Longstanding Customer Rejection?

[PedroMendosa]

I've been a phone and broadband customer for around 18 years. Last year, after getting fed up with Sky, I also switched to TV 360. Unfortunately I just don't get on with the box (expected functionality missing, too much button-pressing, etc.) so I attempted to switch back to my previous package. I was told to get that package it would be £51 p/m instead of the £32 p/m I was paying before.

So I did a bit of research and new customers can get M200 for £28 p/m for 18 months through affiliate links on sites like MoneySuperMarket and MoneySavingExpert. This however didn't make any difference to Retentions and it was confirmed that the only way I could get this deal is to cancel my contract with VM and sign up again as a new customer.

So I have cancelled. Which means more churn for VM and more admin for both of us.

 What sort of customer satisfaction is this going to produce?

[japitts]

Forgive me, but it sounds like you're prepared to chase the best price even at the expense of some hassle.

If you're willing to do that, good for you. But I don't blame VM if they're not willing to match those prices and are making you go through said hassle.

[jem101]

This is exactly how it is all designed to work. The companies (all of them) want to make the most money out of you that they can, the customer wants the best and presumably lowest price they can get. The only way to do this is to invest time and effort into chasing things - so how much is your time worth to you?

Now if you have cancelled, once that it processed and you have left, there is a good chance that when you try to rejoin, you will be told 'no, you need to have not been a customer for three months or six months or a year, to be eligible for 'new customer' pricing'.

Now if that does happen to you, do you have a fallback plan in place with another provider to tide you over for the next, however many months?

[PedroMendosa]

I had no interest in the new customer deal initially. The fact is they're trying to increase my monthly cost by a huge percentage and won't get anywhere near the previous level.

With TV 360 I can give them the benefit of the doubt on a poorly executed UI but by adding this hassle/blockage in resuming previous services I'd question taking any further services in the future (if I even decide to renew).

[Ernie_C]

Of course, the large increase shows the huge discount you previously had and now you don’t want to pay a more realistic price.

[jem101]

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@PedroMendosa wrote:

I had no interest in the new customer deal initially. The fact is they're trying to increase my monthly cost by a huge percentage and won't get anywhere near the previous level.

...Snip

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It doesn't matter, look VM is a private company, if they want to increase your monthly bill to £1000 a month, they absolutely can, and there is nothing you can do about it other than leave. They can charge you whatever they like, and similarly you can accept it or not and leave, it is a two-way process.

[Jodi_S]

Hi PedroMendosa,

A warm welcome and thanks for posting on our community forums. We're sorry to hear that you have chosen to cancel your contract with us due to an increase in your package price.

As with all providers we do offer introductory offers to new customers. At the start of all of our customer’s time with us, they would have benefited from such a deal. Once this expires, we'll always do all we can to offer the best existing customer deal available.

We understand that this is not what you wanted, and we respect your decision.

We wish you all the best for the future.

Kind regards Jodi. 
 

[PedroMendosa]

Thanks for the response. All I'm really looking for is a restoration to the previous cost but it seems leaving and returning is the only way.

[fushionjulz]

Or just leave and don't return?

[jpeg1]

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@PedroMendosa wrote:

Thanks for the response. All I'm really looking for is a restoration to the previous cost but it seems leaving and returning is the only way.

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But as mentioned above, you won't get the new customer deal right away.