When to negotiate with BT

Monanore

I have had a fair price from BT for the last 2 years ( £40 for full fibre + free landline ) thanks to a senior person reviewing my previous high charges at the time. Given this special situation, should I

a) discuss a price shortly before renewal in the usual way or

b) wait and see what they do at renewal, in the hope of just a reasonable increase ?

Woodstok2000

Or see what the best price you can get with another provider is, and use that as a bargaining chip with BT.…see if they can match what you get elsewhere.

oldernonethewiser

I'd wait to see what they offer but as above I'd do my research and check out alternatives so you have something to start negotiating with.

dnpark38

Sounds a lot, but OP doesn't say exactly what service they are getting.

iniltous

As you approach the end of your minimum term you are advised that you are getting to the position where leaving or renegotiating is appropriate (all ISP’s are supposed to do this incase their customer has forgotten about the date ) with BT if you check in your online ‘My BT’ account, there are personalised offers to renew , either renew as you are, same speed, products etc , or offers to upgrade speed, facilities etc , the closer to the minimum term expiration the better the offers get (at least that was my experience)

In my case the offer was effectively just about the same as what a new customer could get , its easy enough to put an address into the website and see what the current new customer price is if you don’t know , this type of renewal is easy to check and get , if you want to negotiate an even price better than that , you may or may not be successful, some seem to get a much better deal than others by having a competitor price ready , basically threatening to leave for this other company unless they match that other company price, it may work or it may not , sometimes chasing the last penny of savings in my opinion isn’t worth the grief, if the price is acceptable, personally I don’t keep asking them to knock more off , after-all you probably don’t negotiate with the checkout staff at Tesco , you have already made the decision about which supermarket you use .

Rob5342

It doesn't sound like a particularly good deal, Vodafone have 900mbps full fibre and unlimited calls for £38, or less if you go for a lower speed. Do you actually need a landline? Most people use their mobile these days as mobile plans usually have unlimited calls and are much cheaper.

I'd have a look round and see what other deals are available, including altnets which are often cheaper, although they don't usually include a landline. Phone up bt and give them the chance to match it, and if they can't then switch.

vacheron

The way that always worked best for me (when I had a land line) was apply for a better deal with someone else and select an installation date about 3-4 weeks in the future and (important) tick the box that says you want to transfer your landline number.

The first thing the new company does is instigate a landline transfer request with BT, which basically means "your customer is silently leaving you".

You will generally get a call or an e-mail a few days later from a senior retentions person with BT who has the ability to give you some decent discounts.

If you like their new price, just agree to stay and cancel the new contract under the 14 day cooling off period.If you don't like their new price, just let the installation proceed with the new supplier.

Albermarle

I would have thought the first thing BT will do is to try and change you over to a EE contract.