Money blog: Major broadband provider announces inflation-busting price hike - but you can get out of it (2025)

Thinking of heading to Switzerland for the UEFA Women's Euros this summer? It might be worth knowing about this deal - and all the small print that comes with it.

Booking.com is offering 50% back on hotel rooms, hotels and apartments for fans travelling to follow their team at the competition.

You can get the deal by using the promo code FOOTY50 when booking accommodation in one of the host cities between 1 and 28 July.

But there are some details that you need to be aware of.

You don't get the 50% back in cash

Basically, the 50% back is rewarded to you in travel credits, which you can then use on Booking.com towards a future trip.

They must be used to book another trip within 12 months from the date the travel credits are received.

This should be as soon as you check out but it could take up to two weeks after you have booked your trip.

Promo code is only valid for one specific week

The promo code you need to use to claim the deal is only valid between 9am on 20 May and 9am on 27 May.

It might even be cut shorter as it can only be used 175 times or until £35,000 is spent in total by customers using the code.

There is a maximum reward value

There is also a maximum reward value of 3,000 euros, which is around £2,526.

This means you won't get back any more than that amount.

NOW has announced that it is increasing the prices of three of its broadband products from July.

Customers on Fab Fibre, Super Fibre and Brilliant Broadband will see their bills rise by £3 a month, which equates to an extra £36 a year.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch, said the rise was in line with what many of the bigger broadband providers have implemented.

He said it worked out as around a 10% increase when applied to the average monthly broadband bill of £29.60, which is higher than the current 2.6% inflation rate.

But he added customers could avoid the costs by switching to a different provider before the rise comes into force.

NOW, which is owned by the parent company of Sky News, is giving customers 31 days from receiving the price increase notification to cancel their contract without any early termination fees.

"Data from Uswitch shows that consumers can save an average of £181 by switching broadband providers," said Doku.

"It's also worth considering regional providers, such as Hyperoptic or Trooli, who not only offer fast speeds at low prices but also don’t increase prices mid-contract."

It should be noted that Uswitch is a comparison service and switching site, so obviously has an interest in people opting for a new provider.

Check out the Money blog first thing tomorrow for more on the theme of getting a cheaper broadband deal...

ByMegan Harwood-Baynes, cost of living specialist

Empty cosmetic packages aren't normally the first things that come to mind when trying to make extra cash.

But recycling your containers at a few select stores - and being savvy with old perfume bottles - can earn you more than you'd think.

Recycling

Several recycling schemes will give you vouchers, discounts and even free gifts for using them.

Boots Scan2Recycle: This one is a bit of a faff, but you could ultimately be rewarded with a £5 voucher, so I think it's worth it. Download the app to see a list of eligible containers to recycle, and then you need to take a picture of the product and upload it to the app to register it. You can also now recycle your medicine blister packs under the scheme.

After the image has been verified, you drop it off in store at a recycling scheme, scanning both a QR code and the item's barcode again. Once the deposit is confirmed, you get a £5 reward voucher - one a day, or up to eight a month if you recycle that much stuff.

John Lewis BeautyCycle: Sadly this scheme is not quite as good as it once was. It followed the same principles as Boots, with £5 off a £20 spend in return for recycling five empties. But now you have to spend £50 or more on B Corp-certified beauty brands.

This includes brands like Chloe and Elemis, but it's still quite expensive, with quite a high qualifying price.

Wild: If you already use Wild deodorant, it now has a scheme where you can send back an old or broken case and in return you are sent a £5 voucher. The scheme has recently been expanded, and you can now also return body wash and lip balm cases.

Lush:This one has been around for a while, but it's a classic for a reason. Bring back five empty Lush containers and you will be rewarded with a free face mask. Or if you don't have five, each container will earn you 50p off in store.

CultBeauty: You can add a free recycle:me bag to your order, and once you've downloaded its recycling app, you can scan to see which items are eligible to be returned. You need a minimum of five items but you'll then get £5 worth of points added to your account.

The Perfume Shop: Take back any empty perfume bottle and you'll get 15% off an in-store purchase. This is good if you are already planning to replace an item and have an empty one to hand.

L'Occitane: Take back beauty containers from any brand and get 10% off in store.

Selling

Sell perfume bottles on eBay

I was given my first bottle of Marc Jacobs perfume on my 19th birthday and have loved his scents ever since. They come in absolutely stunning bottles, but after ten years, I just had too many cluttering up my dressing table, and thanks to Stacey Solomon starting a trend of upcycling old bottles, they're quite easy to sell online. (Yes, they are empty, all the perfume is gone.)

I listed a couple on eBay for £4 a go - they were quickly snapped up. Stupidly, I got offered £15 for one and got cocky thinking I would win more at auction. I didn't, and that seller grabbed themselves a £3.53 bargain. Lesson learnt.

Nearly a quarter of parents have seen their adult children move back home after leaving, research by NatWest has shown.

The average age of a "re-nesting" adult is 26, the bank found, but more than a fifth who return to their parents' home are over the age of 30.

Many children don't return home alone, either. Almost one in four (22%) of parents polled reported that their child moved back in with a partner or family of their own.

The survey of 2,000 people across the UK found 42% of mothers would welcome back their children as adults, compared with 34% of fathers.

A total of 60% of parents said they would charge their children rent, with most (33%) charging between £101 - £200 per month.

The main reason for adults returning home was financial, with many hoping the move would allow them to save for a deposit of their own.

Once they returned, the average adult spent around two years at home before leaving again.

Eco-friendly tourists in Copenhagen are being rewarded with free gifts and discounts.

A total of 90 attractions in Denmark's capital have signed up to the CopenPay scheme, offering people a range of rewards for completing green tasks.

For example, if you take the train to the city, CopenPay will offer you a free meal consisting of fresh surplus food from local stores, or a free guided tour of several attractions.

If you book four days or more at a participating hotel, you will be able to claim a free bike rental, a vegetarian lunch or get a discount on some tours.

You can earn rewards in three ways:

• Actions during your stay: Take part in a clean-up, travel by bike or public transport, or choose plant-based food.
• Getting to Copenhagen: Travel to Copenhagen by train or electric car.
• Length of your stay: Book four or more nights in Copenhagen.

"Rather than bringing more tourists to the city, the goal with CopenPay is to nudge our visitors and raise their awareness about travelling in a more sustainable way - exploring Copenhagen more responsibly while being rewarded with unique experiences," says Soren Tegen Pedersen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen.

"Tourism must move from being an environmental burden to a force for positive change."

You can see all the participating attractions and tasks you can complete here.

The scheme will run for nine weeks starting on 17 June.

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter

Wage rises are slowing, and there are fewer jobs on offer as employers grapple with higher costs, official figures show.

In the month when the minimum wage rose and employers' national insurance increases kicked in, job vacancies fell, according to April data from the Office for National Statistics.

Job vacancies have now fallen below the pre-pandemic level of March 2020, down from a peak of 1.3 million in early 2022 to 761,000 last month.

Average weekly earnings continued to rise faster than inflation, at 5.5% down from 5.7%, while pay excluding bonuses grew at a lower 5.6% level, down from 5.9%, in the three months to March, ONS figures showed.

It means wages are rising more slowly than before but faster than the rate of price rises.

Kim Kardashian's rapidly growing shapewear company is set to open its first store in the UK.

The reality star's SKIMS will take over the former Ted Baker site in London's Regent Street next year.

Worth around £4bn, the business was founded by Kardashian, British entrepreneur and Dragon's Den star Emma Grede and her husband Jens Grede in 2019.

SKIMS products, which include shapewear, underwear, dresses and pyjamas, are already available in Selfridges and Harrods.

Robert Norton, chief commercial officer at SKIMS, said: "Opening our first UK store on London's iconic Regent Street is a landmark moment for SKIMS.

"Its global prestige and vibrant history make it the perfect setting to debut our immersive retail experience."

The brand has signed the leasing deal with The Crown Estate, which said the store's opening highlights Regent Street's "sustained attractiveness for global brands".

Tesco has apologised to customers after they were incorrectly told they had earned £100 of Clubcard points.

In an email to affected shoppers, the supermarket giant said it was "very sorry" for "mistakenly" sending an email saying they had been awarded the points.

The £100 worth of points were given to customers who booked a trip with easyJet holidays using Clubcard vouchers as part of a deal earlier this year.

But those who did not take part in the promotion also received an email saying they had received the reward.

Some confused shoppers posted on X, asking Tesco what was going on.

Others thought they were being scammed...

In a response to one shopper, Tesco confirmed the email was not a scam and that it had "accidentally" sent it.

"This is a mistake, hence the above email you have received. I'm sorry for any upset caused," it said.

A spokesperson for Tesco told Money: "An email meant for customers who had collected £100 of Clubcard points after booking an EasyJet Holidays break using Tesco Clubcard Vouchers was mistakenly sent to other Clubcard members.

"We are sorry about the confusion and have followed up with an email to the customers who wrongly received the message to apologise."

Marks & Spencer has confirmed that customers' personal data was stolen in its recent cyber attack.

The retail giant's chief executive Stuart Machin said the data had been accessed due to the "sophisticated nature of the incident".

Shoppers have been reassured that the data taken by the hackers did not include payment or card details, or account passwords.

In a social media post, Machin said there is "no need for customers to take any action".

"To give customers extra peace of mind, they will be prompted to reset their password the next time they visit or log on to their M&S account and we have shared information on how to stay safe online," he said.

Tap below for more on this story...

Every Tuesday, we get an expert to answer your financial problems or consumer disputes - you canWhatsApp ushereor email moneyblog@sky.uk. Today's problem is...

I changed cars on 19 March with Arnold Clark Renault Liverpool. The old car had finance to settle which was factored into the deal and the dealer was supposed to pay off the old finance. Four weeks later the finance company took a monthly payment for the old car. I complained to Arnold Clark and have been astounded by the lack of customer care in trying to find a resolution. My husband was told that they would see if they had a coffee cup or something lying around to give me as compensation.
Colette Masters

We were sorry to hear about your experience - you went into a lot more detail in your message and sent us all your correspondence with the dealership.

Our first port of call on this was to see what Arnold Clark had to say. Its press team was responsive and escalated the complaint.

Just under a week later, Arnold Clark provided us with this statement: "We've acknowledged the customer's concern and we're currently in the process of resolving their complaint. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate their patience and understanding.

"Our aim is to always provide customer service of the highest level and will continue to work with the customer to fully resolve this."

Our team then caught up with you, Colette, and learned that they called to offer you a full refund on the overpayment.

We could leave this one here, but it's obvious that companies shouldn't need a call from the media to sort these things out, and journalists can't look into every case that comes into our inbox.

With that in mind, we asked Complaints ResolverScott Dixon to run through what he would have done to find a resolution in this case.

He wrote...

Buying a second-hand car is likely to be the second biggest purchase you are ever likely to make, and it tops my inbox with the most complaints.

The Financial Ombudsman Service received more than 68,000 complaints between October and December 2024, with car finance complaints up by 294% on the same time last year. Complaints range from mis-sold finance and faulty vehicles to disputes over rejection rights.

A look at the Arnold Clark website shows how much it boasts about putting customers, and fairness first, but your account suggests that wasn't the case here.

Here's what I would do in this situation:

Step one:I would lodge a formal complaint to the CEO and other key officials. Search on LinkedIn and RocketReach, which is a search tool for finding key contacts in organisations. You can also look on Companies House or just do a simple Google search for the CEO's email address.

They may not read it themselves, but in my experience, it often prompts action.

Send all additional correspondence as attachments with a bullet-point timeline so they can clearly see how this has unfolded and explain how badly you have been treated.

Cross-reference your experience to the promises on the firm's website.

A coffee cup isn't going to cut it. I would seek a written apology acknowledging the poor handling and dire customer service, and a full refund of £230 paid due to Arnold Clark failing to settle the finance on time.

Ask for a detailed breakdown and confirmation of what has been paid as a settlement figure to the finance company, as there appear to be some discrepancies and misunderstandings, so you know that everything has been settled as agreed.

You also want an assurance that no adverse credit reports have been made due to their negligence and incompetence.

State that you want a resolution within 14 days from the date of your letter.

Step two: Contact your lenders.

I would contact both lenders and explain what has happened, and ask that they do not record any missed payments or defaults from this case.

Step three:Check your credit file in a couple of months to make sure that everything is in good order and no errors or defaults have been made. If any errors have been made, ask for a "Notice of Correction" to be put on your credit file to explain it in more detail to help lenders understand the background if it's incorrect.

Step four: Leave reviews online and report to Trading Standards.

I would leave a review on Google Reviews to warn others and report this dealership to Trading Standards.

This featureis not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• WhatsApp here
• Or email moneyblog@sky.uk with the subject line "Money Problem"