BT Telephone rental & the elderly

[shaun127]

I have my elderly mother down for the weekend and she has had a BT line for 26 years.

When she took out the line rental she also rented a basic corded telephone from BT.

 

She has had this phone 26 years and has been charged rental for 26 years,currently £3-odd per quarter

 

I've been onto BT and asked them to cancel the rental of this phone and to ask how to return it as she has also had a cordless phone for years

 

No problem rental canceled and she can keep phone, no need to return it.

 

Looking on line at moneysavingexpert forum

 

BT Equipment Hire - have you been renting your telephone for over 18 months? - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

 

You only need to rent the telephone for 18 months of your contract and no need to return it.

Is there any way where you can claim this money back?

 

Bt don't seem to tell you this and have happily collected the rental for 26 yrs

 

This will mainly be elderly relatives who may have rental telephones from BT, so if you have any eldery parents etc, check their bills for this unnecessary charge

Edited May 28, 2010 by shaun127

[locutus]

Good post. BT will allow people to keep the equipment if it is over a certain age if they request to cancel it. It boils down to if it is worth BT refurbishing it. When I worked for BT I wasn't told any hard and fast rules, but 18 months is probably a good guideline.

[buzby]

What you forget is that the rental isn't a fee for using the supplied handset, but a fee that ensures you have a working handset at all times. If it went wrong for whatever reason, it would have been replaced at no cost to the renter.

 

Some other issues com into play. You say she's rented it for 26 years? Back then it was quite possible to have hard wired OR plug-and-socket connection. If HW, it was not allowed to users to attach their own phones, but it was if the modular sockets were installed. As such, it was up to the renter to buy their own preferred handset, and tell BT to cancel the rental. Usually, this simply meant the charge came off the bill and you kept the phone, as they would not want it back, and you would be reswponsible for a replacement if it went faulty.

 

BT no longer rent new equipment to residential users. but there are some people still paying as they have old equipment they may wish to retail (like special diallers or BT-supplied disabled user equipment, which the company will still maintain or replace as required.