Haggle with BT - our new guide

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  • L[FONT=&quot]ong story short, having got only £4/month off with haggling with BT, switched and phoned BT to ask about old btinternet.com email and was told if only I'd u[/FONT]sed [FONT=&quot]0800 587 7218 for renewals I'd have got a better deal. So said try me, within cool off period, and got line rental, evening and w/e calls and broadband for £19.99 month and BT will back date it to mid September when my previous contract was due to be renewed so in credit for line rental paid in advance for in August and September bills... which made it worth more than switching since I'd been silly enough to somehow miss renewal date. If I'd switched I'd be paying the same for 12 months starting from now, so cheaper to get credit with BT. But next year... [/FONT]
  • Ian011
    Ian011 Posts: 2,432
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    With BT's inclusive Evening and Weekend deals, you will be paying more than £7 per hour for weekday, daytime calls. Contrast with £8 per month for Unlimited Anytime calls.

    Additionally, BT remains the only major landline provider to NOT offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers. This cannot last for much longer. Ofcom cut wholesale rates to make this possible.
  • Just called BT as my B/B and Line rental package is going up to 49.99 per mth.

    Explained that i had compared deals and wanted to move to plusnet who are offering the same deal for £29.99 per month (+£25 activation Fee).

    The guy was helpful and polite but all the time i got the impression he was trying to sell me more products not reduce the amount i pay.

    In the end he offered me a 2yr contract at £38.99 per month. still £9 more expensive than Plusnet. Then he came out with a classic line "how do you know Plusnet are reliable?" which i replied " they should be there are owned by BT!"

    After much more debate and attempts to haggle he still wouldn't budge and suggested i move to plusnet.

    success stories of haggling are probably result of someone being on a standard deal that is way more expensive than it should be and BT just putting them on the most competitive deal they can offer, in my opinion that's not haggling, haggling is when you manage to get them to better if not match the best deal on the market.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281
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    <success stories of haggling are probably result of someone being on a standard deal that is way more expensive than it should be and BT just putting them on the most competitive deal they can offer, in my opinion that's not haggling, haggling is when you manage to get them to better if not match the best deal on the market.>

    Thats just not true as hundreds of posts on here will confirm .
    My own negotiations over the last three price rises have resulted in lower than current year charges . Never ever been on a standard contract either .
  • mac.d
    mac.d Posts: 1,344
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    hollyk1982 wrote: »
    Just called BT as my B/B and Line rental package is going up to 49.99 per mth.

    Explained that i had compared deals and wanted to move to plusnet who are offering the same deal for £29.99 per month (+£25 activation Fee).

    The guy was helpful and polite but all the time i got the impression he was trying to sell me more products not reduce the amount i pay.

    In the end he offered me a 2yr contract at £38.99 per month. still £9 more expensive than Plusnet. Then he came out with a classic line "how do you know Plusnet are reliable?" which i replied " they should be there are owned by BT!"

    After much more debate and attempts to haggle he still wouldn't budge and suggested i move to plusnet.

    success stories of haggling are probably result of someone being on a standard deal that is way more expensive than it should be and BT just putting them on the most competitive deal they can offer, in my opinion that's not haggling, haggling is when you manage to get them to better if not match the best deal on the market.

    What you've posted is probably a familiar story to what many people get from BT, as it just seems down to pure luck whether people get offered a deal or not. The only other thing for you to do is take the plunge and go ahead and sign up for plusnet (or whoever), and you might get an offer from BT to stay with them. There's no guarantee though, despite what some people say on here.

    I managed to get a deal surprisingly easily last year, however, it turned into a bit of a nightmare before I actually got it (I had similar conversations to the one you had, and being told I couldn't possibly have been offered the deal I said as they couldn't discount it to any less than £38.99). So this year, I'm going to phone them once, and then just move unless they give me what I want. They are not worth the hassle.
  • Goldust
    Goldust Posts: 526
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    I'm just over a month off the end of my BT deal so it's haggling/leaving time!

    Saw above someone had used [FONT=&quot]0800 587 7218 to get a good deal.

    [FONT=&quot]I have a letter from BT asking me to "review my options[FONT=&quot]" on 0800 678 1961.

    [FONT=&quot]Is the first number legit[FONT=&quot]imate? I'm not sure what my [FONT=&quot]best stra[FONT=&quot]tegy is[FONT=&quot]. I'm coming off the back of their [FONT=&quot]Black Friday [FONT=&quot]deal from la[FONT=&quot]st No[FONT=&quot]vember...[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
    [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
  • My experiences of haggling with BT aren't great. For about a month (as coming to end of new customer offer) I tried to haggle with them but the best I ever got was £30 for unlimited fibre broadband and weekend calls - which was the same package I was on but only paying about £18 as a new customer. I actually said I'd be better off leaving and coming back in a years time as a new customer and they agreed. Crazy if you ask me. Left for Sky (who I'd been with previously so know it's good here) and got unlimited fibre and line rental for £16. That's almost half price of BT's best offer. Granted no calls but never use the landline anyway. I may or may not return to BT in a year depending on offers available at that time.
  • I was in the middle of a 2 year deal and phoned them to ask if I could cancel because of the upcoming price increase.
    Was offered an upgrade to fibre which I accepted, had a few problems with the order process though, which resulted in me getting the price down even more.

    Net result
    Unlimited 52mb BB incl LR, no installation charge, £23.99pm
    BT sport £3.75pm
    Both fixed for 18 months
    £9.99 for router delivery.

    I stick with BT for my broadband because of the BT sport and have always been able to get a good deal for both.
  • Hi, I received the BT price increase email about a week ago and my contract will be going up by £5.25 a month which I'm obviously not happy about. I'm sure I read somewhere that if I sign up to a new 18 month contract my deal which I'm on now will be frozen with no price increases? Not sure if I've got that right? My increases are broadband & calls £2.50, BT Sport £1.25, BT Sport HD pack £1.50.
    Thank you in advance
  • mac.d
    mac.d Posts: 1,344
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    edited 21 November 2017 at 10:48AM
    You need to phone them up and say you are thinking of leaving because of the price increase and ask them what they can do for you. It appears that if you do agree a new deal with them, and question the upcoming price rise, they will likely say your price won't go up in January. I don't think they offer to freeze prices for the length of your minimum term contract, just that they won't put your price up in January.

    Edit: I've just renewed as they offered me the same deal I had last year, and got a deal on my mobile contract with them. Future price rises will affect the price, but when they happen you can just phone them again to renegotiate.
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