BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

[Trev012]

I was aware via earlier email from BT that my bill would rise from 1st April by £3. I usually get my monthly bill via email on 28th of the month.

When my recent bill came in on 28th April, it had risen by £5.71 and NOT the £3 they said it would. I spent far too long on a chat with BT and they just waffled nonsense saying the bill is correct, which it certainly is not. JUST ADD £3 TO MY BILL AND I'D BE HAPPY WITH THAT !!!

Please see extract of chat with BT agent when I raised it with them. It simply doesn't make sense.

"I am sorry if I have missed it. Let me explain this.
Previously your pacakge price was £36.79. Every year from during March, prices
go up across the industry to keep up with rising network, service and
operational costs. Hence currently your monthly pacakge is £39.79

You have been charged £42.50 this month as Our prices changed on 31 Mar. We've
refunded you for services charged in advance on your last bill, and re-charged you at the new
price. so there is an one off charge of £2.71 for the duration of 31 Mar - 27Apr.  So the total is £42.50. 

Of course, I know that £36.79 +£3 should be be £39.79 AND NOT £42.50 for that month.

BT agent cannot explain properly with there is an additional £2.71 to me and I am sick to death of their pricing policy.

With that in mind, after over 44 years as a continuous BT customer, I am now looking at other providers.

[TimCurtis · Accepted solution]

@Trev012 

It's actually correct as you pay in advance so last month you paid for the next month at the old rate but that rate has now increased so you have to pay the extra for that already "paid in advance" month.

Sometimes it's not easy to explain but BT are correct and your next bill should be for the £39.79 that you are expecting to pay.

All ISPs would be doing the same as BT so nothing unfair or unjustified.

To be fair it took me a while to get my head around this.

[garybs29]

Honestly, it's pro rata pricing, you pay in advance so you'll have a part month charge for previous price paid from 31st March on last bill after increase plus the £3 in advance. I sometimes wonder why people struggle to understand that as the dates a re clearly laid out on the bill & you've actually copied the information into your post! It's actually clear from what the advisor said -

You have been charged £42.50 this month as Our prices changed on 31 Mar. We've refunded you for services charged in advance on your last bill, and re-charged you at the new price. so there is an one off charge of £2.71 for the duration of 31 Mar - 27Apr

[iniltous]

I’ve recently seen the DD on my bank statement for BT , expecting a £4 increase applied 31 March as outlined at the start of the ‘contract’ , but it was a little more (£6.70 instead of my assumption of £4 ) however the estimated bill for following month shows the expected amount up from £32 to £36 (or thereabouts ) which is correct …the explanation is pretty simple , my bill date is the 10th of the month  , the previous bill  for £32 should have had a a few days with the increase price ,  so should have been more than £32  , I actually owed BT more than £32 , but because of when the bill is generated and processed etc ,  I was actually debited £2.70 less than the correct amount, that underpayment corrected on this  bill,  hence the slightly higher than expected increase of one month , that settles down to the amount expected for the next year …transition bills take a little time to understand.

[Colin_London]

They really do try their best to explain on their bills how this works with little graphics and everything.

This month you are paying your new price PLUS a small pro-rated amount for the period between the end of March and your bill date which effectively you underpaid last month.

This is just because the price increase did not align with your bill date.

So there is no mistake. Next months bill will be what you were expecting.

[Kodikid]

44 years as a BT customer and you still haven't worked out their billing system..

[Kimberlin]

@Trev012  As had been explained, there is nothing unfair or unjustified about BT’s price increases, its is how it is and all within the T’s&C’s.

Can’t get this across in a sympathetic way, but your 44 years as a BT customer literally counts for zero. You’ll just keep getting the annual price increases until you decide to do something about it. Either renegotiate with BT when your contract ends and you go onto the 30 day rolling contract, or switch out. New customer deals are usually very good across all ISP’s. One Touch Switching has made it even easier to switch away.

I appreciate some folks just stick with one ISP because it’s just easier to do that, but what you can’t then do, is complain about the pricing if you’re unhappy with the amount you’re paying. The choice literally is, yours.

[Trev012]

Absolutely !!! They certainly don't make it simple.

[Trev012]

Thank you for your reply Tim, much appreciated.

BT must be the only company I know that works this way and just causes confusion for consumers.

Incidentally, my gas maintenance company just increased my monthly fee to them by £1 and guess what..... It went up by the said £1. That's the way it should be done. Clear and concise!

[iniltous]

You will find that everyone in this industry that applies their annual increase on a particular date (like the 31st March ) does this bill adjustment of transition dates , joining , leaving , annual increase , with people joining every single day of the month not just on the 1st , there is always going to be bills that are mid month to mid month , it’s impossible to have every customer bill to be from the 1st of the month to the last day if the month , then send out 5 million bills at the same time .