 02, 03) for 0845, 0870 numbers.
At any time.
The same applies to those on BT.
At any time.
The same applies to those on BT.
Not directly related to the PN recently announced changes as such but maybe something yet to be announced 
How do these 0870 changes affect things like the fax2email service or perhaps more to the point, how are they going to affect the PN service sometime perhaps fairly soon(ish) ?
At the mo, PN (or whoever) presumably get a cut of the 087x call cost and it's often a relatively expensive call in any case. If telecom service providers in general are having to reduce the call charges back in line with 01/2/3 numbers and not only is the PN (or whoever) cut not going to be there in the future but it could perhaps even cost them money per 087x incoming call then I can see some significant changes afoot ! Is the fax2email service likely to be withdrawn completely (as opposed to just being quietly dropped from just about all fairly recent products), will it become a chargeable feature for existing users or are all 0870 numbers currently being used going to subsequently be changed over to an alternative premium(ish) rate number (e.g. 0844 style) or something similar ? The service has to be paid for somehow by someone and if the 0870 changes remove any income as such then presumably this will have to be found from elsewhere !
TBH, I'm not personally *that* concerned/happy/excited/whatever about 0870 numbers being included in any free call allowance for a phone product be that with PN or otherwise as I can see most companies and call centres etc who currently make money from the 1000's of customers listening to the "your call is important to us, all our operators are busy, please hold and your call will be answered shortly" every day will be dumping their 0870 numbers if they haven't already done so. The fact that 0870 is being forced back into line with what it was originally intended to be - a non-specific location but national rate chargeable call - is a good thing of course but it seems to me that 087x numbers in general become more than a bit unattractive in perhaps the majority of cases if there isn't going to be any revenue generated by them.
However, as I said when it first appeared, I do think that the broadband cessation charge stinks although PN passing the BT charge on is sort-of understandable I suppose. A customer pays (in one way or another) to have the service installed in the first place, pays for the on-going service per month, complies with any minimum duration in the contract but than has to pay once again to stop using it. It's just yet another BT rip-off in my view but then again, BT and rip-offs always have gone hand-in-hand ! I paid a small fortune to have my BB connection "set-up" many years back and I had to pay it all up-front to PN. There was no deferred charges of any kind. I also had a lengthy contract (or needed to pay a higher monthly charge for a shorter contract) and I had to pay up-front and in full for any equipment supplied etc. Yet despite having personally paid the full whack and more for my service at day 1, I still have to pay again to cease it should I ever choose to do so. That's just not right having been screwed senseless in the beginning
Customers who paid a very significant "setup" charge some years ago should not have to also pay the current cease charge as it was not part of the initial contract and it was presumably also included in the very much larger "setup" charges made at that time in any case.
How do these 0870 changes affect things like the fax2email service or perhaps more to the point, how are they going to affect the PN service sometime perhaps fairly soon(ish) ? At the mo, PN (or whoever) presumably get a cut of the 087x call cost and it's often a relatively expensive call in any case. If telecom service providers in general are having to reduce the call charges back in line with 01/2/3 numbers and not only is the PN (or whoever) cut not going to be there in the future but it could perhaps even cost them money per 087x incoming call then I can see some significant changes afoot ! Is the fax2email service likely to be withdrawn completely (as opposed to just being quietly dropped from just about all fairly recent products), will it become a chargeable feature for existing users or are all 0870 numbers currently being used going to subsequently be changed over to an alternative premium(ish) rate number (e.g. 0844 style) or something similar ? The service has to be paid for somehow by someone and if the 0870 changes remove any income as such then presumably this will have to be found from elsewhere !
TBH, I'm not personally *that* concerned/happy/excited/whatever about 0870 numbers being included in any free call allowance for a phone product be that with PN or otherwise as I can see most companies and call centres etc who currently make money from the 1000's of customers listening to the "your call is important to us, all our operators are busy, please hold and your call will be answered shortly" every day will be dumping their 0870 numbers if they haven't already done so. The fact that 0870 is being forced back into line with what it was originally intended to be - a non-specific location but national rate chargeable call - is a good thing of course but it seems to me that 087x numbers in general become more than a bit unattractive in perhaps the majority of cases if there isn't going to be any revenue generated by them.
However, as I said when it first appeared, I do think that the broadband cessation charge stinks although PN passing the BT charge on is sort-of understandable I suppose. A customer pays (in one way or another) to have the service installed in the first place, pays for the on-going service per month, complies with any minimum duration in the contract but than has to pay once again to stop using it. It's just yet another BT rip-off in my view but then again, BT and rip-offs always have gone hand-in-hand ! I paid a small fortune to have my BB connection "set-up" many years back and I had to pay it all up-front to PN. There was no deferred charges of any kind. I also had a lengthy contract (or needed to pay a higher monthly charge for a shorter contract) and I had to pay up-front and in full for any equipment supplied etc. Yet despite having personally paid the full whack and more for my service at day 1, I still have to pay again to cease it should I ever choose to do so. That's just not right having been screwed senseless in the beginning
Customers who paid a very significant "setup" charge some years ago should not have to also pay the current cease charge as it was not part of the initial contract and it was presumably also included in the very much larger "setup" charges made at that time in any case.
Quote from: Mand
If you pay upfront for setup and hardware you're no longer within any contract, so can leave with 10 days notice. The website will be updated shortly.
Whilst changing the arrangements for termination, what about making it possible to be able to raise a ticket for a MAC code, at the same time removing writing in as one of the options for having to get one?
@mikeb, not sure but I'll ask.
@barquerole, I'm sure we've discussed this before ;), as far as I'm aware there is no immediate plan to change the MAC request process, but we are looking at a complete overhaul of the Help Assistant, so it may be possible to make some changes there. No timescales as yet, or commitment that it can be done though, although I'll certainly ask.
@Wheel_nut, thanks, good to see we've proved that we do pass feedback on, and we do take this into account when making changes in projects.
@barquerole, I'm sure we've discussed this before ;), as far as I'm aware there is no immediate plan to change the MAC request process, but we are looking at a complete overhaul of the Help Assistant, so it may be possible to make some changes there. No timescales as yet, or commitment that it can be done though, although I'll certainly ask.
@Wheel_nut, thanks, good to see we've proved that we do pass feedback on, and we do take this into account when making changes in projects.
