BB charges

[#1]

I recently had a moan about low initial charges to new customers, meaning that existing and loyal customers in fact subsidise new arrivals.
This was denied by the company of course but if you're offering something at less than cost, then it's hard to interpret it any other way.
Anyway, I see the banks have decided or been forced to clean up their act, well Natwest at least, and they are finally going to offer the
same or better rates to existing customers.
The completely unnecessary churning created by this unfair pricing structure is inconvenient, wasteful and actually costs more in staff and facilities.
Is there any chance that ISPs might follow suit and simply charge their best price across the board, thus making life much  simpler and fairer for all.

[#2]

Hi Sir Lurkalot
The lower prices that we offer are based on both additional services such as line rental/call costs/call features as well as the standard full price being charged which is applied when the offer ends. This is how the cost is covered.
As a company, we do have targets to meet and we need to grow so we can improve our customer service and offer more great products. In order to do that, we need to compete and unfortunately, this is how competition works in the ISP market.
We certainly have offers in place for our existing customers and these can be obtained by giving our customer options team a call. They're available by calling 0800 013 2632 or 0330 123 9197 Monday to Friday: 9.00am - 8.00pm or Saturday: 9.00am - 5.30pm.
I hope I've been able to provide an adequate explanation to your query.
Alex

[#3]

As Alex says, this is the way the UK broadband market has evolved and it's probably extremely difficult for one ISP to buck the trend.
[minor rant]
It's about time OFCOM looked into how ISP prices are advertised e.g. Broadband advertised at, say, only £2.50 per month BUT you can only get it if you also pay line rental at £16 per month. For any supplier that requires you to pay line rental in order to have their broadband service (or those who charge more for the broadband if you don't also pay them line rental  ;)) there really needs to be a rule in place that this must be advertised as (an honest) £18.50 per month and not: "£2.50 + £16.00" as is currently customary.
We'd all complain (including the marketing people working for ISPs) if we went to buy a new car advertised at £2500 then discovered we had to pay an extra £16000 for (non-optional) wheels but this is exactly how many ISPs advertise.
Such a change would make the discrepancy between new customer offers and existing customer charges look a lot smaller, then perhaps people would look more at the true long-term cost when choosing a provider.
[/minor rant]
[Edit]  I notice Plusnet are currently offering new customers "Unlimited broadband from £2.49 a month" for 12 months "+£75 cashback when you sign up online" - by my calculation that comes to a total of -£45.12 (minus forty five pounds, twelve pence) for a full year of broadband!
So... either Plusnet are making an enormous profit on the required line rental or existing customers not on retention deals are paying for new customer's broadband (or both!).
[/Edit]

[#4]

Quote from: w23

[Edit]  I notice Plusnet are currently offering new customers "Unlimited broadband from £2.49 a month" for 12 months "+£75 cashback when you sign up online" - by my calculation that comes to a total of -£45.12 (minus forty five pounds, twelve pence) for a full year of broadband! So... either Plusnet are making an enormous profit on the required line rental or existing customers not on retention deals are paying for new customer's broadband (or both!). [/Edit]

My point exactly and what really annoys me is that having retention deals available for those in the know, simply exploits the less-savvy customer.
It's a deceitful way of doing business even if 'everyone's at it'.  As I say, if the banks have been forced to stop screwing existing customers, perhaps
OFTEL can do the same to ISPs.  I do understand what alex is saying though and  that they can't got it alone. 

[#5]

Quote from: alexdevine

Hi Sir Lurkalot The lower prices that we offer are based on both additional services such as line rental/call costs/call features as well as the standard full price being charged which is applied when the offer ends. This is how the cost is covered. As a company, we do have targets to meet and we need to grow so we can improve our customer service and offer more great products. In order to do that, we need to compete and unfortunately, this is how competition works in the ISP market. We certainly have offers in place for our existing customers and these can be obtained by giving our customer options team a call. They're available by calling 0800 013 2632 or 0330 123 9197 Monday to Friday: 9.00am - 8.00pm or Saturday: 9.00am - 5.30pm. I hope I've been able to provide an adequate explanation to your query. Alex

Hi Alex,
I just tried what you suggested  -  I'm currently on unlimited broadband and pay advanced rental.
When I took this out , I was worried about having to sign uo to 18 months (12mths @ 2.49 plus 6mths @ £9.99), the Plusnet adviser told me
not to worry and to phone in after 12mths and I would be allowed to switch to one of the offers that are current at the time.
So, having spoken to Retentions on the number you quote I was offered a 24mth £5pm contract !!
Even after mentioning what the adviser told me 12mths earlier, I was informed that was the only offer available to current clients.
Having seen all of he current TV adverts and also the £75 cashback offer on Broadband Choices and Moneysupermarket I was very disappointed.
Especially as Plusnet also have to provide new customers with equipment too.
Peter

[#6]

Hi Peter,
I'll address this on the other thread that this message was posted to here: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,133321.0.html
Matty