Leaving BT

[homerhotspur]

I am on the countdown to leaving BT- Contract ends in about 3 weeks. The Plusnet new customer offer , for example, will save me over £500 over an 18 month contract and still give access to BT Sport.

Despite the above, I would prefer to stay with BT. I pay them approx £90 per month total plus occasional extra film rentals. Surely they don't want to lose such a long standing customer without a fight? It seems not. I have followed all advice to phone the options team and negotiate hard but I am getting the same figures quoted at me and a total reluctance to let me leave the ' HALO family' and revert to simple Fibre 1. They are obsessed with giving me HALO 3+ at a slight discount. I don't need these ' benefits' and I don't need the double data mobile phone allowances.

I have said I will try again in a couple of weeks when my contract will be virtually up to see if they can be more realistic. I hoped and suggested they might offer me the new customer price which is still significantly more than I would pay by switching but this was not entertained.

Is it the case that BT are now only interested in getting everyone onto Halo 3 + and don't really care if people leave rather than offer some competitive prices to get you to sign up for a 24 month contract? Also, are they actually quite happy for those who don't want to take Halo etc etc  to join Plusnet or EE as they are subsidiary companies?

[homerhotspur]

to add, I have just had another look at the offer given, which I was told was giving me more for £11.50 a month less but it isn't actually any cheaper at all !!!

[ney]

PlusNet offers seem good and to some they are a good saving .

I myself in the past looked at moving to PlusNet but changed my mind as would only be making a saving in the short term. Also PlusNet is just a cheaper version of BT.

I still got just over 6 months on my FTTC with BT. Then will look at all my options then.
I got a good deal with BT last time as I told them I had been looking elsewhere and was thinking of moving due to price.

Apart from now not being able to record the Now channels. Which I occasionally did. The best thing I did was cancel BT TV back in March this year and now get the same package of Entertainment, Sky Cinema and HD Boost with discounts direct from Now.

[homerhotspur]

My main gripe at the moment is the lack of any attempt to offer a better  package deal (price)  and the obsession with getting me onto HALO 3 + /EE mobile which I simply don't need/want. I am prepared to pay a premium to stay with BT over a new deal elsewhere but there has to be some sign of goodwill to sign for another 2 years, surely....?

[ney]

I agree with you that there is no point in paying for something you dont need.

Im like you and would not want Halo 3+ as EE mobile I would not want and anyway would not want to pay the higher price.

I dropped from the old Halo 2 to the old Halo 1 last time I get offered a good FTTC deal with BT. As they priced matched a deal I was looking at elsewhere and got FTTC 2 for the price of FTTC 1.

Depending who you get on the phone some may not offer you a good deal and some may. I got put though to another department last time I phoned to renew as said deal was rubbish and that I was really thinking of moving elsewhere.

[homerhotspur]

It does seem incredibly random as to who might give you a better offer. We are always told the 'retentions team' are the place to go but I'm not getting any kind of worthwhile offer. I will give it one last go and make it crystal clear that this is their last opportunity to keep me with them.

[homerhotspur]

Thought I would give an update for anyone thinking of leaving and seeking a better deal from BT before pressing the button.

I have agreed a new 24 month contract, having finally been offered a really good deal at my 4th attempt via the loyalty /retention team. It was totally random. Having had little or no interest in what I was saying , I was finally offered a deal very similar to ' new customer' rate and was ' allowed' to ditch Halo in favour of ' simple' Fibre 1( but see later). All was happily agreed but then a saga started.

I didn't receive the confirmation of the deal agreed so a successsion of frustrating follow up calls ensued. Everyone was always helpful and sounded confident they had solved the issue but it took 8 further calls to get all the glitches resolved.

The initial issue was that the system couldn't cope with me moving from a Halo contract back to a basic Fibre one. Anther issue was the need for a manager to authorise the deal which seemed to take 3 manager requests to sort. Early on in this follow up process, it was made fairly clear to me that I should be moving to EE from BT Mobile at this point , as everyone will soon be required to do. So, this all had to be sorted ( an appropriate reduction in the broadband cost was given for the length of the contract to compensate for the higher EE price).

Then I found I had lost the caller ID on our landline phone. This was initially due to a clash with ' privacy at home' which I hadn't actually reqyested. 

During the above shenanigans , the original contract date was extended twice due to the changes needed to correct things. I was also given an upgrade to fibre 2 as an apology, although I don't think this actually makes any difference to me. I figured I didn't mind the contract extension as I had secured a good price for longer.

So, patience has been the key. I was about 10 days off the end of my contract when I finally got the good offer. Patience also needed whilst trying to get everything confirmed and correct. Its important to check all the documents e mailed as I think there are quite a few system issues. Also, in the last few days, the queues to speak to someone have got much much worse, but they do play some catchy tunes!

So, I can now forget about it for  a couple of years .

Good luck

[ney]

@homerhotspur thanks for the update.

Is your move  with no Halo still giving to similar speeds to your old package.

I would need to keep a speed over 60mb for what I use the FTTC in the house.

My BT FTTC contract is up start of February next year.

I now very rarely use the landline to make calls.So I'm on pay as you go for landline calls.

I take it your new broadband deal also includes landline calls.

Im with o2 so the mobile part of your deal would be no good to me.

Will be looking at my options early next year.

[homerhotspur]

So, I had Fibre 2 with Halo previously. We don't have FTTP here.

My new deal originally was Fibre 1 which more or less matches the speeds currently available here ( around 48mb). My free upgrade to Fibre 2 ( I believe maximum 67mb) is therefore probably irrelevant to us. I assume Fibre 2 would be ok for your needs then. The Halo aspect does not , I believe, have any impact on the speeds obtained.

Yes, I have a landline package and an inclusive calls add on.

[licquorice]

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@ney wrote:

Is your move  with no Halo still giving to similar speeds to your old package.

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Halo is just a benefits package, it has no impact on speed.