Utility providers
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MAn these guys p!ss me off.
Been with a power company for 15years, decided to go to a new provider (yes they were offering me an incentive) after some research and price comparisons, with my power, broadband and homeline (the wife needs it to speak to relatives in the UK who dont do the interweb) I decide to move and save me some $$$
Just been on the phone for 15 mins form my existing provider, trying to convince me to stay...offering me a credit, higher loyalty discounts etc, even said they have an arrangement with my telco provider that they'd try to get them to do a deal too.
Ultimately, I think if I had stayed, I would have saved a bit more money again, but what pisses me off, is that they dont do this automatically, they only do it when you decide to move or tell them you might move (although the offers I got last time were not as good as this time as it was another provider who told them I was leaving, not just me saying I can save money by moving.
They only reward your loyalty when you decide to move, not just reward you because you stayed! Cnuts!
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@Machpants yeah I do normally, but the offers this time were better than last time when I told them I was shopping around.
This time, they got the authority to move provider, they trying much harder now.
Yet I know some people still hold mis-guided loyalties to various companies, despite the lack of service or recognition of loyalty from the companies.
Oh well, as I said, I save some $$$ so more beer!
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It is annoying. Sky do it all the time - "join now and get -whatever- for free" or suchlike. Well I have been with you for over a decade and I would like that you arseholes.
Airlines do loyalty programs for a reason, some of these other companies might want to give it a go rather than just piss off their current customers, but they know that most of us won't bother changing all of the time. -
@Snowy That's me. Never changed power, ISP, telco even though they are commodities and the service is shit. Been with Sky now for 25 years always on the premium get everything plan. Just can't be arsed especially when I assume that the new provider will also be crap and someone else will have an ever betterer offer. I was door knocked last night by some poor bastard trying to get me to change ISP and power co. No thanks - lifes too short (well for me anyway)
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Some things you can shift way more easily than others. Funnily enough power seems to be one, whereas I'm loath to move ISP or banks as any issues or lack of web access is not worth the stress imo. But we do check our power plan just in case our usage patterns have changed - the new apps and stuff do make that easier than before as you've got clear data to look at.
I understand but hate the focus on promo offers to potential customers - Sky in particular drive me batshit with that. And I get well frothed up about then adding 'free' content etc.
It was a running joke in our house around the rugby channel. We took it up for the 2015 RWC and the wife kept asking if I'd cancelled it... lucky its 'free' now!
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@Paekakboyz when I used to get sky direct through them I used to cancel sports at the end of NPC every year, and without fail they'd call me at start of November offering it free until start of Super rugby...but since my sky was through another provider I got jack.
I do like @Snowy idea of loyalty cards, even if they have to tie them to an established programme, put more into rewarding loyal customers then others will want to come over anyway.
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@dogmeat Air NZ one is great. AMEX platinum card tied in with it (one free domestic flight a year) and loads of airpoints dollars (if I might want to take the wife on said flight).
The one point equals one dollar thing is really simple as well. I have had thousands of "points" with other airlines that actually meant nothing.
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@Snowy when I lived in the UK I thought the Tesco rewards programme was great.
We had a Tesco credit card, double points for shopping at Tesco or their Petrol station, other i
store bonuses, more for using any of their other services.IIRC we used to get a Tesco voucher for >£60 a quarter or so...which I thought was bloody good 15 years ago.
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"Lazy tax" as it is otherwise known - people don't think about changing, or think it is too much hassle, so they stay.
If I get the insurance and it has gone up by a percentage I'm not happy with, I'll call them. Electricity isn't as much of a problem since I got solar
but I do keep an eye on the rates as they change - this year they went down!Utilities are the worst, particularly over here where electricity is almost a hegemony
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@NTA said in Utility providers:
"Lazy tax" as it is otherwise known - people don't think about changing, or think it is too much hassle, so they stay.
If I get the insurance and it has gone up by a percentage I'm not happy with, I'll call them. Electricity isn't as much of a problem since I got solar
but I do keep an eye on the rates as they change - this year they went down!Utilities are the worst, particularly over here where electricity is almost a hegemony
You've got solar? How's that going? You should tell us all so we can change too.
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@Crucial said in Utility providers:
@NTA said in Utility providers:
"Lazy tax" as it is otherwise known - people don't think about changing, or think it is too much hassle, so they stay.
If I get the insurance and it has gone up by a percentage I'm not happy with, I'll call them. Electricity isn't as much of a problem since I got solar
but I do keep an eye on the rates as they change - this year they went down!Utilities are the worst, particularly over here where electricity is almost a hegemony
You've got solar? How's that going? You should tell us all so we can change too.
Funny bastard, eh?
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@NTA said in Utility providers:
"Lazy tax" as it is otherwise known - people don't think about changing, or think it is too much hassle, so they stay.
If I get the insurance and it has gone up by a percentage I'm not happy with, I'll call them. Electricity isn't as much of a problem since I got solar
but I do keep an eye on the rates as they change - this year they went down!Utilities are the worst, particularly over here where electricity is almost a hegemony
It's a hegemony with fairly cheap prices - unlike NZ.
I canned Foxtel with Telstra at the start of this year, for something petty, they wouldn't let me use Telstra Rewards for the two months I had it on pause while you blokes watch cricket. But, it didn't really matter to Fox as I got Kayo as a replacement.
Although it's also petty of Telstra, let me buy a couple of months worth of discounted movie tickets and I'd still be their customer.
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I would love to shop around for this stuff, but we're so fucked in FNQ.
For electricity on a retail level you have the option of Ergon, or Ergon. Zero competition here.
For your mobile phone you can shop around, but you either take Telstra, or you get dogshit coverage. So by the time you package everything, the price ends up not too bad for a one-stop shop.
Insurance is not bad option-wise, except it's a cyclone zone, so more than one company is not interested in the risk profile. This means they either refuse cover, or price it in such a way you would be a mug to take it.
That leaves banking, and all the big 4 are as evil and exploitative as each other
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@mariner4life said in Utility providers:
For electricity on a retail level you have the option of Ergon, or Ergon. Zero competition here.
I spent about a day f**king around on one of those electricity/gas comparison websites and it made barely any sense, so I switched to the company that gave me gold class move tickets once every couple of months. I'm probably paying a bit more each quarter but it's less than the cost of the gold class tickets so I'm happy enough.
A bunch of the cheaper mobile providers will use Telstra network so shouldn't you be able to use them?
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My ISP are Exetel - they use Optus and the coverage is pretty good because I live in suburban metro. $30 a month for 18GB data for the kids, unlimited calls. I pay $25 for 10Gb because I'm not on my phone watching reddits or anime or some shit.
Telstra are fucked. My wife is paying $40 a month for fuck all data and she never changes it because every time she goes to, the price is $50 for a decent amount of data, but that is bullshit. Yeah sure, when we're in Tasmania we might be relying on her phone for coverage in certain areas, but honestly I'm cool with not having phone reception while I'm on holiday.
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@NTA said in Utility providers:
My ISP are Exetel - they use Optus and the coverage is pretty good because I live in suburban metro. $30 a month for 18GB data for the kids, unlimited calls. I pay $25 for 10Gb because I'm not on my phone watching reddits or anime or some shit.
Telstra are fucked. My wife is paying $40 a month for fuck all data and she never changes it because every time she goes to, the price is $50 for a decent amount of data, but that is bullshit. Yeah sure, when we're in Tasmania we might be relying on her phone for coverage in certain areas, but honestly I'm cool with not having phone reception while I'm on holiday.
Is that because it gets tricky watching porn on the wife's phone?
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@NTA I’m on Jeenee $20 a month for 15GB (I’ve never gotten close) and $100 of NZ calls (which I’ve used once) - but also pay for my Mums slightly better plan so spending about $48 a month.
They’re a charity but I don’t think that’s why I joined them, they also let you upgrade when they bring new plans out so I started off on about 5GB then 8GB now 15 and I think I’m paying $5 less.
