Bolt Ons -Underhanded but not illegal practice?

I just want to flag up to everyone something that I feel is a Delibratley Underhanded practice that shreeks of a Lack of Intergity by my MPP.

I joined my MPP in 05. Soon after I joined I found that I needed a Bolt On of an extra 100 texts so got this added on . Anyway I have stayed with the same MPP ever since 05 and always called at Renewal Time to discuss my usage and negotiate myself a better deal. I have always asked what my av mins and texts pm usage was and then asked what they could offer me based on that info.
At no point during these negotiations have I ever thought to discuss the Bolt On that I had added in 2005 as I thought that at the point of discussing my needs when negotiating my contract each year that this was automatically taken into account.

Anyway I have just found out ( by accident) that for the past 4 yrs I have been paying for a Bolt On that I VERY CLEARLY didnt need!

Now you may ask why I didnt notice it on my bills - Well to be honest it was naivety on my part mainly but in my opinion also not made clear on my paper bill. It said " Your Monthly Extras" and I just though this was because I'd agreed something at each renewal that wasn't a "standard" contract - ie because I had said I needed 300 mins and 200 texts.( and maybe they only had standard tariffs that offer 300mins 100 texts etc)
At no point did I realise that it was in addition to the amount of texts/calls I had clearly stated I needed to have in my contract.

Anyway on flagging this up to my MPP I was told that they had no "Legal Obligation" after a Bolt On had been added to an account to discuss that Bolt On with the customer at the Contract Renewal Point unless the customer requested to discuss it.The Bolt On will stay on the account UNTIL the customer cancels it ( even if you negotiate a new contract with the same MPP)

I take accountabilty for my naivity and gullibility.However in my opinion the practice stinks of underhanded practice and a "We wont talk about it and hopefully you will forget/not realise you are paying for it" approach by the MPP

So to EVERYONE who has renewed a contract with the same MPP please do give them a call and ask if you have any bolt ons....it might just save you some £££s.....Im sure that if my MPP has this practice then many others will too!!

Having done a bit more research over the past hour or so I looked at my MPP's Code of Conduct and came across a couple of sentences that hit a cord with me so I decided to give them another call in order to highlight this to them.


I spoke with "The Leader of the Resolutions Dept" who eventually admitted that ALL their "Advisors" are infact EXPECTED and TRAINED to discuss both Existing and Potential Bolt On's with ALL customers when a customer contacts them to negotiate/review their contract/service from the MPP.

Clearly this has NOT happened in my case on 4 occassions.

I would be interested to hear the readers of this threads opinion as to whether they think this is a training issue or a deliberate attempt by "Advisors" to not discuss the subject if it is not to the "Advisors" advantage.

Hi Hughsey
Thanks for your response and advise, it's much appreciated!!:
I've posted about this subject on 3 different forums so far and to be honest most of the replys have just been to tell me that it's my own fault and also even had the odd one suggesting I'm a Conspiracy Theorist( ). The odd few have been in support of my opinion that it's a delibrate practice.

This really isn't about the money it's cost me personally ( it's about £240 over the total 4 years since I first reviewed my original service with the provider after the bolt on was added) although I am going to pursue this with the MPP further more beause of the principle/moral of it though.

What I do want to do more than anything is warn and flag this up to as many people as possible in order to help some of them save money.

The fact that the company "have no legal obligation" to discuss existing Bolt Ons with customers when a customer calls to review their service/contract gives the MPP something to hide behind when the customer "cottons on" so the customers NEED to know how to play the system so that they don't loose out.

So please EVERYONE that reads this GET ON YOUR MOBILE TO YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER AND DOUBLE CHECK TO SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY BOLT ON'S/BUNDLES/EXTRAS ETC THAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR AND MAY NOT REALISE!!!!!

If you do then post your experience on this thread so we can keep spreading the word to everyone that eventually reads it.

Thanks!