BT Price Increase

Iconic

I am in the middle of a 18 month broadband contract with BT.

The latest monthly bill shows a increase but it appears to be in the BT Option 1 charges rather than the bb price.

No doubt BT's small print allows the increase but does the customer have any option moving to another provider if he does not like the price hike?

bod1467

I suspect this was a line rental increase. Were you notified of this increase? (May have been a letter, or a separate email, or even a notice with a link in your billing email).

If yes then you're likely past the opt-out date. (Customers have a certain period following notification to accept or reject the change. For those in a contract then it allows them to exit the contract without penalty).

If no then you still have the right to exit the contract without penalty. But you may have a fight to prove you weren't notified.

Iconic

Thanks for the reply. I pay line rental a year in advance so it's not that. Anyway as you say they most probably told me so I will just have to put up with it!

Waldir

Hi Iconic

You're not alone. I just noticed yesterday that they did exactly the same to me.
I'm pretty sure I didn't receive any warning, but as bod1467 said, it could be a small link buried somewhere in an email. Like you, I also pay the line rental in advance, and my bills show that broadband increased from £18 to £18.90/month since 2 months ago.

I have the original "signing up" email where it's written £18/month for 18 months, but the T&C suggest that they can change prices at any time! why don't they just change the price to £1000/month now that we're stuck with them for 18 months?

The only thing we can do is cancel the whole thing... we have 10 days to do so after their notification of the price change, so if we missed it we're stuck.
Please post if you get more explanations from them... I'll do too.

Cheers


Edit: I'm also worried about any BT disconnection fee and reconnection fee to new provider if we manage to cancel the current broadband...

Iconic

Hi Waldir

As the new price was effective from 3rd December http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/35832/~/price-changes-from-3-december-2011 I am sure we are to late to do anything about it

I knew about the intended price increase but thought it would not affect me because of the 18 month contract. However because my BB is linked to Option 1 call charges they have managed to sneak the price increase that way.


Overall I am quite happy with the deal I have and the line rental payable in advance at £10 per month is a good. I don't like the 10gb a month download limit though.

Iconic

Waldir

I just called them, and they refunded me 90p for each of the last 2 months:j. They also added a note on my account to avoid doing it again (I don't really expect the note to have any effect, but I'll see next month).

I'm not sure if you are in the same case with Broadband Option 1, but I'm on option 2, which they increased for me from £18 to £18.90/month, but on the website new customers still pay £18/month! Very strange.
They didn't have any explanation, but at least they didn't argue and offered me the refund directly

Iconic

Waldir wrote: »

I just called them, and they refunded me 90p for each of the last 2 months:j. They also added a note on my account to avoid doing it again (I don't really expect the note to have any effect, but I'll see next month).

I'm not sure if you are in the same case with Broadband Option 1, but I'm on option 2, which they increased for me from £18 to £18.90/month, but on the website new customers still pay £18/month! Very strange.
They didn't have any explanation, but at least they didn't argue and offered me the refund directly

Well done. Every little helps:T

I'll have a go myself now!