on 15-07-2021 16:47
Just had a call from VM (India?). Was told that as I`m classed as a "loyal customer" having been with VM for 26 yrs they want to reward me. At present I have the big bundle with landline & 100mps (no premium channels). The spiel went along the lines of, talk anytime as opposed to weekends, 500mps?? as opposed to my existing 100mps, no change to the TV package. After listening to all the sales guff, bear in mind that I was being "rewarded", the rep then said all this would only be £5 per month extra tied into yet another 18 month contract. If somebody is being "rewarded for their loyalty" they don`t expect to pay extra for the privilege or is it just me who thinks that way? Any thoughts?
on 15-07-2021 16:59
So the basic "big bundle" is Mixit TV, Talk Weekends & M100 broadband - standard price £62/month.
Mixit TV, Talk Anytime, M500 is normally £88/month. How does this compare with what you were offered?....
It would be entirely normal to offer you a discount on the standard pricing in exchange for a new 18month contract.
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on 15-07-2021 17:01
Can't say it applies for you, but often the outbound "upgrade" calls are a little bit before a contract ends. If the punter takes the bait, they'll be accepting the first deal VM offer, probably won't have had chance to research other options, and are then locked in for another 18 months on a deal that may be poor value (although a few VM deal offers are pretty good value). If VM allow things to drift rather than encouraging people to re-contract before their current fixed term ends, the punter usually waits until the contract is about to, or has just expired, and makes an inbound call to speak with retentions, and in that situation the customer has much more leverage, and the time and opportunity to research alternative offers, meaning VM have to offer a deal that satisfies the customer on bundle and price, rather than the bundle VM want to sell at the price VM want to sell it at.
In terms of the 100 > 500 there's a logic (for VM). On a 100 Mbps connection you'd notice little difference on a good 60-80 Mbps Openreach line, so leaving VM has limited disadvantage. If they've got you on 500, then VM know full well that many customers will be loathe to downgrade even if they're not using the bandwidth they have, and next time round the retention pitch will centre on "well, we offer far better speeds that you won't get elsewhere, and you'd struggle if you've got more than a single adult and a cat using a 60-80 connection". This argument obviously won't be effective to the lucky 5m households who have Openreach FTTP available so far, and the 20m who will be joining them over the next four years, but for now it plays quite well for VM.
on 15-07-2021 17:22
Standard price £62 a month. I`m paying £90
on 15-07-2021 21:51
Loyalty works both ways.
Where are you seeing the deal for £62 per month and is that new customer only pricing?
on 15-07-2021 22:56
First rule of salesmanship, assume all customers are gullible.