Find out all you need to know about how Home Phone billing works.
Paying for Home Phone
- How do I pay for the service?
- When are my payments due?
- Do I still need to pay BT for my line rental?
- What happens if a payment fails?
Credit Limits
- What credit limits are in place?
- How are credit limits managed?
- What if I use up all my credit?
Call Charges
- How are calls charged for?
- How much do calls cost?
- How are Operator and Typetalk calls charged?
- I wish to query a premium rate call charge, what do I do?
Call Features
- How am I billed for Call Features?
- I've cancelled a call feature but I have been charged for it. Why?
Moving away from Home Phone
- What does it cost to move away from the Home Phone service?
- Can I keep my broadband service after transferring my Home Phone service?
- I've cancelled my broadband and now I want to cancel my Home Phone account as well, what do I need to do?
Compensation Claims
- Do PlusNet offer compensation claims?
- What types of compensation can be claimed?
- How do I make a claim?
Paying for Home Phone
1. How do I pay for the service?
Payments for accounts with Broadband and Home Phone must be made by Direct Debit. If you currently have a Broadband account and pay by card, you will need to set up a Direct Debit payment so we can progress a Home Phone order. Note: You can still sign up for the Home Phone service, the order will placed to move your telephone line once your Direct Debit has gone live.
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2. When are my payments due?
Your Home Phone service will be billed at the same time as your Broadband service on a single bill.
In order to do this, the first payment will be a pro-rata one so that subsequent billing dates match your Broadband billing date.
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3. Do I still need to pay BT for my line rental?
No, the line rental charge is included in the cost of all Home Phone packages.
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4. What happens if a payment fails?
If you fail to pay for Home Phone or go over your monthly credit limit (see Question 7) we have the right to stop your outgoing calls. If this happens you will be charged an administration fee of £5.76 on your next billing date. This charge is imposed on us by our network and calls service provider.
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Credit Limits
5. What credit limits are in place?
The credit limits on Home Phone accounts are as follows:
| Home Phone Evening & Weekends: |
£50 |
Home Phone Anytime:
|
£50 |
| Home Phone Anytime+: |
£70 |
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6. How are credit limits managed?
Every 4 hours, we update call records to give near real-time information on calls made. Once a call has been confirmed as valid, any costs for that call are taken from your credit limit.
It is possible that a call may remain unconfirmed for an extended period of time. If this happens and the call is not confirmed until after your next billing date, the cost will be added to your next invoice but the call will be recorded against the bill for the period the call was in.
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7. What if I use up all my credit?
If you reach your credit limit, you will not be able to make outgoing phone calls, except emergency and operator calls.
If we have to stop your outgoing calls, you will be charged a fee of £5.76 to re-enable outgoing calls.
You can stop this happening by topping up your credit limit using a debit or credit card. We will email you to warn when your available credit limit reaches levels of £15, £10 and £5 to help you manage this.
In order to make outgoing calls again, you must ensure you have at least £5 available credit when topping up your account.
You can top up your credit by various amounts (£5, £10, £25, £50, £75 and £100) at any time by going to the Home Phone Control Panel.
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Call Charges
8. How are calls charged?
See our Call Charges Guide for details.
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9. How much do calls cost?
For the costs of chargeable calls, see our Home Phone Tariffs Guide.
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10. How are Operator and Typetalk calls charged?
Operator services are provided by BT, so BT call charges apply. It is your responsibility to ask the Operator how much your call will cost, before you are connected. Please note: we add a 5% administration charge to all Operator calls.
Typetalk calls are classed a operator-assisted calls, so our standard operator charges apply.
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11. I wish to query a premium rate call charge, what do I do?
Firstly you should check what other pieces of equipment are connected to your telephone line (apart from your telephone handset). One or more of these may be dialling out to premium rate numbers without you knowing.
- Sky/Digital TV boxes - You should check with your TV service provider what numbers these dial. Then check your Home Phone itemised bills.
- Fax dial-up modem (not your broadband router) - You should disconnect this from your telephone line and run a virus check on your PC. A virus may be dialling out to premium rate numbers when you switch your PC on.
- Security and fire alarm systems - Many of these connect to a telephone line. (This is because if a break in or fire happens an alert can be raised, as well as to ensure that the alarm is still connected to the alarm company). You should contact the alarm company and ask under what circumstances the alarm system automatically dials them.
You can find out more about who provides any premium rate number at the Phonepay Plus (the premium rate services regulator) website. This won't always show you the company, but will let you find out the operator (e.g. BT operate '09' numbers for other companies such as ADT Fire & Security alarms).
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Call Features
12. How am I billed for Call Features?
You can add Call Features at the Home Phone Control Panel at any time. If you add Call Features costing less than £3 a month, the cost of the features will be added to your next invoice. If the Call Features cost more than £3 you will be billed for the features immediately. You will then be billed for the cost of the Features each month in your regular monthly bill.
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13. I've cancelled a call feature but I have been charged for it. Why?
You will have already been charged your full monthly fee in advance for the feature/bundle. However, If you have an issue with any fees paid please raise a Question using the Help Assistant.
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Moving away from Home Phone
14. What does it cost to move away from the Home Phone service?
There are no cancellation charges for moving your Home Phone service to another provider. However, you will need to pay any outstanding subscription fees and any call charges which may be due.
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15. Can I keep my broadband service after transferring my Home Phone service?
Yes. Your Broadband service will continue to run unaffected by the move of your landline phone service. Your billing will revert to the standard price for your Broadband account.
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16. I've cancelled my broadband and now I want to cancel my Home Phone account as well. How will I be billed?
Point 1: John has requested a date in the future for his broadband to be cancelled. He now wants to transfer his Home Phone product after the broadband cancellation date.
Point 2: John is emailed and told that his Home Phone Anytime+ product will be transferred away from PlusNet on 19th September 2007.
Point 3: John is charged for calls made since his last billing date. He is not charged a subscription fee.
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Compensation Claims
17. Do PlusNet offer compensation claims?
PlusNet offers compensation on Home Phone faults fixed outside of BT Wholesale's standard SLA. This is a direct match to BT Wholesale's compensation procedure, with PlusNet submitting claims on behalf of BT. However, we cannot guarantee compensation or be held liable for any additional costs which you are charged.
Compensation claims are limited to £180 per customer line per year.
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18. What types of compensation can be claimed?
PlusNet will handle the following types of compensation claim:
- Problems arising from transferred services, new services or telephone line conversions.
- Outgoing calls barred and temporary out of service.
- Cease orders - failure to cancel the line on date specified.
- Cancel own orders- failure of our request to cancel a pending order, (i.e. BT doesn't cancel the order on time).
- Failure of service - faults with the line (such as noise etc.).
- Appointments - engineers failing to meet appointments which have been booked.
- Disconnections made in error - BT disconnecting a phone service when they are not entitled to do so.
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19. How do I make a compensation claim?
Raise a ticket using our Help Assistant. Your compensation claim will be assessed and, if we think it valid, a compensation form will be sent to BT Wholesale on your behalf.
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This page last updated 24th October 2007
