New Contact with BT - can I get cashback + reward card?

Hi,

Just coming to the end of a 12 month Infinity 1 contract with BT.
We are 1 month from end of contract.
Been happy with the service so would like to stick with them.

Retentions offered me a poor deal compared to the new customer deals:
- Retention deal is approx £35 pcm with no cashback or reward card.
- New customer deal is approx £18 pcm after cashback and reward card.

Is it possible to get a better deal from retentions? Do they give out the reward cards?
Can we sign up as a new customer using another surname? If so, can we keep our phone number?

It's annoying to have to faff around like this - I'm not sure why an existing customer is not valued more.

Cheers,

Zebs

Retentions don't give out reward cards, so not possible.

If you change account name, that is a cease of existing phone and broadband (which carries a cost) and then a gap in service and the usual setup fees and no guarantee of retaining number.

Adverts call the 12 month price a welcome discount.

I think you answered your own question. BT, just as most other big companies, is all about maximising profit. An existing customer isn't 'valued more' because it's a hassle for them to get a cheaper price than retentions can offer, either by moving to another provider or ceasing and reproviding as you suggested. Thus, this hassle is reflected in the higher prices they (feel they can) offer.

From personal experience, retentions never give out rewards cards, as it simply isn't an option available to anyone lower than the press office or executive office.

That said, there does appear to be some kind of hierarchy in the retentions. The first level retentions tend to offer cr*p deals like you stated, and you get put through to these when simply enquiring regarding renewal offers.

If you initiate the switch to another provider, BT will be notified and you will likely be contacted by the next level retentions. These can often give fairly good prices, as they know you are willing to make the effort to change provider and care about price.

If you have a serious complaint/issue or otherwise reach a manager, these tend to hold the absolute best deals available below the press office or executive office.

Personally, BT customer services are just as useless as most other mainstream providers' customer services, so I don't see why you should stay with them just because of "good service". If customer service isn't a big worry, consider shopping around for TalkTalk/PlusNet/Origin/Sky deals etc. - when combined with TopCashback or Quidco or specialised deals available through sites like MoneySavingExpert, you can often get access to loss-leader levels of pricing.

Edited by pernickitypedant (Tue 01-Aug-17 21:14:37)

Funnily enough, and to my great surprise, I've just had a £25 reward card from BT when renewing as an existing customer

However, it came towards the end of my 12 month contract when I went on line to check my account and clicked on a "Here's a special offer just for you" link just out of curiosity

Agreed that's nothing like some reward cards that are handed out to new customers, but the monthly charge of around £31 for unlimited infinity 1 inc line rent and free calls was ok especially since there was no connection fee and a new BT Smart Hub was included (£7 postage)

In reply to a post by pernickitypedant:

If you initiate the switch to another provider, BT will be notified and you will likely be contacted by the next level retentions. These can often give fairly good prices, as they know you are willing to make the effort to change provider and care about price.

Once a customer has initiated a switch by placing an order with a different supplier that is not allowed. It is strictly against Ofcom rules and there would be a huge row.

Any offer at this stage is only allowed if the customer themself contacts the current supplier wrt being open to a retention offer. The fact they asked for one prior to placing the order is not relevant.

If the customer does that, and accepts a new deal, then the customer has to cancel the new supplier order. The circumstances in which the existing supplier can block it do not include this scenario unless the new one refuses to accept the customer cancelling it.

Thanks for all your replies.

By "good service" I meant the broadband service itself has been reliable - I have never had to call BT customer services.

I will shop around a bit I think, and check out those special offers in My BT.

I have just renewed mine. I was paying £31.49pm inc line rental for unlimited up to 52Mb. I rang retentions and the best they could offer me was £46pm!!! They wouldn't budge. I went to the portal and my "offer" for 18 months was £31.49 + new hub (which I didn't want) with a £9.99 delivery charge. Retentions added a £9.99 credit to my account as I couldn't opt out and I now have a hub sat in the box waiting to go on a auction site!

Only con I can see is the 18 month contract only includes 12 months privacy (with free caller id). I can either pay for the caller id at month 13 or renew the line contract for 12 months!! Alternatively, I could just wait for the next price rise and then leave

Mark

Interesting. The going rate seems to be £31.49 or thereabouts inc line rent which ain't too bad in my book
My "problem" is that the speed is 50Mbps on the dot, 24/7 and it's been like that for best part of 12 months

I just know that if I got greedy and moved it wouldn't be better with different ISP but could easily be worse

I could get reward card etc but I'd get a connection fee etc and possiblyy a whole load of poorer speeds

If it ain't broke don't fix it

I looked at moving, but most other operators only offer 40MB or 76MB and some of the lower prices are capped to quite a low level with 2MB upload. I didn't want to pay for what I can't get and my line seems to almost run at the fastest it can. When I was with SSE on their fastest, I was only getting 54Mb, so the 51 I have at the moment was good for me. I had some slow moments when I first began and I have had a few slowdowns since renewing, but otherwise pretty rock solid (using my old SSE router).

I just have to remind myself, I am paying less now for my unlimited than I was for 5GB on 1/2 meg service inc line rental

Well, either BT is breaking the rules, or that rule has changed.

When I left BT (and when other people I know left BT) I was contacted and offered a much better deal than I originally had been.

Same went for when I left Virgin Media... it's a common practice throughout the industry.