Wednesday 2 July 2008

Don't read this if you don't care about Internet Service Providers.

So I finally got round to calling up Virgin about our broadband, which currently is low speed and high price. They sent a leaflet around offering a much better deal, so I call up and follow the automated voice woman to the 'change your service' section. This is obviously located in India where a guy who is probably wildly overqualified and quite difficult to understand told me that those deals are only for new customers. What the fuck? He told me the best deal he could do me which was better but not great. So I called again, this time following automated voice woman to the 'I'm leaving your fucking company' section. This one, funnily enough, was in England. Amazing how they start to care when you're leaving. I told the woman the deal I was on, and what I'd seen they give to new customers and also the best competitor I could find.

Hold please.

She comes back with a better deal than any of them. Basically lowering our bill by £6.50 a month and making our broadband five times faster with a free wireless router to boot.

The thing I hate is that they know so many people just wont bother phoning (like me - I've been meaning to do it for months) that they don't do it automatically. They wait for you to say you're leaving then they'll give you anything you want because they know how much money they're making out of you.

Well anyway, I'm glad I finally got round to it, hopefully the upgrading won't have complications... Unlikely I know. But my advice to you, if you're beyond the original 12 month contract (or whatever it is) just call them up and say you're leaving, they'll give you anything you want. Same goes for phone contracts and probably other things. They're all bastards.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah, its amazing what they will do if you tell them you're leaving. A few months ago my friend told them he wants to move to o2, he went from 100 free minutes and 50 texts a month for one price to 500 minutes and 400 texts for £5 less xD Not bad.

Anonymous said...

yes that's the oldest trick yet still the best in the book, the second you threaten to leave for a better deal with a different subscriber they come up with all kinds of free stuff. That is how I got my free wireless router and digital tv subscription w/hd on demand. bastards :)

Good luck with your gig!

Anonymous said...

Yea, my dad does that, he tells them he is leaving and suddenly they can better the offer!

Jon

Anonymous said...

I know the feeling. I myself was with an unknown internet company called Toucan surf an they were charging mr £15 for 1 meg (or gig) and I didnt realise till I changed my computer that I was on really bad deal so I switched to Tiscali and cut a few quid off my bill with up to 8 now. And yeah I agree with the phone service they provide its no good at all.

Anonymous said...

I'm just leaving virgin end of my contract (end of this month) they could give it me for free and I'd leave. I always call up sky if I suddenly fancy watching some sports or a movie, threaten to canel and bang 3months of free sports and movies. Although I probably don't use it any other time after calling up that day, meh.

Anonymous said...

Imagine the power they'll have without net neutrality.

Anonymous said...

God, looks like it's the same throughout the world; we get people from India too
when we call who don't know their a-- from a hole in the gound. I have Road Runner
here and so far it is great; a Time Warner Cable hookup that comes in package with
cable t.v. A little too high priced though. I'll try that too when my contract is about to run out or before; maybe they will give me a good deal. You are right; no effort is made until they think they are going to lose that money.....We are celebrating the 4th here. Lots of fireworks, eats, etc. I hear them across the street---lots of rain so will be surely save the roof from bottle rockets flying in the air. ha. Love you!!!. Have a wonderful weekend.

Anonymous said...

Well that was informative... but how was the gig? =D
Also, as I was walking and listening to my Ipod there was a song that I thougt you should cover because you can make somthing great out of it.
And it was... hmm... Perhaps "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying" by Belle & Sebastian? .. or any other B&S song really.
Oh no! It was Newton Faulkner's "Dream Catch Me"!
Sorry I forgot that when I'm writing a comment I can edit my thougt process.
Ah well.
=]

Anonymous said...

Haha Yeah it works for most things, we were going to leave tiscali for BT, OH no Don't Leave, HERE have a free Wireless Modem and 3 months free Broadband.
Nice!

Anonymous said...

yup.. took me 15 minutes to finally get through to the right department when i wanted to cancel my phone contract.

5 minutes later i'd signed up to a stupidly good deal where i basically pay 90 quid for a whole year of more than enough mins and texts!
the guy actually said that O2 were losing money on the deal o_O