Loyalty Discount

DirectDebacle

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Brian wrote: »

Morning DirectDebacle,

I won't criticise or justify business decisions, however I all ways try to explain things are they are, and I believe i have done this here.

I will take away all your comments about the no final bill discount as I have with Pinchers Loyalty discount comments and pass them on to the powers that be.

Brian

Thank you for your response.

I appreciate that you are here to represent your companies views, not your own and that you feel that some of the points made re those views are worth bringing to the attention of E.ON.

Only by listening to complaints can companies recognise if there is a problem and if so take remedial action.

At least E.ON have not one but 3 reps to try to assist customers on this forum. It would be nice if all the companies followed your example.

DD

DirectDebacle

Pincher wrote: »

I would suggest a re-shuffle of this 8%.

Direct Debit 2%, purely to save admin cost.
Dual Fuel 2%,
Loyaty Discount, variable from 0%, up to say 5%

I should of course get 5% Loyalty discount, and end up with 9% discount, 1% more than the 8% I already get.

The extra 1% (£12 p.a.) is only paid to 5 year plus customers, which is presumably a lot less than one sales commission. So you are spending £12 on retention cost per customer per year. If it works, EON can acquire goodwill by establishing a reputation for consistent value. Headline grabbing tariffs with wafer thin margins is so noughties, try low churn high satisfaction for a change.

I wouldn't suggest this.

The DD discount was introduced to encourage customers to pay by this method as it is the cheapest payment form for the companies to operate.
The savings they make are reflected in the DD discount.

IMO the DD discount is for using a specific payment method and nothing else. It should not be confused with other discounts or absorbed into the 'pot'.

A loyalty discount may be a good idea but it is just adding to the available tools to further confuse some very confusing tariffs and marketing methods. It would apply to all customers who were 'loyal', irrespective of their payment methods. Why should those who pay by DD subsidise those who do not.

IMO opinion the energy companies have not yet reached a standard of service where any of them could expect a customer to be loyal.

I would rather the market be simplified so that I knew precisely how much I paid for my energy without having to factor in discounts and incentives that I thought I was entitled to but might not be.

If the companies can bring out half a dozen or more tariffs each year, each one allegedly better than the one before, then with a little effort they could just as easily reduce the price of energy instead.

A loyalty discount should apply to all loyal customers irrespective of their payment method. As a DD payer myself I would not be happy at losing my discount in order to subsidise those too lazy to switch.