Internet Overcharging (CMA Report)

[#1]

The Consumer and Markets Authority have issued a report on overcharging loyal customers. A simple summary is at the bottom of this page:

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-6510959/Customers-exploited-phone-insurance-mortgage-comp...

Ptobably does not tell us anything we do not already know but interesting comparisons.

[#2]

Thanks for the link.

There was more on the BBC news about this topic.

Ripping off loyal customers has been going on for years and it's about time the government brought in legislation to stop it.

One market trader on the news was asked, " What would happen if you charged your loyal customers more for the same products"

His answer was obvious, " I would soon go out of business "

I guess it is a waste of time asking PN to take the lead on this and beat other ISP to use a system where customer loyalty is rewarded rather than wait until they are forced to do it.

[#3]

Customer loyalty from business went out the window when the man from the Pru stopped knocking on the door and trying to win your business. Also direct debits and automatic renewal all help to make the consumer lazy and not bother to look. Before t'internet, most people would go to an insurance brokers every year for insurance comparisons, they don't bother now (there wasn't an option to do it with gas/ electric/ phone then). My Dad has been moaning for years about how expensive it is to run his house, but wouldn't let me come over and look for a new provider for him, because he thinks loyalty is well thought of. He is still paying £35pm for 8mb adsl when he could have fibre for less, but won't witch, again due to loyalty. For older people, loyalty all seems to be one way, and trying to get them to change can be a nightmare.

[#4]

Not sure about people being lazy. A lot of younger people have a lot to deal with, work, family etc and may have little time to get involved in moving to a cheaper company, if things go wrong when switching then it can take hours of time to get it sorted and cost you time and money.

Despite being told how easy it is to switch companies you only have to look on these forums to see some who have not found it easy and I guess the same applies to most other companies.

As for older folk and loyalty, well I am old and I learnt years ago that the word loyalty to a company irrespective if you were employed by them or a customer no longer exists and changing every year although a bit risky has saved me a fortune over the years.

[#5]

EE has previously been addressed (do. It know if it’s still the case) - they used to charge new customers £2 more than existing users.