Haggle with BT - our new guide

simon_blay

TF03 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm currently well out of my contract with BT and paying £66 a month for unlimited BB, essential TV, unlimited weekend calls and BT sport.

Just called up their cancellation line and after going through the usual, Sky can offer what I want for this etc, they could only reduce it to £57 per month.
I told them I would go away and think about it and get back to them.

How did some of you lot manage to get them down to £35???

- 30 mins on the phone

- keep asking to speak to someone who could do a better deal, managers etc (at one point, I said I wanted to stay but wanted my monthly cost to start with a 3!)

- Be polite and make conversation. They seem to value that over someone who feels like they're being hard done by and is rude on the phone

- Dont be afraid to leave it and call back tomorrow. I found huge differences in the best deal from day to day

davetrousers

My Non-result with BT

I have just come to then end of a 2 year contract with BT where I had fibre, initially I was on the 'slowest' Fibre (approx. 35 Mb ish), but this got upgraded to the 67Mb speed, although I didn't need that increase.

The primary reason I was with BT was to watch MotoGP on BT Sport.

At the end of my 2 year deal the price had increased to £51.49 a month. Then it was going to increase to £79 as I was out of contract.

I called up 3 times and explained that I don't really need the 67Mb speed and that I only want BT TV for the MotoGP on BT Sport. I am not interested in Premier or Champions League football nor am I interested in the big name American TV shows.

Each time I was told that the only downgrade on speed would be back to copper wire. And to watch MotoGP I would need the Max TV bundle or a convoluted TV package of several smaller components.

I also wanted a 24 month contract as I dislike the hassle of negotiating a deal, but they only do 18 month now.

The best price I could get them down to was £53.49 a month, which was an increase on my old deal (not going to happen!). I wanted to be under £40! But after the hassle would have settled for mid £40s.

Each time I said I will have to go away and think, and the 3rd time said that I am going elsewhere. Which had no effect.

Now let's also bear in mind I already have the hardware, router and TV box (paid for in the last contract and earlier contracts), so would not need to be paying for these.

I have now signed up to Vodafone fibre (36Mb) for £22 a month, and got £85 topcashback. I will be missing out on the MotoGP but will have (at least) £30 more money in my pocket each month.

It feels as if the people I spoke to did not have sufficient 'powers' to really retain customers (well me). As I simply wanted good enough fibre (e.g. 36Mb) and the ability to watch MotoGP, but the sport packages are bundled in larger TV packages that I don't want.

I got an email from BT saying we're sorry you're leaving and it said "You've got BT Sport on BT TV at the moment (which will be free if you've got one of our top TV packages). Now to say a product (i.e. BT Sport) incorporated into a larger package, is free is simply wrong.

Oh well bye bye to BT, hello to the extra cash in my pocket.

JJ_Egan

End of contract you are free to walk away .
BT Sport ALL 3 CHANNELS +Line Rental + Fibre 1

Priced at sub £40 pm on BT web pages .


Free to leave and negotiated new contract via retentions .
Pay advanced line rental .
Fibre 1 up to 52 meg + BT TV Max package includes BT Sport HD .
Cost £35 pm ( BB 18 month contract ).

anto164

I find it fascinating gow much peiple pay.

We're in a £23 per month 18m deal. Included stabdard internet (we get 15mb connection) plus line rental, and weekend phone. We dont pay for tv as it comes out of our unlimited usage anyway.

Cant get cheaper!!

jonesjw

I phoned BT a second time and the offer deteriorated from £36 to £42 (80MB/s FTTC + phone).


Also, there was an awful lot of time wasted, as I had to wait for the lady to pretend to go & speak to her supervisor before offering me the £42.



They were persistently trying to put doubts in my mind about the alternative products & asking me to check if the speed is the same.
This is attempting to mislead the consumer.


Then they tried to sell me a slower product. NO, I'm getting average 67 MB/sec off the other companies.


They also tried to offer a deal with guaranteed no price increased for the contract, for £4 a month more. Well considering the rate of inflation is about 2~3%, why would I want to pay 10% extra for a guarantee of no price increases, when I could cancel the contract anyway if they put prices up ?


I am switching provider. Too many dodgy sales practices.

OddjobTony

I've had BT Fibre broadband for about 4 years but the recent price rises have sent me down the haggling route to get a cheaper deal. And it was successful.


I have my previous package- superfast unlimited broadband (I get about 50mps), line rental, weekend calls, voicemail, BT entertainment and BT sport. It currently costs me an average of £72 per month. Their first offer was £58.49 including BT Sport HD (which I don't currently have), but they reduced it further after a bit more haggling, to £52.49 for 18 months.


One more thing - their customer service was excellent - patient and contemplative with lots of nice comments about not wanting to lose my custom. But best of all, a BIG reduction in my monthly BT bill.



I am delighted with this, thanks in the main to the advice on the MSE website (How to haggle BT).


This, for me, is a saving of around £234 per year and I class this as a huge result. Thank you MSE!

singhini

I'm not having any success with BT like others on here. I rang BT today to renegotiate my contract as my 18 months expires on 12th December and I was only offered a reduction of £4 per month on what I currently get.


My current deal is
36mb Broadband = £35.49
Entertainment = 6.50
BT Sport = £6.00
TOTAL PRICE PER MONTH £47.99


New Deal Offered today
36mb Broadband = £29.99
Entertainment = 10.00
BT Sport = £4.00
TOTAL PRICE PER MONTH £43.99


£43.99 seems a lot to pay per month, but the BT guy was saying that its not, the full price for this package would be twice this price.


I thought others on this forum had negotiated prices more like £28.99


Comments welcome

JJ_Egan

Hand your notice in and see what they offer/ read the thread .

yessuz

So we moved the house 2 years ago and I managed to get a decent deal in order to stay with BT
I got Superfast Fibre 2 Unlimited for 44.99/month - for 67 Mbit down
Now, 2 years passed, and my BT discount ends by 29th of December 2018. So I checked the uswitch and found that I can get Black Friday deal from 27.99 with 18 month contract for exactly same speeds (no wonder - same company).

Both - total price, including line rental.

So currently I spend 17 ponds a month more than I could.

So I called their "customer retention" line. Had a chat with nice chap... so in short the transcript:
Rep: Bla bla bla, very nice deal to get the "Superfast Fibre Plus" for £46.99 a month.
Me: - not interested, as all I am interested - same speed and price.
REP OK, then, "absolute minimum I can get you - £38.99 a month."
Me well, not exactly what I was looking for. As in 18 months I will be almost £200 worse.
Rep well, there is nothing I can do as 38.99 is the best of the best...
Me fine, will talk with Plusnet.
Rep that's fine. bye.

So now the question: are there any better deals for same? Maybe I could use some other example, in order to negotiate? any other tips?

another question - is it worth to change BT to Plusnet?

OPMDaze

Seems decent enough really. I'm paying £35 for Fibre unlimited and weekend calls that I never use. They did upgrade me free to 80 Mbps last year though. Sometimes the hassle that can happen when changing isn't worth risking imo.