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

qazsed321

i am yet to call up again to change my contract because I am moving house next week so I'm not looking to cancel as I want to transfer my current number

they say I need a new line at the new address so I can either pay £130 or they have offered me deals which are not good deals (like £22 a month + line rental for infinity one and weekend calls and this price will go up after April)

any advice on what I should do?
should I try to sort the price of my contract first and then try to transfer it to the new house? or transfer it first and then try to haggle?

1shortarm

I have just spoken to BT as I paid for advanced line rental in Feb 2017 and renewed my contract for a 2 year contract in Jan 2017. I cannot believe it has gone up this quickly.

I spoke to BT and their retentions team who both said that I was on the best deal and they couldn't do anything about it. I said that I wouldn't have signed up for a two year deal with them if I thought that it would go up within the first two months and as I have Talk Talk ultra fibre optic on the footpath outside my door (Yes, I live in York) I might as well change to them as they guarantee it will not go up during your contract. It didn't make any difference.

As I pay £18.70 currently (without line rental which is equivalent to £17.09 per month) it is amazing that the full increase £2.50 in April then £3.80 on the BT sport in August, it will bring my bill to a round £25 per month. Can you believe they didn't know this when they set my original price?

Currently not sure what to do. Previous experience of Talk Talk a good few years ago was terrible which is why I went to BT in the first place!

I am exasperated!

sharpshot

selski99 wrote: »

Did you end up being charged? I was told on phone (aswell as twitter) last Sunday that I wouldn't be charged after I'd received an email saying I would, only to get a text this morning again saying I'll be charged £304 for leaving early. :mad:

Still waiting for my final bill. If they get it wrong and try and charge me for leaving, I will put in another complaint. Don't think they have a leg to stand on, as they have been informing people on the phone, chat and in their forum that we wont have to pay for leaving early, if we tell them we are leaving because of the price rise first. I kept a record of my chat. They have got my bill wrong every month since May last year and I have zero confidence they will get the final one right but live in hope. We should all be getting compensation for the time wasted after they send out emails with the wrong information but it never seems to work like that. I have no idea why BT are so incompetent but it has lost them my custom and anyone that knows me. Being lied to many times for 10 months wont make me a loyal customer.

sharpshot

1shortarm wrote: »

I have just spoken to BT as I paid for advanced line rental in Feb 2017 and renewed my contract for a 2 year contract in Jan 2017. I cannot believe it has gone up this quickly.

I spoke to BT and their retentions team who both said that I was on the best deal and they couldn't do anything about it. I said that I wouldn't have signed up for a two year deal with them if I thought that it would go up within the first two months and as I have Talk Talk ultra fibre optic on the footpath outside my door (Yes, I live in York) I might as well change to them as they guarantee it will not go up during your contract. It didn't make any difference.

As I pay £18.70 currently (without line rental which is equivalent to £17.09 per month) it is amazing that the full increase £2.50 in April then £3.80 on the BT sport in August, it will bring my bill to a round £25 per month. Can you believe they didn't know this when they set my original price?

Currently not sure what to do. Previous experience of Talk Talk a good few years ago was terrible which is why I went to BT in the first place!

I am exasperated!

If you try a site like uswitch and put in your postcode, there should be other options. I switched to NowTV this time with no contract, so if it goes wrong with them, I can leave. No problems with the switch so far.

mnbvcxz

Positive line rental refund story in the guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/feb/22/bt-refuses-refund-prepaid-line-rental-cancel-service

Now if someone would just challenge them on the non refundable £60 setup fee...

System

I called earlier and the lady wanted to talk through the package and best she could do was £41 (up from £34.99). I've decided to go with the VM switcher offer which is £34 with BT Sports for 12 months and I will cancel to just BB after that.

boatman

I would suggest everyone who received an email or letter saying g they would be charged cancellation fees complain to OFCOM, this way BT will be fined, plus OFCOM can't then say we didn't know...

TeeKay63

Just contacted OFCOM about getting non-refundable pay in advance line rental charges refunded by BT if I move due to the price increase.

The lady I spoke to couldn't have been clearer. 'OFCOM have told BT they _must_ refund the remainder of the advance line rental if a customer decides to exercise their right to switch provider due to the price increase'.

I would strongly suggest to anyone that is arguing with BT over this point to call OFCOM, get what I wrote confirmed, then escalate the issue within BT.

Personally I'm thinking of taking an EE 18 month package with advanced line rental. So to know that if EE copy what their owner (BT) is doing and put up their prices during the 18 months, I can still get the advance line rental back is crucial.

boatman

Here is the link(post 180) to the BT forum where they say you will get back the remaining line rental.

mnbvcxz

Short version I called they could do nothing at all so I left and have signed up for EE in todays quidco lightning sale. £32 setup 18 months £16.80 prepaid line rental + £10 for basic fibre (all my line supports). £150 quidco which has tracked if I get it. Fingers crossed.


Longer version. I signed up for the black friday deal. £9 infinity less £135 quidco and £100 prepaid credit card 12 months contract £60 setup. 40 days in they announced they were not going to honour the contract, prices going up.

I'm a bt only market a/1 exchange so TalkTalk won't supply me, Plus.net charge a premium and virgin don't exist.

I online chatted as suggested by my bt email. They said oh here is the deal for you £31.50 for 18 months infinity. I pointed out that was £4 more a month than even the price rise. They said oh and suggested I call instead so I did.

On the phone they said surely I did not want to give up my prepaid line rental. I said I was going to assume i could get it back. He said oh and went away for ten minutes to discuss it. Came back and said he had been away and things must have changed I could have my line rental back after all... He then said he could not find a better deal or anything to offer me better than the price risen deal I was on. I suggested he could just lower the price of my anytime calls package to even out the price rise. He went away for fifteen minutes and then came back and said he could not do anything like that. Was I sure I wanted to pay the EE setup charges but I pointed out I still came out ahead.

Anyway he said if I left now in the next 30 days from speaking to him my bt account would be closed automatically when I migrated and my line rental refunded.

So I have gone to EE (subject to credit check weirdly) for slightly less than the black friday deal I was on but with slightly less cashback.

The perverse thing is I'm being pushed out of one bt company and bribed into another.

No more bt wifi and working email system. EE have just announced they are closing their outgoing mail server?

Irritating. Still one good thing is the ee anytime call package is £6.50 and includes calls to mobile!! And even abroad!!

I hope others have better luck.