MSE News: BT to hike broadband and call prices and charge TV customers for BT Sport

n1guy

Denene wrote: »

I contacted BT today having received email notification of the price increase (£2.50/month).

My bill is currently £40.64 for Infinity 2 unlimited fibre broadband, line rental and unlimited weekend calls. This apparently includes a special discount rate on the broadband.

They first offered a deal which was more expensive than my current one, and then said there was no way to reduce the price. When I suggested I might move to another provider, the person just talked about how they use traffic shaping and BT doesn't.

I'm not sure what to do now. There's only me using the Internet (although I do a fair amount of streaming, playing games etc.), and I don't use the landline at all. Is it worth phoning back? I asked if I needed to let them know if I was cancelling and they said I didn't, and the person was fairly uninterested in persuading me to stay, so I don't know if there's any point. I'm not good at haggling either.

I've been with BT for 5 years, but I don't think I can justify paying almost £45 a month for what I use.

It might just be me but they don't seem to interested in getting folk to stay, the deal they made me was also more expensive and I stated that other providers were cheaper, they then went about removing parts of my package to make it cheaper such as anytime calls.

Denene

n1guy wrote: »

It might just be me but they don't seem to interested in getting folk to stay, the deal they made me was also more expensive and I stated that other providers were cheaper, they then went about removing parts of my package to make it cheaper such as anytime calls.

For me, they didn't even suggest that, even after I said I didn't use the phone. The person I spoke really didn't seem to care, except to tell me that BT was more expensive, but other providers were inferior (essentially). I don't know if I was speaking to their retentions department or not, so maybe that was why they weren't bothered.

I'm sure they're swamped dealing with people like me at the moment, and maybe for them it's not worth it trying to persuade anyone who's gone so far as to contact them to stay. I imagine there are a lot of people who will just accept the price increase as it doesn't seem like a lot, but BT is already around the top of the market.

Having spoken to them today, I feel more and more like I should just leave.

n1guy

Denene wrote: »

For me, they didn't even suggest that, even after I said I didn't use the phone. The person I spoke really didn't seem to care, except to tell me that BT was more expensive, but other providers were inferior (essentially). I don't know if I was speaking to their retentions department or not, so maybe that was why they weren't bothered.

I'm sure they're swamped dealing with people like me at the moment, and maybe for them it's not worth it trying to persuade anyone who's gone so far as to contact them to stay. I imagine there are a lot of people who will just accept the price increase as it doesn't seem like a lot, but BT is already around the top of the market.

Having spoken to them today, I feel more and more like I should just leave.

I spoke to them and I managed to get a deal.

What I did was I stated that it was cheaper for new customers than the deal they were offering me, which it was. They rambled on about how good this new hub was I said I wasn't interested in a new hub, my Hub 4 works fine. I then asked him I how I go about leaving as wasn't interested, he went away and came back with the same price I am paying now which is £32 for anytime calls and unlimited internet for 12 months rather than the 18 @ £35 he originally offered.

So I would suggest go through and make it seem like you are looking to cancel and hopefully they budge.

[Deleted User]

Denene wrote: »

I contacted BT today having received email notification of the price increase (£2.50/month).

My bill is currently £40.64 for Infinity 2 unlimited fibre broadband, line rental and unlimited weekend calls. This apparently includes a special discount rate on the broadband.

They first offered a deal which was more expensive than my current one, and then said there was no way to reduce the price. When I suggested I might move to another provider, the person just talked about how they use traffic shaping and BT doesn't.

I'm not sure what to do now. There's only me using the Internet (although I do a fair amount of streaming, playing games etc.), and I don't use the landline at all. Is it worth phoning back? I asked if I needed to let them know if I was cancelling and they said I didn't, and the person was fairly uninterested in persuading me to stay, so I don't know if there's any point. I'm not good at haggling either.

I've been with BT for 5 years, but I don't think I can justify paying almost £45 a month for what I use.

I don't know if you have Virgin where you are but:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-broadband#virginfibre

Sounds much better value for your needs either paying upfront or even monthly.

gener8or

Hi guys,

Took out BT phone and Infinity 1 in November, paid the line rental upfront at £205.08.

Had the email Tuesday broadband going up by £2.50. Called them to leave, offered me Infinity 2 for new price lol.
Anyway they processed the leave, I asked them to refund my unused line rental, they said no the line rental isn't changing. I said OK just create the complaint, to be fair she did this.

Today the resolutions team called me, attitude of the woman got my back up. She tried to sell me Infinity 2 on a 2 year contract. I said hang on 'this is a complaint not a sales opportunity' anyway she is refunding the unused line rental upto today (£165). From today will pay standard until I move.

I then asked about refunding the £50 activation fee, she abruptly said 'no way, we don't refund that'. I said OK send me a deadlock letter and we'll take it from there. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Thinking about jumping to plusnet next ....

darren72

Are people receiving the price increase notification by e-mail or post ?

Both myself and my sister have recently taken out BT connections and neither of us have been officially notified yet of the price increase.

gener8or

darren72 wrote: »

Are people receiving the price increase notification by e-mail or post ?

Both myself and my sister have recently taken out BT connections and neither of us have been officially notified yet of the price increase.

Had mine via email:

Important changes to your BT services
Hello,

We wanted to let you know that the price you pay for your broadband and calls will be going up on 2 April 2017. We've put the changes into a simple table for you below.

Even though some of your prices are increasing, you won't have to pay any extra for your line rental as we're committed to keeping it at the same price for the whole of 2017.

boatman

Doc_N wrote: »

It is indeed - but they're arguing that it's different this time because the line rental itself isn't increasing. Whether that would wash with Ofcom remains to be seen.

OFCOM GC 9.3
,...........Communications Providers shall ensure that conditions or procedures for contract termination do not act as disincentives for End-Users against changing their Communications Provider........

Combine this with GC9.6. I would assume that trying to hold on to line rental paid in advance would breach 9.3.

Rollers_63

meherenow wrote: »

I've had nothing yet either, I've only been back with them since October 2016.

The link earlier does indeed tell me my price is going up by £2.50 - so from £10.99 to £13.49 - I make that a whopping 22.75% increase!

After all the help I got from a mod on the BT forums, helped sort me out the deal I tried to get originally (they seriously underestimated my line speed at first so couldn't get the max entertainment package) - all to no avail now. The TV package is rubbish anyway - I'd rather give Virgin a little bit extra and get 4 times the broadband speed!

Which is what I will be doing when I eventually recieve the written confirmation that they seek to rip me off 3 months in.

Thanks for the reply, I am glad I am not the only one. They sure seem to be dragging their heels on notifications, emails should be easy to send. I have tried both the online chat and a phone call to circumvent the need for the notification but they would not budge either time. I can't see what the problem is, I have checked the link online and my price is going up, so why do I have to wait for some email.

[Deleted User]

Rollers_63 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, I am glad I am not the only one. They sure seem to be dragging their heels on notifications, emails should be easy to send. I have tried both the online chat and a phone call to circumvent the need for the notification but they would not budge either time. I can't see what the problem is, I have checked the link online and my price is going up, so why do I have to wait for some email.

Did they confirm the price is going up and you have the option to leave? This is presuming you asked.

Perhaps they didn't want your cancellation request on their stats so are just passing you on to someone else.