MILLIONS of BT mobile, broadband and landline customers will be hit with price hikes from next month.
The telecoms provider has revealed that users will see bills rise by 1.3 per cent in line with December’s consumer prices index (CPI) rate of inflation, as announced in January.
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The move will see 60p a month – or £7.20 a year – added to the price of BT’s most popular deals, although some customers will pay more depending on their package.
For example, if you have BT’s Apple iPhone Pro Max 24-month contract costing £73 a month – you’ll pay 95p a month more – or £11.40 a year extra.
But not everyone is affected – yet. The increase only applies to those who took out a new contract or renewed an existing contract from January 11, 2020 onwards.
Those who joined BT or renewed their contract prior to this aren’t impacted until they come to renew.
How to get around BT’s price hikes
IF you’ve been hit with BT’s price increase, you have a few options:
Haggle your price down if you’re in contract or want to stay
You can’t leave your contract penalty free as a result of the increase.
And you can typically only cancel your contract if an increase is what regulator Ofcom deems is “of material detriment” you.
As this increase is in line with inflation you’re unlikely to be able to argue the material detriment clause, but there’s no harm in trying providing you can back it up.
If not, your best option will be to haggle your price down. Use a mobile comparison site to see if you could save by switching elsewhere.
Then take this to BT and argue that cheaper prices elsewhere, alongside a price hike, mean you’re not happy with the service provided.
Consumer site MoneySavingExpert.com reports a 73 per cent success rate from its users who’ve haggled with BT.
If you have no luck arguing for a discount, instead ask for a freebie to be thrown in – perhaps a free broadband speed upgrade or BT TV.
If you’re out of contract – switch
If you’re out of contract on a pricey monthly rolling deal, use a comparison site to check if you can ditch and switch.
Ofcom reckons broadband users on rolling contracts could save up to £150 by switching.
Billmonitor and BroadbandChoices are good places to start.
Separately, BT is also upping the cost of call features and calls made outside of plans for all customers regardless of when you joined – and these aren’t linked to CPI.
For example, calls to UK landlines will rise by 6 per cent from 15p a minute to 15.9p a minute. See BT’s price guide for a full list.
The price changes all take force from March 31.
This is the first price rise for BT broadband, mobile and landline customers in 18 months after it froze prices in 2019.
The telecoms giant wouldn’t tell us how many customers are affected but it has 26.8million household customers, including those of its sister brand EE.
BT TV and BT Sport customers are unaffected – they saw prices rise by £48 a year last July.
EE also announced 2.2 per cent price hikes for its mobile users earlier this month, although they don’t take force until March 30.
Most affected BT customers will still be within their minimum contract period, which means they can’t cancel their contracts as a result without being hit with hefty early exit fees.
Once this period is over – it usually lasts 12 to 24 months – you can leave without incurring any charges.
See the box above for more tips on how to escape the price hike.
BT says affected customers will be told about the increase from February 10, while customers can also log-in to MyBT to check on how the changes affect them.
A BT spokesperson said: “We know price rises are never welcome, but we have now linked price changes to CPI to make our pricing fairer and more predictable for our customers.”
