Discrimination between existing and new customers
Sooner2
Enthusiast - Level 2

I had one of the most funniest conversation today with one of the customer service representatives in "elite" group. I have already been a customer of FIOS for over 2 years. They would not offer me a price for renewing the contract at the rate of new customer.

I asked,  "if I discontinued for a month, and then reconnect, would I be considered a new customer?"

She said, " there are no sunch parameters to decide who is new customer and who is existing in that case"

I asked, " I wanted to get a third TV connection activated"

She said, "at the time of installation you are allowed to get up to 3 connections activated for free, but now you are going to be a renewal so if we have to send a truck out you have to pay for it $79.99"

I said, " the guy who came out 2 years ago for installation did not make me aware of it. Do you just want me to go through the hoop of disconnecting ther service and join as a new customer to get a truck out and get the connection"

She said, "Sir, I can transfer you to technical support, lets first try and see if it can be resolved remotely otherwise there is no point of having this conversation".

I just said, " I will move to Cox".

They want to move people to online sign up so that people cannot ask for more and not negotiate with them. The customer service representative I spoke with can climb the ladders of succes if she joins an insurance company but unfortunately for cable company she is going to cost them more than one customer.

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Re: Discrimination between existing and new customers
walt178
Specialist - Level 3

That sounds like standard industry practice. 

I use to be with Cox. When they raised the price substantially and without warning I looked at Verizon.  Found I could get a lot more for less money.  Before switching I called Cox to see if they would negotiate on the price.  The rep finally agreed to increase my internet speed, add a movie package and improve my telephone plan.  For what I had been paying.  But only if I agreed right then.  To top it off all three parts of the triple play plan he offered were inferior to Verizon, and he still wanted more money.  Even looking at the known price increase one year out, Verizon would be cheaper. Switching was an easy decision.

Switching providers every two years may be the only way to get the best price. But is it worth it? As a former COX customer who has seen both, they would have to be a lot cheaper before I went back.

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Re: Discrimination between existing and new customers
Sooner2
Enthusiast - Level 2

            I used to be with COX too. There was no technical reason for me to switch to verizon. Actually verizon had issues in their network to be able to connect to my samung tv for internet connection. I had to buy a wireless adapter for the TV to connect wirelessly. To this date, Verizon FIOS does not connect with TV with a hard wire. They wasted my 10 days back then before they accepted that its their network that has adaptibility issues with samumg LED TVs using hardwire ethernet connections.

           It may not make a difference to them if one customer like me moves to their compititor. However, if each one voices their opinions and experiences on a public forum (even better their own forums), they may want to tie their annual customer target numbers to disgruntled customer complaints. Finally customer needs is what is the driving force for an industry. Who knows, 5 years down the line, some other company would walk around with Cox and Verizon in their pockets!

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