Haggle with BT - our new guide

siju

Successful haggling Called this morning following the BT hike email. After first offer (£30 saving pa) I said I wanted to do more research and speak with my OH. Called back to cancel and was offered a better deal saving me £157 pa. Very happy customer.

Vertnin

I called BT today, after realising that when my 12-month Superfast fibre 1 contract ended, the price went from £32.99 to £49.99. I pretty much straight away got offered a reduction to £31.99. But that's still much more than I really want to be paying. I asked if I could cut the speed and have a slower option, but apparently in my area the only option is the superfast.

I spoke to the guy for a bit and told him that BT was charging more than any other company and he just said that's because they offer a premium service and aren't trying to have competitive prices.
He tried to convince me by saying that it was a great reduction from 49.99 but I said it's still more than I want to pay. I said I'd think about it and hung up. He says he's noted on my account that I've been offered the £31.99 price.

Some other details about my situation: I have fibre to the premises so my options are very limited. None of the cheaper companies offer it so I am essentially stuck with BT. Otherwise, I would have in a second switched to the TalkTalk faster broadband for £12 pm!

I can see from previous posts on here that others have got this Superfast 1 for less than this £31.99 they're offering me. Does location make any difference (i'm in Central London)? Is it because he knows I can't get the non-fibre options? And should I give in and go with the £31.99?

Thanks

neilsedaka

I am also on FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) so am limited to BT or BT as the provider. My cost is £22.00 per month which is calculated as follows.

£49.99 Superfast Fibre 1 unlimited
-£17.00 discount
-£18.99 line rental saver paid annually in advance
£13.00 mobile phone including unlimited calls/texts and 3Gb data
-£5.00 mobile discount

Also included are unlimited weekend and evening landline calls, caller display and call protect. And received a £40 Amazon voucher for ordering the mobile SIM. The cost of the mobile will soon fall from £8/month net to £5/month. The speed of the fibre is fantastic.

I am therefore a very happy bunny.

Vertnin

Thanks! That's good to hear.

So the £17 discount is similar to what they offered me. They did ask if I wanted to get a mobile SIM but I told them I pay £4 per month for this, so they couldn't offer me anything better.
But you're saying that paying more for a SIM with them will allow them to discount my broadband substantially more so that I end up paying less overall for both?
And what's that upfront line rental payment discount? It discounts you £18.99 per month (is that right?), that sounds like a lot!

Did they offer all this to you straight away? Is it worth me actually asking for these or do you think they dislike it if I come with ideas about what stuff they should give me?

neilsedaka

The mobile phone SIM is separate in contract terms to the remainder of the BT services I receive, although it appears on the same bill. In my case having mobile from BT had no effect on the fibre contract because the fibre 18 month contract was already in place.

If you pay for your line rental annually up front via line rental saver it is about £1/month cheaper than paying it monthly.

Historically I have always had free unlimited weekend and evening landline calls so gets included in any renewal of the fibre contract. Annually I opt for the free BT Privacy Caller Display service.

Vertnin

Oh I see. So you're also paying for line rental separately (upfront annually) in addition to that £22. How much is your annual line rental cost—£228 (216 with upfront discount)-ish?

So really that should still be included in your monthly cost if you're working out how much it actually costs you. So you're paying in essence £22 plus the £18 (which you've already paid in advance) per month, including having a phone SIM. £40.

Is that right?

neilsedaka

My line rental saver payment in Feb 2018 was £208.80. So that is the equivalent of £22.00 + £17.40 = £39.40/month.

It is only recently that Ofcom forced telecoms to include line rental in their advertised monthly rates.

No doubt next time around when my 18 month contract expires I shall endeavour to improve what I am paying. Nevertheless I consider my current payments to be excellent value given that my household uses the internet intensively and the FTTP service has been consistent without speed reductions or fault for two and a half years.

spyhunter

Ashridge wrote: »

at first but then later GREAT!
Received letter from BT telling me of price increases - on Infinity 1 (£149.97/quarter) and Unlimited Anytime calling plan (£28.50/quarter) which means approx £190/quarter or ~£59.50/month and this is then going to go up by £2.50/month fir Broadband and basic calls and £0.49/month for Unlimited Anytime.

Very irritating and so one-sided that an 18 month "contract" entered into as recently as November can be increased in price AGAIN!
Anyway, called BT this morning, got passed to "Loyalty" team ... all he would offer was "if you sign up now to new contract we won't increase price and you'll stay as you are now".

Not convinced by this ... no flexibility ... no real offer and no reduction .. just an avoidance of an increase!
Not sure I got through to the right department - is "Loyalty" the same as "Disconnections"? I suspect not. I was going to call them back and get to disconnections but ...

... I also lobbed off a polite email of complaint to the signatory on the letter (just assuming [EMAIL="firstname.lastname@bt.com"]firstname.lastname@bt.com[/EMAIL]) about this being the 2nd increase in a "contract" period and lo and behold .. a call comes in from the Exec Level complaints team or similar and now £49.99 a month is down to £29.99 as if I was a new customer .. DONE!

Loyalty team is the new name for BT Customer options team. So yes cancellation team

boatman

£23.99/month seems to be what people are being offered to stay having received the latest price rise email/letter. That includes line rental with weekend calls and fibre infinity 1 unlimited.


If you are fibre to the premises(fttp) then it could well be a bit more than fttc as they know you have less options..

Keith_Turnell

After many years, we decided to switch from BT for a better deal, however I wanted to keep my BT Email account open for many reasons, BT offered me the E Mail service at £5 / month in March of this year, which I reluctantly accepted. Two weeks ago I received a mail from BT stating the charge was increasing to £7.50 a month, with no explanation, my subsequent E Mail to be for an explanation still remains unanswered, so I will be moving. I believe under EU rules, exploitation of a dominant position in a marketplace is illegal?