RETENTIONS - the SCAM of BT overcharging existing customers !!

[gg30340]

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@Puma937wrote:

@gg30340 'Have you actually tried using the online system, "not the offers for you"  by logging onto your MyBT then clicking on the Broadband button in the menu bar to see what prices of the packages are for existing customers rather than going through customer services?'

Yes of course......there are no prices or options shown. Is this even available to anyone?
If I log into MyBT there are no existing customer price options. Only the option to 'Upgrade Broadband' under Existing Customers. If I click on this, there are still no upgrade options available at all for broadband, just TV deals.  I have been told that this is because I am out of contract.
Just out of interest, are you able to screenshot any new customer prices for Halo 3+? 

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If the option to renew was not there I would not have asked if you had tried that method. I have just renewed/changed my BT Broadband package using the method I asked you if you had tried. All options were there and I took FTTP 500 for £31.98 which is £2.00 cheaper than I was paying for FTTC Fibre 2.

I can not see any price for Halo+ but the add ons are under the "customise package"  button and the "Hybrid Connect" which is slightly similar to Halo+ minus the engineer visits. It costs £7.55 per month on top of the price for which ever package you select. 

[gg30340]

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@womazwrote:

Yes I wonder how long after you have been out of contract, to then be deemed a new customer and then maybe the offers come up for us.

Its a dreadful way to treat existing customers.

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You are never out of contract if you have BT Broadband. You are either in a Fixed Term Contract, usually for 24 months or you are on a 30 day Rolling Contract. If you were not in either of them you would not be supplied broadband.

If you want to be classed as a new customer without going to another provider you would need to cease which ever contract you are in which obviously would stop your broadband.

Anecdotally others have waited about two weeks after doing that although I do not know if that is the normal amount of time or if it could be done sooner, then take out a new BT Broadband package and you will be treated as a new customer.

[iniltous]

Offers to renew when approaching the end of a minimum term are not the only option , it’s required that customers are advised when a minimum term is about to expire , at that point there is nothing stopping the customer making a call to ‘retentions’ to see what’s on offer , especially if the automatic renewal offers are unappealing….this doesn’t affect anyone’s option to leave if an acceptable offer isn’t made ….

It does surprise me the ‘tone’  around conversations on this regarding BT as if it’s only BT that penalise customers that inadvertently move onto uncompetitive pricing  once outside a minimum term , or they don’t immediately offer renewing customers deals as good as or better than ‘new’ customers…..it’s pretty standard across the entire industry, certainly not unique to BT .

I’ll be in a better position to judge soon , my renewal is due in around 6 weeks , the online renewal offer is around the same as I’m paying now  ( a little more ) strangely there is an offer to move to EE and that offers a saving , but on clicking through there is no saving to be had , once the speed is F2 (not F1) and PAYG telephone is added ….and joining EE independently and not via a BT link but as a new customer, the price is slightly better but not sufficiently better to consider it …perhaps  in a few weeks I’ll call if that remains the case and see what can be done to keep me as a customer 

[womaz]

Well I put my complaint in writing to make it more official.

Dont think it will make any difference. I have 5 months till my contrcat ends and the person dealing with my complaint said I can renew or ask for new deal 3 months before the end

I said that as I have Halo there is a promise that I will not be asked to pay more than a new customer is being offered.

He said that at renewal I will be offered the same deal as a new customer. So we will see.......but judging from the posts on here I very much doubt I will.

I can get full fibre 900 for £37 per month with another provider so I will go with them if it is still available

If I do not i will take it up with the governing body.....on principle.

[gg30340]

In case you are not aware, the price promise only applies to Halo customers renewing their package after its Fixed Term Contract has run its course and you renew the same or comparable package or after the Fixed Term Contract has run its course and you do not renew the contract but just carry on with a 30 day rolling contract. 

The package it gets compared to is that for a new customer taking out exactly the same Halo package or comparable package as you have.

It is not a general price promise across the board ie. You will not get a price promise if you are wanting to have a different package from what you have just now.

See Halo 3 Terms & Conditions

BT Halo 3 and 3+ terms

[womaz]

Thank you, I did not know this.

So really a pointless promise 😁

Looks like I will have to leave BT which is a shame as its very reliable. No complaints about their service, I am just not prepared to pay double the price for a similar speed.

[chrisjp]

"It does surprise me the ‘tone’ around conversations on this regarding BT as if it’s only BT that penalise customers that inadvertently move onto uncompetitive pricing once outside a minimum term"

What gets customers annoyed, though, is BT's price promise: you'll never pay more than a new customer - no exceptions"
As worded, this is just not true. To be accurate it should say: "you won't pay more than a new customer, as long as you already have taken extras like HALO, and the new customer doesn't take these because he/she won't be offered them".
Put like this it exposes the slyness of this "price promise".

[gg30340]

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@chrisjpwrote:

What gets customers annoyed, though, is BT's price promise: you'll never pay more than a new customer - no exceptions"
As worded, this is just not true. To be accurate it should say: "you won't pay more than a new customer, as long as you already have taken extras like HALO, and the new customer doesn't take these because he/she won't be offered them".
Put like this it exposes the slyness of this "price promise".

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Where does it give that "price promise".  I may well be wrong but as far as I am aware it is only when you are looking at what you get with Halo and it is not in the wording of any of the packages.

[Puma937]

BT Halo is no longer sold as a product for new customers. Go to BT and it's nowhere to be found. Do a quick Google search and you will find the details, but you wont be able to order it online.

This then brings into question the benefits for existing customers, specifically the Price Promise. If you can no longer ascertain what a new customer would pay for Halo, how do you know 'you'll never pay more' at renewal.

It's a question I've asked numerous BT employees - 'How much is Halo 3+ with FF for a new customer, so I can check?'. They can't tell me as it does not exist and they can't place an order for anyone. Yet......it is impossible to remove the product as an existing customer, whether you are in or out of contract.

If BT announce that Halo does not exist anymore, then the price promise for that product becomes redundant. Existing customers would be within their rights to request Full Fibre (say FF500) for £32.99 and then add on Complete WiFi for £10 and Hybrid Connect for £7.55. This would be the new customer Halo equivalent price (excluding Home Tech visits) and would cost £50.54 - a lot less than most current Halo customers are paying.

BT wont announce that Halo is obsolete though, as they have too many people tied in - the product is just hidden away like it never existed. Staff are therefore incentivised to keep existing customers on a Halo contract, by stating 'this is the best price and you get to keep all the Halo benefits'. Moving someone out of a Halo commitment will only highlight the disparity and BT wouldn't want that.

With Halo being so expensive and no decent offers available at renewal, customers are leaving and BT couldn't care less. In fact they are over the moon, as it's another Halo mug off the books that can no longer hold them accountable for blatant overcharging.

[gg30340]

I will ask the moderators to clarify if there is still such a thing as BT Halo in what ever incarnation they are now calling it and if there is BT Hallo, how do customers

a) go about getting a Halo package?

b) how do existing Halo customers know that they are getting the price promise?

c) is the price promise still as it was ie compared to a new customer buying the same package?

d) or is the price promise only that it will not increase when you come to renew it at the end of a Fixed Term Contract or if you choose to just go onto a 30 day rolling contract?

e) if it no longer exists why is it still showing on the BT site 

All new BT Halo | The UK’s first unbreakable wi-fi | BT

BT Halo 3 and 3+ terms