Virgin Media just sent me what is either a poor taste early April Fool’s joke – or one of the most audacious price hike letters I’ve ever seen. Either way it is having a laugh.
From April 1, Virgin Media writes, it is putting my broadband bills up by 26 per cent.
This increase is coming in the middle of my contract and is more than double the rate of inflation. I would switch away to get a deal with one of its rivals, but most of them are playing the same, brazen game.
Telecoms companies are taking us for fools – and urgently need reining in.
Most of the biggest – including BT, EE, TalkTalk, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone – are preparing to whack up bills for millions of households in the next couple of months, most by around 14 to 17 per cent.
Audacious: From April 1, Virgin Media writes, it is putting Rachel’s broadband bills up by 26 per cent
I don’t know how they get away with it. Other service providers, such as mortgage lenders, energy suppliers or insurers, can’t just go around increasing their customers’ monthly payments in the middle of their contracts.
But telecoms firms blithely increase bills by inflation plus a few percentage points every year and their customers are expected to just suck it up. That means when they sign up to a deal, customers have no certainty about what they’ll be paying by the end – except that it is likely to be considerably more than at the start.
Customers who face the biggest hikes are told they can walk away if they choose – but who wants to go through the faff of switching more frequently than every year or two.
The email I got from Three about my mobile contract was even worse. This has the ominous and yet typically indirect subject line: IMPORTANT: Changes to your Three SIM Plan. ‘From time to time, we have to update our plans,’ it tells me, before revealing that it wants to put my bills up by 63 per cent, unless I get in touch to tell it otherwise.
Three’s strategy was more conniving than Virgin Media’s.
It announced that my contract had expired and it could no long offer me that contract. Instead, it would switch me to a new contract with the same number of free minutes, text messages and data as the old one. The only thing is this new one will cost 63 per cent more. But that’s not even the worst of it. I suspect the price hike is not even the real reason why Three is trying to change my contract. After all, when I contacted it to challenge the price rise, it said I could go back on to the old price.
I think the real reason is that Three wants to start charging me for using my mobile phone when abroad. When Britain was part of the EU, telecoms companies were banned from charging UK phone users extra for using their mobile phones while travelling within Europe.
In the run-up to the Brexit referendum, these telecoms firms were happy to reassure customers they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges once we left the EU. But of course, most did when they had the chance.
Three showed more restraint than most. It said that it would charge new customers for roaming from May 2022, but customers like me who had signed up to a contract before October 2021 would be able to retain free roaming. But now, surprise surprise: Three wants to move me on to a new contract – which means I lose free roaming. I’m furious.
Last week, the regulator Ofcom launched a review into the price rises. It is looking into ‘whether inflation-linked mid-contract price rises give phone and broadband customers sufficient certainty and clarity about what they can expect to pay’.
We beleaguered customers can save Ofcom the trouble and answer its question with a resounding: NO.
Ofcom says it will publish its initial findings later in the year. That’s too late. The price hikes are happening now. Either Ofcom should get a move on or put a moratorium on double-digit price increases until it has had time to investigate.
Both Virgin Media and Three are keen to point out to me all the extra perks I get from being their valued customer. But, Virgin Media, you can stick your prize draws. And Three, you can shove your half-price greetings cards and barista-made coffee offers. I want affordable bills, contracts that don’t shapeshift on a whim and correspondence that tells it like it is. That’s what will win my loyalty.
What do you think of the telecom price hikes? Let me know.
