vodafone made no attempt to keep me??

gaz77

Hi,

I'm a bit surprised, as I just phoned up vodafone about a new contract, and they let me go without any attempt to keep me.

My last contract expired back in January, but I'd been waiting until some of the new Android phone came out. Initially I fancied the Sony one, but realised the HTC Desire was better for what I wanted.

I did some shopping around, and best quote was £20/month, 200mins, unlimited text and internet + £70 for the phone with Virgin.

I called vodafone a few weeks ago, but the Desire was out of stock. I could pre-order, but they wouldn't do any deals until they were back in stock.

I phoned again today, and it was still out of stock. I told them about the virgin deal, and asked if they would be able to match it - got a straight no. No attempt to budge on their part. I asked for my PAC code, and still no budging, so the PAC's now in the post.

Is this normal, or did I just hit them on a bad day?
The same technique had worked fine last time I renewed

swilliam

All depends on who you talk to. Some will give you a deal, others will invent a deal that doesn't exist and some have got out of bed the wrong way.

02 are the worst for letting long term customers go.

karatedragon

You make it sound like you are invaluable. If your request will not make them money why should they bother to keep you?

They are after all a business.

It makes me grin when people moan when their mobile company won't budge on their unprofitable demands.

gaz77

I can quite easily put a value on my custom - the £130 they currently pay cashback to recruit new customers! Keeping an existing customer saves them that for a start.

I'm not asking that they make a loss on me. However, their rivals can offer a better package for significantly less.

karatedragon

Tesco sells different things at different prices to asda. Do you barter with your regular supermarket telling them of the prices you can pay elsewhere.

gaz77

That's a different type of purchase - I'm not tying myself to Tesco or Asda for 2 years when I buy a pint of milk.

I run my own business, and my long-term customers get better rates. That works out a good deal for both of us, as it saves me the expense of looking for new customers.

From a simple economic argument, it will cost vodafone more to recruit a new customer, than it would have to try and keep me.

teamcullen

I think it's more about how valuable you are to them as a customer. The total cost of the contract (if on 24mths) is £550 which seems to be the going rate for the cheaper Desire contracts at the moment.

At least Vodafone were honest with you in that they can't match the deal and not lied and placed you on some higher rate contract without your knowledge. They have limits too, and at the end of the day it's most likely a computer system and not a person who decides what you can and can't get.

gaz77

I didn't necessarily expect them to match the virgin deal. They didn't match the best deal when I renewed last time, but it was near enough that I was happy to stay and didn't have to go through the hassle of changing networks.

They're willing to spend £130 on recruiting new customers, so why not budge a little?

teamcullen

How much was your previous contract and what did you get? Also do you know your average usage?

karatedragon

I actually got £150 for joining Vodafone not £130 plus a free Nexus One.

If their "deal" for my upgrade next year isn't good value I will go elsewhere. Simple as. I won't moan about it here.

expatriate

Another point to be made is that a lot of it also has to do with your phone manner and maintaining a positive and tactical approach when trying to receive a good deal. If you happen to come off sounding negative & demanding there's an increased chance that they will let you go if it gets to a personal level.

The other thing to remember is the commission structure is generally on the amount of sales and GM they make for the company. They won't waste large amounts of time only for their money to decrease and will let you go and move on to the next customer that is willing to.


However Vodafone and O2 are the two of the largest network providers (excluding the deal by orange & tmob) and generally have higher tariffs than other companies. There's normally a reason for this..