RETENTIONS - the SCAM of BT overcharging existing customers !!

[Kodikid]

Sincerely doubt you'll get 900mbps for £40 anywhere. 

Besides once you go over 300mbps there's literally no difference over wifi in the real world 

[licquorice]

@womaz Have you actually requested a visit?

Visits are made on request, not annually as a matter of course.

[Puma937]

@Christopher_G - BT Halo is NOT available to order online as a New Customer. Have you tried?

If I click through the Halo link you have provided (which does not appear as an option if you just access BT.com), then click on 'Not a Customer Yet - See your BT Halo Deals' - Halo disappears, you are then re-routed back to the main BT page. I've tried numerous times, by adding a friends address and a neighbours (with their approval) and there are NO options to select a Halo package and obtain a price.

Say I'm a new customer and I go to BT.Com to sign up. Where is Halo as a fantastic BT option to order - it's nowhere, completely missing?

The benefits clearly display a Price Promise when you 'renew your contract', but it's impossible to ascertain what the new customer price would be, to check that you are not paying more. 

If you are an existing customer on Halo you are forced to stay, unless you jump through hoops. The reason - if BT easily allow existing customers to remove Halo it would confirm overcharging. The main benefits of Halo are Complete WiFi (£10) and Hybrid Connect (£7.55) - do the sums and every new customer package comes out far cheaper. 

Halo is an obsolete product, no longer promoted or advertised by BT.

[Anonymous]

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@Kodikidwrote:

Sincerely doubt you'll get 900mbps for £40 anywhere. 

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Using a cashback comparison site I can find numerous offers of 900Mb at well under £40, including from BT. Add in the cashback & voucher/reward card & that drops below £30.

As I've said many times before, it's completely baffling as a business model why BT will happily spend £245 to recruit a new customer, yet will wave their existing ones goodbye. 🤔 

[iniltous]

https://img01.products.bt.co.uk/content/dam/bt/storefront/pdfs/BT_PhoneTariff_Residential.pdf

This shows Halo is still a current product, the regular website to place an order or check what is on offer  has never shown all the products available but a selection that BT feel are appropriate to the person on the website , presumably to get the full product range you need to call and already know pretty much what’s available and what you want otherwise you woukd think the only options are what are displayed initially,  it’s understandable in a way if they have hundreds of products and product variations, that not all can be shown simultaneously.

Looking at the full price list ( with regard to not paying  more than a ‘new’ customer for Halo customers) , that’s pretty easy to achieve, Full Fibre 900 with Halo 3+ maximum in-contact price is £102.99 , I doubt anyone , ever has paid that , but it’s the ‘list price’ ,it may well be regarded as a little under hand but if (for arguments sake ) say someone took Halo3+ and it was discounted to £65 a month , then at the end of the term the renewal price was more , there is no point looking at non Halo products for a comparison to see if the ‘you won’t pay more than a new customer price’ is satisfied , but at £103  list price , your renewal almost certainly will still be less than that new customer price (the price no one ever pays )

 …..I’m not saying this type of behaviour is acceptable or not acceptable, but it’s probably this  interpretation that keeps it ‘legal’ .

[womaz]

Well in some bizarre twist of fate I got a call from Retentions team today. This is despite being told yesterday that my compliant was being dropped and that they could not offer me any deal at all until November.

Today they rang and said would I want the Full Fibre 900 deal without Halo for £36.99 per month.

I was skeptical but BT sent a code to my phone as verification as per the call yesterday.

So contract started today at £36.99 for 2 years. It seems legitimate as I have received the usual emails when I take out a new contract.

So it looks like BT have kept me as a client......although I have no idea what changed from yesterday. When I asked him that he said that he was part of the Retensions team and had better deals to offer.

Happy 😊

[Puma937]

@iniltous - The BT price list contains all legacy products that were sold, as well as current products and is for information only. Take a look through the broadband packages and there are loads that no longer exist - you can't select or request them anymore. They only apply to some existing's customers on old arrangements. Most will have been upgraded by now though.

The fact that Halo appears on the price list doesn't mean that Halo is still available to new customers. The prices shown are also the maximum in contract prices, as you have stated and NOT new customer tariffs. New customers are certainly not offered Full Fibre 900 with Halo 3+ for £102.99 - that would be stupid to think that.

As a test I've just called BT posing as a new customer. I asked for details of the Halo products as I am unable to place an order online. I was then told by the advisor that, whilst Halo does still effectively exist for existing customers, it is NOT sold as a complete package anymore. I asked if I could still buy it anyway over the phone and he hesitated and then said, possibly but we wont go down that route as it will be cheaper to 'build a package'. He went on to explain that a lot of existing Halo customers, are finding that they are paying extra for 'additions' they no longer require or need. This is a common complaint.

To avert this issue, the advisor continued to advise me that it would be far cheaper to pick a broadband speed and then add on WiFi Complete and/or Hybrid Connect, as this would save money. I then asked if I could get a new customer price for FF900 with the previous mentioned add-ons. Plus if it was still available but not normally sold anymore, a price for Full Fibre 900 with Halo 3+ as a comparison.

Needless to say I could not get a price for Halo 3+, he would not give me a new customer price. I reminded him that he had stated that Halo was still a product and his response was 'it still exists in regards to existing customers and those renewing a Halo contract.......but is no longer sold to new customers'.

This effectively renders the Price Promise redundant and worthless. BT are unable to provide a new customer price for Halo anymore, as they don't sell it. 

[iniltous]

There is a section on the link posted , showing the products ‘we no longer sell’ , Halo isn’t in that section , as far as your secret shopper experiment to see if it were possible to buy Halo , from what you say the guide said , they were hardly unequivocal in saying it’s not available, it’s true the main benefits are available separately, the unbreakable 4g add on and the whole home WiFi  so anyone wanting Halo type benefits can get them without being on the Halo product, and I dare say Halo isn’t a product that is pushed any longer, but the guide you spoke to being careful not to say it’s unavailable , just  offering a ‘better’ alternative, alongside the BT employees on here  ( the moderator on here ) saying it is available, makes your assertion little more than an opinion , if asked to believe the BT Mod or yourself, I’d suggest the majority won’t believe you over a BT representative that has access to information you do not , although you are more than entitled your opinion, that’s effectively all it is

…but to the salient point , we have no real difference , the claim that renewing Halo customers do not  pay more than a new Halo customer can be true in either case  , if the product is no longer for sale or it is for sale but at a ludicrous list  price .

[Puma937]

@iniltous - The same can certainly be said for your response and defence of BT, it's your own opinion and can be accepted by the majority or not. That's the great thing about opinions, every one has one.....be it right or wrong.

I am merely stating my experience of being overcharged for Halo 3+, unable to remove it (downgrade) up to this point OR obtain a new customer price (offer) for the same package. Without a comparison price, I am unable to check the Price Promise of Halo.

I have no idea why it's a secret price......well in fact I do know, but it appears you do not want to hear the answer or accept that BT is blatantly overcharging existing customers for a product that is no longer sold.

To your first point - There is a section on the link posted , showing the products ‘we no longer sell’ , Halo isn’t in that section. There certainly are some legacy Halo products no longer sold......or am I seeing things?

The point being that the Price Guide in relation to maximum about chargeable is completely irrelevant, most of these products are no longer available.  These are not new customer prices, even if you still believe that you could order Halo today.

[iniltous]

There were various Halo packages , some are no longer for sale and show in the products we no longer sell area , as the discussion is around Halo3+ which tellingly doesn’t appear , I’d suggest that makes my point not yours , and as you say my opinion is as valid (or invalid) as yours , that’s why I deferred to a BT Moderator, who is in a better position than both you or I to have more than option on the matter …the moderator says it’s still available 

Often when in a hole , it’s recommended you stop digging