sg31 wrote:I've always been with Talk Talk since I first got the internet which must be over 20 years ago. They always ask for a lot at renewal and negotiate down when I contact them, not this time, best they would do was a couple of pounds off. Last year they competed by reducing the charge for the anytime calls dramatically and a month later they announced a price increase on anytime calls. They really annoyed me by applying the increase to the reduced price we had negotiated, they wouldn't budge. I can't remember the exact figures but at the time I was furious.
Now I've told Now to take over the service I fully expect TT to come back and negotiate. I'm not inclined to accept anything more than the Now price.
In my experience the difficulty of the negotiations varies from year to year (well, renewal to renewal). The time before last it was really easy, getting an offer of £19.95 for BB and free unlimited UK calls more or less straight off, and then a waiver of the £4 TV charge just on asking. I did that by chat.
The last time, just three weeks ago, it was more difficult, and actually took two chats on two consecutive days. The first one the best they could offer was £21 BB F35 + £10.50 unlimited UK calls + £2 for TV. I didn't like that so decided I'd try phoning them instead the next day, as the agent on chat told me that the call centre loyalty team had different deals they could offer than the chat team.
As it turned out I decided to chat again the next day instead and got offered £22 for F35 and £7 for anytime calls. I grizzled at that and eventually got £21 for F35, and free TV, but couldn't get him down on the calls so decided to just drop that boost as I don't make enough calls to justify even £7pm (I will now be using my
http://www.18185.co.uk account again for the few calls I do make
). Maybe I could have done better by phoning them instead, but I just couldn't be bothered, and what I got was good enough.
sg31 wrote:I am a bit deaf and find it difficult to understand some of the Indian staff at the call centre, they are very helpful but it does get tedious asking them to repeat things.
Hmmm ... are you sure you're getting through to the right team? Having done it by chat I haven't called them for renewals for a couple of years, but it always used to be that while, yes, general customer services and, indeed, technical support where in India, the sales, cancellations and loyalty team were in South Africa.
gryffron wrote:mc2fool wrote:Never contract with TT for the headline price, always contact their "loyalty" team, grizzle about the cost, talk about cancelling and negotiate. If you're signing up for the first time do the same.
I’d say that is true of ALL broadband providers. Call centre staff, and especially the retentions people, seem to have a huge latitude about the price they charge you. Just make it clear you want to negotiate “what can
you offer me?” and you’ll peak their interest.
I'm not sure how true it is that they have a huge latitude, I rather suspect that they (at least the TalkTalk ones) have a prescribed set of prices they can offer, as in negotiations, when I grizzle at an offer, I often get "that's the best I have available on my system" or similar. Although there have been times when I've regarded that as a negotiating position and got better, after they've consulted with their supervisor!
Anyway, I'm not sure if such cost discussions are directly on topic or only of tangential interest to it, so if anyone wants to continue it may be best to ask the mods to split it off....
