BT Broadband Option 4 Regrade

I mentioned my broadband package last week when talking about the Virgin Vs Sky ding dong going on here in the UK.

My broadband package is from BT Broadband - until today I was on Option 4, upto 8mb speed, 50Gb download limit blah blah blah. Anyway for the past 8 or 9 months I have received endless emails from BT suggesting I regrade to a ‘better’, ‘cheaper’ service - Option 3 - cutting to the chase the only difference was no download limit and a saving of £3.

Unfortunately the deal wasn’t quite a good as it would first appear. In the small print it stated I would be commiting for another 12 months to BT Broadband if I regrade to the ‘better’ service.

Oh! Oh! NOT AGAIN!

I got caught out on that last May when I opted for the upto 8mb service. In the email for that promotion there was no mention of a further 12 months commitment and was furious when the paperwork arrived three weeks later to inform me of that rather important fact. I did however receive an apology from BT after complaining rather loudly over this ’small’ ommision from their email.

So that brings me to today, May 1st 2007. I am now on BT Broadbands Option 3 - did I regrade? Not through choice, I received a glossy letter yesterday telling me how I will be saving £5 a month on my braodband charges plus I get the added benefits of Option 3. ????

I have to laugh at big outfits like BT, they really do talk some amount of crap and bullshit.

Firstly I’m not saving £5 a month, my broadband charges have been £27.99 a month for a year now. So my saving is £3.

Secondly, there are no benefits to me being on Option 3. I don’t download 50Gb a month but at least with that written in black and white I knew within my package I could. Now I am faced with the rather grey ‘fair use policy’ bollocks. The ‘fair use policy’ can be interpeted by BT as anything they see fit and I’m stuck with their choice - I have no agreement in place saying I have 50Gb a month so go fuck yourself.

Thirdly, and this pisses me off the most, I have been a BT Broadband customer since 2001. Yes way back then when it cost £250 to get broadband installed, yes when it cost £39.99 a month for a 512k service. Yes when nobody wanted it due to the high prices - I was there. To make a long term, valuable customer commit for 12 months to regrade or to have a faster download speed to me is appalling. That shows me as a long term customer what BT as a company think of me - hee-haw, nada, nothing. Just another mug.

I knew all along that I would be regraded without having to commit to another 12 months if I simply ignored the promotion email as I guessed BT Broadband would eventually do it without any choice from me.

At least if I decide to change provider I’m no longer commited to them as my upgrade to upto 8mb happened 12 months ago.

Will I? Won’t I? Sky offer the same package for a £10, in fact they offer upto 16mb. So I’d maybe get a faster connection and save £15 a month.

Will I? Won’t I?