How's About Some Love For Existing Customers?

[#1]

I've been a [mostly!] happy customer of Plus.net's fibre broadband since back in Jan 2014 and have even recommended a couple of other people sign up with Plus.net.  However, my initial 12 month offer is a long time in the past and I'm wondering why I should keep paying £34,98 / month for this service when, if I switch to BT, EE, John Lewis or Post Office fibre broadband [those are the ones available in my area], I can get 12 or 18 months for between £22 and £27 /month.

Even if I was signing up today as a new customer of Plus.net, I could be getting my fibre broadband for £23,99 for the next 18 months.

I know Plus.net, like all the other broadband companies has to make these offers to tempt in new customers. But it seems a fairer system would be where a provider starts your contract at their 'standard' tariff and then incrementally reduces the cost the longer you stay with them [a sort of loyalty discount]. Unfortunately though, this would only be workable if all the providers did it. Once one company broke ranks by offering the discounts up front, they'd get all the custom.

Such are the perils of the free  market, I guess!

But still. It doesn't really seem fair that, as a loyal customer of over four years, I'm £10,99 / month [that's over 30%] worse off than someone who just metaphorically 'walks through the door' for the first time today.  I know providers rely a lot on user inertia and us not wanting the hassle of switching. But it's not nearly as onerous a process as it used to be and for a saving of  around 30% or £130 odd  / year, I'm sorely tempted to switch. 

So, how's about some 'loyalty' encouraging offers for your long-term existing customers, Plus.net?

[#2]

Forget the loyalty thing. Ring Plusnet and select the ‘I’m thinking of leaving ‘ option and quote the lowest price on offer from the competitors. Ask Plusnet to match it in exchange for a new contract. Be prepared to argue your case and don’t necessarily accept the first offer. You may be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

[#3]

Yes, I agree with that advice.

Spend a little time doing some research on the best deals you can get, and be armed with that information when you call to leave.

Also check out the latest Money Saving Expert newsletter as there are some outstanding broadband deals on there at the moment.

And most importantly, be prepared to vote with your feet.

[#4]

Also try USwitch there are some exclusive deals

Brian A

[#5]

Hi @madra

Thank you for

I do appreciate the points that you have made and the offers that we give for both new and existing customer do constantly change. While I do not have offers that I can currently give you, if you would like to speak with our Customer Options Team they will be able to discuss full details of these with you.

They are contactable directly on 0800 013 2632 and they are open between the following hours:
Monday - Friday: 08:00 - 20:00
Saturday: 09:00 - 19:00
Sunday: 09:00 - 18:00

Currently there is no waiting time to get through if this is easier.

Thanks

[#6]

I'm only half way through my current contract & I called a couple of days ago & saved myself £10.00 per month by signing up for the next 2 years. Just do as Warwick says, easy peasy!

[#7]

Well, I took  the collective advice of The Borg [ie. the forum members] and, in spite of my deep-seated loathing of call centres, gave PN a call.

And I got my monthly payments reduced by £8 and locked in at that price for the next 18 months.  So, not as good as some of you have claimed you were able to get.  But it'll save me £96 / year without the hassle of having to change to another provider. So it'll do for me.

[#8]

Moderator's note:

Thread moved from Fibre Broadband to Plusnet Feedback.

[#9]

I see the word 'hassle' has cropped up again relating to switching provider. As a serial switcher to get the best deal on contract renewal, it really is no hassle and I honestly don't know why some customers get so hung up on the idea that switching is a complete hassle when really, it isn't. But of course that is my viewpoint and I wouldn't expect everyone to agree with me.

As for customer 'loyalty', no such thing really in my view. And there is no way I'm personally going to bother haggling and negotiating with a retentions team who are unable to offer an existing customer the same deal as a 'new' customer, and that is why I switch provider at the end of each and every contract, 10 minutes online, no haggling and often the bonus of cashback, pre-loaded money cards etc making the switch worthwhile. Again, I stress, I'm happy with PN, but as an existing customer come contract renewal, it's unlikely they'd give me the same new customer incentives to stay, so there's no point mucking about trying in my view.

[#10]

By "hassle", I didn't mean the switching process which, as you say is a ten minute job online. I've done it with other services before, such as my leccy supply.

The potential for "hassle" arises if the switch doesn't go according to plan, which can happen for a variety of reasons. Or you switch and find that the new service isn't as good. I work from home and manage my business online. I can't afford to be without my intarwebs for a few days, if there's a [-Censored-]--up.

So, from that point of view, I'm prepared to swallow a slightly higher payment each month for the sake of having a continuation of a service I'm happy with, rather than leap into the unknown with a "too good to be true" offer from another provider I have no experience with. The operative words being "slightly higher" —not a tenner a month higher, as I was paying before I re-negotiated.

I looked at the MSE comparison. In fact, receiving their email newsletter was what prompted my original post. And I was tempted by the 'Now Broadband' offer. But then i did a bit more research:

* Owned by Sky (I'm morally opposed to giving people like Rupert Murdoch my custom)

* Don't use PPPoE authentication, making it difficult to use with your own router

* Very likely to be over-subscribed as a result of this offer of theirs. So increased likelihood of something going wrong with the switch, or of the service not being as fast as advertised.

* Given the possibility of the previous, their TrustPilot reviews are not encouraging

* The cashback / voucher offer which contributes to their overall lower monthly charge isn't able to be claimed for  nine months.

So, all of the above are what i meant by "hassle". Not the ten minutes filling in a form.

 Incidentally, I doubt there's anyone in the world who despises having to ring call centres more than me. I almost switched to another provider without even bothering to try, because I hate them so much. But I gritted my teeth and rang PN and got through straight away and spoke to a nice lad. And there was no hassle at all. There's obviously a standard procedure in place. I could tell he was reading from a script for most of the "negotiation":

* Say you're leaving unless they can make you a better offer.

* They offer you a slight discount

* Turn that down and tell them you want something nearer to £XX

* Their person does the "I'll have to talk to my manager..." routine, then mutes the phone for a minute, while you both twiddle your thumbs

* Comes back and makes you a better offer, closer to what you wanted

It would probably have been possible to "Rinse & Repeat" and squeeze a bit more out of them. But I was happy enough with that, so I accepted the 2nd offer. Total time on phone: 8 minutes —and a couple of them were him reading me the boring T&C blurb.

And re "loyalty" to a brand: I agree with everyone else. Non-existent for me too. Remember folks; "they don't love you back!'

[#11]

Some interesting and rational feedback from both sides of the argument presented in this topic.  I've passed a link from this Topic into the SU feedback board for internal PN visibility.

[#12]

Would it also be beneficial to pass on feedback re a long term customer phoning to advise they are leaving because of a price rise?

i.e. Rather than try to retain that customer with an offer and new contracted period, it could be beneficial to both parties not just tell the customer "oh, alright, I'll remove all your discounts immediately and cancel the contract."

[#13]

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@newagetraveller wrote:

Rather than try to retain that customer with an offer and new contracted period, it could be beneficial to both parties not just tell the customer "oh, alright, I'll remove all your discounts immediately and cancel the contract."

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The current products offered to new customers promise "End of contract reminder and account review" which would hopefully address that, at least to some extent.

@madra  Energy suppliers tend to increase/reduce prices at about the same time which sometimes means that as soon as you switch, your old supplier, or another one, offers an even better deal than your new one.  With ISPs' new customers getting the best deals, migrating will nearly always be cheaper than staying put, although you might later find another ISP offering an even better deal than the one you've just signed up to.  And of course the old saying, "You get what you pay for" should be borne in mind.  Without mentioning any names there are a couple of ISPs that a lot of people would never dream of signing up with regardless of the price on offer.

[#14]

Also worth mentioning that the way most of these companies work is a very deliberate part of their business plan that relies on a certain percentage of people who will not move supplier and tolerate quite a lot of year on year price increases.

So the way to retain these people (the real moneymakers for the company) is not to routinely offer discounts unless asked.

Then for those that do ask, only match other deals that are out there (with provisions, and assuming they can still make a profit).

This gives the company the best of both worlds - no discounts to those long term customers that never complain about price, and retaining customers that do complain about price (assuming it is profitable). As for new customers, hook them with the best deals (which still make the company money, just not as much) in the hope they will stay after the contract ends.

That is why existing customers don't routinely get new customer deals - follow the money.

[#15]

Seems the best option is to find another ISP offering good deals to new customers, then switch to them for a year then return to PN as a new customer and back to the other provider for a year.

Thus generating so much unnecessary paperwork that someone is going to realise the key is to keep loyal customers.

Mentioned before but if contracts for whatever agreed period were fixed in terms of price that might go some way to retain customers.

It might be also useful for PN to ask the following question.....Did customers get a better service from PN years ago compared to the service today based on complaints allowing of course for the increase in numbers of customers.

If the answer is yes then the next questions must be why and can it be rectified ?

Reputation is everything ask Ratner !