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Ofcom UK Reviews Mid-Contract Broadband ISP Price Hikes UPDATE2

Thursday, Feb 9th, 2023 (9:24 am) - Score 4,760
high uk prices and costs

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today officially launched a new review that will finally examine whether inflation-linked mid-contract price rises give phone and broadband ISP customers “sufficient certainty and clarity about what they can expect to pay.”

In an ideal world, the price you pay when you first join a new provider or package would remain the same until the end of your contract term, but as we all know – many broadband, phone and mobile providers don’t do that and will increase your prices mid-contract, often significantly. Indeed, many of the market’s largest ISPs (BT, Vodafone, TalkTalk etc.) just hit consumers with hikes of 14-16% (here).

NOTE: Under Ofcom’s rules, if an ISP included potential future price rises in the terms of a contract (e.g. CPI increases), then they have to be set out prominently and transparently at the point of sale. Failing to do this might allow customers to exit penalty free.

The regulator has previously warned telecoms providers to seriously “consider whether large price rises can be justified at time of exceptional financial hardship” (here). But that had little impact and so, at the end of last year, Ofcom decided to take this a step further by announcing that they’d be gathering data to see if consumers have been “provided with sufficiently clear information about in-contract price rises” (here).

Ofcom’s preliminary research found that around a third of mobile and broadband customers do not know whether their provider can increase their price. Among those who do know their provider can increase their price, around half do not know how this would be calculated. And nearly half of all customers do NOT know what CPI and RPI measure.

As a result, the regulator has now decided to launch a formal review of the issue, which will examine it in more detail and see whether tougher protections are needed.

Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s Director of Telecoms Consumer Protection, said:

“Customers need certainty and clarity about what they will pay over the course of their contract. But inflation-linked price rises can be unclear and unpredictable. So we’re concerned that providers are making it difficult for customers to know what to expect.

We’re taking a thorough look at these types of contract terms, to understand fully the extent to which customers truly know what they’re signing up to, and whether tougher protections are needed.

In the meantime, there are some simple things many people could do today to cut their bills. Millions of customers are either out of contract or with a provider that lets them walk away if prices go up. So we’re urging everyone to check their account and see what their options are.”

The new review will look specifically at the practice of in-contract price rises linked to inflation and percentage changes. But it’s important to note that general consumer law does not prevent companies from increasing their prices during the contract period. Many – but not all – providers choose to do this. Some give customers 30 days’ notice and the right to exit penalty-free. Others specify price rises in customers’ contracts from the start.

The regulator has already launched a new industry-wide enforcement programme to monitor whether in-contract price rises were being set out clearly enough before customers signed up, thus the new review is somewhat of a complementary step.

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) – sister body to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – is separately known to be developing new guidance that could require information about mid-contract price hikes to be more prominently stated in ads by broadband ISPs and mobile operators to “avoid misleading consumers” (here).

Just in case it wasn’t already clear. The issue above, for both Ofcom and the ASA, isn’t so much that price hikes occur, but rather whether they’re being clearly, correctly and prominently communicated to consumers when they join.

Finally, it’s important to point out that broadband and mobile operators are NOT immune to cost increases. Providers, much like consumers, are also suffering under the burden of rising supplier and lease costs, as well as energy prices, the ever-rising levels of consumer demand for data and the cost of adding all sorts of new services (e.g. FTTP).

In the meantime, consumer who are hit by mid-contract hikes can always try haggling for a lower price when the notification drops (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill), although your mileage may vary. Meanwhile, those on benefits (Universal Credit etc.) also have the option of taking a cheaper Social Tariff – see our Quick Guide to UK Social Tariffs.

UPDATE 10:40am

We’ve had the first comment.

James Fredrickson, Hyperoptic Policy Director, said:

“Over the last year, we’ve been raising awareness of this issue directly to Ofcom, flagging the very real consumer harm being done here and encouraging them to take a harder line on the use of mid-contract price rises, so today’s announcement is extremely welcome.

The solution is simple – customers should be made fully aware, from the beginning of their sales journey, of what they will have to pay for the length of their deal. There can be no more hiding behind small print. We’ll be proposing this principle in response to Ofcom’s review.”

UPDATE 3:31pm

Sky has added a comment.

Stephen van Rooyen, CEO UK & Ireland and Group CCO, said:

“Sky welcomes the review from Ofcom into inflation-linked telecoms price rises. Sky does not pin customer price increases to inflation, as we don’t believe CPI or RPI – which use the price of items including bin liners, beer and burgers – should determine people’s broadband and mobile prices, or mean that they are locked into their minimum term contract.”

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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57 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Iain says:

    About f-ing time. Let’s hope they show some teeth.

    I have consistently said these have been misadvertised. Even now, when the rate of inflation is known, ISPs aren’t advertising the true prices.

    1. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

      Heres mine from today from Plusnet……

      On your first bill from 31st March, the price you pay for your current £6.00 plan will increase by £0.86 a month.
      This is in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in January 2023 plus 3.9%.
      Plusnet Mobile is powered by the EE network and like all businesses across the country, costs are rising significantly because of high inflation. So, we have to increase our prices to continue to run our network and give you the best connection possible.
      We’re all using the internet more than ever, keeping in touch, streaming, working or gaming, so we know how important it is to have a reliable service and the best experience possible.

      What is CPI?
      The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used for purposes such as uprating pensions, wages and benefits and can aid in the understanding of inflation on family budgets.
      CPI measures the average price change as a percentage for a basket of 700 different goods and services that households buy.
      How do you calculate my CPI plus 3.9% increase?
      On or after 1st March every year, we’ll take the CPI percentage rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year and add an extra 3.9% to the rate.
      We’ll increase the monthly price of your mobile plan by the total percentage figure. If the CPI figure is negative, we’ll only increase your price by 3.9% in the relevant year.
      The calculated increase will be rounded up to the nearest whole pence.
      Where you buy more than one service from us and each is subject to the price increase, the amount of the increase is calculated on each service separately. If you have any discounts on your plan these will not change.
      The increase is applied to the standard plan price and then the same discount as before is applied afterward to calculate your new plan price.

      Find out more http://comm.plus.net/c/1qxEGWBlClnLLFu8J9kmWMl6Pt

      So thats 14.33% then is it plusnet??? Best bit is, if you go to the “find out more” it don’t tell you what the CPI is there either!

    2. Avatar photo AN Other says:

      What this guy said.

      Hear, hear.

  2. Avatar photo Spinless says:

    Waited until the hikes were announced I see… Just shows who they really work for just like ofgem…

    1. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      To be fair, they’ve been on this for the past couple of years, but the usual approach is to try nudging the industry into self-regulating itself, and you only take a harder line when that fails to produce the desired result – as indeed seems to now be the case.

    2. Avatar photo Rich says:

      @Mark the thing is this used to be a solved problem, in contract rises were not allowed without the option to exit contract, then Ofcom decided to allow it at inflation+3.9%, so guess what the increases have been every year since.

      Now Ofcom act shocked that the companies do exactly what they pushed ofcom to allow them to do.

    3. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

      Its like OFCOM have the “suprised Pikachu” meme on overdrive isn’t it!

    4. Avatar photo Darren Llewellyn says:

      What really gets me is if these increase in price are to cover the costs incurred due to inflation and other factors, why is it that only existing customers pay for these costs, if price increases are so badly needed why is it that new customers pay £6.00 for the cheapest contract with smarty, but an existing customer needs to pay 6.90. I think that this needs to be really looked at, plus add in to this a report late last year that said while broadband cost to the consumer have risen dramatically over the last twenty years, the costs to ISP’s had not significantly risen.

  3. Avatar photo Chris says:

    About time. If these huge companies cannot work out a fair contact price for a 24 month contract and stick to it perhaps they should be forced to bring back 12 month contacts.

    1. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

      Me thinks rolling PAYG contracts are the future. (like garlic bread!)

    2. Avatar photo Ben says:

      Completely agreed. If a large business cannot budget for inflation then that shouldn’t become uncertainty for consumers.

  4. Avatar photo Andy says:

    About time indeed. When these big companies buy things for themselves, they usually flat out refuse to allow inflation linked price rises, so I don’t buy that these companies need to increase their prices anywhere close to as much as they do.
    If they don’t need to charge new customers more to cover their costs, they don’t need to charge existing customers more. It’s that simple. There are providers selling contracts NOW, knowing full well that they will only charge their advertised price for two months – how in the world can that be fair, even if they say that’s what is happening?
    Again, it’s a very simple thing – if the price for the same product is less for a new customer than a current in-contract customer, then there is no justification for the in-contract customer’s price to increase.
    These are big companies, who have hundreds of employees who’s job it is to plan for the future. They have no excuse for not covering themselves at the point the contract is signed.

  5. Avatar photo Ixel says:

    Honestly about time. Sadly too late for many though. I hope that they take action which helps protect the consumer instead of just words and no result in the end.

  6. Avatar photo Mwood says:

    An own goal for Ofcom. When they allowed the change most thought inflation would be reasonably predictable so people would have an idea of the annual increase in tariff. Now it is not, so the practice is unfair. Personally I changed my provider as soon as I could after this robbery was announced. Paid a little more, no price increase yet and better speeds/service.

  7. Avatar photo Chris says:

    Genuinely intrigued, these price rises are all due to take effect in April, so would somebody taking out a contract now at £30pm be impacted?

    The planned price increase is now known so I’d be amazed if they were able to advertise prices today that they know will increase by ~£5 in a months’ time!

    1. Avatar photo The Provisioner says:

      Yes, the date of the annual increase is usually stated in the contract.

      Kind of puts a different complexion on all the broadband deals that are currently being advertised, doesn’t it?

    2. Avatar photo Andy says:

      Yes. It’s absolutely criminal that they are allowed to sell you something now, knowing full well that it’ll be 15% more expensive on only your third bill, and yet they are allowed to make that small print.

      O2 do this all the way until they release new tariffs in April – so it’s entirely possible that you sign a 24 month agreement with them and your FIRST bill is 15% more than you agreed to pay them. Nevermind Ofcom, the law shouldn’t allow such practices to even be allowed by Ofcom.

  8. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

    Why is this a problem? Anyone not wanting to sign a contract which includes provision for in-contract price rises simply needs to shop around for a different ISP. (The same applies to other contract elements such as its duration etc).

    The only issue should be if an ISP fails to disclose the clause before it is signed (I’ve not found this to be a problem), otherwise it’s down to the buyer to be clear what they are signing and being more discriminating.

    1. Avatar photo Chris says:

      I agree to a point and my ISP does not have this clause but is a tiny player in the market.

      The isps with huge advertising budgets who have 90% of the market if not more all do the same in contract price hikes. Adverting has power!

    2. Avatar photo Andy says:

      The problem is that there is no reasonable argument for the ISPs to be allowed to increase prices inside a minimum term. There is no reason why they should not be able to set a price and fix it for the entire contract term – and if they can’t do that, then they should reduce the contract term.
      If they want the price to increase, they should set it as an absolute percentage increase, not a complete unknown. To then add 3.9% more on top of the unknown, for doing the sum total of absolutely nothing to earn it, is even worse.
      I come back to the same point. Many providers will sell a package for £20 per moth on March 31st, then immediately on the first bill will add 15% inflation. But on April 1st, they’ll sell the same package for £20 a month to a new customer and not increase the price. There is no justification for that whatsoever – either the price goes up for everyone, or it doesn’t.

    3. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @Andy
      Fine, but my point is that this doesn’t need regulatory intervention, this just needs *adults* to take responsibility for their own actions and to find ISPs that provide them with an acceptable price and contract terms. If I knowingly sign up for something and then complain about it then that is on me rather than the supplier, ditto if I don’t bother to read the contract first.

    4. Avatar photo Ben says:

      In principle I agree with you, but the fact that all the major mobile networks and most major broadband networks have implemented price rises of CPI + ~3% indicates that the free market isn’t working as it should.

    5. Avatar photo Serena says:

      Ofcom’s investigation pretty much *is* about whether it was made sufficiently disclosed to customers that this would happen. The advertising regulator is also considering how it fits with requirements under the CPRs – that material information (which always includes price) is made clear before a transactional decision (which under the CPRs includes deciding to find out more about the service, not just actually buying it).

      Whether it should or should not be allowed comes down to whether it is possible to make it sufficiently clear in a way that satisfies Ofcom’s requirements and the CPRs, and part of that consideration is the degree to which customers should be expected to dig for the information. It’s complicated by a general lack of consumer awareness of the need to look for it.

  9. Avatar photo CommonSenseCalling says:

    Honestly I’m on the side of the companies it’s in the terms and conditions if you blindly agree to them that’s on you.. where has the philosophy of “read before you sign gone” price rises suck but it’s going to happen

    People these days all want hand holding “Ohh I didn’t read the terms and conditions that companies fault not mine all I wanted was a shiny new phone”

    If you read the t’s and c’s you would spot this and say actually no I will go somewhere else…

    Yes the price rise is excessive but if you blindly agree to the very terms and conditions without reading them really who is to blame?

    1. Avatar photo Wilson says:

      If in the terms it says you need to stab your neighbor, hey it’s in the terms so it must be valid and you must comply. It should never be allowed to be in the terms in the first place

      Not many people have the option of competition. In my case I had to agree to 2 years or I would not be allowed to have internet at home

    2. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @Wilson
      You cannot have a contract that requires someone to break the law, so your example doesn’t work.

      On your other point about “not many people hav[ing] the option of competition”, that obviously isn’t correct given the near-universal coverage that the Openreach network provides with a combination of xDSL and, increasingly, FTTP. The vast majority of us have a choice of ISPs on this network, with the majority of premises also being covered by Virgin and a growing number with other networks.

    3. Avatar photo Wilson says:

      Slavery used to be allowed under the law at some point, these increases used to be banned at some point. It is not the compass for morality. My example stands against his point that the terms are absolute

      In my new build, literally BT was the only option. A neighbor who moved in later was able to get Sky… which is also greedily increasing. There is no virgin nor any other provider

    4. Avatar photo Reality Bytes says:

      No new build has BT as the only option, Wilson. Vodafone, TalkTalk and Sky might have been unavailable initially but if you could buy from BT there were absolutely other options from A – AAISP to Z – Zen.

      Openreach legally cannot prevent others connecting to their full fibre network, have to sell to everyone, BT Wholesale cannot prevent everyone bar BT from using their products.

    5. Avatar photo Wilson says:

      You never bought a new build. When you resort to calling lies then you have no argument

      Like I said, my address would not show on talktalk/sky websites. A neighbor who moved in months later has signed up with Sky. If I search my address now it does show up.

      At move in, BT was the ONLY option

    6. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @Wilson
      To your earlier point, slavery and broadband price rises have no place in the same sentence. We should be able to disagree on a topic without resorting to ridiculous arguments.

      Regarding supply choices in new build properties, BT can only sell to you once the connection is showing on both the Openreach and BT Wholesale systems. Whilst Sky and TalkTalk may not have been as quick as BT in registering this, you omit to mention if you checked all the other ISPs that use the Openreach network, which suggests that you did not do so. If that is the case then you cannot say with any certainty that BT was the only ISP offering you service, just that Sky and TalkTalk were not.

      Either way, if you dislike CPI+ clauses and 2 year terms in contracts so much, why not keep looking rather than sign a contract knowing that you are not happy with its content? Was 4g/5G an option, at least for the short period before other ISPs offered service?

      As adults, we’re all responsible for the choices that we make, blaming others is really just an attempt to deflect that responsibility.

    7. Avatar photo Wilson says:

      Your argument is ridiculous, therefore I had to use another ridiculous argument to make the point

      I checked Sky and TT. I checked 2 “best broadband price” websites. Again, BT was the ONLY option at the time when I needed it (notice the caps keyword: ONLY). I don’t get how reading comprehension can be this hard

    8. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @Wilson
      Let’s agree that referencing broadband and slavery together was a mistake.

      In terms of your options, in reality it is likely that BT consumer was the only option that you were able to identify but not the only option that was only available at your address. You will hopefully understand that these are two entirely different things.

      Price comparison websites are not always up to date on coverage, latest offers etc and don’t generally cover all providers, many being limited to the main brands plus any others that pay them a commission. Based on your comments, you didn’t check most ISP websites directly and don’t appear to have considered alternatives in any detail.

      Your decision to go with a supplier whose terms you dislike is down to you and not a matter for the regulator.

    9. Avatar photo Wilson says:

      Let’s agree I’m arguing with a doorknob who fails at basic reading comprehension and does not understand the simple fact that new builds may not yet immediately exist on the database of other companies

  10. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

    I’m totally going to leave Plusnet mobile because of this. Why have a pay monthly contract, when you can have a PAYG rolling one that isn’t subject to the increases? Its “by the by” if its in the contract, when they make out its CPI +3.9% but don’t tell you what the CPI actually is and just throw 14.4% on your monthly bill. OFCOM still needs to replace its dentures and grow some teeth IMHO.

    1. Avatar photo haha says:

      It’s being shut down in March anyway – so you might as well.

    2. Avatar photo Ben says:

      “It’s being shut down in March” [citation needed]

    3. Avatar photo Ad47uk says:

      @HaHa, if it is going to be shut down in March then why are they still advertising it on their site? I used Plusnet mobile and it was fine, I moved to Smarty as it was better value and three is slightly better here than EE

    4. Avatar photo blackpoolfan says:

      I moved from EE when my 12 month SIM only contract ended in October to 3 PAYG SIM only. No contract, £10 data pack which gets me 10GBs, and unlimited minutes and texts. I set it to auto renew every 30 days and because of when I started, my data doubled to 20GBs in the second month. The beauty of it is there are no annual increases, plus, and this is what attracted me to it after lots of research, there are no EU, USA, Australia or New Zealand, plus many other countries, roaming charges, and it can be used as if at home, unlike if you are on a 3 contract. My daughter is changing over from PlusNet on my recommendation.

  11. Avatar photo Bob says:

    In many cases the ISP’s are in breach of the consumer rights act 2015

    Ut says Key Terms MUST be made prominent and anything financial would be a key term

    hiding it in the fine print of the T&C’s would not meett that requirement

    1. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

      If they don’t publish the CPI figure they are using then they are hiding it, and are in breach of their contracts in that case. The reality is they know OFCOM works for them and not the consumer, so know they can get away with it.

  12. Avatar photo Ad47uk says:

    review? Yep, that is Ofcom way of saying we will do nothing, but make it look like we may.

  13. Avatar photo Carl Conrad says:

    Yes we know that there will be a price hike. However, what we don’t know is how much. Mid-term price hikes should be banned or customers should be allowed to terminate their contracts without penalty. Anything else is an injustice.

  14. Avatar photo Anthony says:

    March is coming up. I don’t know if my prices are going up. I don’t know how much by if they do. I don’t know how this is going to be told to me by my ISP, or even if it will be told to me. I don’t know anything. I could go overdrawn with my bank if they take too much.

    This is not acceptable. Nobody would class this as acceptable.

    1. Avatar photo Buggerlugz says:

      Well with plusnet they tell you how much its going up but (everywhere) just say its CPI +3.9%, when the reality is its a 14.3% increase. Its not about it being an increase, its about how they’re coving up the real percentage because they know OFCOM will allow them to get away with it.

  15. Avatar photo Ivor says:

    Like others, I think it’s a bit rich for Ofcom to be talking a big game on this

    It was their decision to ban mid contract price rises (which were not all that common anyway, and often came with the option to cancel with no penalty) that led to the industry adopting these inflation-linked price rises as a workaround, and now that inflation is at a meaningful percentage they’re suddenly all surprised about it.

  16. Avatar photo Peter says:

    I have a real problem with this on mobile phones, they should state what the contract cost is at the start of the contract and it should be the SAME in my opinion through to the end of the contract where they can then change it.

    No in contract period changes of the contract!

    Same goes for the contract period on any service Broadband or something like Netflix.

  17. Avatar photo Ex Telecom Engineer says:

    I’ve noticed a few comments about the price increases, with some complaining about the CPI+3.9% increase being presented as a formula, instead of a figure. Since CPI is variable, and unknown until the CPI figure is available to insert into the formula, there’s only one way to present it, this applies to all providers using the same formula.
    I’ve also noticed a few comments about Plusnet, which I can comment on since I use their service for both Mobile and Broadband. For any Plusnet mobile customers, I’d suggest they log into their online accounts and check the deals offered as available upgrades; I recently upgraded my contract using the service and I had a choice of 12 month, or 30 day rolling contracts. When I chose the new contract, I simply selected it, read the terms and conditions, and then clicked a checkbox to confirm I understood the CPI+3.9% increase will be added every March. The new contract is £2.11 cheaper a month, than my previous contract, and I get an extra 2GB of data per month. I thought the contract change was easy, giving me a better deal than my previous contract. I think Plusnet are pretty good, and since you can’t change the contract without confirming you understand the CPI+3.9% price increases, I don’t see how anyone can complain.

  18. Avatar photo Andrew in Worcestershire says:

    I have no faith in Ofcom to achieve anything for consumers. They created this problem by allowing ISPs to run contracts for more than 12 months, and allowing them to bake price rise clauses into contracts. But there’s an additional problem – some of the less reputable ISPs (like Virgin Media) are using RPI rather than CPI, and worse still Virgin apply their price rise to the undiscounted value of a contract, meaning a new customer who took out a Big Bundle deal prior to this year’s rise will see their monthly bill go up by 29.9%.

  19. Avatar photo Ian says:

    Don’t work too fast, Ofcom.

    Utterly ridiculous situation, marketed prices are in no way a reflection of what people pay and in every other sector this is completely illegal.

  20. Avatar photo Stan says:

    Ofcom can fix the problem very easily. Just ban Two year contracts.
    This way if prices go up the worst scenario is people only have to suffer the increase for a short time. Also providers wont be so quick to raise prices because they know customers can leave. You can still have Three year contracts for handsets etc but ban Two year contracts for airtime and Broadband

  21. Avatar photo Matt says:

    I just did a mock order with BT.

    It clearly said £27.99/month then £35.99 from month 25.

    Absolutely nowhere does it state on the order form about a 14.4% increase on the April bill.

    Unless you clicked on the Pre-contract details button (which they say you ‘may’ want to read first) you wouldn’t know there’s an increase. The vague example at the bottom of that page suggests a ~6% increase every 31 March.

    I’m pretty sure this doesn’t form a fair, fully informed agreement.
    Unless you recorded the whole order process, how would you prove it?

    1. Avatar photo GreenLantern22 says:

      Off the main page (https://www.bt.com/products/broadband/deals) the prices have a little triangle Δ. If you scroll down you find the triangle Δ explanation:

      Δ If you sign up to a new contract or renew your contract for a Landline (including call charges, features, add-ons and plans), BT Mobile (including plans, monthly add-ons, call, text, and data charges), BT Broadband (including plans and add-ons), BT TV or BT Sport (including TV and Sport add-ons) the monthly price will increase each year from March 2022. That increase is based on the Consumer Price Index Rate of inflation which is published in January each year plus 3.9%. See bt.com/prices for details. All prices shown are in contract prices. Prices after 24 months increase by up to £8 if you don’t recontract.

  22. Avatar photo GreenLantern22 says:

    The solution is very simople, ban mid-contract price hikes and force providers to factor the inflation cost in their plans. This will automatically push them to shorter contracts since predicting inflation for 24 months is going to be a lot harder so their 24 months contracts will no longer be competitive. Maybe the 18 months will dissapear too and we will go back to more reasonable 12 months contracts.

  23. Avatar photo Paul Adams says:

    This is long overdue, in no other industry do you get price increases when you take out a contract! Imagine if you took out a fixed rate mortgage and they told you they were going to increase the price while in the fixed period. No protection for consumers who are trying very hard to budget every penny right now! Also if they are allowed these increases, consumers should be able to leave penalty free….

  24. Avatar photo Corey says:

    Had a price increase like most and I just think if any other industry allowed you to sign a contract for two years for a set monthly amount and then half way through that said pay us more money they’d get slandered. Yet this is allowed to happen and for what reason exactly? These companies are failing to provide a service nor are they haemorrhaging money, BT made a post tax profit of 1.3 billion last year! Sky are making considerably more money and these price increases don’t need to happen other than to grow profit margins. It’s not even like you can cancel you contract when these price increases become unaffordable. It’s such a greedy sales tactic design purely to increase profits and not to provide a better service like it has been suggested. We should scrap the yearly price increase because they offer the consumer no better experience. We are genuinely only paying more for the same service we were already receiving. And with a 15% plus increase to my monthly bill, I’d certainly expect a 15% plus increase in the quality of my connection or my speeds. None of which will be the case. So what exactly are we paying extra for? Because it isn’t inflation if you’re still making an ungodly amount in yearly post tax profits. Yet I’m out an extra £200 a year for genuinely nothing and the best part is, I can’t do it say anything about it. In no other industry would should tactics be allowed to continue.

  25. Avatar photo sk says:

    if they want to change the contract mid way , then we should be able to as well – by leaving & not being penalized for doing so.

    truly immoral contract , should never be allowed

  26. Avatar photo Petrina Stevens says:

    The main issue is that the customer is tied into the contract and unable to get out. This is what Offcom should be stopping.
    There must be a penalty-free get out clause if the mid term increase isn’t agreed to by the customer.
    The industry is getting away with deplorable practice.

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