Better offers from BT after starting process of moving to new provider?

Bungaroosh · 8 April 2019 at 9:13AM

Hello, I'm near the end of an 18-month deal (66Mb BT Infinity 2) with weekend calls that I never use. I've been paying about £37 which in any case is too much. It's crept up to £40 in the past few months, and when the contract ends in less than a month it'll shoot up to something crazy like £58.

I've been on the phone to BT twice and the best that the retentions dept will offer is £37.49.

I've been with BT for about eight years and have had very few problems with them (no significant problems spring to mind), so obviously I'd rather stay with them. But if I can save £275 over 18 months for the same thing, I'd quite like that as well.

The current deals alternative deals available are:

TalkTalk - 63Mb - 18 months - £22.23 effective monthly cost via MoneySavingExpert
Plusnet - 66Mb - 18 months - £23.34 effective monthly cost via MoneySavingExpert
Vodafone - 63Mb - 18 months - £25.56 effective monthly cost via MoneySavingExpert

Sky - 63Mb - 18 months - £22.78 effective monthly cost with £95 TopCashback (including the £9.95 activation fee)

I wouldn't consider TalkTalk; Plusnet CS used to be good but there are billing system horror stories of late; Vodafone customer service seems terrible ... Sky, on balance, seems the best among them. Every provider, of course, has people who have been terribly messed about by them, BT included, but I've had no problems. Download is about 68Mb and upload 19Mb. This I'm guessing is based on the Openreach infrastructure here.

So ... does anyone have personal examples of BT offering something much better once the transfer to a new supplier is set in motion (with the ability to cancel the changeover if the offer BT comes back with is worth it)?

Many thanks!

Neil_Jones · 8 April 2019 at 9:23AM

BT is rarely the cheapest provider in this industry, you pay more for the name really (and the fact its a heritage brand and was the only real option prior to I think 1986 when it was privatised and many people still think its the only name in town).

Note that all the providers you list use the BT network so regardless of who you go with your line speeds should remain the same (and if there was a fault it's fix would go through Openreach even if you stayed with BT).

You do have a 14 day cooling off period if you decide to switch, but you'd do better to try and get a better or new deal before you go ahead and switch. Tell them TalkTalk, Plusnet and friends have deals x y and z that includes a b, c and the kitchen sink, what can you do for me?

Bungaroosh · 8 April 2019 at 9:28AM

I think I'll give them a couple of goes today. I rang yesterday (Sunday) close to their closing time. The did leave me on silent hold for about ten minutes while they went and spoke to a manager but came back and said the price I quoted (someone on here had got the same thing for £25 as a customer of three years; not a new customer).
Otherwise I think it'll be Sky ...!

poppasmurf_bewdley · 8 April 2019 at 9:56AM

I renewed the same deal as you last week for £31.99 with a £50 pre-paid card thrown in.

And a couple of days later I got an email saying my free Google Home is on its way. This was never mentioned in the phone call, so I'll wait and see if it arrives.

Bungaroosh · 8 April 2019 at 10:13AM

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I renewed the same deal as you last week for £31.99 with a £50 pre-paid card thrown in.

And a couple of days later I got an email saying my free Google Home is on its way. This was never mentioned in the phone call, so I'll wait and see if it arrives.

Just wondering how much wrangling you had to do to get that? Just tried online chat, which was useless. Thanks!

Croft12 · 8 April 2019 at 10:21AM

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I renewed the same deal as you last week for £31.99 with a £50 pre-paid card thrown in.

And a couple of days later I got an email saying my free Google Home is on its way. This was never mentioned in the phone call, so I'll wait and see if it arrives.

Bah! I thought I got a good deal thats a cracker! But I did save a huge amount so can't whinge too much

Bung different people will make different offers. Worth trying several. As others have said make sure you have other offers from rivals to make leaving credible. Remind you're a long term customer. I had offers (postal) of 39 and 4 verbal prices below that to various levels. At last resort phone the number for retentions. Swapping and negotiating in the cooling off period is ok but you need to be sure you're happy to leave !

(Phone a human - I'm not sure chat has the power to make the best offers)

Bungaroosh · 8 April 2019 at 10:28AM

Croft12 wrote: »

Bung different people will make different offers. Worth trying several. As others have said make sure you have other offers from rivals to make leaving credible. Remind you're a long term customer. I had offers (postal) of 39 and 4 verbal prices below that to various levels. At last resort phone the number for retentions. Swapping and negotiating in the cooling off period is ok but you need to be sure you're happy to leave !

(Phone a human - I'm not sure chat has the power to make the best offers)

Just thought I'd try online chat first. I'm not all that happy to leave, but if I can pay £15 a month less for the same speeds I'd be happy! I feel I've stayed with them too long and I've put up with some scandalous price increases over that time (which made the £38 for the past 18 months seem cheap!). The person I spoke to in retentions yesterday made out that only by initiating a move from BT through a new supplier would access to significantly more attractive BT deals be triggered. Bit of a pain though for customers to have to do that though -- I guess BT and others bank on apathy and worries about trouble switching. It's not the same as changing gas or elec. where no physical changes happen to the stuff being supplied.
I'll let you know how I get on!

poppasmurf_bewdley · 8 April 2019 at 10:48AM

Bungaroosh wrote: »

Just wondering how much wrangling you had to do to get that? Just tried online chat, which was useless. Thanks!

Did the whole thing by phone. I'm currently on an 18 month contract at £31.99, and the first thing I said was that I had no intention of paying a penny more than I am at present.

I told her I could go through Plusnet for £26.99, and get the BT Sport App at £5 a month, so suggested they give me a free App. This led her to go off "to talk to a manager" and came back with the £50 pre-paid card offer, which I accepted.

I was very polite throughout the conversation, but also left her in no doubt that I would leave if she didn't do a deal.

Croft12 · 8 April 2019 at 11:01AM

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Did the whole thing by phone. I'm currently on an 18 month contract at £31.99, and the first thing I said was that I had no intention of paying a penny more than I am at present.

I told her I could go through Plusnet for £26.99, and get the BT Sport App at £5 a month, so suggested they give me a free App. This led her to go off "to talk to a manager" and came back with the £50 pre-paid card offer, which I accepted.

I was very polite throughout the conversation, but also left her in no doubt that I would leave if she didn't do a deal.

Thats def the key - be nice to the ppl on the phone. They don't have to do 101% to help you and won't if you're hostile!

You're obviously market 'b' which helps. Much harder to negotiate for me in market 'a' and no LLU.

JJ_Egan · 8 April 2019 at 12:17PM

Chat is a waste of time for anything .
Mostly non UK script readers .

As above polite and have alternatives to hand .

Edithgrand · 9 April 2019 at 12:05PM

[FONT=&quot]I have managed to get some great deals from BT over the years’ am currently paying £21.99 for unlimited 80 Meg Fibre, phone line, weekend calls and even managed to get BT Sport included.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There was one tim e, a few years back and my contract was about to come to an end and I couln't get a decent deal so I said fair enough I will be moving to PlusNet. I had to call BT 2 days later to check that the switch and gone through.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The advisor asked why I was leaving. I explained Plusnet were cheaper, he told me they would beat Plusnet price and told me to contact Plusnet to cancel the switch.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I was allowed to cancel and got a great deal then and every price rise since,I have it down managed to get a price reduction.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Don't think I'll manage to get it for less than £21.99 though. At least I would have to do any haggling until March next year.[/FONT]

Better offers from BT after starting process of moving to new provider?

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