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High speed Internet and high definition cable or satellite television are becoming commonplace in UK households, and there is some healthy competition in the Internet Service Provider industry. If you're looking for ways to save money, then you might be able to negotiate a better deal from your broadband provider.
Before You Contact Your Provider
1. Read your last three bills, and work out the details of your current deal. You may be paying for some services while others are included for free, and your basic rate may not include additional fees. Know the answers before calling up.2. Are there extra services, like premium channels, or an answer-phone service included in your deal? Decide if you want to add more services and see if you can get them for free or at discount, or if you want to remove services to get a better deal overall.3. Are you locked into a contract? If so, you may not be able to make changes to your service without incurring additional fees. Find out about this before you make your decision. It might be worth waiting until your contract is about to expire, as this will make it more believable that you are willing to cancel your service.4. Look up what introductory deals are available to new customers of your current provider. You should at the very least be able to get them to offer you these deals.5. Use Money Dashboard's free budgeting software to work out how much of your monthly budget you can afford to put towards telecommunications before calling. You might not get the deal you want, but it's useful to keep it in mind.6. Bundled deals are common in telecommunications. You can usually get the best offer by bundling TV, landline and broadband in the same deal.7. Contact a competitor of your provider and ask if they can beat or match your current deal. Be sure to give them the base price, before calls and fees, and details of what services are included. If they offer a better deal, make a note of it, and tell them you'll have to call them back.You won't necessarily be offered a straightforward discount. The provider may offer additional services instead, so try to work out how valuable each of these is to you and whether you're happy to accept a higher price that includes these services:
- Free premium movie channels
- Free channel package
- Free HD set top box
- Free repair of out-of-warranty set top boxes
- Faster broadband
- Unlimited broadband
Call Your ISP
8. Start by asking if they can offer you a better deal. They might make an offer right away, but if it's that easy then you can definitely do better.9. If you have found a better deal offered to new customers by your supplier, or by a competitor, let them know about it. Tell them you've been a loyal customer for however long you have, and ask if there's something they could offer you.10. If the representative tells you they are not authorised to offer discounts, ask to speak to a supervisor who might have more authority.11. Offer to pay up-front for line rental (if you can afford to) and ask if that will bring down your total bill.12. If you're not offered a deal that you're happy with, tell them you'd like to cancel the service. You will likely be put through to the Cancellations, Disconnections, or Customer Retentions Department. This team can usually offer better deals than the Customer Service staff.
What if I end up cancelling my package?
Don't worry about it. New customers get the best deals handed to them. Use price comparison websites to find the best deal available.
