Re: Discounts
 

Why don't you leave then? No one is forcing you to stay with VM, but you do have a lot to say about them! Try Sky if you're unhappy!

Re: Discounts
 

Yeah of course, but the majority of industries' sales depts work on commission - it's how you tend to attract the best sales people.
I know it's not all companies and all industries, which is why I said, I know commission bonuses are definitely paid out in the communications industry, at least for things like Broadband and mobile.
BT don't offer their staff any commissions for phone packages though, probably because it's not a guaranteed extra income, but I know they pay royally on Broadband connections and upsales.

Re: Discounts
 

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to sound like I was doubting you I was just curious as to which do and which don't. My husband usually deals with retention but he has asked on occasion if the personal rep stands to gain from keeping him as a customer etc.

Re: Discounts
 

He didn't say he couldn't haggle, he just said he has to, and it's not readily given away like some companies. From my own experience it's harder to get a deal out of Sky than it with VM as Sky seem to be more egotistical. The last time I said I was leaving Sky there response was, "By then, see you in a year when you realise we're better than Virgin." Lol.
Whereas VM have always bent over backwards previously to keep my custom.

---------- Post added at 22:23 ---------- Previous post was at 22:22 ----------

They definitely do :) Retentions departments work a bit differently. They are paid bonuses on the number of customers they keep. If they don't hit targets they don't get bonuses - so it's very much in their interest to try and keep you if they can. :)

Re: Discounts
 

Because I have haggled a good deal out of them. More by luck than judgement ! Doesn't stop.me bring critical of the above inflation rise they are again imposing on most customers. You don't have to be a VM luvvie/employee to be on this forum !

Re: Discounts
 

I think just about anyone can get a deal out of VM if they are proactive - when I say proactive I mean actually ring up to cancel or ask for a better deal once they're out of contract, but unfortunately there are (i'm guessing) the majority of their customers who either don't realise they're out of contract and no longer get a competitive deal, or ones who just can't bothered to ring up and complain.
My friend's mother is with Sky and has a really old legacy package with a Sky + box and is paying a shed loads for sports and movies, but she refuses to call up and get a better deal because she can't be bothered.

Re: Discounts
 

The nature of the capitalist economy relies upon discounting. Buy one get one free vouchers, what lager is cheap this week in the supermarket, fast food offers in the Metro.

If you can get people to pay full price then good, and with a little effort 90% okay, 80% maybe not so good. However in organisations with high fixed costs (like bank interest) and little variable costs (content) then having someone buying for 80% or less is better than them subscribing to another service elsewhere.

It happens everywhere. If you feel strongly enough you could join Sky who do exactly the same thing.

The rational consumer in the pay-tv/broadband/telephone market switches every 12/18 months for the new customer offers. It's natural all providers try to mitigate that.

---------- Post added at 00:15 ---------- Previous post was at 00:14 ----------

It isn't unfortunate that people don't seek to pay less for their package. It's the natural process of maximising income.

Re: Discounts
 

It's unfortunate for those who unaware they can negotiate a lower price, it's not unfortunate for those who can't be bothered. It certainly isn't unfortunate for the business of course.

Re: Discounts
 

Every year I regularly negotiate with my TV/phone/broadband provider(s), mobile provider and do so on behalf of my parents and my uncle.

If you are unaware, or not interested enough to find out these things happen or don't feel like making the effort, then you simply deserve to pay more.

Those unaware have obviously never got to the "I'm paying too much" stage - because it's easy to find out how much you can save my taking up new customer offers elsewhere and then cancel (inviting an offer).

Re: Discounts
 

An awful lot of the older generation (not all) have been with the same provider for decades and probably think change is too complicated for them.
My late grandfather-in-law was too scared to even transfer to Freeview until terrestrial was turned off. He went weeks without any Television until he was bought a freeview box and it was set up for him. After he was shown how to use it he was very happy with it.
BT has an awful lot of vulnerable customers who don't fully understand technology, packages etc and just swallow the price increase every year and think it's part and parcel of the service not realising they can even negotiate. Or maybe they are too polite to try and do so. It's these people I feel sorry for.

Re: Discounts
 

It's sad that those individuals don't have people to support them.

However that's capitalism. As being likely from the generation who benefited from the sale of council housing on the cheap I will not be the first to shed a tear.

Re: Discounts
 

I dunno about complicated but yes they do tend to stick with familiarity. Some day I'll be in that category of "old". I am not there yet but for like 12 years me and my husband haven't looked to beyond one, maybe two different providers in the UK and US and we're happy with what we have. (Same with manufacturers etc). We actually get a unique function (at least until recently) that we could only get from that provider and it probably isn't that bad to change but we honestly have no desire. (Or need). We get the cheapest available and don't need the most extensive speeds and packages, we're relatively content.

Yeah, there is definitely that. I never thought that I would use a picture sharing system until recently but am glad that I do ; never used social media for my own gain (outside corporate) but maybe one day I will...dunno. (Doubtful).

Once you try it, and if it works I suppose that you might stick with it. Some things do change with time, you have no choice. Some things disappear altogether...brand new things appear that never existed before.

Some who are already through the peak of their life never needed it this long (or never had it) so I guess they see no reason to try it now.

Yeah that is one of the biggest problems with monopolies which is the unique situation that BT customers find themselves in. Also, given that a bunch of other companies have to use BT hardware to provide their own line and call / net services (Sky / Talk talk etc) the way that BT try to control everything needs to broken up - there is way too much of a CoI in the same company providing both the hardware and selling access to it, to it's competitors while providing the same service, through the same hardware that their competitors do. I do not know of a single country round the world that has a company / utility / telecom etc that does the same. It is preposterous. The fastest way to help about elder generations realize that they have more options is to allow for more competition.

Re: Discounts
 

BT, Sky, Virgin, Talktalk plus others. Plenty of regulated landline competition, plus communication can be maintained by any of the mobile providers.

Re: Discounts
 

l do that once the contract has nearly ended as it usually goes l am leaving you because l think you have become too expensive and the answer is we will see what we can do for you as l will be back in a couple of minutes as l need to speak to someone quickly and then 2 minutes later their answer is we can give you this deal for the next 12 months and after a slight pause l agree.

Re: Discounts
 

Yeah that is pretty much the norm for us, too.

Only difference is that we actually downgrade stuff, from time to time. (Varied reasons but usually a lack of interest).