Loyalty Is Dead, It’s Better To Be A New Customer

Did you know that you can get things for cheaper and better by making a couple of phone calls and ask? That’s right. You could be paying premium for antiquated and inferior services right now. As part of the Reduce a Bill Challenge at Working For Financial Freedom, I’d like to share this story with you.

No Customer Loyalty

Usually, I am lazy enough to leave things alone — hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This was true until a few months ago when our phone died, and Verizon wanted to charge something ridiculous to come out and fix the problem. As a result, I decided to try out the digital phone service offered by Time Warner. This move didn’t lower the base charge, but it did offer several advantages:

Saved $5 off the taxes and fees
Consolidated 3 bills (Time Warner, Verizon, and MCI) into one
Free long distance within the U.S., 24/7
Free call waiting and caller ID

Things were relative good for a while, except the minor voice quality problem. Then our digital phone and cable died last week. So, I went shopping again. This time I learned that Verizon is offering a similar triple package deal. After a quick phone call, I switched to Verizon Triple Play and got the following benefits:

Dropped the base charge by about $50 per month!
Get 2 extra converters and remote controls. This is great since we have 4 televisions
More channels

On top of these, we are also getting a free 19″ Sharp LCD HDTV for becoming a new Verizon Triple Play customer!

Companies are so desperate to grow nowadays that they often treat new customers better than the ones they already have — so much for loyalty.

When was the last time you call your service providers?

This article was featured in the Carnival of Money Stories #34 hosted by Being Frugal.

13 Comments

Erin
November 9, 2007, 7:13

Ok, you win. If I were giving out awards for this challenge I think you just won one! Seriously you reduced your bill and got a free TV? Way to go.
We are moving in the spring, but after we move I’m going to check out the triple play pkg and see if they can give us a good deal.
Pinyo
November 9, 2007, 7:19

Thanks Erin! Wait until you see next week post about another bill that I cut. It will make this one looks tamed.
Money Blue Book
November 9, 2007, 8:30

I can’t stand Comcast’s service, but I can’t leave them because I’ve managed to negotiate my bill down to nothing. I’m only loyal to them so long as they only charge me $50 for both internet and cable tv. -R
Mrs. Micah
November 9, 2007, 13:25

PaidTwice had that with a credit card which would only lower her APR to 9%. But when she switched to another company, they offered her 0% with 2% for a transferred balance. Idiots. They won’t get her business now because they’re not offering anything better than what she has. But they could have kept her with this very same offer.
Pinyo
November 9, 2007, 18:17

@Raymond – that’s a sweet deal. I’d love to hear how you managed to get that.
@Mrs. Micah – Yeah, they like to maximize profit with the current customer while trying to win new customers. So, we are better off going with the flow and be a new customer.
shadox
November 9, 2007, 19:52

That’s very true. It is also very short sighted of them. One of my colleagues at work got one of those “switch to Comcast” promotions in the mail. He called them up and asked them to extend to him, as a loyal long time customer, the same benefits they would for someone new off the street. They refused. He told them: “you guys are forcing me to move over to AT&T – since they will give me the new customer treatment and you won’t”. They still refused. So he moved… six months later, he moved back… and got the new customer treatment from Comcast.
So… Comcast lost a customer for 6 months, and still ended up giving him the new customer rate. My question to Comcast, and others like it is: How stupid can you be?
guinness416
November 10, 2007, 11:48

You have four TVs?! Good lord. My husband and I swap accounts being in our name every year to avail of new customer deals. Shadox is right, it’s ridiculous, they may as well just reward the few who play the game.
Mario
November 10, 2007, 15:59

Deals out there are so attractive people are going to do exactly that so why peeve off a good customer? They need to go back to Business 101.
Pinyo
November 10, 2007, 16:44

@Shadox – nice follow up post on your blog. As per my comment, we also have to sympathize for these companies. Things are very competitive, so they are forced to give preferential treatment to win new customers.
@Guinness – now that I think about it, we have 5 actually, but we also have 5 people living under the same roof. We have one in each of the 3 bedrooms, one in the living room, and one in the den.
Sounds like you making this work for you, which is great. The way I see it is if we can take advantage of it, why not.
@Mario – welcome to Moolanomy. Like I said before, now that I put myself it these companies shoes, it’s a tough world out there.
Harris
November 13, 2007, 14:49

Wow, how did you get the TV too? I have Time Warner right now, and live pretty close to you, so maybe I could get the same Verizon deal you got.
Here’s another example of how it’s better to be a new customer: From 1999 through 2007 I have switched cell phone service maybe five times in order to get the special offer for a free phone, new customers only.
Pinyo
November 13, 2007, 18:16

@Harris – welcome to Moolanomy my fellow Big Red alum. At first, I couldn’t sign up for Triple Play through the Internet, so I called them. The rep said that I can get the normal Triple Play, but not the new FIOS. So I asked if I can still get the TV, and she said yes.
We do the cell phone thing too. My wife, my dad, and I take turn being the new customer.
GMC TopKick Guy
January 18, 2008, 15:34

I complained so hard that I got a new HD PVR from my cable company value 700.00. These companies need to know when there is a problem. I am pretty good at getting extras out of companies now.
PS nice TV
Make Friends, Earn Money
April 23, 2008, 11:50

My money saving tip is be persistent and always ask three times for discount. The more persistent you are the more likely you are to get money off and it really does work. So ask three times!