Misold halo, now bt refusing to put me back on old contract

[richrarobi]

I have a similar complaint. The web site is so convoluted you cant get real information out of it. The advisers only seem to want to sell, not actually help you get what you need. You still cant get real information because they only tell you about what they want to sell.

When i accidentally discovered what halo 3 actually contained and realised  it had nothing whatsoever of any use, i was well into my 2 year contract. I dont understand how but the cost appears to have increased at a ridiculous rate.currently over £70

I have to carry on paying over the odds for something i was in my opinion missold and dont need.

Currently as soon as i can end my contract i intend to tell bt to go ....

[naylor2006]

How come you went for Halo at all?

What were you sold/misold?

[richrarobi]

I had halo, it appeared to be the standard thing. When the contract ended the charge rocketed to £99, i complained and it was reduced to £35 ish. I was told halo was replaced by halo3. I was given to understand you had to pay through the nose otherwise if anything went wrong.

When things did go wrong, i was still waiting days for help, the ee hub thing didn't arrive until after openreach had mended the fault. There have been other faults, but eventually openreach have i think sorted it.

As i said in my post, the web site is awful, everything sends you into more marketing. I dont know how or where i eventually found the real information. It may have been a third party site.

The price has increased steadily until it is way over the top. 

As far as i can tell there is noth8ng of use to me in halo3.

[naylor2006]

Yeah I dont really get it, I wasnt being facetious..

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

Halo isnt there when you sign up as a new customer as one of the customisable options and from that link it seems useful that you wont pay more than a new customer but do you have to pay more a month anyway?

Im curious as I like to learn about community issues but as I use all my own gear some of these things pass me by.

[chrisjp]

I've become convinced that Halo and Halo3 are nothing more than marketing ploys so that BT can charge existing customers far more for broadband than they offer new customers.
When an existing customer goes to the BT web page to renew an existing contract they are only offered Halo deals and the implication is that Halo is the standard deal. But it's around double the price of the non Halo deal offered to new customers.
And once you're on Halo, BT does everything it can to prevent you "downgrading" to a standard deal. You can't do it online and instead have to telephone and then do battle with their on-commission agents who have no incentive to downgrade you and instead want to move you to EE.
I think it is reprehensible behaviour from BT, who used to be a well-respected telephone and broadband supplier. No more, I'm afraid

[naylor2006]

So as an existing customer of BT900 and EETV which I signed up for in Jan 2024....and also as a customer who doesnt use any BT gear other than the TV box, what do I do when my broadband is up for renewal, or more the question, what is the advise?

[richrarobi]

there was a time when you had to have a bt line to get any broadband. That time seems to be past. 

Many people don't have a landline, they use mobiles. You can get broadband in many places while keeping off bt and their monopolising practises. We hardly use our landline, except for old folk who don't want to call mobiles. I am 76.... i am going to ditch it, use the mobile.

I think the answer is to keep switching with short contracts. You can get basic connection for £25, with research. I hate that everything we do needs research. Hardly any time left to live. I am looking at shell octopus, but possibly ditching cable altogether and using 5g....

In our road we have had the paths dug up for independent fibre to every house, unconnected to the house, virgin have a box at the corner, and there is an openreach box the other end of street to poles. But, 5g was going to be good enough to do remote medical ops!!!! Why oh why isn't someone coordinating infrastructure??? What a waste of money, never mind the waste of the earths resources. 

[richrarobi]

Re: tv only, is it bt tv or independent?

Will it work through an alternative broadband, or mobile broadband connection?

We probably have to start ditching bt before they will start caring.

[naylor2006]

I am actually very happy with BT, I use my own Router and sperate WIFI with their FTTP900 server, all I have is the EETV Pro box from them and I have a TV package I pay for, Big Sport etc, I am happy with all this.

My point was more around what to do when my 24 months is up if HALO is the only thing you can renew to? surely that cant be the case?

[ArtyVark]

They are trying to transfer you towards EE at some point in the future it will be all EE packages there will be no BT ones.

I`m on Halo 3 and the back up Hub doesnt work properly due to poor 4g signal (thats another story) but at the time I switched it was actually cheaper than the Fibre 2 package. If you dont like the price you pay then you have to ring up and they will try and get you a cheaper deal.