Existing customer? B@#$%r off!

[steverob]

I'm usually someone who changes insurer / utility provider / telecom company / etc. every OTHER year - I get the ultra cheap comparision site rate for my first year, accept the probably slightly OTT increase at first renewal because I feel that I can stomach just a few extra quid (or more likely forget to do anything about it), but then by the time the second renewal notice comes round, I look at the price and think "that's a bit steep" and go out and get myself a better quote (usually with the firm I was with two years previous) that has the new customer discount applied - and off we go with the same performance again.

Having said that, got a letter from BT last week - my 18 month phone/broadband/mobile/TV contract was coming to an end and they wanted to lock me in to a new contract and were willing to give me "some amazing personalised offers" if I went to their website. I very much doubted that would be the case, but was quite surprised when they offered me decent three options - my current deal but at £5 a month LESS, a marginally better deal (in terms of download speeds and support) at my current price, or a massively better deal for only £3 a month more.

Obviously I went for the option that saved me money (happy with the speed I currently have to be honest). Now I probably should have looked just to check if all the other networks were also doing lower prices, or if I could ring up and haggle to get even more off, but frankly I was just pleased to get money off without having to make any effort to do so! Had I ignored the letter, I'd have had my current level of service but still be paying the old, higher rate.

 

[Brandane]

I'm one of those. I think yes,i could get it cheaper somewhere else maybe,but it'll only be 50 quid which works out at a pound a week and even then i might lose (or spend on something daft and not necessary) that saved 50 quid somewhere else,so why bother.

But.... Do that again next year, and "it's only another pound per week"; then again the following year, and so on - before you know where you are you are paying an extra few hundred per year, for what? It's no hassle to change these days, the company you are moving to takes care of all the admin.. Get on to gocompare, youswitch, moneysupermarket, or any similar site and save yourself some cash. Or more importantly IMO, stop letting greedy companies fleece you!

 

[Drago]

A pound here, a pound there, and pretty soon its costing real money,

 

[Pale Rider]

I did get a nice few quid off my monthly Sky bill when I upgraded to superfast broadband.

Pleased with that, although I accept that due to inertia I had been 'over paying' for years.

Different tales about phoning Sky to threaten to leave unless they make it cheaper.

A mate did that, and they simply accepted his cancellation.

Moral of the story is don't make threats if you are not prepared for the other side to call your bluff.

 

[Drago]

Sky accepted my theeat to cancel as well.

Which was fine by me, because I went to BT TV and got a very similar Sky package, plus more, for a lot less.

Remember, threats only work if youre actually willing to pull the pin on them when your bluff is called.

 

[mikeIow]

Ready for that Virgin Media call soon....another 4.4% price rise letter, with ZERO benefits to us, the customer.
It really does p!$$ me off that they do this.
We’ve had it since it was NT(hel)L - over 20 years. Nowt for loyalty in this game

The past year has not been great with Virgin: the super fast broadband went through one stage of dropping me off several work zooms in a few weeks.
Ended up getting a TPlink Deco M5 mesh system, reducing the Virgin WiFi to simple modem-mode: no more drops....and faster throughout the house

....but I do hate the dance every year or so to get their price to not leap
*sigh*
Key problem here is we are on fast cable: even at peak, with Deco in place, I can see we get 60-120Meg speeds Ditching Virgin would likely see that drop, which is not an appealing prospect......so any threats to look around will, sadly, be fairly empty