Phone, broadband, TV and energy bills have all increased on 1 April as the cost of living crisis worsens across the UK.
From Sky and BT TV packages to O2, Virgin Media and Three mobile contracts, if you pay monthly for something then there is a chance you will be paying higher prices from 1 April.
Mobile phone companies are allowed to increase prices in line with inflation and that means a 7.8% increase for O2 customers, 11.7% for Virgin Media customers, and an average of 5% for Sky customers across broadband and TV. The news continues for nearly all broadband, TV and mobile phone packages as customers are hit with huge cost of living increases.
The bad news for customers tied into lengthy contracts is that the companies are allowed to increase prices.
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch, says: “The idea of Virgin Mobile, Three and O2 customers’ bills increasing by up to 11.7 per cent shows the impact of linking mid-contract price hikes to inflation.
“Mobile users cannot be expected to guess what future inflation rates will be when they take out their contracts, but sadly these price rises are often written into the agreement.
“We want Ofcom to act to make contracts crystal clear for consumers, and if providers want to link mid-contract rises to inflation they should let customers walk away penalty-free following such an increase."
There is a trick that you can use that could mean cheaper contracts for mobile phones and TV even if you are still mid-way through a contract.
Comparison sites are the key to getting a cheaper contract and you do not even have to go through them in order to reduce your bills. This is because companies such as Sky, O2 and Three will usually pay comparison sites such as Uswitch and MoneySuperMarket a small fee for every person who uses the site to switch to their service.
The companies will want to avoid these fees and that means you can use it to your advantage. Simply go to the comparison site and find the cheapest possible deal they offer. Take a picture and then head to the customer chat for the company whose contract you want to renegotiate.
There is a good chance the company will match the offer to convince you to not go through the comparison website.
The trick also works by finding the best deals on the company's site itself. For example, Sky has a number of low introductory offers for new customers and if you go to the Sky chat function and ask for the same offer as an existing customer you should be offered the same price.
I have used the tactic to secure better offers from Three on mobile contracts and on Sky to reduce the cost of my monthly payments from £90 to just £60 per month.
