In reply to a post by 4M2:

Generally it does seem as if the onus is on the customer to find, ask for or renegotiate a better deal in this day and age.

That not only applies to broadband.

I cancelled a contract with an insurer two years ago. I'm now back with the same insurer and paying half what I was paying then for exactly the same contract.

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Generally it does seem as if the onus is on the customer to find, ask for or renegotiate a better deal in this day and age.

That not only applies to broadband.

I cancelled a contract with an insurer two years ago. I'm now back with the same insurer and paying half what I was paying then for exactly the same contract.

You often don't need to leave. For example The AA, and Frizzels/L & V Insurance. Just say you are unhappy, and up comes a lower price for the AA or a "different" policy for the insurance. Aka broadband and mobile phone retention deals.

I find the only thing that makes you have to leave is stuff like Pet Insurance done online. 15% or so introductory discount goes at the end of the year. End of! So then you go for another. Then back, ad infinitum.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You often don't need to leave. For example The AA, and Frizzels/L & V Insurance. Just say you are unhappy, and up comes a lower price for the AA or a "different" policy for the insurance. Aka broadband and mobile

Yes, I do it every time now, it's worked on every insurance renewal this year, worth trying in shops as well. It used to work with Plusnet, but last time I tried they told me that their price was already so low they couldn't reduce it any further!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I find the only thing that makes you have to leave is stuff like Pet Insurance done online. 15% or so introductory discount goes at the end of the year. End of! So then you go for another. Then back, ad infinitum.

Similar thing with my BT line rental Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan Extra (Discount) retention deal which last year I really had to fight for after the contract was auto-renewed. This year I'll call them up before the end of the contract and establish for certain that the extra retention discount will remain credited to my account because I don't want the hassle of fighting with an overseas call centre for it again...

If there is no no-claims discount for renewing a policy, it is usually foolish to do so. Just got my contents renewal notice for £64. Went online to the same company, took out identical policy as a new customer for £32, the same as three years ago.
Insurance or broadband, they will jump through hoops to rope you in, then gradually screw you!

My exchange (Eagle) was unbundled nearly a year ago by TT but is still classified as market one. Poor customer service, along with being fed up with paying £35 per month plus mobile calls for a restricted service, made jumping ship a no brainer.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I know what you mean however deals change all of the time.

They can't constantly be changing what you pay

They all find it easy enough when the change is an increase!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

But I agree, it's a bit poor not making the change more public to existing customers

Not "a bit poor" but IMO "very poor"

There were comments on here at the time, and perhaps elsewhere, urging PlusNet do the honest thing, and apply the lower charge to to all affected customers.

There was no excuse other than being money grabbing for PlusNet to not let existing customers know. Probably someone in the Finance department said "legally we can continue to charge what had been agreed" and the PN staff had no option but to follow the company line, whereas if there had been a change in the opposite direction, they'd have no choice but to make customers aware they were going to charge them more, and no hesitation on making the change with a hard line of "we informed customers of the change in fee, in advance of applying that change".

It smacks of appalling customer service, and it stinks, because only PN themselves can know exactly how many customers are still paying over the odds. In theory, someone who has referral income could send an unsolicited "warning" e-mail to those whose usernames are listed on their report and could make them aware, but at the same time, not all recipients would be affected, and it would then be junk mail to the majority.

Frankly, Ofcom can't really pressure BTw to make the Market 1 exchanges more competitive. How many businesses invite competition without legislation? Equally they can't realistically force the price down, due to the wholsale costs of some of the exchanges.

Hmm, I think (but I may be wrong) you have some of this the wrong way round. Ofcom set the prices on the Market 1 exchanges at a higher level in order to encourage LLU and other providers to come and provide alternatives. If BT set them at a lower price then LLU would be deemed as unable to compete.

Once there are LLU providers on the exchange then Ofcom make it market 2/3 and then stop regulating the prices. At that point BT choose to charge lower prices on those exchanges but the pricing is entirely down to BT.

Therefore at Market 1 it is Ofcom forcing BT to charge higher wholesale prices. At market 2/3 it is BT's choice to charge lower prices.

I want to be clear that I wasn't having a go at Plusnet. They pass on the lower charges where no-one else does - but that means the market 1 customers always complain about it being unfair and they complain to Plusnet - whereas the "guilty" party is actually Ofcom.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Hmm, I think (but I may be wrong) you have some of this the wrong way round. Ofcom set the prices on the Market 1 exchanges at a higher level in order to encourage LLU and other providers to come and provide alternatives. If BT set them at a lower price then LLU would be deemed as unable to compete.

Once there are LLU providers on the exchange then Ofcom make it market 2/3 and then stop regulating the prices. At that point BT choose to charge lower prices on those exchanges but the pricing is entirely down to BT.

Therefore at Market 1 it is Ofcom forcing BT to charge higher wholesale prices. At market 2/3 it is BT's choice to charge lower prices.

Appreciated. Maybe I did word it wrongly. The fact is that BT will not invest in areas with 'just BT'. There's more return in providing wholesale FTTx in areas of high density. Unless the punters can somehow attract an LLU presence to their exchange, there's little hope of market reclassification (which seems to be a occasional thing anyway).