MSE News: BT to announce price hikes this weekend

crin

I did a renewal of my BT last year on a 12 month contract which expires on 19th Sept this year. A month after the new contract started they messed up my payment dates by bringing them forward by over a week and when I rang to complain they did change it back but when I got my bill it had gone from a monthly bill to a quarterly bill I only get 10GB per month allowance yet my bills for line and broadband are around £32pcm.

Since they messed up everything last year I have had nothing but problems and they just ignore what is said to them if you actually manage to get hold of anyone who you can understand (I have problems with accents).

I had a fault recently and because the engineer couldn't find anything wrong they have also now charged me a 1 off fee of £130 for his visit, he was here less than 10 minutes.

So, to recap:

Sept 2013 new contract taken out at £31pcm payable by DD on 1st of each month
Oct 2013 payment date brought forward by more than 1 week without prior notification plus price increase notification
Nov 2013 BT failed to take the DD
Dec they tried to put my monthly payment up to £50pcm
Jan again they tried to increase the monthly payments & said they would restrict my service
March more problems from them
June they tried to increase my payments again to £55pcm I was so annoyed I phoned and was on the phone more than an hour trying to find someone who I understood and who understood what I was talking about without success they just read from a script
July I wrote telling them I would be cancelling my contract as from 18th September 2014 when it expired
AUg 2014 just had a new bill for 3 months until Nov (auto extending my contract) which includes the one off exorbitant charge of £130 pcm.

I received this bill on Saturday by email. My daughter rang them this morning as she was the one who arranged the engineers visit. Just after that they did an auto message to say they hadn't hd payment and if I didn't pay immediately they would restrict my service I am so very peed off with them but what on earth can I do about it?

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Well I have taken the decision to actually dump the land line totally. Will be nice to get back my advance charges and be rid of the BT cash cow. I was shocked to discover my internet and phone costs were more than my gas and electric. Will stick to mobile browsing for the small amount of surfing and email I use and can connect to WiFi in public places and the Library if I need to.

Interestingly I discovered a friend's friend who lives near a marina dumped their landline and now uses the marina's Wifi and pays £125 a year to do so and it is very fast too apparently.

Shame more Wifi or "street" wifi or village wifi isnt more common.

Olduserpasswordforgot

so if i understand this correctly, once i receive the letter regarding price hike, i can call BT and ask for my MAC without penalty? or is it i tell them this is their 31 day notice of termination and then ask for my MAC. will i need a mac if i go with Sky?

buglawton

BT need to milk the remainder of the non digital elderly population who don't like fiddling with mobiles, fear the tech issues with switching and just want a simple life.

What will be really interesting is when the much more tech savvy boomer generation takes that pensioner slot. They will ALL go mobile-only methinks, so the big landline milch cow will backfire big-time!

spyhunter

buglawton wrote: »

BT need to milk the remainder of the non digital elderly population who don't like fiddling with mobiles, fear the tech issues with switching and just want a simple life.

What will be really interesting is when the much more tech savvy boomer generation takes that pensioner slot. They will ALL go mobile-only methinks, so the big landline milch cow will backfire big-time!

Which is why BT are moving back into mobile offers for business and soon to be consumer offers.

http://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2014/08/22/bt-group-plcs-new-mobile-network-gets-a-great-reception/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11038658/Interview-John-Petter-head-of-BTs-consumer-division.html

buglawton

After this weekend's BT inflation busting price hike they just cannot be trusted - mobile solution or not.

Who to go to? Plusnet would be obvious but are a subsidiary of BT and may be set to become a chip of the old block.

Why can't someone invent a 4g-to-landline converter box?
This mythical gadget is both a standard broadband wifi router and a plug-replacement for the standard landline faceplate.
You plug it in and presto, all landline devices including fax and elderly person's alarms are now routed via 4g. All pre-configured, you retain your landline number both in and outgoing. But with much more competitive rental.

Why won't it exist? Probably because OFCOM won't allow or support such an idea.

wilko99

I think the main article about BT line rental missed a trick here. I have been with Primus for my line rental for a few years, and despite the recent poll about customer service being poor, I have had no problems. I was out of contract recently, so gave them a ring and got another 12 months line rental for £6.99 a month !!!!! That includes free UK calls, up to an hour, form 6 PM though to 8 AM. Also I use a company called 1899, which just for the connection charge of 5p, you can talk all day, in the UK for free. I ring the USA, and the charge there to ring land line or mobile is just 2p per minute. Whoever you pay your line rental to, you do not have to have it's broadband service. You can, as I do, have Primus line rental, and BT broadband. Don't let them tie in both products if its not cost affective? I work for BT, and OK I get BT infinity for free, but should I of not have that benefit, then I would be straight onto Primus fibre broadband.

mbpalmer

apt wrote: »

If you pay for BT line rental a year in advance it is less expensive (none are cheap) than Sky and TalkTalk. If you want BT Sport it is cheaper to take a deal from BT paying slightly more for the broadband to get BT Sport free. You can also get £210 cashback plus a Sainsbury voucher if you sign up to BT via topcashback (new customers only). So BT can be a good deal, but with all the companies you have to be willing to haggle and/or switch.

How does the £210 cashback work? How do you receive it?

If I left nBT due to the price hike but then came back as a new customer, would I be eligible?

mbpalmer

While this sounds good, I'd be losing out on the television pack so would have to get a new TV deal from somewhere plus the MSE email alerting me to the deals said this

Unlimited broadband: You pay £2.50/mth, so £30 for 1yr, avail to 95% of the UK. Be warned the price will rise after the 1-yr contract.

Does anyone affiliated with MSE know what the price will rise to after 1 year?

Thanks

ramit

So I joined bt around 4 months ago. I paid for the line rental on a yearly basis.

If I use this increase to leave bt, will I get a proportion (8 months worth) of my line rental refunded?

Thanks