Sneaky BT...

BT recently announced free unlimited weekend calls for its customers. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? Er, no. Buried deep in the incomprehensible terms and conditions Together Option 1 customers (who make up 10.8 million - in other words the majority - of BT's customers) will discover the real cost of those 'free' weekend calls next time they get their bill.

A few years ago BT ran a very high profile TV ad featuring Jeremy Clarkson extolling the virtues of BT's 5p an hour evening call rate. BT has just scrapped that rate, but they've kept it pretty quiet. Now it will cost 1.5p a minute or 90p an hour for a call which used to cost 5p.

OK so for 3 nights of the week calls will be free - but for 4 nights of the week a 60 minute call which used to cost 5p now costs 90p. BT say their customers will be better off. That, I suppose, depends on how many calls you make. You'd have to make 18 'free' weekend calls (which used to cost 5p) to save the new 90p cost of one weekday evening call. Go figure. How has Ofcom allowed BT to confuse its customers like this? Perhaps not unlike the FSA - they are they asleep at the wheel? (as they were with 'premium rate TV telephony and still are over adult 'chat' TV channels - the babe stations).

BT can't do maths and they can't spell either. In their terms and conditions they refer to Weekend Unlimited (formally Option 1) sic. Hope some legal eagles can have fun with their mistake (void terms and conditions perhaps?)

Finally moneysavingexpert recommends switching all calls to primus 2 saver. This apparently gives free weekend and evening calls. BT will offer you this too - in exchange for a rolling 12 month contract, with penalties if you terminate early. I think BT may have shot themselves in the foot and the head this time.