I wasn't very prolific lately when it comes to posts on hive. After my summer holidays in Turkey, we had some guests over at our house for about 4 weeks and we showed them around Switzerland. It was a great time but I was hardly ever online. Now that they have left, I have more time at my hands, and it's about time to write a post.
The problem of being loyal
I'm in general a very loyal customer. I have been with the same phone company for more than 20 years. I hardly ever change insurances or subscriptions when I'm happy with the service. This week however, I realized that this comes with a cost that I wasn't really aware of.
It started when I saw an ad of my telecom company with an offer that was way cheaper than what I was paying myself. So I started to research and I realized that I was paying about 30% too much for my internet connection. This got me a bit heated up and I decided to call the company presenting them the situation.
The phone call:
Me: hello, I'm calling because I would like to understand why I pay so much for my internet connection whereas you advertise at about 30% cheaper for the same service?
Company: let me see... well your contract is really outdated and you pay still the same price.
Me: ok, why did nobody offer to me to renew my contract for the new cheaper one?
Company: well this is an offer just for new customers, not for existing ones.
Me: so this means that I have to cancel the contract and go to the competition to get a cheaper offer?
Company: No, no, let me see what I can offer you... I can offer you the new offer with a permanent discount of 30%. Would that be ok for you.
Me: yes that's fine. Let's do it.
It took me 10 minutes on the phone to save 30% on my monthly costs for internet, without decreasing the speed or reducing the service. Just because I asked...
The only way to get things cheaper is to ask for it
After this experience, I took all my fix costs and first compared them with the market conditions and then called the companies. The results are amazing. In addition to the 30 CHF per month on my internet:
- I saved 72.- CHF per year just to run a bank account, while there is a free option where they simply don't send extracts per post.
- I saved 20.- CHF per month just by renegotiating the mobile phone contracts of my family.
- I saved 30.- CHF per month on the telecom contract of my business
- I saved 70.- CHF per month on the credit card terminal contract of my business
And I don't plan to stop here. I'm looking at every recurring cost item on a private and a business level and see whether I can save some more money.
The costs of being loyal
Companies, at least in Switzerland, try at all cost to get new customers and they neglect the existing ones. I wasn't aware of that and it made me feel stupid because for years I have simply paid way too much for all these services. Maybe it's worth to look at your contracts as well? To do the same thing, I suggest that you look at your existing contracts, then you compare with what the competition is offering and on this basis you try to renegotiate your contracts with your existing providers. It's often easier than to have to change things. It's definitely worth it....
With @ph1102, I'm running the @liotes project.
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12 comments
It's always worth it to constantly check your insurance (hospitalisation) plans to see if there's a better one out there. Some of the older grandfathered plans (in my own experience and context) are completely worthless for today's costs of hospitalisation. 💸
Health care costs are a big thing, also here in switzerland. Since it's the second biggest cost factor after my rent, it's the one thing that I always keep a close look at.
How many times have I heard this sentence for various services.
And therefore, as soon as the contract expires for any service, for which there are ongoing campaigns for new users, I initiate a request to change the operator and wait for them to call me.
Especially those who don't inform me that my contractual obligation expires and who want to start charging for the service without a discount.
I will start to make this a habit that I put the date of the contract end, or a couple of months before that, in my calendar. Just to be sure that I don't miss on opportunities to save some costs.
You guessed it, I'm already doing it.😀
I have some free service that they gave me, and I put a reminder to cancel it before they bind me with a contract.
The calendar is top option 🙂
I always change mobile operators every year or so to get the best rate, quality of service are more or less the same.
Likewise for car and home insurance, always get a new quote instead of automatic renewal.
I thought that it was a good thing to be loyal and that old customers would always better conditions. I think I was a bit naive lol.
I think the companies are just trying to get as much profit as they can. If you get stuck on the automatic renewal, then they know your willing to pay. I have had this happen a few times, and I agree it sucks to have to complain in order to get the better rates.
It really sucks that it's the ones complaining that will get the best rates...
It's not just about loyalty, but also about avoiding hassle with those big companies because of our past experiences... When you finally get what you asked for, you think you are done and don't want to go through the process again...
Also, when something like that happens, you know you are getting older... 😂 You don't follow the markets, trying to save money, etc. I remember the beginnings of the mobile phone providers... Those prices were crazy at the beginning... And those who wouldn't change their package would pay 3-5x more than new customers... so annoying...
But, if we want to be honest, isn't that the ultimate business idea? To have people who are subscribed to something and using (or not) the minimum of service? 😃
I was probably to lazy to look at such things but to tell the truth now I feel really kind of stupid that for years I simply paid way too much. I have a payment terminal at work and I paid a monthly rent of 70.- CHF. I had the same machine since 2014.... Means I paid a rent of 10'000 CHF and now they offered me to buy a new one for 1'000 CHF... without monthly rent. They made a good business at my expenses...
I've realized that the more complex a contract, like a credit card agreement, the more they cheat you. Because they know it's not so easy to get a new one.
Now I told them that they need to provide me better fees because what I paid so far was not market level. And they reduced them by 20%... It's so easy when you ask...
I think it's not just limited to Switzerland.. Somehow in the business world, they always throw freebies to attract new customers, and the existing ones are taken for granted to some extent. Sometimes it could be better to cancel and move on to become another service provider's "new customer". Hehe!