BT Is Mugging Its Customers

I've only got a basic broadband and TV deal with BT. My TV box does not play nicely with Amazon Prime.  They charged me for years for a mobile service I had not knowingly signed up for (which took two attempts to close down) and they have the gall to charge me for a full month for a service I won't be using because "them's da roolz." And the cost for what they bill as effectively the Rolls Royce of broadband service (but is definitely not)? £71-odd a month. Hell, no.

Okay, so it's my own fault for not really paying attention. I signed up for broadband with BT over 20 years ago because it was a trusted brand and I wanted TV and a phone service with it. 

Every once in a while, when I noticed my bills creeping up, I'd threaten to move to another provider, which resulted in much grovelling and some improvements. 

I signed up to Amazon Prime a few years ago for cheap TV streaming and immediately noticed issues with streaming via the box. To my great annoyance, BT would replace the box but the problem persisted. The annoying part? It works perfectly well on my mobile devices. It's the BT box that's the problem. So they're charging top dollar (well, pound, as I'm in the UK) for a substandard service with kit that doesn't work well with streaming channels such as ITVX and Amazon Prime. The you-know-what hit the proverbial fan when I started watching Prime more, and was constantly turning the everything off and on again to get a stuttering service, then discovered the size of my bills. I'd expected them to be somewhere around the £45 mark and was astonished to find them so high for what I was getting. 

The clingy customer service really doesn't help. It felt more like getting divorced than merely cancelling a service as they alternated between "t'other lot are rubbish, you will rue the day you left our bosom. They'll let you down, you'll see!" and "please stay, we can offer you a better deal with our amazing technicolor dreamcoat service and kit."

I've booked new provider Hyperoptic to install their new system on 6th September, which is why I'm writing this; BT want me to pay for a full month. Is anyone surprised that I'm annoyed?

Meanwhile, my new Fire Stick Lite has arrived, which will provide the TV service, and even with the cancellation charge of £33-odd, it's much cheaper than those clowns at BT can provide. 

I'll let you know how I get on.

I'll let you know how I get on.