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Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

jelv
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Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

A while back an email went out to all users which buried in the middle of information about Home Phone products announced that all broadband contracts would be 10 days notice unless the user had taken advantage of free activation, free hardware or a free house move. In those cases if the user leaves within 12 months the value of the 'freebee' would have to be paid, but there would be no remaining contract length to be bought out.
The last Newsletter made no mention of this change.
Today I've seen yet another post from an existing user who was intending to leave rather than change to a different (more appropriate) Plusnet product because he didn't want to be tied in to a new 12 month contract; hence this poll.
Edit: Subject changed to alert more visitors
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
99 REPLIES 99
Anotherone
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Re: Have Marketing failed?

It's the way the sign-up journey is worded in relation to the deferred costs that's causing the problem I think. If you are just moving product or migrating in, there's no activation, and if you don't take a router - that's not deferred.
They need to make it clearer, perhaps send out a more informative newsletter.
Simon_M
Grafter
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Have Marketing failed?

I would say that Marketing have succeeded admirably - given that their brief was probably to make it reasonably clear to new prospects that there was no long term tie in while advertising that fact as little as possible to the existing user base.
The calculation would have been that the numbers staying because they thought they still had to would outweigh the numbers leaving because they didn't want to renew a long term contract.
Or am I being unduly cynical? Like jelv, I can see no other reason for the remarkably low key publicity to the dropping of long term contracts, other than the embarrassment factor of introducing them & then being obliged to drop them after such a short time.
Expect the marketing message to change over the coming months as more people get to the end of their now non-existent contracts & it becomes imperative that these people know that they don't have to re-sign for extended periods.
jelv
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

Doesn't the fact that two users have already voted that they didn't know rather prove the point?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Strat
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

They would have to be rare visitors to the forum because this is where I found out.
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jelv
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

Interesting point. Did the people who did know find out from a notification given by Plusnet or from these forums (like me also).
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Strat
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I don't receive notifications or newsletters even though I am opted in. I understand it's a 'force9' thing.
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Simon_M
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

Yes, jelv, but which point?
Is that a marketing success or is it a failure?
What was the marketing objective - to publicise the change to the existing users or to keep it as quiet as possible while not deterring new prospects?
Strat - you didn't miss much. You would have needed to be a real expert at 'reading between the lines' to have worked it out from the newsletter. As a business account, I didn't get that one either.
Strat
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I missed less than you think Simon as others around here send me copies when I mention it Wink Smiley
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Oldjim
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

if you received the email as posted here http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,79219.0.html there is no excuse for not reading it and clicking on the link which covers the point although not in big bold letters
Strat
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I didn't...well not directly anyway Embarrassed Lips_are_sealed
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Simon_M
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I knew you had seen it really Strat. I only said that to restate the original observation that the newsletter didn't exactly shout the change form the rooftops.
Oldjim - the paragraph that precedes that link is very cleverly/very badly (choose according to point of view) worded to make the casual reader think that they only needed to click the link if they are interested in the Home Phone changes. I agree that if you go back & read it very carefully, it does become apparent that the FAQ covers more than just Home Phone. Even when you get to the FAQ, you have to read quite a lot of Home Phone stuff before you find the references to broadband contract length.
I still think Marketing did a cracking job of achieving exactly what they wanted to do. The only other explanation is a level of incompetence that I do not believe.  Wink Shocked
Oldjim
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I suppose I just read things properly - I am used to reading the small print in documents 
Quote
Back in April we revamped our Home Phone products, packing in more features such as discounted rates to mobiles, 300 minutes of international calls to 20 top destinations, inclusive voicemail, and even inclusive calls to Plusnet support. We’ve now made some further changes that we wanted to share with you.

We’re pleased to announce that as of 22nd October 2009 you’ll be able to make FREE calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers within the inclusive call time of your Anytime Talk Plan*.
In addition, Ofcom (the industry regulator), has recently issued some new guidance to broadband and phone providers and we’ve incorporated their recommendations into the terms and conditions for your products. Some terms and conditions and charges relating to broadband cessation have also changed and these have been included as well. If you’d like to find out more, and for more information on the changes to your Home Phone service, we’ve put together an FAQ on our website:
But this does seem fairly obvious - I actually thought they may have made them worse so checked.
jelv
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

Quote
Dear Oldjim
Back in April we revamped our Home Phone products, packing in more features such as discounted rates to mobiles, 300 minutes of international calls to 20 top destinations, inclusive voicemail, and even inclusive calls to Plusnet support. We’ve now made some further changes that we wanted to share with you.

We’re pleased to announce that as of 22nd October 2009 you’ll be able to make FREE calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers within the inclusive call time of your Anytime Talk Plan*.
In addition, Ofcom (the industry regulator), has recently issued some new guidance to broadband and phone providers and we’ve incorporated their recommendations into the terms and conditions for your products. Some terms and conditions and charges relating to broadband cessation have also changed and these have been included as well. If you’d like to find out more, and for more information on the changes to your Home Phone service, we’ve put together an FAQ on our website:
http://www.plus.net/go.html/faq_anytime

Kind regards,
Anthony Vollmer
CEO, Plusnet
*Inclusive UK Landline calls of up to 60 minutes are to numbers beginning with 01, 02 and 03, 0870 and 0845 (excluding Channel Islands) and at any time to Plusnet Home Phone customers. Inclusive international calls of up to 30 minutes are to our top 20 destinations (to a maximum of 300 minutes per month). Calls to indirect access numbers and dial up internet access are excluded. See website for details.

Now is any reasonable person who does not have Home Phone going to realise that this applies to them or are they going to think it is marketing spam?
My guess is that most people without home phone will have stopped reading after the first one or two paragraphs.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Oldjim
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Re: Have Marketing failed? (change of all contract lengths to 10 days)

I have no opinion about where people in general would stop reading but I didn't and wouldn't specially when it mentions broadband cessation.
Note that the bold text isn't in the email - so is a bit of a fiddle - like in my previous post  Grin