BT Infinity 2 Year Contracts & Changes to Prices

I am currently with BT Infinity 1 and both my contract for this and my prepaid phone line are about to end.

I have spoken to BT and they are offering me a 2 year renewal at £12 per month for the Infinity 1.

In the past I have had problems cancelling contracts where prices were changed mid contract but only on one of the parts of the contract.

So the question is this - If I agree to a 2 year Infinity I contract but then at some point during the 2 years they make substantial changes to phone rental etc. do I have the legal right to cancel both the Infinity and the phone line or only the phone part - which you have to have to get the Infinity?

2 years gives them plenty of time to mess around.

If the 2 year contract is for both phone line and Infinity then yes easy

When on split contracts things become harder, but given they usually won't supply Infinity over another providers WLR line it could be argued the two contracts are linked and a major change to one is a change to the other.

We seem to be going from 12 month contracts, via 18 month, to two years in a very short time

This has all sorts of implications for those whose service falls off, others who move house, and families who need to change arrangements after someone dies

Has Ofcom been invited to stir itself to consider these changes?

We seem to be going from 12 month contracts, via 18 month, to two years in a very short time

Twelve month contracts are still available, the two year contract mentioned here is at a discounted rate and there's no compulsion to accept.

Generally when the prices go up they mostly all go up, line rental, broadband etc, so in the past they have let you leave with no held to term.

Edited by BuckleZ (Sun 20-Nov-16 17:58:45)

I'm not quite as optimistic as others.
1) Not sure about BT but Sky, for example, do specify it very clearly in their small print that Sky Talk, Sky Broadband and Sky line rental are all covered by separate contracts, so technically, if a price is changed and a change is detrimental, you could only get out of that one contract, not all three
2) It is Ofcom's regulation I think that you can leave a contract early if there is a detrimental change, but some ads by some ISPs mention in the small print that prices may go up "at any time" during the contract. Not sure what the implications are re leaving contract penalty-free, I usually stay away from such ISPs
3) Let's not forget that it's BT, where customer service is <...> and any arguments and common sense are ignored by the person on the other end of the phone, plus, as tier 1 CSR's they don't have the authority to make decisions on such things anyway if their script says otherwise.
So, bottom line - read the cancellations part of the contract before agreeing to anything, especially over the phone.
And - have no doubts, the line rental will increase. They have done it every year up to now, and they are not in a position to skip a year now, given their business rates situation.

Edited by deleted (Sun 20-Nov-16 18:29:43)

In reply to a post by MCM:

We seem to be going from 12 month contracts, via 18 month, to two years in a very short time

Twelve month contracts are still available, the two year contract mentioned here is at a discounted rate and there's no compulsion to accept.

I agree. But we used to get the discount for agreeing to a new 12 month contract. Then it went to 18 months for the best discount

Are you saying we get an even bigger discount for 24 months? Somehow, I rather doubt it

In reply to a post by Mml:

I'm not quite as optimistic as others.

Well I've had infinity which I finished the contract on - Before that I had a price rise on phone line and they let me cancel it all - and then I went right back on the website and got a new customer deal with a new incentive. Days after it ceased

Thank you for the replies. I have been trying to get a definitive answer and my honest belief is that the call centres do not even understand the question.

I am also looking at the PlusNet 18 month Black Friday offer which comes out at around £7 a month + Quidco cheaper than the BT 24 month. The recent comments here re PlusNet put me off a little!

Honestly, if there is a price rise BT let you cancel it all without penalty.

Trust me - I did that twice within a year - but then again it shows they do raise prices often!

That said my actual connection with them was never anything but perfect