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Three Customer Loyalty VERY poor
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marcdark
15-07-2016
In a nutshell. yep Three are cheap and Feel at Home for those that want it, is great.

However, their attitude - and this is painfully clear in the canned spiel they must
force into ALL of their call centre staff - is just deluded and quite insulting!

Currently there are some attractive deals for new customers (I'm looking at SIM Only plans), but Three retentions have made it quite clear that they are NOT prepared to offer "loyal" customers any deals that are not only comparable, but reward them in some way for staying with the network.

I'll elaborate..
4Gb, 600mins, unlimited texts, 12 months for a new customer Sim Only with F.A.H comes to £144 (£8 for 6 months, £16 for 6 months)

4Gb, Unlimited mins, unlimited texts, 12 months for a LOYAL customer Sim Only with F.A.H comes to £192 (£16 for 12 months) i.e. They're offering me a £21/month plan which I don't want, as a "loyalty" discount... £4 month more for unlimited mins I'll never use (for me, about 300-400mins a month max) so why not offer me the £16/month plan at a discount as a sign of loyalty?? No because they don't care at all!

As such, I'd need to go through the faffery of leaving, porting my number to another network (on a PAYG sim) and then returning to Three as a new customer to "save" myself £48

When I explained this, the CS agent just kept banging on about if I left and returned a little later, I'd lose my "loyalty" which as they've shown is worth diddly squat!!!

I appreciate that "retentions" isn't what it used to be ("Get orf my larrrn") but this is a pretty poor way of treating existing customers. I'm not the the first to find that new customers get treated better and I won't be the last either but their hashtag is just
plain guff!

#threemakeitwrong
retrodj
15-07-2016
Originally Posted by marcdark:
“In a nutshell. yep Three are cheap and Feel at Home for those that want it, is great.

However, their attitude - and this is painfully clear in the canned spiel they must
force into ALL of their call centre staff - is just deluded and quite insulting!

Currently there are some attractive deals for new customers (I'm looking at SIM Only plans), but Three retentions have made it quite clear that they are NOT prepared to offer "loyal" customers any deals that are not only comparable, but reward them in some way for staying with the network.

I'll elaborate..
4Gb, 600mins, unlimited texts, 12 months for a new customer Sim Only with F.A.H comes to £144 (£8 for 6 months, £16 for 6 months)

4Gb, Unlimited mins, unlimited texts, 12 months for a LOYAL customer Sim Only with F.A.H comes to £192 (£16 for 12 months) i.e. They're offering me a £21/month plan which I don't want, as a "loyalty" discount... £4 month more for unlimited mins I'll never use (for me, about 300-400mins a month max) so why not offer me the £16/month plan at a discount as a sign of loyalty?? No because they don't care at all!

As such, I'd need to go through the faffery of leaving, porting my number to another network (on a PAYG sim) and then returning to Three as a new customer to "save" myself £48

When I explained this, the CS agent just kept banging on about if I left and returned a little later, I'd lose my "loyalty" which as they've shown is worth diddly squat!!!

I appreciate that "retentions" isn't what it used to be ("Get orf my larrrn") but this is a pretty poor way of treating existing customers. I'm not the the first to find that new customers get treated better and I won't be the last either but their hashtag is just
plain guff!

#threemakeitwrong”

They are certainly not like SKY. Like pulling teeth trying to get a deal out of them when renewing a contract or anything else for that matter.
marcdark
15-07-2016
For me it was the absolute and utter failure to recognise that new customers got a better deal and that (for this particular customer) they weren't rewarding any "loyalty" by way of a discounted package with features I'd actually want

(And this is despite looking at my usage statistics and repeatedly trotting them off to me)

Basically, "I'm authorised to reward your loyalty by offering to slightly reduce the cost of an upsell package you don't want or have need for"

.."I have a script and goddamn I'm going to read it and only it!"

Its a shame, because I genuinely get use out of Feel At Home and Three coverage for me has been sufficient. For now, my legacy tarrif remains the best value for me (until they jack the prices up no doubt!)
Michael09
15-07-2016
Well I recently finished a 12 month sim only contract with them for £17 month Unlimited data & texts and 200 mins. I phoned them up shortly before my contract was due to end and asked them for my PAC code, as I was after less data and lower price and didn't like being locked into another 12 month contract/. I was presented with 2 sim only deals for being a loyal customer. I settled for £13 Month 4GB Data, Unltd Mins & Texts on a 30 day plan, the normal price of the plan is £23 month, so I am getting a £10 discount. So lucky and glad I stayed with them.
marcdark
15-07-2016
Originally Posted by Michael09:
“Well I recently finished a 12 month sim only contract with them for £17 month Unlimited data & texts and 200 mins. I phoned them up shortly before my contract was due to end and asked them for my PAC code, as I was after less data and lower price and didn't like being locked into another 12 month contract/. I was presented with 2 sim only deals for being a loyal customer. I settled for £13 Month 4GB Data, Unltd Mins & Texts on a 30 day plan, the normal price of the plan is £23 month, so I am getting a £10 discount. So lucky and glad I stayed with them. ”

Nice one mate. No such luck for me.

Right at the end of the call, the guy started bleating on about how their retentions deals change all of the time - which is probably true but of no real use to anyone, because how are we to know?

What irritates me - though fair play to the CS agent for sticking to their guns - is that if the system is really locked down so they're genuinely incapable of offering bespoke loyalty deals on the spot (computer really does say "No!") then I guess it's just timing that you called up just as the wheel of loyalty fortune span in your favour.

I even tried mentioning that I'd read people had recently received better loyalty offers and was again fed the "well that was the offer available at the time" line.

*sigh* oh well!
Thine Wonk
15-07-2016
As you already said in the other thread when they wouldn't give you a discount. They don't 'owe' you a discount you know.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=4893

Originally Posted by marcdark:
“Wow, I've wasted TWO long calls with an intransigent and almost unintelligible Three retentions dept CS agent. They swore the best they could do for "Feel at Home" included (which I do use) - was £16 (4GB, unlimited mins & texts 12 months)...

They refused to listen that Loyal customers" get NOTHING for being loyal, because new customers can get the "6 months half price offer" having almost the same features with the cost over 12 months equating to £12/month.. He just kept banging on about if I left and returned a little later, I'd loose my "loyalty" which as they've shown is worth diddly squat!!!”

Michael09
15-07-2016
Originally Posted by marcdark:
“Nice one mate. No such luck for me.

Right at the end of the call, the guy started bleating on about how their retentions deals change all of the time - which is probably true but of no real use to anyone, because how are we to know?

What irritates me - though fair play to the CS agent for sticking to their guns - is that if the system is really locked down so they're genuinely incapable of offering bespoke loyalty deals on the spot (computer really does say "No!") then I guess it's just timing that you called up just as the wheel of loyalty fortune span in your favour.

I even tried mentioning that I'd read people had recently received better loyalty offers and was again fed the "well that was the offer available at the time" line.

*sigh* oh well!”

That is unlucky. I was surprised to be offered the deal considering I had only been with them a year so it does seem to be the luck of the draw .
marcdark
15-07-2016
Originally Posted by Michael09:
“That is unlucky. I was surprised to be offered the deal considering I had only been with them a year so it does seem to be the luck of the draw .”

Tried one last time. They're bleating on about "before last Tuesday" the retentions deals were better.

At this time they're basically saying they cannot reward any loyalty for customers on plans with certain features (F.A.H being the main one)..

..their idea of a "loyalty discount" is to put people on plans with no F.A.H. which costs a little less so no actual saving if you want to retain complete feature parity, or just increase/reduce one thing (data, minutes)

OR I spin up a new contract, get my pac, cancel the old one immediately (30 days notice), use the pac to move my number to a payg elsewhere then move it back to the new contract; and enjoy a saving (less one month where i had the 2nd contract in parallel)

Rubbish! #makeitright
Thine Wonk
15-07-2016
As I said, you would have had the new customer offers once. Many companies change their retention offers depending on season, how their sales quarters are going, churn figures, all sorts.

You can cancel and re-join after 3 months I think, but you can't force a company to offer you a discount.
marcdark
15-07-2016
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“As I said, you would have had the new customer offers once. Many companies change their retention offers depending on season, how their sales quarters are going, churn figures, all sorts.

You can cancel and re-join after 3 months I think, but you can't force a company to offer you a discount.”

I know mate (from your previous reply), of course they don't "owe" me anything - I'm just a punter after all. I was just hoping for better service/attitude.. To put it another way, don't bother talking about encouraging customer loyalty (i.e. stay with us, keep giving us more money) if you're not going to offer something that incentivises people to stay...

As it stands I'll stay put for now but fostering the discussion about loyalty incentives isn't a bad thing - I'm not entitled to anything, but I'd like to think that the time I've spent on their network and the money I've spent with them is worth something to them;.. and from my recent experiences, its not.

The reason why I'm banging the drum, so to speak is that aside from my ability (and god given right goddamnit) to whinge, I personally don't believe I'm wrong in speaking out. For "me", Three haven't measured up to what *I* would like to see demonstrated as a show of customer loyalty, not when I've seen it elsewhere (even the like of Virgin Media have tried to offer customer loyalt and they often get ridiculed) for poor customer service)
Thine Wonk
16-07-2016
No you were expecting a retention discount under the threat of quitting, but you didn't get one, that's nothing to do with 'good service'. That's more to do with repeatedly ringing up asking for discount and being told no!

New customer offers are always sweeter as everybody wants to get you to trial or offer a reason to join, but we all get them once, the only way you get them again is by leaving for a period of time and re-joining. Many companies have cottoned on to the fact that people try and get discounts under the threat of leaving (which is fine if they want to do that), but some companies have ended that kind of practice and some haven't. It depends very much on the instructions at the time, how the sales quarters are going, and whether the customer is worth keeping in terms of usage and service costs vs spend.

At the end of the day bad mouthing them online and ringing up 3, 4 whatever times just because they won't give you retention seems to be a bit OTT.
marcdark
18-07-2016
Well, those are reasoned points for sure. As i said, i don't believe Three "owe" me anything and FWIW I signed up with them as a new customer when there were no "sweeter" offers on the table - not bothered about that - but saying that we all get new customer incentives at some point (e.g. "You've had your turn, stop complaining")isn't really a counter argument to being an existing customer that wants to feel valued and incentivised to stay with their service.

I've been on retentions calls with other companies where they've flat out said "we've looked at your monthly spend and can't offer any new deals" - that would've been enough, transparent and to the point. Telling me that they can offer me a "cheaper" deal but one which offers less features than the service I currently have, and then telling me that is a customer loyalty offer is obvious and also not relevant or useful to me..

Was my reaction OTT? In your opinion it clearly was and that's the beauty of the internet, it gives every man/woman and their dog an opportunity to voice it.
blueisthecolour
18-07-2016
I suppose it depends on your mentality as a customer.

I take the view that i'm not 'entitled' to anything, regardless of how long i've been a customer. For me it's a very simple transaction - what are they offering me compared what are the other phone companies offering me. If I can get a better deal somewhere else i'll leave - but so far every time i've checked I can't.

My current contract is up in October and I'm now looking to move the cheapest high data allowance plan I can find. If that's 3 then great, if it's not then no biggie.
biggyt
18-07-2016
I came to the end of my 12 month 200 min, ayce data and texts. I rang ThreeUK to see what they could do, I was going to get my PAC and go with the new BT mobile thing, but ThreeUK offered me a 30day rolling contract 8GB, ayce minutes and texts for £16 a month. It is a £26 a month plan and they give me £10 off, I asked when they would stop giving the discount, they said "we won't"
marcdark
18-07-2016
Originally Posted by biggyt:
“I came to the end of my 12 month 200 min, ayce data and texts. I rang ThreeUK to see what they could do, I was going to get my PAC and go with the new BT mobile thing, but ThreeUK offered me a 30day rolling contract 8GB, ayce minutes and texts for £16 a month. It is a £26 a month plan and they give me £10 off, I asked when they would stop giving the discount, they said "we won't" ”

Out of morbid curiosity, did your old contract have "Feel At Home"? Does your new offer include it (did they explicitly state whether it is or isn't included) ? And when did you call them?

From the looks of your previous contract, it was a reasonably high monthly spend that's probably why they threw you a bone

The stable door has bolted for me and I think 3 calls to retentions is more than enough but like I said, morbid curiousity
Lyceum
18-07-2016
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“As you already said in the other thread when they wouldn't give you a discount. They don't 'owe' you a discount you know.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=4893”

He's not asking for a discount. He's asking for the same deal new customers get. Asking to be treated the same way other customers are treated is perfectly fair and understandable.

If the new customer deal was £16 and the OP was asking for the same allowance for £14 then he'd be asking for a discount. As it stands the OP is simply asking to be treated in the same way other customers are treated. He's not asking for any form of special treatment or special discount. Simply asking to receive the same deal any member of Joe public could take out. That shouldn't be too much to ask. What three owe the OP and any customer they have is fairness and treating one customer (a new customer) to a certain discount but not being willing to give that discount to current customers isn't fair.

So I can understand the OP's frustration. They want to be treated as equal to other customers and they are not.

I'd vote with my feet though OP. You having a bit of a rant on the Internet (whilst understandable!) has no baring on three. They've shown to you that they value certain customers more than others, yourself being one of the customers they don't value and you've accepted that and stayed with them. Win win for three.
biggyt
18-07-2016
Originally Posted by marcdark:
“Out of morbid curiosity, did your old contract have "Feel At Home"? Does your new offer include it (did they explicitly state whether it is or isn't included) ? And when did you call them?

From the looks of your previous contract, it was a reasonably high monthly spend that's probably why they threw you a bone

The stable door has bolted for me and I think 3 calls to retentions is more than enough but like I said, morbid curiousity ”

Yes, both plans include feel at home. As far as I am aware all 3 plans do.

What time of day did I call them? I can't remember.
marcdark
18-07-2016
Originally Posted by biggyt:
“Yes, both plans include feel at home. As far as I am aware all 3 plans do.

What time of day did I call them? I can't remember.”

Interesting. They insisted the only loyalty discounts they could offer would involve plans that didn't have Feel at Home going forward (i.e. their "essential" plans that are being introduced). And that these were the only offers anyone in retentions were authorised to discuss.

However, I suspect the offer you were given was very much down to your previous monthly spend with them, i.e. you were identified/weighted as a valuable customer. That is in line with my previous experiences elsewhere, but at least previously there was transparency - something lacking in my experience with Three and one of the reasons for my frustrations. Ahh well. Glad you got the deal though
scampi1
27-07-2016
I am on Tesco mobile.

SIM only 12 months I had for £17.50 the following

5000 minutes, 5000 SMS and 3GB 4G data.

I called retentions and they offered 12 months contract

500 minutes, 5000 SMS and 4.5GB 4G data for £16.00 so I took it

I don't actually phone that many people and was only using 200 minutes every month so they do a review before offering you the best deal. I could have stayed for 18 months and got a better deal but I prefer to keep my options open with a 12 month plan.

I hate 2 years of being locked into an expensive deal, i'd rather buy a phone of my choice and take the financial hit straight away.
Last edited by scampi1 : 27-07-2016 at 12:08
clewsy
27-07-2016
What I don't get is rather than moaning about retention, move networks and hit them where it hurts. Because you stay they know its worth offering such deals.

Tesco are a decent network. Same for me. They gave me 2gb of data for £11 when I was on £12.50 for 1gb. fair enough that is now their published price, but at the time it wasn't an advertised deal.
scampi1
27-07-2016
Originally Posted by clewsy:
“What I don't get is rather than moaning about retention, move networks and hit them where it hurts. Because you stay they know its worth offering such deals.

Tesco are a decent network. Same for me. They gave me 2gb of data for £11 when I was on £12.50 for 1gb. fair enough that is now their published price, but at the time it wasn't an advertised deal.”

Glad it worked out for you.

This is what I am in a round about way saying to the OP.

If your network you are with are listening to you as a customer and saying look, we can adjust your contract to include more of what you need and less of what you do not need for a cheaper price to keep your custom then they are doing their job well I felt I was listened to about my needs, they look at your usage and do the sums.

Do not settle for anything less, they are providing you with a SERVICE and the CUSTOMER always comes first. ( I work in customer care so I know both sides of the coin very well hehe).

It helps if you tell them that you have seen a contract with X provider giving y z and a for £X a month. That way they know you are looking around and will do what they can to keep you if you get a decent member of staff on the other end of the phone.

I know I can only speak of my own circumstances but that is the reality, be nice to them but also tell them of what you have seen, it's to the point and keeps them looking at you as a hopefully retained customer
Thine Wonk
27-07-2016
There's providing a service and then there's repeated aggressive retention deal seeking.

If I go into a VW garage and I get loads of help and advice and I'm given a hot drink and when I collect the car I get flowers that's good service. If I go in and say I want the car for £15K when and the manager says no, sorry the most I'll go to is £18k that's not bad service it's just not the deal you wanted.
clewsy
27-07-2016
If you feel your getting a good deal, you don't mind paying, but its all that meeting the customers needs that are important. Like has been pointed out.

However what I don't get is why people stay loyal if they feel they are not valued. Don't moan and remain, move and then tell people what x did and how y is hopefully now better.
scampi1
27-07-2016
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“There's providing a service and then there's repeated aggressive retention deal seeking.

If I go into a VW garage and I get loads of help and advice and I'm given a hot drink and when I collect the car I get flowers that's good service. If I go in and say I want the car for £15K when and the manager says no, sorry the most I'll go to is £18k that's not bad service it's just not the deal you wanted.”

Yes I do see that side of the coin too, that's the customer trying to be greedy and unrealistic.

In such circumstances if it were for a mobile contract retention I would politely explain to the customer look you have X already, I am doing Y,Z and A for this new price, I can mix and match to your needs but the price stays at this much.

Being one sided and trying to own the conversation from the first breath is not going to win you over if I were on the end of the phone
Thine Wonk
27-07-2016
It's take it or leave it, try haggling on the price on an iPhone in a Apple store and see what happens. Yet most would say (rightly) Apple give very good customer service.

They just aren't dropping the prices for you, get over it or move to another network but that's not poor service.
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