Broadband companies inflict a 'loyalty penalty' on non-switchers

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Citizens Advice warns that 4 of the big 5 ISPs will charge you more if you stay loyal.

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Read more.

it's the same with mobile phone and cable/satellite tv packages too. possibly other things. it's a joke that different customers pay different prices for the same thing depending on how much they blag a retention deal. you can get 75% off sky plus £100 credit for example

This is an issue in the US as well and with most services that require a monthly access. They offer a lower access cost to get the person into their service. The hope is once they have them they will not want the hassle of switching.

If we could switch, we would....

In BT's Defence if you login to MyBT they have offers close to the end of your agreement that are very good. I have just renewed with them and saved £12 month off my already discounted package. Total savings of £18.50 month

Every time my contract is coming to an end I just simply ring up talktalk and they just adjust it to a better price ! I did this six weeks ago as they were going to increase from £34 to £42. I now pay £32 for my unlimited 38mb fibre with free anytime phone calls not just weekend and and small upgrade for my mobile .
I just ask nicely :)

However the official stats are compiled for that table Virgin Media do exactly the same thing. Every year they send a letter saying the bill is going up by a few quid due to 'increased costs' so I'm now paying £41.47/month for slower speeds than their current basic deal. I would phone up and threaten to leave but they'd no doubt offer a better deal on the basis that I sign up for a further 12 months minimum contract. I'm moving house in a few months so not really worth it.

Presumably Citizens Advice are also investigating which religion the Pope belongs to and where bears go to the toilet?

This is standard in many fields, the answer is to have no loyalty and to either move to the cheapest provider (that offers everything you want, or doesn't offer what you don't,) or renegotiate with your current one every time the deal runs out.

Just remember to make sure you're replacing like with like, cheaper != better for everything.

When I rang up three to ask how come my bills are going up and can I get anything cheaper they told me either to pay 5£ more and keep my current package, sign up to worse deal for same price or leave. I signed up to the worse deal, but regret it now, since I would be better off using their pay as you go.

Personally I find it is worse that they are allowed to change your contract and ask for more money mid contract by saying - dont like it, leave us.

I would never signed up if I would have known they will ask for more money after 4 months. And give excuses like "you didnt actually sign up to contract even though we said it is 12 months it actually wasnt because you came to us and this time its us asking for money". Even though now im "contracted" without any difference since i havnt signed anything.

At least with Virgin they give online contracts to sign and you can see what you are signing up for. Not with three, its just what ever they feel like doing.

I am with plusnet and i am now on year 3 and i have had no issues with the quality of service as well as costs. Apart from a few pence increase, i still pay the same as when i joined up.

Happy to pay what i pay as long as i am nothing throttled and the service stays the same.

And that's why I've stuck with Virgin, been with them for 5 years and except for active changing my subscription to include TV and an upgrade to 200mbps for an extra £7 a month they've done me a solid. Contract started at £38/month at 60mbps, they upped it to 100mbps after the first year because of infrastructure issues which i suffered quite badly (when they fixed and an engineer came over to confirm he asked if I wanted 100mbps, of course I said yes, he made one phone call and a minute later I had a 65% speed increase). Then 2 years later they upped me to 120mbps free of charge.

Frankly, apart from their Customer Services during the daytime being a wet towel at the best of times (call late in the evening for the scottish call centre, amazing guys and speak the lingo). They have been consistent and a pleasure to deal with!

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Originally Posted by MrNeil

Every time my contract is coming to an end I just simply ring up talktalk and they just adjust it to a better price ! I did this six weeks ago as they were going to increase from £34 to £42. I now pay £32 for my unlimited 38mb fibre with free anytime phone calls not just weekend and and small upgrade for my mobile .
I just ask nicely :)

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Same here I found the best deal from another provider, called TalkTalk and said I am switching unless you can match or beat this deal. They always have so far, always ask to speak to there retentions department though as customer services can't do anything.

This is hardly a 'revelation', as many have already said it happens in many industries with contracts.
At ground level its essentially the consumers own fault if they get stung however this is the sort of things Governments should tackle and could so effectively, however they will not.
Its small issues (at least small in Governmental terms) like this that need tackling first before Governments become to embroiled in bigger problems (such as Syria).

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Originally Posted by Tabbykatze

And that's why I've stuck with Virgin, been with them for 5 years and except for active changing my subscription to include TV and an upgrade to 200mbps for an extra £7 a month they've done me a solid. Contract started at £38/month at 60mbps, they upped it to 100mbps after the first year because of infrastructure issues which i suffered quite badly (when they fixed and an engineer came over to confirm he asked if I wanted 100mbps, of course I said yes, he made one phone call and a minute later I had a 65% speed increase). Then 2 years later they upped me to 120mbps free of charge.

Frankly, apart from their Customer Services during the daytime being a wet towel at the best of times (call late in the evening for the scottish call centre, amazing guys and speak the lingo). They have been consistent and a pleasure to deal with!

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It is worth noting that every time there's been a free speed increase, that they have risen the price shortly after.

The other way of looking at it is that the initial price is a discount to induce new customers to switch from competitors.

Then, when you ring and threaten to cancel, the new 'offer' is an inducement to get you to stay.


So you could look at it as those prepared to actively pursue changing receiving a discount, subsidised by those too stupid or lazy or with excess inertia.

In other words, just play the game.

And, overall, if not happy with either the service or the cost, go elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by aniilv

When I rang up three to ask how come my bills are going up and can I get anything cheaper they told me either to pay 5£ more and keep my current package, sign up to worse deal for same price or leave. I signed up to the worse deal, but regret it now, since I would be better off using their pay as you go.

Personally I find it is worse that they are allowed to change your contract and ask for more money mid contract by saying - dont like it, leave us.

I would never signed up if I would have known they will ask for more money after 4 months. And give excuses like "you didnt actually sign up to contract even though we said it is 12 months it actually wasnt because you came to us and this time its us asking for money". Even though now im "contracted" without any difference since i havnt signed anything.

At least with Virgin they give online contracts to sign and you can see what you are signing up for. Not with three, its just what ever they feel like doing.

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That's odd, I'm with 3 and my contract states that prices won't go up. A couple of months after my previous contract expired they did message me to tell me that prices were going up, but that was after the 12 month period of guaranteed fixed prices and I had no trouble getting onto a cheaper contract with them

Its these kind of things that could eventually mean they will be banned from offering discounted deals to new sign ups and have to offer them "extra services" instead, like a free movie or magazine subscription.

After all, if they can afford to offer you 12-18 months at half price, they should be able to afford to charge everyone that price all the time.

The problem is I am not willing to go for a slower speed connection than what I am currently on at the moment.

Once you get used to having greater speeds than what BT and Sky can offer on their 'fibre' this leaves me with the only option of staying with Virgin for the forseeable future while hyperoptic pull their fingers out and roll out gigabit speeds across a wider area.

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Originally Posted by Saracen

And, overall, if not happy with either the service or the cost, go elsewhere.

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Not happy with either, but no other company can/will supply us unless we pay many thousands. We're BT's ideal target market.

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Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

while hyperoptic pull their fingers out and roll out gigabit speeds across a wider area.

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Giga......???!!!
Surely this is the stuff of science fiction, Lee.... we're on 0.7Mbps here!!

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

Surely this is the stuff of science fiction, Lee.... we're on 0.7Mbps here!!

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Nope - its science fact ; but in isolated areas at the moment. Nice offer on as well at the present time on all their speeds ;

https://www.hyperoptic.com/

Before they set up Hyperoptic, the team who run it used to own bethere. Going from past experiences with bethere I can only sing their praises as we had no issues at all with our ADSL when I was with them. Hopefully, the splitting of openwound and BT may help with a quicker rollout across more areas ;)

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Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

https://www.hyperoptic.com/

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Yeah, they're nowhere near being able to offer me any services...

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

Not happy with either, but no other company can/will supply us unless we pay many thousands. We're BT's ideal target market.

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That sucks. Rural area, I presume?

Perhaps I should have said most of us should just play the game.

And yup, you're ANY company's ideal, even perfect, target customer if they and they alone can supply a product or service you really want.

It seems you have a binary choice - BT or no service. You could, I suppose, threaten to cancel anyway but it's risky .... in case they take you at your word. The irony is I have a much, MUCH faster service than I have any need for, yet if I felt ripped off by BT pricing, I would threaten to cancel anyway, and would be quite prepared to go through with it. But I know I could do without a net connection altogether and about the only aspect I'd really miss would be Hexus. Other than that, I'd probably already have gone offline. Yet here I am with a ... I don't even know how fast ... 200Mbit? connection. It's a bit like buying a Lamborghini when you live on a small island with about 300m of road - you rarely get out of first. :D

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Originally Posted by Saracen

That sucks. Rural area, I presume?

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Pseudo-rural...
We're 3 or 4 miles from town centre, but just over a mile from the exchange, in spitting distance of AWE and surrounded by farm fields, but a stone's throw from the A33.
We also don't get gas or sewerage services.

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Originally Posted by Saracen

It's a bit like buying a Lamborghini when you live on a small island with about 300m of road - you rarely get out of first. :D

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And yet a number of those who move to certain well-known tax havens buy cars just like that anyway... Gary Numan, for example.

1. We should stop using the word loyal for customers that don't shop around come renewal time. Stuck (as in stuck using BT because there is no competition at their exchange), Lazy, uninformed, stupid or really old are acceptable alternatives. There is almost no contract based service used in theis country that doesn't bump up the charges come renewal time. TV, mobile phones, insurance etc. All bump the cost for those automatic renewers. They have been doing this for decades and this has been reported on for decades.

2. For those unfortunate customers where there is no competition, OFCOM should do their job. Simply ban BT from charging renewers any more than they offer new customers.

3. Price changes during contracts should simply be banned. Full stop. If a company can't handle offering a service for the same price for the contract length, shorten the contract. Any whinging about how complex that makes their billing and difficult for their IT should be met with derision.

4. Plusnet are the odd ones out. Once the initial contract is up, they automatically offered me a deal that over 18 or 24 months cost exactly the same as the initial offer - it's just spread evenly. I believe they do this for all existing customers.