RENEWING CONTRACT

[Bugsy1]

Hello Everyone,

This is probably aimed more for the TalkTalk staff on here although if anybody has been through this process and has an answer i would welcome your response please. 

I am currently out of contract so contacted the renewals team to discuss what my options are and was offered an 18 month fixed deal and an 18 month variable deal of £22 for 18 months.  I usually opt for the fixed deal but this time i asked the person what the variable deal meant and was told 'A Variable promotion: means your price will increase in April each year by the rate of inflation + 3.7% starting in April 2024. (although i worked out that if this were to start tomorrow an 18 month contract would not take you to April 2025)

I then asked if inflation in April 2025 was FOR EXAMPLE 5.2% would that mean my bill will increase by 8.9% so the new payments would be £23.95 per month. Now you would think that this was a pretty straight forward question but despite me having 2 live chats the advisors would not give me an answer. After much pushing i was told by 1 advisor that he could not give me an answer as ‘next years inflation was not known.’ I told him that nobody knows what next years inflation will be but could he give me an answer if the inflation was 5.2% and i was only using this figure as an EXAMPLE. Again he said the same thing.

This lack of an answer does not fill me with any confidence and i feel like there might be some sort of hidden extras or the way this is actually worked out is not done in a way that i would have thought and therefore i will end up paying more than i thought. I need to sit down and make an informed decision as to what is the best option for me but TalkTalks reluctance to give me a proper answer is leaving me undecided

[Arne-TalkTalk]

I can confirm that Gliwmaeden2 's answer is correct.

[Gliwmaeden2]

No - it's more like how they pick a month's inflation as the yardstick for announcing the next increase in train fares etc, @Bugsy1.

So LAST December's (massive) CPI figure was used in April 2023 and 3.7% added to that for the Easter price rise 2023.

December 2023's figure will be used next and added to the 3.7%, applied from April 2024. Never backdated.

The changing figures for deals that you see from day to day or week to week are standard practice  - you are never going to be sure that you have caught the best deal out there as you don't know what they might offer next week or next month.

It can even vary between agents on Chat / phone support, but will always be better than the out of contract price.

The April increase is carried over when out of contract and added to the headline figure for the service, so you are always better renewing (within the last 3 months of your contract) unless you know that you might want to change ISP.

If you renew too soon there's usually an admin / change of contract charge of £30.

[Bugsy1]

Hello Arne,

Thank you for you reply(you too Gliwmaeden2) and sorry for the late response but i had to go away on work business. Anyway back to the renewing of my contract. Since i last made this post i have had other offers some of which have have not been as good as the one i have already been offered so im not sure what's going on and months are passing.

Back to your reply when you say 'CPI isnt set until December (usually)'  how does that work exactly? If the inflation rate in April 2024 was for example announced to be 5.2% are you saying that CPI would not make the announcement until December 2024 and everything will then be backdated to April 2024. Please reply as i need get this sorted asap or better still someone from TalkTalk can get in touch with the BEST OFFER they can come up so wee can finally get this sorted.

thanks 

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi Bugsy1

CPI isnt set until December (usually) but your example is correct  based on the figures you have given on a variable plan would be  CPI=5.2% + 3.7% = 8.9% 

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Your maths is correct, @Bugsy1, though they might round it up to the next penny. (It comes to £23.958, so likely to be rounded up).

The agents are probably frightened of saying anything that sounds like a commitment to a specific figure. All they know that they are allowed to say is CPI+3.7%.

They don't want anything coming back to bite them!

So, when we renew, we have to hedge our bets. It's up to you whether to fix, or whether to gamble on inflation being so much lower that the fix wouldn't work in your favour. 

These past 18 months, those that fixed did very well!