No More Contracts With Telecom BB

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › No More Contracts With Telecom BB

boby55

1539 posts

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#76253 31-Jan-2011 13:49

Not sure if this has been posted earlier but I saw this when I went to their site today

http://www.telecom.co.nz/change

We're changing the way we do Broadband - with no term contracts, more flexibility and our best value package deals ever
All of our broadband packages now come with a no term contract option.

That means there's no minimum contract term, so if you decide you no longer need broadband, then just let us know - you can cancel it without paying any early disconnection fees.

With a no term contract you'll also just pay the standard broadband connection of $99 and you can use your own modem if you already have one.

For more information call now on 0800 444 123 or fill out our Callback form.

Hopefully this means others will follow =D

Good work Telecom

jbard

1377 posts

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#433208 31-Jan-2011 13:54

Yeah saw some ad's for this on trade me today, i must say i'm pretty surprised - but in a good way :)

nigelj

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#433209 31-Jan-2011 13:57

This isn't really that new.

They've allowed an open term contract previously (I think for about the last 3-4 months), but are instead charging the $99.

What I find wrong (& object to) with this, is that they are not passing on the discounted churn fee to customers that are transferring/churning (I've seen quotes from ISPs that do this, for around $30-$50).

The only new bit I think is the 60GB/80GB options, and I think they may have existed a month or so ago as well unless I'm mistaken.

Edit: I am wrong about my last statement, the 'Total Home Broadband' pages are new, I was getting confused with the 'Total Home (Standard|Lite|Starter)' packages.

SteveON

1916 posts

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#433213 31-Jan-2011 14:04

This is very good, I may move our business DSL over now... TCL want a 12 Month contract just to offer a decent cap, I refused every time.

exportgoldman

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#434597 3-Feb-2011 00:50

I'm sure people will correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this just the same as a 12 month contract, but you pay the early disconnection fee upfront and it isn't prorated if you disconnect within 12 month?

i.e. a worse deal than just signing up for 12 months, and not paying $99 upfront?

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

Regs

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Snowflake

#434603 3-Feb-2011 01:14

exportgoldman:
I'm sure people will correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this just the same as a 12 month contract, but you pay the early disconnection fee upfront and it isn't prorated if you disconnect within 12 month?

i.e. a worse deal than just signing up for 12 months, and not paying $99 upfront?

you'd be surprised at how many people wouldnt understand that and would avoid signing up because they didnt want to get 'locked in'. many people are also probably used to the crazy ETC's charged by mobile companies in the past - where you get stung $700 for quitting a contract less than half way through - and havent thought to check out what happens if they wanted to terminate early.

its all about marketing really. now they can market to both types of customer

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NzBeagle

961 posts

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#434625 3-Feb-2011 08:08

you'd be surprised at how many people wouldnt understand that and would avoid signing up because they didnt want to get 'locked in'. many people are also probably used to the crazy ETC's charged by mobile companies in the past - where you get stung $700 for quitting a contract less than half way through - and havent thought to check out what happens if they wanted to terminate early.

its all about marketing really. now they can market to both types of customer

That really annoys me, when people sign into a contract they should realise it is just that, and they shouldn't have any voice to complain when they get stung. I mean yeah it can be unreasonable, but if you sign up for 12 months then you get 12 months, and with 24 etc.

Regs

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Snowflake

#434763 3-Feb-2011 12:20

NzBeagle:
you'd be surprised at how many people wouldnt understand that and would avoid signing up because they didnt want to get 'locked in'. many people are also probably used to the crazy ETC's charged by mobile companies in the past - where you get stung $700 for quitting a contract less than half way through - and havent thought to check out what happens if they wanted to terminate early.

its all about marketing really. now they can market to both types of customer

That really annoys me, when people sign into a contract they should realise it is just that, and they shouldn't have any voice to complain when they get stung. I mean yeah it can be unreasonable, but if you sign up for 12 months then you get 12 months, and with 24 etc.

if you enter a contract and you not getting what you paid for, you often need to take legal action to get out of it, which could be costly. Even if its a small claims action, it still costs you time and you're stuck with the service until your action is resoved. Often the easiest and most cost effective way to ditch a service which isnt working out it simply to terminate and pay out ETC's.

In the past, ETC's on mobile and broadband were related to the "loss of revenue after giving you special price". I.e. the cost of a 32c rate instead of an 89c rate over 24 months for average voice usage. These days they typically reflect any discounts awarded at the start of the contract and not the 'unknowns'. Discounts being 'no cost or subsidised installation', 'no cost or discounted hardware' etc.

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