BT Misleading 18m packages

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 1,655 Forumite
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    edited 1 July 2018 at 12:42PM
    Colin_Maybe wrote: »
    I'd love to know what percentage of (say) Virgin, Sky or BT customers pay full price for their services
    The majority.
    I really doubt that BT haven't done their sums and worked it out to the penny. If the majority didn't pay full whack then BT couldn't afford these stupid mastercard plus cashback plus low price deals plus changing prices inside these cheap deals to let the rate tarts out.
    The sums obviously mean that it is cheaper to let you go than keep your low prices for the length of the initial term of the contract.
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655 Forumite
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    edited 1 July 2018 at 10:57AM
    iniltous wrote: »
    Talk Talk are currently running a 'no price rise during your minimum term' guarantee advert for their phone/broadband contracts, the reason they are doing this, is it gives them a unique selling point , compared to other large competitors.
    Before this marketing gimmick Talktalk were probably the worst of the big players for mid term price rises.
    molerat wrote: »
    About time the regulator put a stop to mid contract price rises.

    That would entail companies guesstimating how much their costs would rise during a contract and building these into the initial price, so everybody would pay more overall.
  • mnbvcxz
    mnbvcxz Posts: 378 Forumite
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    I agree. It may be allowed but it stinks. Lots of people don't have the time to monitor websites to spot when there is a price rise, catch the email, and go through all the offers to change in the 30 day window and then setup a new router and settings.

    Perhaps we should all write to the Advertising Standards Authority and complain. Regardless of the small print I have yet to meet anyone who the first time they were affected by it were not stunned to find it affected them when they were on a fixed price contract.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
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    I would agree but what are you going to complain about to the AA .
    The fact that on every sign up page and sign up email since at least 2016 it been in clear view .


    This is from a sign up email June 2016 .


    Our prices and terms may change at any time while you're in contract with us

    We'll let you know about any important changes before they happen.
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655 Forumite
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    mnbvcxz wrote: »
    Regardless of the small print I have yet to meet anyone who the first time they were affected by it were not stunned to find it affected them when they were on a fixed price contract.

    You're missing the point, they're not on a fixed-price contract.
  • mije1983
    mije1983 Posts: 3,665 Forumite
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    mnbvcxz wrote: »
    Perhaps we should all write to the Advertising Standards Authority and complain.


    If you have the evidence of their 'fixed price contract' advertising then you should. If not, what about their advertising are you going to complain about?
  • Marvel1
    Marvel1 Posts: 7,170 Forumite
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    mije1983 wrote: »
    From a selfish point of view, I hope they don't. I enjoy cashing in with new customer offers and cashback every 4-6 months with different suppliers!

    But I agree that it would be more beneficial for vulnerable people, or people who are not financially savvy for whatever reason, and just stay and pay the increased price with no negotiation.

    I will be doing the same once I finally get a BT line installed. With virgin there was no other competion using their lines.
  • Marvel1
    Marvel1 Posts: 7,170 Forumite
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    edited 1 July 2018 at 7:30PM
    Colin_Maybe wrote: »
    I'd love to know what percentage of (say) Virgin, Sky or BT customers pay full price for their services without any clue that they could be paying probably 50% less. I doubt these people would even notice a mid contract price rise let alone the possible big jump at the end of minimum term for the BT restructure.

    I've always had this impression that the figure is larger for Virgin and BT over Sky as Sky customers seem more liable to cancel it down. Absolutely no numbers or links to back that up before anyone asks, just a gut feeling.

    I was, no offer given when wanted to cancel and no outbound call back. The reason I cancelled was £40 for 70Mb Broadband weekend phone!

    Left them now, just waiting for a BT line to be installed since end of May.

    If I wanted to return in future, when I am considered a new custome for deals/cashback?
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    mnbvcxz wrote: »
    I agree. It may be allowed but it stinks. Lots of people don't have the time to monitor websites to spot when there is a price rise, catch the email, and go through all the offers to change in the 30 day window and then setup a new router and settings.

    Perhaps we should all write to the Advertising Standards Authority and complain. Regardless of the small print I have yet to meet anyone who the first time they were affected by it were not stunned to find it affected them when they were on a fixed price contract.

    I agree that it is a pretty shameful practice, and one that is entirely possible to eradicate; companies are more than capable of calculating a sustainable price for the life of a fixed period. However, I disagree that it is oh so incredibly onerous to look for an alternative deal when you receive the price rise e-mail. It takes seconds to read that they are going to increase the price and then a few minutes to run a price comparison and initiate a switch to a different deal. By all means complain that the practice of increasing prices during a supposed fixed discount period is wrong, but don't labour the point by inventing some byzantine and arduous task in finding a new deal.
  • Money_Grabber13579
    Money_Grabber13579 Posts: 4,255 Forumite
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    I may be thinking about this in the completely wrong way but the ability for the operators to increase prices at any point during a contract seems a bit unfair on the consumer. Not that I am necessarily complaining as at this stage, as I can make use of new customer offers but in an extreme case, could the consumer not be at a serious disadvantage?

    Say, for example, there are a choice of 2 providers. One offers broadband and line rental for £20 a month and the other offers the same for £22 a month (both offers include new customer discounts on standard rates of £10 per month). I chose to go with the first provider and pay £20 a month. However, 6 months into the contract, the first provider increases their discounted prices by £10 a month.

    I have the option to carry on with my contract paying £30 a month or leave and switch to provider 2. However, within the time frame of 30 days to switch, provider 2 doesn!!!8217;t have any special offers and so their price would be an undiscounted £32 a month. However, provider 2 hasn!!!8217;t raised their prices and if I had signed up 6 months ago, would have been continuing to pay £22 a month.

    I appreciate that this is a very extreme example and may never happen in practice however, does the ability of the providers to raise prices at any point in a contract not have the potential to seriously disadvantage the consumer, in that with the benefit of hindsight, they could have signed up for a different provider that may have been more expensive at the start but over the period of the minimum term, is cheaper overall? Or in other words, providers could tempt customers in with very low special offers, then jack up the rates when competitors aren!!!8217;t offering special deals?

    Apologies if this doesn!!!8217;t make any sense and maybe I am just looking at it in completely the wrong way!
    Northern Ireland club member No 382 :j
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