I am very attentive to my bank accounts and move my Cash ISAs every tear when the "Introductory Bonus" runs out. I generally look to changing my gas and electricity providers every two or three years. But I admit that I let my telecomms account drift. Perhaps because I really dislike telephones and don't want to think about the damned things. So when my joint telephone/broadband bills started to drift upwards I ignored it for far too long. Until one month I had a bill for £83 and the next it was £79 and I thought: "This is bloody ridiculous".
I was with Virgin and had "Up to 10MG" broadband as well as landline. So I got a few quotes and found Plusnet to be the cheapest. But I was reluctant to leave Virgin since the broadband speeds I was getting were often far higher than 10MG, sometimes twice that level. So I phoned Virgin Customer Services and told them the Plusnet quote and said I was thinking of leaving. Immediately, and I mean without any pause to think, I was told I could offered a better deal. Their new joint rates, I was told, were much more competitive and I could have an unlimited calls package (leaving out 0800. 0845. etc.) to replace my Evenings and Weekend package at a much lower cost than I was currently paying. In addition I was entitled to a Loyalty Bonus because of my long-standing customer status (actually it would be more accurate to call it a Disloyalty Bonus, since it was only when I said I was thinking of going to Plusnet that it was offered to me). Further, since my line rental was paid in advance, the new lower rate meant I was due to some cashback as well. I agreed to this new package and the phone call was over.
This month I got my first full bill. It was £28.81. Rather better than c.£80 for exactly the same service from the same provider. Just from one, free, phonecall. Pity I didn't do it some years ago.
So, if you are finding your bills going up you could try this; I think you could even make up some "better deal" you had been offered - just think of something much less than you are paying and then halve it. You might find they match it!
