Linda Hall: Are the elderly being ripped off?

Linda Hall says phone providers need to look to their long-standing loyal customers and give them a better deal on landlines. Photo / NZME

Someone I know has been paying more than $100 a month for a landline and basic internet coverage. They are also being charged for toll calls and calls made to cellphones from their landline.

Not a very helpful package for two people on a fixed income struggling to cope with the rising cost of living.

They hardly use the internet and in my opinion the charges are way too much.

You might ask why they didn't query it.

The answer is one that most us will understand.

They are an older couple, they have been paying the same amount for a long time on a plan that was probably not a bad deal when they took it on.

So they just keep paying it as you do. They are of a generation that always pays their bills on time.

They are also of the generation that if something was worrying them they would pick up the phone and call the provider and ask for a bit of help.

These days callers are put on hold for hours and then to make matters worse they don't understand about data and gigabytes (actually, I don't understand that either).

It's easier for them to just pay the bill.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.

I would guess that these days most of the people with landlines are either elderly or they have elderly family or friends who rely on landlines for contact. They have probably had the same deal and provider for years.

So they just keep paying and paying. Many of them either don't want to deal with cellphones or they simply find them too hard to learn.

To put this into perspective. A young lady I know has a cellphone. She pays $20 a month. For that she gets unlimited texts, 1.25GB (data) that rolls over if not used, plus 2GB of bonus data. She also gets 200 minutes of calls within New Zealand.

That's a good deal.

Now just this minute I have been told by someone in the office that according to their plan they pay just $8.69 a month for their landline. I'm looking at their account as I type this.

Unbelievable.

What have the couple in question been paying for?

All landlines should be $10 and under a month, even if that's the only connection you have in your home.

The elderly deserve a break.

Phone providers need to look to their long-standing loyal customers and give them a better deal.

If you have elderly parents or friends it might pay to check out their account. If you think they can get a better deal, help them out.

Technology can be really hard for some people who have dealt with pen and paper all their lives.

As we know when we get older it is harder to remember things. I bet there are many homes out there with cellphones that never get used.

The owners are likely to be paying dead money for those as well.

That's where family, especially grandchildren, come in. It's time to pay back some of that patience and repetitive lessons that taught you all sorts of skills when you were growing up.

Go give your parents and grandparents some lessons.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today