my attempt at haggling with BT

Santee

I contacted BT to ask for their best price as I was thinking of moving my broadband and they couldn't match other online prices from the top companies so I went through the process of changing to sky which took a while as I had many questions but agreed to go ahead.1 hour later I get a phone call from BT and it seems they could almost match the sky offer for another £1.99p dearer per month than the sky offer with the same deal (£10 cheaper than the retention department had offered). I remonstrated with them that if they had offered m this the first time I spoke to retentions I  would have stayed with them.But not now . So retentions aren't the answer ,only a step to get the best price as that is not offered to you until they receive notification that you are switching  and have started the process.

Mark_d

Not sure why your default preference was to stay with BT.  There are a few providers who offer better service than BT, offer better prices, and often have significant new-customer offers.  Even if BT could match the Sky off-the-shelf price, I think Sky would be open to negotiation and would give you better service long term

ButterCheese

Sometimes it is easier and more convenient to stay with (e.g BT) and worth asking for their best deal.  I would have done the same.  But they see more value in calling your bluff and hoping you'll stay on a more expensive contract, than actually giving you a good price before you leave.  It is an awful model that they all use.  Getting you in with a new customer discount, and then hoping you'll forget or not be bothered to change, is their main money maker.

If Openreach have not yet reached your area, such in our case, we are tied to VM who I signed up with for £30/month but we now pay £68.  Because there is no other full fibre competition.  The alternative would be to go down from 350mb/sec to 34 mb/sec and save 40 quid a month, but to have constant buffering and kids complaining that their games are laggy!

Luckily I had an email the other day to say that OpenReach is coming to our area soon (I don't know if that's next month or in 3 years time) so one day we might actually be able to hop from one new customer deal to another.

Out of interest - does anyone know how long you have to have left a company before you can rejoin as a new customer?  Or is it never?  i.e. if we left VM for 2 years, could we then sign up on a new customers only deal?

AndyPK

usually you have to have left VM for 1 year.

ccluedo

On some comparison sites where Amazon etc vouchers are offered as part of the new customer sign up deal, when I clicked the little i symbol next to the it, it more or less said only available if not a customer in past year.
Not sure if that only applied to the vouchers or also to the monthly quote. 

bristolleedsfan

Worth also noting new BT/EE new contracts and renewals since July 31, 2025 will face an annual price increase of £4 per month, applied on March 31st each year, if Sky announce annual price increase free to move elsewhere without penalty.

AndyPK

Jez. They increased the increase! £3 was more reasonable.

danrv

ButterCheese said:

Getting you in with a new customer discount, and then hoping you'll I'm with BT forget or not be bothered to change, is their main money maker.

I think it's called loyalty penalty. I'm with BT and my contact has expired. Renewal price is around £66.00 per month but does include EE TV and part fibre connection.
Generally BT does have good customer service so that's worth considering.