Dear BT, Goodbye.... Kind Of

For those kind people who have followed my blog over the years, they will know of the battles I’ve had with British Telecom (BT). It took them 91 days and 4 hours to provide me with Broadband when we moved house. At the time, I was probably counting the seconds too!

And once installed, I tried to move to my preferred provider, Sky (better people on the phone and they don’t read from a script for starters). It failed of course. I was advised that the servicing company, Openreach (owned by BT), were not able to find me a Broadband line in my village. The only ones available were - surprise, surprise - for BT.

So there I was, paying through the nose for a BT phone line and Broadband. Until I called in to an EE shop.

I went to EE to sort something out on my mobile, but like all good sales people, the guy used the opportunity to offer Broadband and phone. At a price that was £53 cheaper per month than BT. Per month! I thought I’d misheard.

The same deal as BT - just without BT Sport. Now, I know what some of you will be saying…. nowadays, EE is a subsidiary of BT. Yes, exactly. That’s the reason I can do it. Otherwise, it’s back to Openreach telling me the lines are reserved for BT. But - ha! - with EE being a subsidiary of BT, they can’t play that game. And I get to save £53 a month.

How come BT charges so much? It wasn’t long before they called. Here is a transcript of the call, as accurately as I can remember….

BT: Hello Mr Turner, we understand you want to leave BT?

Me: Yes.

BT: Sorry to hear that. You are a valued and long term customer. Is there a particular reason?

Me: Yes. I’m saving £53 a month.

BT: We’d be pleased to match that saving.

Me: Pardon?

BT: Rather than lose you, we’ll match our competitor.

Me: Not really a competitor - you own them. But how come you can match it?

BT: It’s what we do.

Me: So why didn’t you offer this before?

BT: We only offer at this stage.

Me: I thought I was a valued and long term customer. But you were willing to charge me an extra £53 a month so long as I didn’t complain?

BT: I wouldn’t put it like that. But the offer is what all companies do. If you go to Sky or Vodaphone, you’d find they only offer this sort of deal if you are threatening to leave.

Me: That’s not true. Sky call me regularly to check I’ve got the right TV deal. That includes reducing costs.

BT: Oh. Maybe it’s different for TV deals.

Me: Is that all?

BT: So you won’t come back to us?

Me: No.

BT: What if I told you that it will cost you £27 a month if you want BT Sport outside of your current deal?

Me: I’d say that was a threat and it’s not worth that much.

So there we go. At long last, I’m away from the dreaded BT. The new Broadband went ahead without a problem. And EE have promised to be active in keeping the costs down.

Now all I need is a future government to decide that this whale of a company is too big and powerful, and hive off EE into a separate entity.

I continue to dream….