Switching back to BT

[kanturner]

Hi folks. I was out of contract with BT a couple of years ago and when I called to renew, I was persuaded to switch to EE, as the BT advisor informed me that EE would be handling all future domestic services, whilst BT concentrated on Business interests only. My experience with EE has been OK in terms of facility, but dreadful for service. My TV Box Pro has had all sorts of problems, none of which have been resolved. I already had an EE mobile phone account and when I switched from BT for broadband and TV I was assured they would combine the two accounts. Despite multiple attempts, I still have two EE accounts as they just can't combine the two. But most annoying and frustrating are the EE website and App which are monumentally hopeless, taking me to constantly re-loading pages, or pages that aren't available due to one error or another, and if they do work, the wait can be several minutes at times. Shocking. Surely they are legally obliged to inform me of what I'm being billed for, which isn't easy when the relevant pages won't load?

So, I've been on USwitch and I can get better value deals it seems from Sky (I'd prefer not) or BT. BT provide an equivalent package for £27 less per month, whilst Sky's offer is £37 less. It seems from the BT website that they would provide EE kit (more Pro Box horrors?), but would otherwise provide the entire service of B/B, TV, landline and mobile phones, with all the same channels and whole-home facilities, for a welcome saving. I should add that when I was with BT, with the BT TV box and Mesh discs, I had no issues whatsoever.

So my question to the community is directed at any other customers that may have switched back. Is it something BT and/or EE are content to do? Might I be better off moving away from the BT/EE group and try Sky for a while?

Any thoughts, advice or lessons learned would be appreciated.

[FLC]

Historically, switching between the two as a new customer has been blocked. But I guess you can only try online & see what happens. Also look at Top Cashback comparisons.

Note that all TV services are EE branded & you'll get another EE box if the switch is allowed. Although both EE & BT boxes are identical internally.

Hoping for better CS is probably overly optimistic as they're essentially the same company under different badges.

[kanturner]

Thanks FLC. I'm aware they are 'sister' companies, but there was a definite and marked downgrade in CS when I switched to EE, and the App and website frailties have been ongoing since my switch two years ago, they really should be sorted by now.

TBH, The facility, by which I mean B/B and TV reliability and quality has been faultless (as it was with BT) so perhaps I'll just call EE when my contract is up next month, ask that they fix the minor service issues such as non-combined accounts, and carry on as I am.

[Netty061]

We switched to EE, and had a lot of teething problems with the internet constantly dropping. It was a nightmare for us as we all worked from home. I have to say, however, the customer service was really good, although they couldn’t always do a long term fix, and eventually sent someone round to check everything. This chap found a few things and gave us some advice. Turned out that our BT TV box was out of date (they originally told me it would work fine as it was essentially the same thing) so we got a brand new EE one. Things settled down with the odd issue (agree that APP is a bit weird), but they then offered a mid term upgrade and I got a new hub and new extenders which actually cost a bit less. Since then it’s all been good. I was a bit surprised to see BT suddenly advertising again to the general public after shoving EE down our throats! We don’t have a mobile account because the signal is so bad where we live. It’s always been bad going right back to when it was Orange.

[Kimberlin]

@Netty061  Concerning not having a mobile account, I assume then you don’t have mobile phones capable of WiFi calling? With WiFi calling, you don’t even need a mobile signal, the calls are routed through your router. This is how the rest of us manage with no landline or a poor mobile signal.

Customer service from BT, I can’t comment on as I’ve never needed to speak to them about any technical issues. I’ve been on FTTP now for over 5 years without a single problem or loss of service.

[Netty061]

We do have phones capable of wi fi but have been with Giffgaff for years which is both cheaper and the signal is great so never bothered changing. Usually find WiFi calling isn’t as good quality as a good mobile signal.