Members Letters & Emails

I have received an Email  from 84 year old Arthur Thompson and It seemed a good idea to start up a Members Letters Page, so lets have a few more.  Excluded Topics are Religion and Politics but pension issues are acceptable. Personally Insulting, defamatory and offensive material will not be allowed and Editorial decision is final.

 

 

To: wm.rees@icloud.com 

Reply to:n1ggle@btinternet.com

 

Hi
I came across your site whilst searching for information about my state pension.

I joined BT in 1970 and despite having 37 years of full contributions I have now been told I do not qualify for a full state pension.
There were 9 years when I did not contribute enough because I opted out. (SERPS)

This came as a complete surprise to me, I didn't realise they could change the rules retrospectively which is what happened in April 2016.
They also tell me I have 4 more years to contribute before 5 April 2020 but I still won't get a full pension!

I was wondering if anyone my age 63 has also been caught out and what if anything we can do about it?

Regards
Nigel Shaw

Posted 12 November 17

 

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Arthur Thompson <ruhtratadmawr@gmail.com>

To: w.rees614@btinternet.com

Starting Local Groups

Your article re setting up groups seems a fine idea, but my problem is being unable to 'chat' with old G.P.O. Engineers of my age group, I am in my 85th year and have many happy memories of a career from Postman (required starting point to obtain. Civil Service Certificate which allowed me as an engineer to transfer to G.P.O.Telephones then the slow climb from T2B to mandatory retirement in 1989 as Line Manager in the same Exchange where I began, no doubt I was fortunate to have an interest in the Radio and Electrical Technology since a very early age in the early 1920's and had the luck to a brief sojourn in the Higher Education System, not altogether a happy experience due to being a 'Scholarship Boy' plus the WW 2 upheavals and the Liverpool bombing blitz

      Getting to the point (I tend to be 'long winded') it seems that for practical reasons (mainly physical) the only solution is trying to form a network group of 'Over 75's'.................but how?

Sent from my iPad

 

Comment

The btpensionersreconnect site is not interactive and therefore the readership is limited to those who happen to access this page which may not be many. Some of the the BT Facebook pages may be a better place to get wider readership. Also the BT Pension Scheme should always be the first port of call on any pension matter at the email address below. peopleline.pensions@accenture.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Editors Comment:

   The raison d'etre of this site is to get old colleagues in touch with one another and from the outset I have promoted the idea of local groups, of which I find there are a few around and there are also a number of Re-Unions occurring from time to time

   Arthur's career was it seems in the S West Region in Bristol so come on you Bristolians, Get in touch with Arthur thompson28@tiscali.co.uk and see if you can get a Group together.

 

 

Steve Metcalf <steve.metcalf@btinternet.com>Portchester Hampshire

 

BT Charges for Email Address

 

I have joined you pensioner website.

I thought I would comment about BT's change to start charging to retains one's '  btinternet.com ' mail account.

I expect you received the same.

I am not on BT Broadband but I am with Plusnet which you may know is owned by BT.

I have had this e-mail address well in excess of 20 years, so to have changed it would have caused a lot of work, as I have in excess 180 various contacts.

I accepted to pay the £1.60 per month to save this work, although as a backup I have set up a yahoo account which is free.

Trying to set up the Direct Debit was a lot of trouble as their website did not like my account name as per my HSBC account name ( internet & paper based details). I eventual lily was able to contact ( going through a ' lot of hoops' as it is not advertised well )  the Premium Mail team ( 40 minute queue ) who agreed it did not work, but mixed up the name where it was eventual lily accepted.

My point is, as a pensioner I think it is rather mean to start charging us ( worked for them 33 years ) when all other e-mail accounts are free.

Also to set up the Direct Debit as a Plusnet customer I found rather hard to do. They even tried to say contact Plusnet...

I wonder if other members experienced the same frustration and annoyance with BT  when they say ' to simplify their product range '.

I would be interested in your view point on this matter.

Would it be a ' talking point ' on your website?

 

Regards

Steve

 

 

Editors Comment:

I have no knowledge or experience of Steve's problem with his BT Email address, so I have no helpful comment to make.Readers may wish to comment through this Letters Page or directly to Steve

John Donovan On 2 Sep 2013, at 16:25,  <j.donovan1@btinternet.com> Wrote 

I know its very unlikely but at the tender age of 73 I decided to try and contact a colleague of mine,his name is Alan Anscombe and when I was last in contact he lived at Raynes Park SW London.

    He's probably in his middle 60's now so if anyone has any info that could lead to finding out about him it would be most appreciated, I can be contacted on 07788166786.

    Its over 20 years since I was last in contact. I retired early at 50 and he carried on with BT but may have moved on. I have tried BT pension people and in years gone by you could at least get a letter forwarded to a person via their pensions record. They tell me they don't do this service any more.

    I am of course assuming that he's still alive. Thanks for listening

 

John Donovan.

P.S .I suppose that I ought to mention that we worked in the West End District and the headquarters then was151 Shaftesbury Ave. We  worked mainly at Mayfair Exchange.

Posted 3 Sept 2013

 

 

Frank Donovan on 12 Oct 2013<francisg4ald@btinternet.com> Wrote

 

Greetings all,

Great to see this website has been started. My working life actually began in the papermaking industry - I worked in a chemistry lab for much of my early career, but owing to the mill's closure, I had to find alternative employment. I am a radio amateur in my spare time, so I thought I would try to use what electrical knowledge I had to become re-employed. I was lucky to join British Telecom in London (South Central area) in 1981.

I have been reading the letters submitted with great interest.  Like John Donovan, I too retired from BT early, at the age of 53 (I'm now 64), and looking back, I did enjoy the job, but not the hassle and ever increasing pace we seemed to experience towards the end of my employ! I ended up with nearly 23 years service, starting as a fitter in the Westminster district of central London. After graduating through various changes and re-training ('multi-skilling' they called it!), I ended up doing external faults, overhead work (not that many poles in central London, but we were sent further afield into Fulham and Parson's Green when demand dictated). This was in addition to internal installation/fitting etc etc, on both business and residential. I saw big changes during my service (1981 to 2003), most noticeably the change from electromechanical  to totally electronic (and silent!) exchanges. They have even sold off some sites where exchanges once were, necessitating diversion of all the lines to other exchanges ! Must have been quite a job !

My happiest memories stem from dealing with the wide range of public I encountered (being customer facing, one developed many diplomatic skills!) My areas included some of the most expensive property in the country - Belgravia, Chelsea, Kensington, as well as Whitehall, Pimlico, Victoria, Earls Court, Fulham, etc. I also got to meet several well known personalities. I did try to reckon up how many miles I have driven for BT over the years, but gave up after about the first 100,000 !

Regards,

Frank Donovan.

Posted 13 Oct 2013

 

 

PETER HURD <ja1939mes@btinternet.com>

Contacting External Engineering people City of London.

Hi 

I am interested in contacting Ex colleagues dating from 1963 to 1999.

I worked out of Waterloo, Hop,  Bermondsey, Walworth, Newcross, Royal, Stepney, Mile end and    I also worked in Fleet Building as an office wallah also Delta point West Croyden finally retiring from an office near North End Market, Croydon.

 

I Started at Waterloo in 1962, when we lost Waterloo to Reliance Mr. Chad Saunders and myself stayed at Waterloo for 2 weeks; working in the Reliance area, so as to make our mind up where we wanted to work. Chad opted for Reliance i returned to bermondsey.

Another person i would like to contact is, Mr. Ron. Foulger who retired  to Norfolk with his family. I lost contact with Ron about 12 years ago.

                                                                                      

Yours Sincerely P.J.H

 

Posted 13 December 2013