BT Broadband Essentials OR NOT?

Lindylou195203

I have been receiving MSE emails for many years and am also a member of the energy club, I recommend. them to anyone I can.

I was pleased to read in a recent email that now that I'm on pension credits, I would be eligible to change from my current broadband contract to the essentials contract with BT my current broadband provider, it means I can reduce my monthly payments from £30 a month to £15 a month.  I checked on the BT website and also in my BT account and the info I got was that I needed to ring up, as the change was not available online. 

I originally changed from EE broadband to BT on 03/11/21 when my contract was coming up for renewal, the cost was due to increase and the line was really poor and dropping out altogether sometimes.  I was advised in the EE/BT shop that moving to BT would be better as it had a money back guarantee.  The service that I have ended up with was is far inferior to that of EE,  it's absolutely appalling, understandable if I lived in the back of beyond and not close to York.   Within 5 months of the 2 year contract the price was increased from £27.99 in November 21 to £30.84 in April 22, I was advised by BT today that the increase was due to an increase in inflation to 4%, the increase is closer to 10%.

I called BT today and it turns out that the maximum speed I can get in this village is 16mb,  I had not been aware of that or I would have gone for a much cheaper contract.  From the time I called until the call ended it took 67mins, the person that I spoke to had to go and speak to his manager on several occasions, even though I explained in detail exactly why I had called in the first place, on one such occasion I was advised that I could change to a more expensive contract to get a better line, back and forward we went being put on hold until I had to explain to the person that all he needed to do to make the change was to get my NI number and check with the DWP that I was eligible, as I am now on pension credits. 

I have had many career changes over the years and my last job was as a benefit assessor dealing with customers face to face and over the phone, I am always curteous to those working in customer service because of that .but today I was so frustrated that I could have screamed.  Apparently it was not possible to make the change today as their system is working to slow, I asked to speak to the manager and was told he was not free.  I have asked for a call back but apparently that is not possicle until some time tommorow.  I think in all my years this is hands down the some of the worst customer service I have encountered.  If I could leave BT today without a financial penalty I would, but I am stuck in a 2 year contract unfortunately.  Is anyone else out there having the same problem as myself?

Neil_Jones

Sorry I don't quite follow.

EE would use the same infrastructure/phone line as BT do, so if you only get 16Mb with them, you should get (near enough) the same with any BT line based internet provider, providing it's the same technology (ADSL or FTTC).

The price increase for April was all over the adverts and would have been in your T&Cs, so if you didn't read them that's your problem.

Re: BT Essentials, all the details are here and it says "up to 67Mb":

https://www.bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

The money back guarantee was probably this?  But this is FTTP with speeds far above what you get:

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/full-fibre/what-is-bt-s-stay-fast-guarantee-for-full-fibre

Or this:

https://www.cable.co.uk/providers/bt/complete-wifi/

Vincero

With regards to speed, you should check what Openreach expect the performance should be for your area. You can do this at this site:
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

If your speed is well below the minimum expected speed threshold for even a bad line, you may be able to get Openreach to check the quality.
You should also ensure that your internet router is connected to the main BT / Openreach socket and filters are in place where required.
If you have wired phone extensions it might even be worth testing with the master / test socket directly (which requires removing just the faceplate) which removes the other house wiring from the phone line.

iniltous

As already stated , changing from EE ( a BT group company ) to BT ( another BT group company) changes nothing apart from ‘billing’ , if you took the same product , nothing physically changes…BT will have given you a bespoke estimate for the speed you would get , if that isn’t achieved, you report it and if it cannot be provided , after attempts to ‘fix’ the speed fail, you can leave penalty free, it’s the bespoke estimate speed you should note , the average customer speed is irrelevant, and something the advertising authority require , if you and I were on the same speed profile 80Mb , and I get 80Mb and you get 50 Mb ( for example ) the advertising has to show an average of 65Mb , given that BT has millions of customers the ‘average speed  67Mb’ is pointless, but imposed on providers, that’s why you got an individual estimate for your location 
BT make it clear that ‘new’ customers will get a yearly increase in price , using an inflation + based formula, if the ‘deal’ you had incorporated some sort of discount for a period , then obviously when that period ends the non discounted price applies, the yearly increase coukd affect a discounted price if the yearly increase happens during this discounted period.

No one should excuse poor customer service , if your ‘line’ is only capable of ( for example) 20Mb , then the slower 40Mb service is appropriate, there no point paying for 55 or 80 if you can only get 20 , that’s just basic physics…if the customer service rep suggested otherwise they are wrong …there are resources available that give the speeds available in your area , what you get should align with that ( and your individual estimate ) if it doesn’t you report it.

If the system the rep needs to use to process a social tariff application isn’t working , there isn’t much the rep can do about that apart from suggesting you call back later.