New contract

[Orac-_-01]

Hi, Last month I finally managed to renew my contract with BT, dropping Halo 3, entertainment and  phone line…….This literally took weeks to do.  I even ended up leaving at one point but Vodafone were unable to deliver the router to me, while I was waiting for the bt chat after being let down by Vodafone and Evri I spotted a “basics” broadband package …..900 mbps for £30.99.  Bearing in mind my March bill was £109.00  as I was out of contract for 1 day, due to BT not wanting to stop ripping me off you can see why I wanted to look at reducing the cost, even a new contract was going to be nearly £100!  I thought Halo 3 was an actual thing…..anyone on it should drop it as soon as contract is up, it’s a scam.  I was given a booster disc so was able to send mine back to keep them happy but even if you don’t the charge is a one off £50, it works without paying anything monthly.  Also I got to keep the tv box as I had it before end of 2019, which despite what bt will tell you works fine (or as badly as it ever did) apart from obviously I can no longer watch constant repeats of only fools and horses on Gold……always used a fire stick for apps as Prime would never work on the bt box!  BT have advised me twice that I will receive a refund on my April bill for all the extra nonsense that I was charged for March to April that was cancelled but at the moment the “estimated” April bill is still showing an additional charge for out of contract “entertainment”…….Will this be amended and the credit for last month be applied or do I have another fight on my hands?

[Kimberlin]

Firstly, in a rare defence of BT, they aren’t ripping you off. They are doing what they say they will do, increase the cost year on year in line with their T’s&C’s. It’s completely on the customer as to whether or not they keep paying what the increases are, or call and renegotiate. It’s generally accepted I think, that those who have ended up saddled with Halo, could in some cases, not be getting value for money. It doesn’t help either that when some customers call BT to dump Halo, reading posts on this forum, it isn’t necessarily easy to get out of the Halo trap. You have to put your foot down and tell them you no longer want it.

Back to your billing situation, no one here can tell you when BT will finalise or amend your bill. You have to call them and have that conversation. No one here, including Moderators have access to anyone’s accounts.

[Orac-_-01]

Thanks, I’m aware no one here is actually from bt, was hoping there would be others in the same situation who could share their experience.

there is no defence for BT on this, I accept and agree to the annual increases but blatently stopping somebody from renewing because they want to downgrade from their current package when the contract ends is wrong.  Hiding all your options when it comes time to renew is wrong and making stuff up about equipment not belonging to you and no longer working is also wrong.  Something was definitely not right…… I am now paying £70 less a month and still have the same streaming services by going direct to providers and I also still have whole house WiFi.  Do BT think we’re going to believe that the 900mbps I now get is any different to the one they provided before.  

[Kimberlin]

@Orac-_-01  I sympathise completely with your experience, downgrading a product at the end of a 24 month contract should never be called into question and certainly not by some call centre employee. They should just concentrate on doing their job, listen to the customer and basically do as they are told.

Of course your 900mbps broadband isn’t any different, same product, albeit without the Halo package, for £70 less, bargain.

The whole annual price increase is nothing more than a really poor joke on the customer anyway. I said it in a previous thread somewhere, the ISP’s can stick the customer year on year with the increased cost, but the fact remains, that new customer deals remain pretty much stagnant year on year. The recent price increase has done nothing whatsoever to new customer deals, you just have to go on any price comparison website to see that. The only people mugging themselves off, are the customers who just never bother renegotiating, in which case, they absolutely deserve every over the top penny they’re being charged.

[iniltous]

TBH , this inability to easily remove Halo once it has been taken and it becomes clear to the customer that it wasn’t worth the cost (to that individual, some may feel it’s worth the added cost ) is in my opinion counterproductive to BT , almost forcing customers to move to other providers when remaining with BT was the preference , but unwillingness to continue paying for the unwanted and expensive Halo option was simply unacceptable, I personally don’t blame the BT guides  (plenty of unsubstantiated claims they are on commission and won’t offer products that don’t earn them anything ) I think it’s probably the inflexible back office systems that only offer ‘upgrades’ .

It is possible to remove Halo but it is not easy , especially if the BT guide simply offers what comes up on their ‘screen’ as alternatives, the only hope really is if sufficient volumes of ‘leavers’ if given the opportunity to state why they changed providers, state that it was Halo and it’s apparent compulsion to keep it once you have it was the reason the customer changed providers then senior management will see its removal needs to be much easier .

[orozz]

I only got the Halo add on removed by going through the motions of leaving using the OTS system. 
The Stevenage team had no difficulty in removing Halo to retain me as a BT customer.