What do you think about BT's soon to be enforced 14.4% in-contract price increase?

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newsroom.bt.com

Our approach to this year’s price changes explained

By Nick Lane, MD Customer Services, BT Consumer
newsroom.bt.com newsroom.bt.com

The link above explains BT's point of view on the 14.4% CPI price increase.

I accept the 14.4% increase rather than seeing it as a form of extortion because I negotiated a discount before signing up recently.

I had written the following as a response to another thread but then I thought it's worthy of having it's own thread:

Figure out how much of a discount you want the next time you negotiate the contract. Arguably the CPI price increases exist to subsidise these promotional offers so make sure you get one.

I was offered a discount of £8 per month when I ordered BT's FTTP recently and the total cost over 24 months including in-contract price increases will be ~£120 more than Zen FTTP (Zen don't have in-contract price increases). BT also include "free" Xbox Game Pass Premium which is available at a cost of £120 per year.

I preferred to go with BT's FTTP and it took only a couple of minutes on the phone to be offered what I wanted.

After April's 14.4% in-contract price increase, people paying for BT's promotional offers could give them a call asking to be offered a promotional deal with a new 24 months contract. If it doesn't work out for you, you could make an official complaint in writing saying you think it is unfair for BT to be extorting some of their customers using the CPI + 3.9% in-contract price increases and then forget about it and get on with your life. BT will eventually provide an official response which could turn out to be useful evidence in the future. Most consumers are unlikely to be able to enforce the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts so an official complaint is the next best thing.
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Well disgusted, since they installed fiber to my home the very cheapest internet they can offer me is £40 a month. I have phoned them and phoned them trying to explain that they should be able to offer me cheaper deals but its like trying to talk to a wall.

After the increase it will be the best part of £50 just for internet.

Im going to try to switch to Sky internet who quoted me £25
 
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I'm sick of getting ripped off compared to the deals offered to new customers. Serious lack of competition in my area so nothing I can do about it. Prices defo shouldn't change within a contract period.
 
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ChrisD. said:
It’s something I despise, the price of a contract should be exactly that, ie, what you agreed when you took the service.
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Yes. Companies should hedge against cost increases by taking advice on likely economic outcomes over the contract period and setting their prices accordingly. If they don't want to predict two years into the future then offer 12-month contracts and put the price up at the end of it. I'm sure they could offset the price rises by not giving away gift cards to new customers and kickbacks to price comparison sites, let them figure out how to do that.
 
Personally think it goes against the spirit of a contract and wouldn't be stood for in other areas. Plus would not go down well the other way around.
 
Are they not letting you out of contract if you want?

Last time I recall a price hike from VM mid contract they would let you out of contract as an alternative.
 
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Hotwired said:
Are they not letting you out of contract if you want?

Last time I recall a price hike from VM mid contract they would let you out of contract as an alternative.
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It's rare to be able to get out of the contract without penalty but some like VM allow it but effective from April 2024 VM will have RPI + 3.9% in-contract price increases.
 
We use Ee for our business mobiles. We made the decision when they hit us with the same 14% rise to switch every to another provider as contracts lapse. Not much in the grand scheme of things but it’s £4/5000 a year that are won’t get

Same with hyperoptic our service is great but our business pricing doubled after 18 months. We’ll pull the plug and go to another supplier rather than get stung. So many companies seem to bank on customers being lazy
 
That Hyperoptic thing is slightly different in that it's clearly advertised as an introductory offer and you have the option to re-contract if you want. There's also far less competition if you want a business-tier symmetric gigabit connection.
 
233 said:
So many companies seem to bank on customers being lazy
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It's profitable and I despise it.

Every end of contract you have to phone up and hassle someone whose job it is to offer the minimum possible discount they can get away with to get you to re-sign. Or you get the much higher "regular" price if you're too timid. Or you quit and deal with the hassle of swapping to another provider for their "new customer" deal.

All the onus is on the customer to spend time and effort in a mess of completely opaque pricing and permanently uncertain what a fair price is.
 
There are plenty of Openreach ISPs who do not have “Rate of Inflation plus“ in their contracts. Zen being one. BT will only learn if people vote with their wallets. Like @233 we have elected to move away from EE for our mobile data SIM contracts because on an £1800 mobile phone bill, the 15% increase is massive and frankly unjustifiable. We were paying up to £27+VAT for an unlimited SIM card on a 12 month contract and we are now paying as little as £8+VAT for the same thing on 1 month rolling contracts. And it involved surprisingly little effort swapping out all the SIMs.

3 Business are especially aggressive at the moment and while they also have price increases pre-baked into their contracts the rolling 1 month contract means we can be much more flexible in what we pay for SIMs.

And as I understand it, if any contract places one party in an extremely disadvantaged position, then it can be cancelled. I believe BT do indeed allow customers to break out of contracts if they impose a price increase within the contract. I know one person in Thetford who was paying £70 for their home broadband and only woke up when BT informed them it was going up to £82 per month and he terminated in-contract and went to Upp at £35 per month for 900Mbps symmetrical (with a no-increase 24 month contract).
 
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WJA96 said:
3 Business are especially aggressive at the moment and while they also have price increases pre-baked into their contracts the rolling 1 month contract means we can be much more flexible in what we pay for SIMs.
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They are indeed, which is how I have some unlimited data Sims's that are £3 per month (inc. VAT). Newer ones just cost over £7 a year later, which it still great considering the speeds.
 
WJA96 said:
And as I understand it, if any contract places one party in an extremely disadvantaged position, then it can be cancelled. I believe BT do indeed allow customers to break out of contracts if they impose a price increase within the contract. I know one person in Thetford who was paying £70 for their home broadband and only woke up when BT informed them it was going up to £82 per month and he terminated in-contract and went to Upp at £35 per month for 900Mbps symmetrical (with a no-increase 24 month contract).
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Exactly, an unfair term of a consumer contract isn't legally binding on the consumer. Cumulative price increases can be so ridiculous they know to acquiesce right away.
 
I only signed up to a new 24 month contract a month ago (mainly due to issues with BT's billing system) and while I was aware of the CPI increase each March, I never expected it to be a 14.4% increase!

I contacted BT and complained and they agreed to give me a credit equal to the increase over the first 12 month period!
 
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It's a lot worse for Virgin/O2 users based on this thread: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-just-had-notice-of-a-17-8-increase.18968189/

RPI of 13.9% instead of CPI's 10.5%, it's an absolute joke.

I'm nearly at the end of my BT contract but I don't want to renew it or move to another FTTC provider as Community Fibre is due to go live later this year. I can soak up the extra cost but it's still a large jump...

Can't even try 4G/5G broadband as coverage around my home area for all networks is weak (some locals have been protesting against extra masts...).
 
Essentially it's a monopolistic money grab imo, yes they'll argue there are alternatives such as virgin etc but they're nowhere near me and never will be. Not to mention BT has a huge brand awareness.

It's bad enough we have the 'landline tax' even if never use the phone, we need it for the internet (non fibre at least)... yes I could switch to a 'bt landline reseller' at a slightly lower price but they're going to have to put their prices up to cover their fees to BT most likely.

Luckily I'm landline only with BT and using zen on the lifetime price guarantee for my internet. Fibre still isn't a viable option (no fixed ip etc) where I live so I get, relatively speaking, ripped off on 80/20 which costs the same as some gigabit fibre options.....

Also it's always nice how BT likes to 'share the expense' on all customers even those who don't gain anything because they don't use it..... they did it with the bt football stuff, they're now doing it with ee 4G coverage, it would be nice if they just charged the people that use it.
 
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