Hi.
Please bear with me... explaining all this to another operator over the phone would be soul destrying. As it's somewhat complex, I'd rather relate the problem as concisely as possible in print. I see that some things do get sorted out or alliviated, as a result of posting here.
A fortnight ago today I renewed my contract ( via the retention dept). Eventually the operator came up with 2 options.
Fibre 65: £27.00 a month, Fixed Price Plus with a 3 Month Loyalty Discount ( £22 for 3 months )
or
Fibre 65: £27.00 a month, Fixed Price Plus with Unlimited UK Calls Boost - Half Price ( £8 ) for 24 Months with a 3 Month Loyalty Discount ( £30 instead of £35 )
I chose the latter ( which seemed like a good idea considering this is the package I'd had for the previous 18 months . The other Operator I was subsequently forwarded to gave me an additional first month free loyalty discount. All in all... a decent deal.
After a few days, however, I started to wonder if the unlimited calls boost was actually needed, and that perhaps I should finally switch to a mobile for calls ( especially with the change to an unknown quantity, internet based landline, with the 'upgrade' pending! Can't wait to have three obtrusive boxes clustered on the wall and cables everywhere! )
Initially I let it be ( apprehensive the unlimited calls package could be dropped without affecting the broadband deal, which I was happy with ). It niggled at me however and yesterday ( just within the cooling off period ), I phoned to see if iwas possible, after all, it wouldn't do any harm to check! I was put through to the appropriate department ( it wasn't retentions ) and I explained to the operator why I was phoning. I told her at several points, during a very long call that if dropping the unlimited calls part was going to mess up the Fibre 65 plan, I'd rather leave everything unchanged. After a lot of explaining and being put on hold multiple times, she eventually told me the call package could be dropped. She confirmed the fibre 65 plan would remain as it was at £22 for the next 3 months, then increasing to £27 for the remainder of the 24 month contract. The price would not increase come April this year or next and would remain static at £27. Happy with this result, I told her to go ahead and remove the unlimited calls package, which she duly did ( though it took a while ). I had mentioned the free month, but I don't recall it being mentioned again ( tbh- I forgot about it, theres only so much I can retain in my head. ) After the call I decided, I would still be making a significant enough saving even if the free month had gone AWOL during the process ( sometimes you can't have everything! )
That was that.
Then I recieved an update message outlining my 'new and improved package stating, 'You've removed unlimited calls boost-half price for 24 months'. It didn't mention Fibre 65 which raised a potential alarm bell!
Underneath in the small print ( it's small for a reason ), it also stated that 'The monthly price of your broadband will increase by £3 from the 1st April each year.'
Not expecting this to be the case , I logged into my account to investigate further. The 'Your Package' section was and still is refusing to load.
I ended up on the 'My package and Add ons' page.which stated- 'Fibre 65 (£27.00 -scored out ) £22.00 per month £5 Off Your Bill for 3 Months ends on 07 Apr 2025'
I accessed the contract information and unfortunately it looks like the price will be rising to £30 this April and £33 come april next year.
If I'd known this was going to happen, I'd have left well alone. The operator was obviously sincere and clearly believed the broadband deal would have remained intact, but something had clearly gone wrong. So... apparently I'm stuck without unlimited calls and paying more for a lowly Fibre 65 package ( the free month looks like it has indeed been dropped, compounding the issue ). As it would be madness to pay 24p a minute for landline calls, I'll now need to go the mobile route, but without the original saving on the Fibre 65 deal that would have covered the cost of a mobile contract ( calls and text only ), which was why I wanted the unlimited calls package dropped in the first place.
All in all... not brilliant!
Considering I thought the Fibre 65 package would have remained at £27 for the duration of the contract when the call package was dropped ... I'm a tad put out and wish I'd left well alone. It's a fortnight today since I originally renewed the contract. Can anything be done to re-instate the Fibre 65 part as it was ( without the April price increases ), or in some other way mitigate what went wrong to at least some extent? If nothing can be done, it's hardly the end of the world, but I can't say it's not a little annoying!
I really don't blame the operator. As I said, she was sincere, and quite frankly, I'm no stranger to paying over the odds. I've been a Talk Talk customer for 20 years and much of that was out of contract. I only re-contracted 18 months ago when the price became untenable after I'd been overpaying for years.
Thanks for your time and for hopefully making some sense of the above!
