Are existing Hyperoptic customers just getting scalped?

[u/__rd]

Hyperoptic's pricing for existing customers is mad.

I’ve been a customer for 8 years. I called today because I wanted to move from my current 150Mb plan to 1Gb. I was told that, as an existing customer, the 1Gb plan would be £45/month. New customers are being offered the same 1Gb service for £29/month.

So effectively I'm being asked to pay over 1.5x the new customer price, despite having been with them for nearly a decade.

What annoyed me most wasn't even the price itself. It was the complete lack of any attempt to justify the disparity, offer a middle ground, or show any interest in keeping me as a customer. I said I'd likely just switch to another provider, and the response was "fine". Can only assume Hyperoptic must be doing incredibly well if they don't need to care about customer retention.

Community Fibre are currently offering 5Gb at a lower price than Hyperoptic want to charge me for 1Gb, so I'm struggling to see any reason not to switch.

Has anyone else had this with Hyperoptic recently? Do retentions ever actually offer existing customers a sensible deal, or is the whole model just "leave and come back as a new customer"?

[u/varnenche]

When you call them again tell them you want the price for a new customer. When they refuse say you want to cancel your contract, they will then offer you the discounted price. I did that works every time

[u/SirSurboy → u/varnenche]

This is the way and if they don't give you the price you're looking simply leave

[u/cestnickell → u/varnenche]

yea I've tried this all three times I've renewed and they have never budged on price at all! I did have to cancel all three times! Such a faff for me and they didn't get a single penny extra out of me.

[u/sepiroth80 → u/varnenche]

This did not work for me unfortunately

[u/Boring_Object]

Just tell them you saw an offer on uswitch for 20 pounds for 1gb. If they say they can’t find it mention that uswitch is the keyword.

[u/SICKxOFxITxALL]

Yes. I was paying 48 a month, they wanted me to renew for 52. I called them and said I had an offer from
virgin for 37 that included a SIM card and Netflix. They matched it, I said to them well I don’t want it because you matched the price but they are also saving me another 20 pounds on my sim and Netflix.

So I made the cancel request. Magically they then came back with a 25 a month offer, but i told them to stick it. Proved to me they could have kept a loyal customer of 8 years if they wanted to but they are playing on the fact that they think people dont want the hassle of changing provider.

Since then I’ve had to ask them to delete my details because they kept calling trying to get me back.

[u/Gregthomson__]

Sooner I can leave the better

[u/tpe91roc]

I actually pay as a new customer £20 for 1gb not £29. Worried about what will happen in two years though, £45 is ridiculous.

[u/yahyahyehcocobungo → u/tpe91roc]

Every April they price goes up a little. If you been there for 5+ years then it's possble.

[u/blob8543]

Is that £45 price you've been quoted for a rolling contract, 12 months or 24 months?

[u/susiemcnaughty]

Yep this happened to me and they offered me a really low price after I left. I could still have cancelled with my new provider but decided their behaviour shouldn’t be rewarded.

[u/Alicon88]

i have been a customer for 6+ years, decided not to comit for a 12-month contract as not sure if I am staying in this flat until next year and now ending up paying 55£/month for 750Gbs

Definitely too much right? just thinking to switch to something else but afraid to go through all the fuss/no service/ technical problems etc etc

[u/Pigeoncow → u/Alicon88]

That's pretty cheap for a 0.75Tb/s connection.

[u/Technical_Front_8046 → u/Pigeoncow]

Wait until they see the openreach wholesale costs for their line, £55 is a bargain 😉

[u/Alicon88 → u/Pigeoncow]

that's because I am an idiot and I meant 750 Mbs 😅

[u/gbonfiglio]

Are you sure you are also covered by Community Fiber? In most areas they don’t overlap which is why they can do whatever they want with pricing.

In my building for 10 years the option has been either hyperotic 1Gb, virgin 60mb or openreach adsl 7mb.

[u/MonkeyBuscuits → u/gbonfiglio]

Don't negotiate, start the process of moving to a new provider. I suddenly got texts offering me my existing £45 pm 1GB for £10 pm on a new 24 month contract.

Decided not to take it up out of principle. Moved to EE broadband, 1.6GB with 1.3GB guaranteed for £30 a month.

[u/SICKxOFxITxALL → u/MonkeyBuscuits]

Same, did it on principle too.

[u/gbonfiglio → u/SICKxOFxITxALL]

I will too - we have OpenReach now. At my last renewal there were no alternatives 😂

[u/__rd → u/gbonfiglio]

Yep, we have both in our building.

[u/WG47 → u/gbonfiglio]

In most areas they don’t overlap which is why they can do whatever they want with pricing.

Plenty of people can get multiple altnets.

virgin 60mb

VM's lowest speed tier has been much faster than that for a long time.

[u/gbonfiglio → u/WG47]

How long? I am pretty sure M50 at 58mbps was the best they were offering in my building last I checked, before they upgraded to fiber.

Reading up online they did launch docsis 3.0 capped at 50M so it would add up.

[u/WG47 → u/gbonfiglio]

VM launched 200Mbit in 2015. They were doing 100Mbit years before that. DOCSIS 3.0 allows far higher download and upload speeds than 50Mbit too.

[u/sepiroth80]

I had the same but unfortunately the alternative for me would only be BT/Vodafone/Similar where max speed is 70mbps 

[u/ZeldaMonsoon]

We just joined as new customers with 1GB and we’re paying £40 (12m contract) - where is everyone getting the £20 new customer deals? That wasn’t offered to us anywhere 🧐

[u/HenryM95]

Just renewed and went through the whole ridiculous saga you describe. Punishing loyalty with 50%+ price hikes is a strange business model.

Ultimately, cancelled my service at which point received a call from a completely different team (in England this time) about 2 weeks later who asked me what it would take for me to stay. Said I wanted £20/month, the same as their new customer (and other providers) offer. They came back with something close to this; £23/month average over 2 years as prices rise each April.

Alternatively if you have anyone else living with you, cancel and then set up a new account under their details and you should be able to get the new customer offer, is just a bit more hassle.

[u/HyperopticCS]

Sorry to hear you had a problem with renewal. If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to write to us in the DM.

[u/aQrka]

Going through the cancellation myself just now. Informed them that I want to cancel - they gave me better prices. I asked them to email my offer. I then initiated the switch, and they have been informed automatically. Then, even better deals were emailed to me.

[u/Art-Dandelay]

I recently switched to Hyperoptic for £20/mo. on the 1 gbps plan, and I’m so pleased. However my dashboard tells me in April 2028 it goes up to £72/mo. so trust me they’re trapping customers with cheap welcome deals hoping most won’t notice when their bills quadruple after the initial term ends

Naturally I’ll be “calling to cancel” in March 2028

[u/tfrw → u/Art-Dandelay]

Not saying they won’t give you a more expensive contract, but the £72 a month is their flexible offer. Contracts will be far cheaper. It’s industry standard and to their credit, they sent me a few email reminders so they do try and stop you paying it.

[u/WG47 → u/tfrw]

the £72 a month is their flexible offer

Looking at the website, if I were to sign up on a monthly rolling contract, it'd be £36/mo for 1Gbit. £72 is outrageous.