BT / EE merger confusion

pioneer31

I am confused regarding BT and EE.

I am about to reach the end of my EE 24mth contract. I was with BT before this but when I came to renew, they strongarmed me onto EE, due to the ‘merger’ telling me that certain deals were no longer available etc. Some of it was probably guff, but hey ho.

The question I am asking is this: Have they merged or not? And if they have, why am I still seeing Broadband Deals on the BT website (some of which undercut EE btw). Why did they transfer me to EE?

I know they are under the same parent BT Group, but I’d really like to go back to BT.

There are many things I don’t like about EE.

1. Their app is rubbish, clunky and cluttered. Every page is trying to sell you something. I wasn’t fond of BT’s but EE’s is even worse.

2. Digital Voice doesn’t work properly. I have the same problem as many others – engaged tone, preventing you from ringing out, requiring a reboot. Their Smart Hub Plus Router (the black one) is the culprit, so I am led to believe, from what I’ve read in forum

3. Their deals are currently more expensive than BT.

I wonder if I try and go back to BT, will they let me, and will I be treated as a ‘new’ customer.

QrizB

There's a longer explanation in a thread here somewhere, but in brief BT had a CEO who wanted BT to be the "business" brand and EE the "consumer" brand, so BT began (in your words) strongarming BT's consumer customers over to EE.

Then that CEO left (presumably to spend more time with his money, or on his yacht, or whatever) and the new CEO thought the idea was rubbish, so BT stopped moving consumers to EE and started taking them on again.

mazjohn108

I was in the same situation as you, pushed to EE from BT 2.5 years ago. When I my 2 yr contract came to an end this year I wanted to go back to BT which was cheaper. I tried to do this via the switch on line process but it wouldn't work because of 'inter branding' or some such. After a lot of hassle and raising a complaint I was told I still couldn't go back to BT but EE did match BT price. So you need to haggle. Yes, app is rubbish!

Neil49

When my 24 month BT contract came to an end I simply did a switch to Plusnet (via Topcashback) and got a £135 gift card from Plusnet as part of the deal. Switch took about a week to complete. I'm on the 300mb service fttp and the performance has been excellent.

My wife wanted to keep our home phone going so I now use a separate voip provider (voipfone). This means that I have more flexibility when it comes to switching broadband services in future. You can only switch to a separate voip provider once your existing service has ended so we were without a phone service for about 12 days.

pseudodox

I was also strongarmed over to EE. Everything works but agree the app is cow pat & when my contract is up shall either move elsewhere or negotiate a match to BT pricing if it is still lower. There really ought to be legal redress for those of us moved at the whim of that former fat cat.

pioneer31

Thanks for your replies. I shall also negotiate when my contract is up (which is anytime now), and let them know that a few other big hitters are providing broadband at a significantly lower price.

Another thing that gets on my nerves (and this is with ALL of them) is the Spring price rises. If it was inflationary, fair enough, but it's always way above.

My SIM deal went from £10 to £11.50 (within 6 mths) and then to £13!

So we all get a nice deal and then it quickly escalates to a bad deal and we start all over again…

pseudodox

The Spring price rise used to be inflationary until a certain consumer champion campaigned for change . . . . nuff said.

And with current proposals to end mid contract increases we will all just get charged a higher price from day one so the supplier can cover future cost rises that they cannot pass on at the appropriate time.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6680311/bt-ee-merger-confusion

For when you'll be considered a new customer with BT, see my response for another member: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679252/when-can-an-ex-bt-customer-become-a-new-ee-customer#latest

pioneer31

Sounds like I can just go back to BT then (they are actually offering slightly cheaper deals than EE)

Btw, I rang EE anyway and asked them for a better 'new' deal and they could only shave £5 off my current price. The reason being that they were already giving me a £20 'loyalty' discount on my mobile (Unlimited data/text/calls - currently £13 but 'should' be over £30). So I've decided to look at virtual SIM providers and then I may ring them back. EE's SIM only deals are ridiculously overpriced.

HaroldWhistler

You should be able to switch provider the usual way setting the new start date with BT. If there was any inter-branding issue, you could try switching over from EE to one of the other networks that offer 30 day rolling contracts such as IDnet and then switching over to BT as a new customer.

AndyPK

EE only like to discount their mobile contracts.

Spusu talk home, 1p mobile, coop all use EE network I recall.

Spusu tend to like iPhones or certain models. But their customer service and price are better than ee