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Author Topic: Provider Loyalty  (Read 1527 times)

rongtw

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Provider Loyalty
« on: September 28, 2018, 01:33:19 PM »

Are Loyal customers getting ripped off ? 
well Citizen advice say yes  :o  so should we switch supplier more often ?
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/09/competition-complaint-investigates-the-high-price-of-provider-loyalty.html
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dee.jay

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  • Posts: 952
Re: Provider Loyalty
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2018, 01:41:48 PM »

Well, I asked Sky to reduce my contract, and they did, dropped £9 a month from my broadband. Had to sign up for another 18 months, but £21 for 70Mb internet isn't bad at all on the grand scheme of things.

I cancelled a second phone contract I had for work - £18 a month, they offered to drop it to £15. I didn't need that in all honesty so I went ahead and cancelled it.

If you've signed up for something, that's the price you are going to pay. Don't expect companies to automatically give you freebies, but if you don't ask, you don't get, either.
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Starlink and AAISP L2TP combo routed by opnSense on proxmox

chenks

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Re: Provider Loyalty
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2018, 02:43:17 PM »

i don't buy into the whole provider loyality thing.
customers bang on about no loyalty from providers, yet the customer will jump ship at the drop of a hat with the sniff of a better deal elsewhere.

why should a provider be loyal when the customer isn't ?
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niemand

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Re: Provider Loyalty
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2018, 02:48:14 PM »

Balancing act.

Some people are totally indifferent to such things and don't care at all, they get what they pay for and pay for what they get. Others you could deliver 10G fibre to the rectum to them for 50p a decade and they'd demand discounts and freebies, threatening to leave to go to A N Other provider offering a vastly inferior service but for pennies.

I'm not sure why government should be involved in this. There are better uses of our taxpayer funding than investigating broadband pricing to be honest.

I always rate my time in terms of what my employer pays me. If I'm going to spend longer pursuing discounts than I would actually save in terms of time spent at that rate it's pointless.

If something must be done let's ban all introductory and retention discounts and compensate with a lowering of the baseline price. Fairer on everyone apart from those with nothing better to do than blag their ISP.
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jelv

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  • Posts: 2054
Re: Provider Loyalty
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2018, 03:18:35 PM »

I don't get the way it is with broadband. Gaining a customer, providing a router costs and setting them up costs. Losing a customer costs more than just the lost subscription. A lot of people don't like (or have the time) to keep migrating and dealing with all the hassles that entails. For the cost of an automatic email with a link to sign up for a year extension on the contract for a discount there's minimal cost for the ISP for the gain of locking the user in for another year, minimal bother to the user and customers who don't end up feeling they've been ripped off.
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Broadband and Line rental: Zen Unlimited Fibre 2, Mobile: Vodaphone
Router: Fritz!Box 7530

re0

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  • Posts: 840
Re: Provider Loyalty
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2018, 01:10:33 AM »

I do not think there is a lot of loyality. Rather, people just choosing the cheapest option and changing provider if it is necessary to get the best price. Though changing ISP and finding the best deal can be troublesome for some, so they may be tempted to stick around and end up paying more by putting off the switch or negotiating a price (re-contracting). Some people swear by an ISP and be convinced it is the best since they have never had any issues, but they may change once they realise that the stretched support on their budget ISP can't help them (surprisingly, only to end up with another budget ISP with pee-poor-reading-from-a-script support because they're still in the bargain bucket).

I dislike it when people tell me about their cheap broadband ISPs and all of these "special" [introductory or renewal] offers they get with them. It really is a double-edged sword when it comes to providing these special offers since it provides competitivity but sadly also gives the market a race to the bottom where there are fine margins squeezing on support and services that actually matter especially when something goes wrong. Even with a decent chunk of existing customers essentially subsidising the beggars looking for a couple of pence saving a day it is still not exactly the best margin I imagine. Though it's the providers that facilitate this behaviour.

On another note, I am not a fan of contracts. That is regardless of whether it is broadband or mobile. I like to be free to move at any time in case my budget or other needs change. I am not generally "loyal" to an ISP (I just look for what suits my needs) and I will refuse to commit to a contract longer than a single month right now.
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ISP: Gigaclear - Hyperfast 900 (up to 940 Mbps symmetrical)
 

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