I recently got the dreaded letter from my utility company telling me that they are offering my broadband service to new customers for £25 but for loyal customers it was going up to £55 a month. After the initial disbelief I phoned the company and told them that I was shocked by the increase and could they do any better. Success? negotiated down to £45 a month. I asked them to give me a best and final offer or I would leave and they said that it was their best and final.
At this point I was beginning to think that I had hit the age when everything was going to cost double , I mean they actually have my date of birth and will have worked out that old people are not going to change suppliers and they can boost the profits. Well that is what I thought at the time.
Well , not very difficult to find a better product for less money and all booked online so everything was looking good, or so I thought. Another company, different problems a day in the house and a no show on the first appointment and another day in the house for part of the job to be done and more time for the final installation. So basically nothing is simple in life at the moment.
So what changed my mind? It was the final cancellation call, amazingly they offered me a great deal and told me that I was on a cooling off period with the new supplier and they would do even better if I wanted.
So no , I am getting the same service that everyone gets regardless of age. But we do have some crazy things going on. Total lack of loyalty and the expectation that I would cancel a deal that I thought was reasonable just because they were prepared to do a sort of negative gazump.
Of course there still remains the problem that old and ill people may not be able to change utility suppliers and will end up with much bigger bills because of this . If anyone has suggestions on how to deal with this please make a comment below.
So why do I have two glass connections , surely we should have a nationalised set up for broadband. You don’t have to get new wires put in when you change your electric supplier so why do you for broadband.
So post brexit and covid 19 there are problems getting people to fit new equipment which really is not needed because it is already there but owned by someone else.
Why is there no regulation on price? It is madness that a loyal customer is charged over twice that of a new one. Of course if you don’t like it you can just get a new supplier so, guess what? , that is what I did but it is not a system that works so well now that we are in a global world and not just a little island in the sea.
So how did the problem start? Probably the person at the call centre did not understand that if I ask for a price to stop me from leaving you should do just that , maybe they read the script wrongly or were just having a bad day. I don’t blame either company for any of this . I think it is just part of the problem of post covid 19 , brexit and too much working from home. You can make up excuses but unless you are a total computer geek you probably will be more efficient not working in solitude in the place that you live.