Haggle with BT - our new guide

System

Hello - Just to assist, this is the deal I have been offered for 18 months (with a guarantee that any further price increases will not affect my contract) and have accepted...

£23.99 for Fibre (inc line rental)
£3.00 for BT Sport
BT Sport HD free for first three months, but £6.50 per month after that (will cancel once three months is up, as the HD aspect can be cancelled at any time)
Unlimited weekend calls for free
Basic TV for free

I pay my line rental up front for the discount, so it works out at about £8 a month.

By the way, I was only midway through my contract but renegotiated as soon as I had the email about September price increases.

SaleBuyer

Out of contract and currently paying about £72 a month for Infinity 2 with Anytime Calls. We were also being charged for 1571 and Caller Display which we have cancelled (putting us down to about £67), have never had sport included and have been with them since dial up for Internet. Guess what they offered us? £65 a month! We informed them we would be leaving for Sky at £38 and all they did was inform us of the leaving process. I do wonder if it is because they quoted us using a lot of data so they are glad to see us go. Will post back if they offer anything better when we put an order in with Sky.

meherenow

Posted this over on the price increase thread, but maybe it should be over here too.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else with FTTP only (no copper) has had any luck...



Left it to the last minute to check my options (due to the price increase today).

I'm on FTTP only (no copper) so options very limited.

Got told I am already on the best deal, the old 300/30 Superfast Fibre 4 - going up to £62.49 and then a whopping £78.49 next summer (although pretty sure I would get a better deal than that).

When I mentioned that their current offer of the newly renamed Ultrafast Fibre 2 (and now its 330/50) is only £54.99 I was told they could not match their own offer!?! Best he could do he said was the Ultrafast Fibre 1 (150/20) at the full price of £59.99.

Also mentioned I can't justify their terrible TV service just for the one 4K footy match I might get a chance to watch a week - don't get me wrong, I love the 4K footy, but £20 a month just for that? Was told I could save £8 by getting rid of everything and keeping the BT Sport NON 4K service! Surely the TV contract is separate even though I bought them at the same time and this could be cancelled independant of the fibre/phone.

So much for "finding out my options" that the letter says - or from their website about the price increase:

"What if I'm unhappy with the price changes?

We're sorry that you're unhappy about how the price changes affect you.

Get in touch - we'll help you save with our great deals and make sure your bill is the best it can be for you."

Seems like it's like it or lump it for me!


Er, thanks for nothing, cancellation tendered and off to Zen I go, would rather give them £50 a month for the 150Mbps - don't need a landline anyway.

neilsedaka

These speed labels are confusing. Infinity - Superfast - Ultrafast - Full Fibre. Is there a guide in plain English anywhere?

meherenow raises an important point. Those of us on FTTP have very limited options as to provider. It's pretty much a choice of BT or BT. None of the other providers of FTTP listed on the Openreach website (Andrews and Arnold, Structured Communications, Syscomm, Cerberus, Zen, Spectrum Internet) appear to be competitive. Some of them do not even mention line rental.

https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-broadband/ultrafast-fibre-buy-it-now

I started with BT Infinity 1 Unlimited at 52Mbps download speed. BT provided everyone on Infinity 1 with a free increase to 75Mbps a few months later. My bill says that is now called Superfast Fibre 1 Unlimited. That speed is more than adequate for this household. Multiple HD streams at the same time is no problem.

As meherenow opted for Superfast Fibre 4, BT may think that he/she is able to afford high prices in return for the fastest speeds, and are therefore less inclined to offer lower prices. Apart from the BT Sport 4K issue you may find that a downgrade to service 1 may be adequate for your requirements?

jonesjw

I tried haggling with BT and got them down from £56.49 to £36.99 for Superfast 2 which their sales rep claimed was 75~80 MB/sec. That might be the maximum speed, however the BT website quotes an AVERAGE of 67 MB.

Vodafone claim an average of 65 MB, for what is, as far as I know the same product via wholesale. £28 a month (with free evening & weekend calls).

He claimed the 75~80 MB was faster than the Vodafone 65 MB, but that is comparing a maximum with an average.



So still 8.99 a month more with BT.

neilsedaka

Just curious. BT provided all Infinity 1 customers with a free upgrade from c52Mbps to c75Mbps. When BT changed the names of their products did they downgrade Infinity 1 c75Mbps to Superfast 1 c50Mbps?

JJ_Egan

<Just curious. BT provided all Infinity 1 customers with a free upgrade from c52Mbps to c75Mbps.>


Never saw that upgrade and never been offered such .

neilsedaka

I have updated the link.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2017/10/bt-gives-broadband-customers-free-speed-upgrades-and-extra-cloud-storage-/

JJ_Egan

Dead link

Adverts show average fibre 1 50 meg and fibre 2 67meg



My up to 38 meg original fibre was upgraded to up to 52 meg some years back .

davethesteam

Oh dear, how a proud company has resortedc to dirty tricks small print.
I had NO notification from BT of the new pricing structure ()they said it has been sent to me by e.mail on 8th August, but I never received it despite regularly checking spam folders etc).
My Broadband contract expires in June2019 but due to not receiving the notification of price increase I only noticed on bill received 21st Sept
I negotiated a price (excluding my prepaid line saver valid to 12th Dec 2018) of £14.99 per month (Basic Broadband,anytime calls, friends and family ) I found Plus Net would be saving me an aggregate of £14.00 per month (with cash back deal ) for 12 month deal. I duly fixed it up and rang BT to ask for the balance of my line rental. Not only did they refuse (later than 30days from alleged notification of increases), but also projected cancellation charges of £241.19. To complain would put me through a 'blocking' procedure where I would still have to pay the money and await a ruling from Ofcom. Having been with BT for over 40 years, I feel I am being blackmailed - I have agreed to the BT deal, told them all communication has to be by post . I have had the complaint cancelled as I have no wish to go through a quasi legal battle which I feel bound I will lose. Disgusted is being polite. Plus net, on being advised of the cancellation could not have been more helpful and understanding. Where will I go first no-cost opportunity??