Broken promise?

[bobwilly]

I contacted 0800 1114567 hoping to negotiate a new deal because my 24 month contract for Fibre 250 with BT Halo 1 expires early August.

I was told I could not renew this product because it no longer exists and the options were to sign up for a slower connection and pay similar or have a faster connection and pay more. Neither of these alternatives appealed to me because I am quite happy with the product I am currently on.

I asked the agent what would happen and what the monthly charge would be if I did nothing when my contract expired in August and was told that she did not know what the new monthly charge would be if I did not choose a product currently offered.

When I asked if there was a retention department so I could discuss this further I was told that she was the retention department and I got the impression she was quite relaxed at the prospect of me looking at other providers because I felt let down by the lack of suitable products on offer by BT.

After the call I noticed the following in the Halo terms and conditions:

8. How does Our Price Promise work? You’ll keep the same monthly price, when your contract ends. This doesn’t include any changes as a result of annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus 3.9%.

I think it is disingenuous and misleading to say the least if the promise disappears when the related product is removed from the portfolio.

I thought I would post on here to see if anyone else has fallen foul of this "promise" when their contract ended and ask if a member of the BT staff who monitor the forum would care to comment.

[rbz5416]

Probably a little pedantic & yes, disingenuous but there's probably a contractual difference between renewing & just letting the service continue out of contract. So you can't renew your deal as it's no longer sold, but presumably not being withdrawn as a service. It's only a throttling of the connection after all. So I guess she was technically correct as far as renewing ahead of your end date but should have been aware of the price promise if you just let the contract expire. So I would expect you to be able to continue as you are with no change to the price.

But that's just my take based on common sense but we're dealing with BT, so you really need someone who knows for sure to confirm for you.

[imjolly]

maybe a bit early to renew your contract but you can try options team 0800800030 and see if you can negotiate something you are happy with and if not don't take offer and try again in a few days/week

[Bob1001]

@bobwillyI am on Halo1 and my contract has run out, I received an email yesterday saying that if I did nothing my service would continue at the same price it also gave me an option to "upgrade" to Halo3 for about £4 a month extra. I am doing nothing and continuing at the same price with Halo1.

We want to let you know your following contract with us is ending soon:

You're currently paying:

£65.72 a month for Fibre with Halo 1 and Complete Wi-Fi including Call Plan and that will continue to be £65.72 a month on 08 July 2022 

We always want you to get the right package at the best price. So we've pulled together the options you now have and the best available offers for you.

Keep your current contract
If you’re happy with your package, you won’t have to do a thing.

Renew or upgrade with us
It's really simple to stay with us. You can upgrade to one of our new offers or renew your current contract. Just get in touch and we'll take care of everything.

Moving provider
Just so you know, once your contract ends, we won't charge you to cancel or switch to another provider. But we'd hate to say goodbye. For advice on how to cancel, visit our website."

[Bob1001]

Sorry about all the blank spaces on my previous post, I tried to edit it but failed, however all the useful info is there.

[bobwilly · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your posts Bob 1001. It's good of you to take the time to provide this information. Getting a reply from someone who has been in exactly the same situation is really helpful. I have just over 4 weeks left on my contract so I was trying to get an early "heads up" on my options. Doing nothing and continuing with my current plan suits best. Many thanks.

[-Richie-]

If you're on any Halo plan, the price outside the minimum term doesn't increase at the end of the contract period, you go on a rolling 30 day term at the same price you paid when inside the minimum term.

You will still be impacted by the annual price change in March each year, so if you're happy with what you have and what you pay, don't make any changes 🙂

[bobwilly]

Thanks Richie for confirming what the process will be. Bit of a shame the BT agent I spoke to wasn't aware of this. Her lack of knowledge could have proved costly for me in either a reduced service or an increased monthly charge. Thank goodness for this forum. Thank you very much to all the members who replied.