BT ADSL pricing

50Twuncle

My Dad is "well" out of contract with BT - (he has been a GPO/Telecom/BT customer for 60+ years)
He is being ripped off by them - paying £50.58 per month for an ADSL connection (fibre is unavailable where he lives) with inclusive calls 24/7 - and a £5 SIM, and this is paying 12 months line rental up front !!
What is the best deal that he can get if he decides to stay with BT ?

bengalknights

He could go for the cheapest option which i believe is £24.99 or just switch to another network

50Twuncle

bengalknights wrote: »

He could go for the cheapest option which i believe is £24.99 or just switch to another network

He won't change provider......

iniltous

Anytime calls is around £8 to £9 per month, so broadband is costing £40+, that's a lot, especially if it's ADSL and not even FTTC.
BT do have retention staff, it's not clear if what they can offer is as good as deals for new customers , but they should be able to improve on what your father is currently paying.
You could do a search for BT retentions, and get a phone number for them, or call BT on their normal customer service number (0800800150 or 150 from the BT landline) and I believe saying something like 'cancel my services' at the voice prompt gets you to a UK based representative, careful if you search, contacting BT should be 'free' , (0800 numbers) the first hit I got on google was for some rip off company that were not BT on an number that would cost money to call

phillw

iniltous wrote: »

Anytime calls is around £8 to £9 per month, so broadband is costing £40+, that's a lot, especially if it's ADSL and not even FTTC.

You forgot to take off the £5 SIM and line rental. Which puts broadband around £12.

I'm a serial switcher, so this seems a ridiculous amount of money to pay. But if you're adamant to stick with BT then you will pay a ridiculous amount of money.

50Twuncle

phillw wrote: »

You forgot to take off the £5 SIM and line rental. Which puts broadband around £12.

I'm a serial switcher, so this seems a ridiculous amount of money to pay. But if you're adamant to stick with BT then you will pay a ridiculous amount of money.

Thanks - its not me, its my Dad (he is getting on a bit and is set in his ways) - I have suggested that he joins TT but he prefers BT !
£20 per month for broadband, plus £8.50 per month for unlimited anytime calls, plus £5 per month for mobile (discounted from £10 as an existing customer). Total per month of £33.50. He pays line rental up front of £205 which is £17.08 per month - a total monthly charge of £50.58

phillw

50Twuncle wrote: »

£20 per month for broadband, plus £8.50 per month for unlimited anytime calls, plus £5 per month for mobile (discounted from £10 as an existing customer). Total per month of £33.50. He pays line rental up front of £205 which is £17.08 per month - a total monthly charge of £50.58

You can definitely haggle that down, but when he paid up up front for line rental he entered a de facto contract. It's non refundable if you leave, so they know you'll accept a worse deal. Especially as that means your contract and paid up front line rental are out of step, so you'll be essentially locked in to worse deals forever.

My advice is to wait until a month before the line rental runs out and look around at the best offers available elsewhere. Then phone them up and say you are looking at saving money, let them try to get you to sign up and say no there was a better offer and give them the details and that you are now going to think about leaving. Give it a couple of days and phone up and say you are thinking of leaving, this should get you through to retentions. Tell them whatever offer you found and the offer that you were previously given. If they still don't offer you what you think is fair then ask them if there is someone else you can talk to that has more authority to give discounts. They won't always tell you this, it might take another couple of goes. Eventually you'll either reach a price that you think is fair, or at least you're sick of making the phone calls.

In my experience when haggling it's important to keep them engaged by making them think you will sign a deal, or they will just give up. So don't just go in with "I'm paying this, I want to pay this". Get them to like you, ask lots of questions, seem interested in what they are saying. Talk about the individual parts of the contract rather than the whole thing. I'd find someone who offers anytime calls for less and get them to match it, then get them to match the line rental with whoever offers the cheapest line rental, then ask for free broadband. Once they agree that, if they haven't counted on up front line rental then ask them what will happen if you pay for it up front. If they aren't engaging with you then hang up and try again another time.

If you're never going to switch then you will want to also haggle on what happens at the end of the contract. If they offer you a limited time deal then just say to retentions that you're worried that they aren't rewarding your loyalty and are just buying you off. They know that is exactly what they are doing, but they may not want to admit that to you.

Haggling isn't an exact science as it depends on the person that answers the phone and the condition of the business on the day. If you phone up too many times then they'll know you aren't serious about leaving. If you phone them up and say that going through quidco you can switch to another provider and pay the equivalent of £5 a month and yet you're haggling over whether to pay them £20-£30 pounds a month then they know you aren't serious about leaving. So you need to play a little dumb but give the impression that you will leave, if they offer you a slightly average deal.

Inner_Zone

50Twuncle wrote: »

Thanks - its not me, its my Dad (he is getting on a bit and is set in his ways) - I have suggested that he joins TT but he prefers BT !
£20 per month for broadband, plus £8.50 per month for unlimited anytime calls, plus £5 per month for mobile (discounted from £10 as an existing customer). Total per month of £33.50. He pays line rental up front of £205 which is £17.08 per month - a total monthly charge of £50.58

You used to have TT's CEO e-mail address on 'speed dial', how can you recommend them?

kwikbreaks

If he wants to pay over the odds and you've suggested how to make a saving but he isn't interested then I'd suggest for the sake of family unity you just let the matter drop.

50Twuncle

kwikbreaks wrote: »

If he wants to pay over the odds and you've suggested how to make a saving but he isn't interested then I'd suggest for the sake of family unity you just let the matter drop.

He won't believe me when I tell him that the current ADSL price £29.99 includes line rental
I don't want to get old !!

phillw

50Twuncle wrote: »

He won't believe me when I tell him that the current ADSL price £29.99 includes line rental

BT Line rental + broadband is only 29.99 for the first 12 months, then it goes to 40.99.