Marketing or Sweet Talkers?
In the last few months, my mobile company has been getting things mixed up on my account. This includes Direct Debit, amongst other things. I’d had enough and thank goodness the contract was coming to an end – just 3 weeks to go.
So, I rang up to give them notice that I did not want to renew the contract. The customer adviser asked me why and I explained that the Customer service was poor and went on to explain some of the issues that had happened. Not wanting him to feel bad I said he seemed like a nice member of staff, but communication was not effective in the company.
…. and then the sweet talking began….
He apologised profusely and said to me that, I paid my bills on time I was a very, nice loyal and valuable customer and they didn’t want me to leave, but would still respect my decision if I chose too.
My thoughts: I was thinking, No, there have been at least 2 occassions I have paid my bill a bit late but didn’t want to interrupt him and spoil my “ customer reputation”.
He then went on to say he would offer me a very special deal for all the hassle I’ve had to put up with. I didn’t want to interrupt but shaking my head, I was thinnking “I’m ending this contract. Punto”. Listening further, he said I’d pay less than I pay at the moment £15/month with FREE access to the internet 24/7 for the duration of the contract.
My thoughts: My eyes widened “free access to internet 24/7” ?! Wow, that sounded really good. I never use my phone for the internet but this meant, not only could I use it anytime in the day, I could even go online in my sleep at night. (Hopefully, not logged on to Hubpages). However, I still played it cool and said “I’ll have to think about it”.
He concluded with the Phone model free handset that would be sent, time of arrival etc. While he was going through other details I was checking up the phone on the Internet to see what it looked like features etc. While saying “mmmh” every so often, as he spoke.
Finally he asked “So, Elena how does this sound? You have a new phone, more features, free access to the internet, other benefits and paying less than you did for the previous contract.
Long story short - like Honey to the bee, I accepted and was drawn back to them. I called with every intention of not renewing the contract and came off the phone with a new contract! (but there’s a 14 day cooling period where I can cancel it).
Has anyone ever Sweet-talked you into anything?
