Spark not even attempting to retain customers?

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HiddenChin

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#280504 18-Dec-2020 15:53

Just had an interesting live chat on the Spark website.

I'm nearing the end of my BB contract with Spark, and doing what any intelligent person would do by shopping around to see what other ISPs offer.
For $86 per month via 2degrees I can get fibre at 900/400 + Amazon Prime Video.

So I hit up Spark, just to see what they would offer to retain a customer.

900/400 + Netflix for $120.

I asked the guy if that's the best they would offer to retain a customer, was told in no uncertain terms that Spark cannot offer a better deal than this.

Anyone else find that weird, that they wouldn't even attempt to keep a customer?

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#2623980 18-Dec-2020 16:01

Typical of them for spark....

GV27

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#2623981 18-Dec-2020 16:14

Their broadband offers have been the same for some time now.

1024kb

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#2623982 18-Dec-2020 16:15

Hey Spark - Agile much?

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

martyyn

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#2623984 18-Dec-2020 16:39

Same here. I tried a while ago to get a better deal but they had nothing.

Been with them for 16 years but I'll be moving on when my contact finishes.

xpd

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#2623986 18-Dec-2020 16:43

A lot of ISP's are like that. I needed a static with Vodafone, they were going to charge me $160 a month in total - Found Voyager could off same deal for $99. Asked V/fone to sharpen their pencils..... they came back with $120. Obviously, I swapped....

Thing is, you've got to take into consideration what they're being charged for services as well - 2D might be getting Amazon for some amazing deal whereas SPark wasn't able to do such a deal with Netflix, etc.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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cokemaster

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#2623988 18-Dec-2020 16:49

Your experience isn’t unique. I’ve personally experienced this with my own telecommunications needs.
This was with 1 unlimited mobile (40GB), 2 sharers (with a 3rd coming online in Feb) and 1GBPS fibre (with static IP)... eg. Not a single $19 prepaid connection.

I feel sorry for the store and contact centre staff that I spoke to. They wanted to retain my business but hands were tied. They did suggest Skinny... however I ended up going to 2 Degrees and they were happy to have me onboard (saving approx $50 per month).

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Bung

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#2623992 18-Dec-2020 17:22

The current deal seems to be no deal, no contract and Unplan. Making a virtue of the fact that you can move on at anytime. Maybe this Christmas it was the turn to get rid of their marketing staff.

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rugrat

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#2623995 18-Dec-2020 18:02

2degrees offers will be for new customers, last I looked without mobile pay monthly 2degrees ultimate was around $105.
Prime Video is free first year only.
Spark is probably happy with current customer level, where as 2degrees is trying to aggressively expand.

I’m currently happy 2degrees customer, switched from Spark to 2degrees as Spark had no interest in Enable deal for Christchurch. The deal has gotten better with a faster upload speed which got passed on to everyone on plan in Christchurch. Landline has lot of extra features on 2degrees as well.

cokemaster

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#2624093 18-Dec-2020 20:01

If you aren’t in a contract, I believe that you can resign and receive the discounted prices.

It will be my expectation when my term expires early next year. Realistically with there needs to be a better proposition than “online deals” to convince me to choose Spark.

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timmmay

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#2624094 18-Dec-2020 20:05

If Spark has decided they want customers with a decent margin that's their right. They don't have to beg for people to stay, I bet their per-user margin is tiny.

qwertee

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#2624095 18-Dec-2020 20:15

Left Spark for the same reasons as op 2 years ago. They offered nothing to keep me.

Just keeping the xtra.co.nz email ticking over just to catch any emails that fall through the cracks.

Now paying $70 for unlimited BB and an IP phone line to my current provider.

panther2

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#2624122 18-Dec-2020 22:06

Seema like the ISP encourage customers to jump every 12 months. Nothing to retain customers only a carrot for 12 months

tdgeek

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#2624127 18-Dec-2020 22:36

timmmay:

If Spark has decided they want customers with a decent margin that's their right. They don't have to beg for people to stay, I bet their per-user margin is tiny.

Yep. You can relate that to many things. For a telco, they pay Chorus or the LFC, they pay for email if they provide that, they pay for Netflix and any other added value item. If it becomes not worth it to drop the price, then maybe its better to do that and also avoid the support calls from customers that aren't adding extra net revenue

sbiddle

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#2624171 19-Dec-2020 07:12

timmmay:

If Spark has decided they want customers with a decent margin that's their right. They don't have to beg for people to stay, I bet their per-user margin is tiny.

Exactly.. Why join to the race to the bottom in such a low margin business?

Maybe they've simply decided they actually couldn't care less about customers who only want the cheapest price and will change RSP every year regardless just to get the cheapest price, even if it's only by a few $?

quickymart

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#2624189 19-Dec-2020 07:44

Unfortunately, people like that then tend to move to RSP's like My Republic, where they find the service is even worse, and support is non-existent.

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