Where’s the Customer Retention?
Jun 30, 2011 | Posted by Amber Quartermain in Entertainment | 0 Comments
I’ve been with the same phone company for 8 years. My phone bill typically runs around $100 to $125 for my outdated phone, so when my “free” upgrade came around I looked into my options. I found out that my alleged “free” upgrade was going to cost me around $180 if I wanted something better than the outdated phone I already had ($150 for a 3 year contract, plus another $30 to hook it up).
To avoid a new contract, I took up an offer on a free phone given to me by a family member, that cost me $20 to hook up. There was a glitch with it, so I sent it away to be assessed and was charged $30 that would be only be returned if the glitch was something covered under warranty.
The assessment then comes back as water damage (of course); therefore, the $30 will not be returned to me whether I choose to let them continue to fix it or not. I then get a quote of $100 to fix my phone (that is covered by an extended warranty, by the way). If I choose to not pay the $100 to fix it, my only other option is to start a new contract and get a new phone as mentioned above.
So either way; they’ve got me. There really are no free upgrades or free phones, even when you’ve been with the same company for years. Do you know what’s sad? If you switch to a new company you have better chances of a) a good plan, b) a free phone, or c) both.
Can we say “time for a new phone company?”