BT increasing prices while in contract

[Surfer01]

Last year on 24th August we switched providers and signed a 12 month contract with BT for supply of land line plus broadband.

However this morning in my inbox was an email notifying me that there was a price increase of £2.50 and that this would be implemented from 1st April. Can they do this and is it a get out of contract if they impose the extra charge? As below

Hello,

We wanted to let you know that the price you pay for your broadband and calls will be going up on 2 April 2017. We've put the changes into a simple table for you below.

Even though some of your prices are increasing, you won't have to pay any extra for your line rental as we're committed to keeping it at the same price for the whole of 2017.

Here's how we're making your services even better

 

Get even more from your broadband with the exclusive offer we've put together for you.

 

Just visit bt.com/myoffer and log in with your BT ID or Account Number before 1 April to find your exclusive broadband offer.

 

See how your prices are changing. We simplified your bill. So on your first bill after 2 April, you'll see one charge that includes your broadband, call package and line rental. We're committed to keeping your line rental at the same price for the whole of 2017.

 

Prices that are going upOn 2 April 2017 your monthly price will increase by

 

Broadband and Calls£2.50

 

Your discount ends on 24 August 2017. After this, you will pay the standard price of £47.49 (this price has changed by £2.50) including Line Rental. Please give us a call when your discount ends and we will make sure that you are still getting the best value.

Unlimited Anytime Calls add-on£0.49

Prices that aren't changing

On 2 April 2017 your monthly price will change by

 

 

Line Rental

 

£0.00

 

If you've got other services that aren't showing here, don't worry. It means those prices aren't changing.

Standard prices for calls that aren't included in your Calling Plan are increasing on 2 April 2017 as follows:•

 

Calls to UK landlines and the Access Charge for calls to Service Numbers will go from 11p to 12p a minute

 

Calls to mobiles from your landline are going up from 15p to 16p a minute. (But if you have the Unlimited Anytime Calls plan, you'll pay half price with a change from 7.5p to 8p a minute)

 

International calls from your landline are increasing from 45p to 46p for countries in Band A, 75p to 76p for Band B and 135p to 136p for Band C. Visit bt.com/international for more information

 

The set-up fee for calls will go from 19p to 21p a call.

 

Pay-Per-Use features

 

From 2 April 2017, the price will increase by

Call Return 1471 #3 or 1571 #0 (per call)

 

1p

If you haven't already, take a look above to learn how we're making your service better.

 

[AndyOrch]

So you wont be affected until August 2017 when your " discount " ends then you will pay the new increased price ?

 

Andy

[Stigman]

Can they do this and is it a get out of contract if they impose the extra charge?

 

They can increase the prices while you are within contract, however as long as you give notice to BT within 30 days of receiving the email, you can leave BT with no early release financial penalties.

 

Phone them up, go through the endless options, select leaving BT, and if you want to stay haggle for a new & better contract, if not take your money elsewhere.

 

This only applys to phone/broadband and not to any TV contracts like SKY etc.

 

Stigman

[Surfer01]

So you wont be affected until August 2017 when your " discount " ends then you will pay the new increased price ?

 

Andy

 

That is not the way I read it. The £2.50 increase is from 1st April and then from 24th Aug the price will go up from £29.95 to £47 as the discount will not longer apply. The main reason why we changed from Plusnet to BT was because of the huge discount.

[Surfer01]

They can increase the prices while you are within contract, however as long as you give notice to BT within 30 days of receiving the email, you can leave BT with no early release financial penalties.

 

Phone them up, go through the endless options, select leaving BT, and if you want to stay haggle for a new & better contract, if not take your money elsewhere.

 

This only applys to phone/broadband and not to any TV contracts like SKY etc.

 

Stigman

 

I think we will phone them even though it is a total nightmare as we have experienced on three previous occasions and we have not even been with BT 6 months!

[AndyOrch]

That is not the way I read it. The £2.50 increase is from 1st April and then from 24th Aug the price will go up from £29.95 to £47 as the discount will not longer apply. The main reason why we changed from Plusnet to BT was because of the huge discount.

 

But if your discount was only for 12 months which you signed up for in Aug 2016...it will expire in August 2017.. and the price increase will not effect you until Aug 2017......there is no other way of reading it

[Surfer01]

Update and thanks to Stigman. BT have confirmed that we can leave them with no penalty and have given us until 9th March to switch providers. They offered to keep the price at the current level if we agreed to a 24 month contract. After the hassle we had when we joined BT I think not.

[Surfer01]

But if your discount was only for 12 months which you signed up for in Aug 2016...it will expire in August 2017.. and the price increase will not effect you until Aug 2017......there is no other way of reading it

As above they agreed there was a price increase of £2.50 from 1st April. I requested an email confirming that there is no penalty for leaving early due to price increase and was told that they could not send anything in writing but would make a not on my account. This is a concern.

[BazzaS]

As above they agreed there was a price increase of £2.50 from 1st April. I requested an email confirming that there is no penalty for leaving early due to price increase and was told that they could not send anything in writing but would make a not on my account. This is a concern.

 

Call in again, and record the call.

(don't use online chat or the 0800 800 150 number, but the 0800 800 030 number you'll eventually get put through to anyway!).

 

My tale of woe is so awful that I got a call back from BT.

 

This was after 2 online chats where (at the most charitable description I can muster) it is possible that:

the first person wasn't able to understand the issue, and accidentally disconnected the chat, while the 2nd (a manager, apparently!) said that the "bill alerts" I'd been getting monthly from BT (when I had a new bill to view online) had been sent by 'phishers', and not BT, and that the latest alert (which said "see your bill, for an important message" - and there was no message on the bill!, sparking the whole debacle) was also a phishing message.

I'd get contact from the 'phishing team' within 72 hours to sort it out ; which never happened, of course. Oh, and I'd "misunderstood" ; except when I asked him to explain what I'd misunderstood and to made sure it got cleared up so I no longer misunderstood ...... he'd "used the wrong words" and I hadn't misunderstood at all.

 

I phoned to clarify, (recording the call!) given I haven't had "the letter" yet. I got told I couldn't put in train the "30 days in which to leave with no early termination penalty" until I had the letter, and the letter should arrive in February. I asked what if the letter got lost / mislaid and I never received it?.... if it got to the end of Feb I should call in regardless.

 

Credit where credit is due, the BT staff member (who sounded Scottish, in case they have a call centre up there that people get put through to) actually listened. He did try to persuade me all of the reasons I should stay (but accepted the reasons why I wasn't going to!), and said he'd log it as a complaint (though I didn't expect anything to come of it).

 

I actually got a call back!. The only downside of this was I wasn't expecting it, and wasn't recording the call!. So, when I got told I could start the '30 days' then and there given they could see the records of the chats where what I'd described had occurred as I was describing - I declined ..... as I wouldn't have the recording to prove it!.

 

They explained that there was the price increase, but they wouldn't apply it for customers who called in and negotiated IF they chose to stay. I asked if this offer prevented people being able to use the "30 days, no termination fee" route (as there was in effect no increase during the minimum term), but apparently it is still allowed.

 

So, my plan: call in once I have "the letter" (or email), OR at the end of Feb if I haven't had the notification), using the 0800 800 030 number, and record the call.

 

So, who to go to?. Pretty much any could be "from frying pan to fire"!, so we've looked for a 'no minimum term' provider.

 

We don't use SkyTV, but do use NowTV (they seem to be in competition but Sky has a stake in NowTV??) , and NowTV currently offer a "no contract" option.

(For the legal pedants [myself included], there is a contract, it is just a 'no minimum term' one!]

 

So, we plan to move to NowTV, both as they offer a discount for taking their 'passes" with their phone line/broadband, and as we won't be locked into a minimum term (in case their customer service is as bad as BT's once they have your custom ..... I'm hoping they don't take that as a challenge!).

[Surfer01]

The issue now is trying to find a 12 month contract that offers 76mb download although my average speed is actually about 52mb. We live in a rural area and have only had fibre for about 6 months. I am not sure if I really need 76mb or whether 38mb will do just fine.

[BazzaS]

The issue now is trying to find a 12 month contract that offers 76mb download although my average speed is actually about 52mb. We live in a rural area and have only had fibre for about 6 months. I am not sure if I really need 76mb or whether 38mb will do just fine.

 

Unless you have the option of cable (Virgin), they all use the same equipment (supplied by BT Openreach, which although 'BT branded' has been 'spun off' from BT's broadband retail operations).

So, whatever you got from BT you can get the same from other suppliers - so if the firm has a 76Mb/s (maximum) speed option, you should still be able to get your 52Mb/s (actual) speed.

 

What I don't know the answer to is if the "quoted up to 76, actually got 52" means that on a "quoted up to 38 service" you'd get:

a) close to 38, or

b) somewhere close to 26 (derived by 52 / 76 x 38)

Would this be a case of 38 is less than the 52 actual maximum, so you'd get the full 38, or "your setup means you get about half of the the theoretical maximum for that class of service" ?

[BankFodder]

It makes me despair

 

The years that we have been bleating on about people recording their callsand now we see that even the old hands on this forum don't manage to do it because they are unprepared receive calls.

 

What has to happen? Do people have to phone up in advance to make an appointment to call so that you can set up your call recorder?

 

I almost feel that we may as well pack up and go home.

 

I think should each give us a decent donation as a sign of remorse – and if you think I'm kidding, don't.

[BazzaS]

Beware broadband comparison site listings of availability, they may not show 76Mb available when it might be available!.

 

Long story short, try a search for 38 Mb providers, and then see if the website for the 38Mb provider actually offers the 76Mb service too.....

 

Following on from Surfer's post about being in a rural area, it reminded me that when I looked for availability for my move (in an urban area!), some of the comparison sites didn't show me the 76 Mb packages, other than through BT...

 

I've just checked, wondering if this might eb the case for 'rural', too (although only for one rural data point is "anecdote, not evidence"), and chose a village in Lincolnshire that gave me a postcode of LN5 0Ex to try.

 

Putting that postcode in gave me BT as the only provider for 76Mb service, but John Lewis as a potential provider for 38Mb service.

 

Checking out John Lewis, they resell Plusnet's service. Checking out Plusnet, putting in the postcode, and selecting "no phone line at the addreess", I got busted ...... when I selected one of the cottages at random it said "phone line detected at that address.....

I was able to tell it I wanted to swap to Plusnet without making a commitment (so, apologies to the unsuspecting resident if they now get Plusnet calling them about their switch .....), but it then noted that they could provide all of their services, including 76Mb.

[BazzaS]

It makes me despair

 

The years that we have been bleating on about people recording their callsand now we see that even the old hands on this forum don't manage to do it because they are unprepared receive calls.

 

What has to happen? Do people have to phone up in advance to make an appointment to call so that you can set up your call recorder?

 

I almost feel that we may as well pack up and go home.

 

I think should each give us a decent donation as a sign of remorse – and if you think I'm kidding, don't.

 

I could have said "hang on a minute" and started the call recorder, but

a) they might have guessed what I was doing, and been more cautious in their offer, and

b) since I was driving (I answered the call using 'hands-free'), I couldn't;

i) easily and

ii) lawfully use the phone to record the call - I would have had to pick the phone up to do so, and it was in a clip on my belt.

 

So, if you "feel you need to pack up and go home" or that I "need to make a donation out of remorse" ; you might want to check that your reply is appropriate for the particular circumstances of that call, rather than just assuming!.

[BankFodder]

Switching on the voice recorder would have done the job.

[BazzaS]

Taking my hands off the wheel to get the phone off my belt.

Picking the phone up to switch on the voice recorder, while driving.

 

Some people feel that people shouldn't answer phones at all when driving. When driving, if I get a call coming in I make a decision on if I feel I can safely answer the call, or if it will be a distraction sufficient to make it unsafe to answer.

I've not yet answered a call (while actually driving) where I feel it would be safe to answer AND pick up the phone AND start the call recorder.

Heck, you can be be prosecuted for picking up your phone while stopped at traffic lights or stopped in traffic ; doing so while moving certainly risks prosecution.

(Should this discussion be moved to a discussion thread? it doesn't answer the OP's broadband issues......)

[AndyOrch]

Can we get back to the topic of this thread please...BT and it price increase.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Surfer01]

I have used Uswitch to check some comparisons and when selecting the dela and going to the Plus net website the cost jumps up by nearly £10 and is not the same shown on the Uswitch website. Sadly I cannot seem to get a better deal that the one I am on even with the price increase which is probably why BT increased their prices knowing that you would not be able to get a better deal elsewhere. Very sneaky!.

[AndyOrch]

Then you will have to stay with BT and suffer their £2.50 increase...unless you can get proper broadband from Virgin....all the rest are one and the same and role in and out with the tide and clouds.