BT internet... the end of contract pricing game

[Matt..]

BT are offering new customer Full Fibre 500 for £30.99. I am out of contract and paying £50.99 for Full Fibre 300.

BT retentions have offered:
- FF 300 = £39.99
- FF 500 = £49.99
- FF 900 = £51.87

Has anyone here had recent success in getting them to give a good offer without going through the ridiculous steps of actually cancelling?

[mcflurry]

Matt.. said:

BT are offering new customer Full Fibre 500 for £30.99. I am out of contract and paying £50.99 for Full Fibre 300.

BT retentions have offered:
- FF 300 = £39.99
- FF 500 = £49.99
- FF 900 = £51.87

Has anyone here had recent success in getting them to give a good offer without going through the ridiculous steps of actually cancelling?

I think a few of these firms are moving from the "thinking about cancelling" activating a retention discount to actually handing in your notice.
Sky offered me a small discount off until I said, "sod it and cancel the service"..

[Alorotom]

Even when I pulled the plug with BT they didnt make any attempt to keep me as a customer and the discount offered was laughable compared to the new customer rates from other providers so I moved.

The TalkTalk FTTP service has been just as good at less than 50% of the cost of the BT renewal and they gave me the Eero mesh hub system (2 units but I think I was only supposed to get 1) which is far superior than the BT Home Hub (IMO) (and IIRC the contract was 18mths rather than the 24 that BT wanted)

[dickymint]

Three weeks ago I finally got around to ringing them (I was out of contract but still using them for over a year) as I wanted to get their BT TV Box Pro. Ended up with the new box and also the Halo 3+ equipment and 20 quid off per month. No haggling involved just a nice friendly chat.

PS. the Pro box with 4kHDR with Atmos audio is a amazing.

[thepeoplespal]

My BT Full Fibre is up for renewal and the speed has never got near the advertised rate, although that is via wireless so 71.2 Mbps download and 21.4 Mbps upload probably is the old Wi-Fi we are using.

I'm looking for a fibre provider that isn't going to change prices at an outrageous CPI +5%.or the like. If we can drop the landline I'm happy enough too, haven't used it for years.

Examples of good customer service when things go wrong are also a persuaded as I WFH.

[softtop]

BT are moving to a single price regardless of where you place your order, online, contact centre, new client, renewal. It makes sense.

[i4got]

Have you compared against Plusnet. Uses same infrastructure as BT so should have the same full fibre I would think. I used to switch back and forward between Plusnet and BT depending on who had the best deal on offer to new customers.

[dickymint]

i4got said:

Have you compared against Plusnet. Uses same infrastructure as BT so should have the same full fibre I would think. I used to switch back and forward between Plusnet and BT depending on who had the best deal on offer to new customers.

How often have you "switched back and forward" considering most contracts are for 2 years?

[i4got]

dickymint said:

i4got said:

Have you compared against Plusnet. Uses same infrastructure as BT so should have the same full fibre I would think. I used to switch back and forward between Plusnet and BT depending on who had the best deal on offer to new customers.

How often have you "switched back and forward" considering most contracts are for 2 years?

Most contract until recently were 18 months.

In the 17 years I've lived at this house I'd guess I had 3 stints with BT and 4 with Plusnet. They are the only two providers I've used here. I did say "used to switch" - the last two or three contracts I've stuck with Plusnet as BT didn't offer a better deal.

Edited by i4got on Friday 18th November 11:30

[Sheepshanks]

I've just switched to Full Fibre with BT as they kept badgering me to move from FTTC.

Paying £32/mth for 100/20 but for some reason they said the service is actually 150/30 now. Cost includes line rental.

Had a bit of a nightmare switching over - broadband worked fine straightoff but the landline service, which we use a fair bit as mobile coverage is rubbish, got lost somewhere for two weeks and, while everyone I spoke to at BT was very nice, it seemed beyond them to actually fix it. I was told right at the beginning it would take two weeks to sort out and that was exactly right.

I got a bill last week and it credited me for the unused advance payment on the old service plus £50 compensation but didn't charge for the new service - so the bill was a £120 credit!

I've stuck with BT as we used the CallSign facility for work calls but you can't have that with digital voice and they're dropping it anyway. Not sure I'd risk moving providers while I need it for work particularly as there's no 4G backup here.

[Matt..]

I've been looking at this a little more...

FTTP 500:
- BT = £40 (£50 with Halo), £24 account credit offered. // Price increases yearly.
- Vodafone = £30 // bad customer service, yearly price increases
- Zen = £45
- Sky = £40 // yearly price increases
- Plus.net = £38 // yearly price increases

FTTP 900:
- BT = £52 with Halo, £24 account credit offered. // Price increases yearly.
- Vodafone = £45 // bad customer service, yearly price increases
- Zen = £55
- Sky = £50 // yearly price increases

In some ways BT doesn't look so bad. I'd ignore Vodafone because of the poor customer service as my internet connection is critical due to working from home.

Edited by Matt.. on Monday 21st November 14:19

[untakenname]

It's worth checking what the cashback rates are and switch between BT and Plusnet at every renewal, I've done so a few times and netted between £80 and £150 each time with the cashback from quidco/topcashback.

[paulrockliffe]

I thought the rules on this had changed? I've been with Plusnet for years, since I got bored of the BT renewal price vs new customer thingy. I have an 18 month contract I think, before it ends they message to say, it's due for renewal, click here to get this new (lower) price, or ignore it and we'll charge you more. I've been through that twice, both times they were offering the same prices as new customers.

If they're doing that because they're nice, rather than because they all have to, then I would sack BT off and move to Plusnet.

[Captain_Morgan]

Matt.. said:

I've been looking at this a little more...

FTTP 500:
- BT = £40 (£50 with Halo), £24 account credit offered. // Price increases yearly.
- Vodafone = £30 // bad customer service, yearly price increases
- Zen = £45
- Sky = £40 // yearly price increases
- Plus.net = £38 // yearly price increases

FTTP 900:
- BT = £52 with Halo, £24 account credit offered. // Price increases yearly.
- Vodafone = £45 // bad customer service, yearly price increases
- Zen = £55
- Sky = £50 // yearly price increases

In some ways BT doesn't look so bad. I'd ignore Vodafone because of the poor customer service as my internet connection is critical due to working from home.

Edited by Matt.. on Monday 21st November 14:19

If critical due to work then the customer support provided by zen would swing it there way for me.

[Brainpox]

Captain_Morgan said:

If critical due to work then the customer support provided by zen would swing it there way for me.

Agreed. I would pay whoever will be there whenever I need them. Others will be cheaper for a reason.

[nickd01]

Also if critical, I'd look at Andrews & Arnold - run by proper techies and can get most problems sorted with a phone call.

[shouldbworking]

mcflurry said:

I think a few of these firms are moving from the "thinking about cancelling" activating a retention discount to actually handing in your notice.
Sky offered me a small discount off until I said, "sod it and cancel the service"..

Just had that but with a mobile contract. 'Thinking about cancelling' got a deal that still wasn't as good as the competition, actually cancelling was

[randlemarcus]

nickd01 said:

Also if critical, I'd look at Andrews & Arnold - run by proper techies and can get most problems sorted with a phone call.

Agreed. My personal experience of VF broadband was actually quite good, a few teething problems that got sorted by actual technical people at the backend, and then it just worked. New place VF doesn't play FTTP, so moved to Cuckoo, as there's no RPI + rises for no apparent reason, which is refreshing. CS seems responsive when I have questions. Happy to supply a referral code if their offering works for you.

[Alickadoo]

I am with Plusnet. I will see if waving BT in front of them does anything.

[skedaddle]

I've done the BT <-> Plusnet swaparoo multiple times. Plusnet is actually part of the BT group of companies and has been for years. I guess they keep them separate to avoid monopoly charges.