🌐 Busting broadband bills
Hi again 👋
Today in the third issue of Akash & Money, I’m covering something almost all of us will be familiar with - Internet Service Providers (ISPs), broadband and your monthly bill.
It's often easy to avoid price hikes and get discounts with little effort and any money you save can end up being put towards other things (like an emergency fund). I also wanted to share my own experience where just last Friday, I managed to talk my own bill down to save an extra 25% in just a 20-minute phone call. I'm going to cover how I did this and how you can also haggle your own broadband bill.
How does it work?
Currently in the UK when you sign up with a broadband provider you'll often come across two plans - pay monthly and a fixed-term contract. The monthly plan allows you to easily switch between providers when and where it suits you however this isn't something a provider will want, so the monthly price for such plans are a lot higher than those on a fixed-term contract. Providers love long term customers and are willing to reduce the monthly cost if they can keep you for longer.
Most contracts will have a minimum term of 12 months, however, longer contracts of 18 months and 24 months are also available for packaged bundles that include broadband, a landline line rental and a TV package as well. These contracts will often have a lower monthly fee for the duration of the contract and after the contract ends the price usually increases quite a bit. Knowing when your contract is coming to an end allows you to avoid getting stung with a higher bill by simply switching or asking your provider for a discount.
It also all comes down to the most important fact:
The cost of acquiring a new customer is often more than that the cost of keeping an existing customer happy.
Invespcro found that it can cost up to five times more to attract a new customer than to keep a new one. In other words - It's easier and cheaper for a service provider to give existing customers discounts and promotions to keep they a customer for longer, which is great news for you and gives you a chance to haggle with them.
Haggling with your provider
Haggling might not be something you're used to doing and can seem really un-British - After all, you'd never try to negotiate your weekly shopping bill at a supermarket. With internet providers, haggling can often net you a massive discount and it’s always worth giving it a try. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. There's a lot of great advice online already that explains how you can do this. Money Saving Expert offers 14 tricks you can use to slash your monthly bill and Which UK has a YouTube video that shows some handy tips to consider before calling your provider.
Research & other things to know
Before you contact your internet provider you're going to need to have a battle plan ready. Here are some things you should arm yourself with before picking up the phone (or opening a web chat):
- Make a note of what you are already getting from your current provider and see if you can find the same or similar package with another provider. Have these quotes at hand when contacting your existing provider as this will be your main bargaining chip. You can check directly with internet service providers and also using price comparison websites like Compare the Market, uSwitch, Go Compare and MoneySuperMarket.
- Find out when your existing contract ends - You're going to have the most bargaining power towards the end of your contract as you have the freedom to switch away if you are not happy with your current provider. An internet provider will not want you to leave so they are more willing to offer discounts and price reductions at the end of your contact term.
- Note down how long you have been with your provider. You can often leverage your long term loyalty for a further discount. Phrases like "I've been a customer for X years and I'm hoping that as a loyal customer you would be able to give me a better deal" can go a long way in swaying the provider to give you a discount.
- Don't take the first deal that you are given. When you first contact your provider, the first team you will likely speak to is the customer service team. They are usually able to offer you an discount however this wouldn't be the best deal they can provide you. The cancellations/retention team can offer you some of the better deals but you can't really speak to them directly. Instead, you need to use a special phrase - "Thanks for the offer but I would still like to cancel my current service as I have found a better deal elsewhere". This often leads to being put on hold and being transferred to another team. They'll be aware of why you have been transferred to them and this will usually be the last chance they have to retain you as a customer and thus are more willing to offer a higher discount.
- Keep a track of any service issues or outages you have experienced - You can mention how you were disappointed with these issues and how these effected you - Again, the aim of mentioning this is to try and get a further discount.
- Hear other people's stories of how they haggled with their service providers. You can find these stories online to get a better understanding of what they did. Morgan M Woods explains how she cut her own bill down with Sky and managed to save £180 and one blogger even managed to save almost £500 in just an hour on a web chat with Sky!
- Be prepared to leave! After all, if your provider is not willing to give you a discount, vote with your money and leave for the cheaper service with another provider. Sometimes your provider will call back with a better deal however if not, switching is not that much of a hassle as it was in the past and is always an option to consider to reduce your broadband bill.
Armed with this knowledge you'll find that navigating these types of conversations a lot easier. It's important to remain polite but also firm when dealing with agents from your IPS.
My own recent experience haggling with my provider
I called my IPS last week as my contact has just come to an end. My £35 a month bill was going to increase to £65 a month the next month and I personally just thought this was a lot higher than what I was able to get elsewhere. When I called my provider, the first thing I said was that I wanted to cancel my current subscription with them. This led to the agent immediately asking why and if it was because of the price which I confirmed. In the next minute, I was offered a reduced rate of £42 a month. This price was still a lot more than what I was paying before so I persisted and said I still wanted to cancel as the price was just too high. I was then transferred to an agent in another department (likely the retention team) who mentioned they had been informed that I was looking to cancel and asked if there was any particular reason at all.
This was the moment I could mention everything I had researched. I mentioned the other deals from other providers that would be able to provide the same service for less than what I was currently paying and wanted to know if that could be matched or beaten as I would likely switch to the cheaper provider otherwise. A minute later I was offered a deal of £34 a month - A saving of just £12 a year compared to my just expiring contract.
At this point the agent also tried to scare me by saying switching would be a lot of hassle and that I might receive a lower speed with the new provider. I was aware that the other provider worked with Openreach and while on the phone I quickly searched my postcode on the Openreach website and found this not to be true and that I was able to get a much higher (but not required) speed if I choose to go with the other provider. I mentioned this and again stated that the quoted price was still more than what the new customer deal was from other providers for the same package (£30 a month). I decided to mention my recent issues and network outages that I had experienced with my current provider as well.
Just 2 and a half weeks ago, my service suffered from a full day outage which prevented me from being able to work from home that day. I had previously called about this and asked what they could do about it and was told that I would be compensated but had still not heard back from them about this or seen this reflected in my monthly bill yet. The agent looked into this further for me and saw that a ticket had been raised but had not been looked into or approved by a manager yet. I asked how long it usually takes to look into such tickets and I was told that it usually took one week. It had been two weeks and a half since that ticket was raised and remained unresolved. I used this new information to my advantage as well and the agent then offered to have this ticket escalated but this would take an additional seven days to look into further - An extra two and a half weeks to the standard resolution timeframe.
With that taken into consideration, the agent was then able to offer a further reduced price of £28.50 a month (on a 18-month contract) due to the inconveniences I had faced. This price was less than what I was able to find elsewhere for the same deal so I ended up accepting this new lower price. Compared to my last fixed price of £35 a month, over the next 18 months at £28.50, I'll be saving an additional £117!
Had I not called and mentioned wanting to cancel or switched, I would have been stuck with a higher bill of £65 a month which would have cost me an extra £540 over the next year and a half (from the contract price of £35 a month). Instead, now I get to keep the same contract but for a lot less!
Till next time
Hopefully these tips and tricks should help you a bit more on your own broadband bill.
Remember to do your research to have a strong case ready to present to your internet provider and be prepared to switch if they are not willing to offer you a discount!
See you again in two weeks 👋
Got a suggestion on something I should add/improve or cover in the future? Send me a tweet or email me back - info@akashandmoney.com