So, just received a call from Telecom...

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › So, just received a call from Telecom...

Kyanar

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#84200 26-May-2011 17:30

Apparently Telecom has started cold calling customers who are coming up to the end of their contract, offering ad-hoc plans to better suit actual usage habits. I got offered 100 minutes, 300 Text messages, and 1GB for $60/month with 2 months free. Tempting, but the catch is the 12 month term stamped on it (not interested in signing up on a term now that my XT day-1 2 year plan is up).

Anyway, with that 1 year term it doesn't catch my interest but good on Telecom for actually being pro-active as well as offering plans more in line with what customers actually use!

One interesting thing though, is that although I've never told Telecom what device I use, he was able to tell me I use an iPhone 4 (obviously not bought via Telecom

)... very interesting indeed.

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#474493 26-May-2011 17:36

They'd have the IMEI of every device on their network so it'd be easy to tell what you were using.
Probably one of the reasons they rang... Start with expensive phone-owners that are capable of going on another network and then work backwards! :D

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corksta

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#474503 26-May-2011 17:55

Kyanar: Apparently Telecom has started cold calling customers who are coming up to the end of their contract, offering ad-hoc plans to better suit actual usage habits. I got offered 100 minutes, 300 Text messages, and 1GB for $60/month with 2 months free. Tempting, but the catch is the 12 month term stamped on it (not interested in signing up on a term now that my XT day-1 2 year plan is up).

The stupid thing is that you can change to this exact same plan without being on a contract!

Have a look at their website: http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/yourmobile/plansandpricing and you'll see that it says all their plans are available contract-free.

So when your current contract finishes, and if the plan appeals to you, you can switch to it without having to lock yourself in to another contract. Obviously they'd rather lock you in to avoid you being tempted in to moving to another company.

Kyanar

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#474521 26-May-2011 18:25

corksta: The stupid thing is that you can change to this exact same plan without being on a contract!

Have a look at their website: http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/yourmobile/plansandpricing and you'll see that it says all their plans are available contract-free.

So when your current contract finishes, and if the plan appeals to you, you can switch to it without having to lock yourself in to another contract. Obviously they'd rather lock you in to avoid you being tempted in to moving to another company.

O-ho! That they most assuredly did not say. I take it back - shame on you Telecom, trying to con people into signing up to term contracts without mentioning that the term isn't actually needed.

DeroyBoy

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#474523 26-May-2011 18:31

They were offering 2 months free which does require a contract.

scuwp

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#474526 26-May-2011 18:42

corksta:
Kyanar: Apparently Telecom has started cold calling customers who are coming up to the end of their contract, offering ad-hoc plans to better suit actual usage habits. I got offered 100 minutes, 300 Text messages, and 1GB for $60/month with 2 months free. Tempting, but the catch is the 12 month term stamped on it (not interested in signing up on a term now that my XT day-1 2 year plan is up).

The stupid thing is that you can change to this exact same plan without being on a contract!

Have a look at their website: http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/yourmobile/plansandpricing and you'll see that it says all their plans are available contract-free.

So when your current contract finishes, and if the plan appeals to you, you can switch to it without having to lock yourself in to another contract. Obviously they'd rather lock you in to avoid you being tempted in to moving to another company.

Thats not exactly comparing apples with apples as the customer was offered 2 months free if they joined for 12 months, so thats $120 extra value.

I will probably stand corrected but I thought to join a new plan on a 'open term' you needed to pay a joining fee of some kind?

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Robert J Hanlon

tdgeek

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#474529 26-May-2011 18:56

The thing is, if you get offered an existing plan. and you enjoy the network, the $120 bonus for staying 12 months when you probably would anyway is a free $120. For those who like XT, its $120 wth no real cost to you. Win-Win

If you however want to be able to chop and change, no problem.

NonprayingMantis

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#474544 26-May-2011 20:20

Kyanar:
corksta: The stupid thing is that you can change to this exact same plan without being on a contract!

Have a look at their website: http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/yourmobile/plansandpricing and you'll see that it says all their plans are available contract-free.

So when your current contract finishes, and if the plan appeals to you, you can switch to it without having to lock yourself in to another contract. Obviously they'd rather lock you in to avoid you being tempted in to moving to another company.

O-ho! That they most assuredly did not say. I take it back - shame on you Telecom, trying to con people into signing up to term contracts without mentioning that the term isn't actually needed.

the term is needed if you want two months free, which is what they were trying to sell you. not sure why that is bad. you either take a contract and get 2 months free, or don't and don't.

you can switch to equivalent value plans anytime you like*, no need for a contract, no need for them to call you. just ask for it.

*i.e. if you were on a $60 plan before you can switch to another, better for you, $60 plan anytime you want. It doesn't matter if you are 2 months into a contract or not.

corksta

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#474554 26-May-2011 20:35

The point is the OP believed at the time the only way to go on to this plan was to sign for 12 months, and for that he would receive two months free. He also obviously wasn't informed the same plan is available contract-free but without the two months free.

But tdgeek is right, if you have no plans to change providers within 12 months the deal isn't too bad.

You can change over to other plans within the same tier for no cost and it doesn't affect the contract. When the new Smartphone plans came out I was able to change to this plan as my current plan was within the same tier, so I saved $40 a month despite my current contract not finishing until December this year.

This page shows which plans are within each tier (open the .pdf of the disconnection fees):

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

Loismustdye

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#474560 26-May-2011 20:56

They offered me something similar when I rang them on a different matter for my landline. Commit to a contract and get two months free, salesperson wasn't overly impressed when I said I wasn't going to sign a contract at this time as i was debating going top 2 degrees prepay lol.
Ive got an iPhone 4 as well so that is perhaps why they offered 2 months free rather than a handset subsidy.

Mushdaba

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#474679 27-May-2011 09:20

It works like this:

If you have an existing handset that you like/have no intention of replacing and you're confident that you won't be changing providers soon, you get offered the option of signing into a 12 month term and as a reward you get two months free rental.

If you're not sure of anything, you can change to a plan on the same tier for no cost and when your contract ends, you do what you want to.

It doesn't matter what your existing handset is, everyone is being called. No preference for the iPhoners.

Mushdaba

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#474684 27-May-2011 09:31

"I will probably stand corrected but I thought to join a new plan on a 'open term' you needed to pay a joining fee of some kind?"

Not with Telecom you don't. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

swalker5872

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#474694 27-May-2011 10:02

Mushdaba: "I will probably stand corrected but I thought to join a new plan on a 'open term' you needed to pay a joining fee of some kind?"

Not with Telecom you don't. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

By memory there is a difference between their Landline offerings on no contract (fee payable) and their Mobile offerings.

Certainly there are currently deals on the mobile area if you agree to a contract term that you get something back for your commitment, be it discount on your handset or free months/minutes etc.

May be wrong here and did not check their website to confirm difference in terms between landline and mobile.

Loismustdye

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#474817 27-May-2011 14:23

Mushdaba: It works like this:

If you have an existing handset that you like/have no intention of replacing and you're confident that you won't be changing providers soon, you get offered the option of signing into a 12 month term and as a reward you get two months free rental.

If you're not sure of anything, you can change to a plan on the same tier for no cost and when your contract ends, you do what you want to.

It doesn't matter what your existing handset is, everyone is being called. No preference for the iPhoners.

How do telecom know I(we) are happy with our handset(s) and don't wish to change it? In my case I was not asked whether I liked my handet neither did I offer what I currently had. I assumed that telecom used the IMEI number of the handset and concluded that I didn't wish to upgrade

Mushdaba

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#474862 27-May-2011 16:03

Well that would be a bold assumption on the CSR's behalf. Technically you probably should've been offered all available deals that would benefit you. I guess that there has to be a happy medium between giving enough information and giving too much information. Stores are a nice place to go if you need to discuss things in greater detail.

tdgeek

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#474909 27-May-2011 19:03

Possibly a little over analysis here I feel.

Customers are being called and offered deals to generate loyalty, keep customers with us, pass on good benefits to them, and generally look after them. CSRs look to save customers money. The outcall teams may generally target those ending contracts, and thats fair enough, but other CSRs do pass on savings when a customer calls in. On the one hand you can say that CSRs are paid, and may cause lower revenue, but they are also generating care for the customers. Hence the online teams are called Customer Care Online, for good reason.A customer calls/emails in with an issue or query, as well as that being dealt with, if they see a packaged landline and broadband will give them a cost saving or more Gb that is mentioned. These teams have more time to analyse a customers potential savings/benefits, perhaps a narrower approach for the outcall teams hence not necessarily having they accounts analysed as much for good options as heavily as a call in/email in.

Yes, I work for Telecom in the Helpdesk space, this post is just to round out this topic as far as the practices generally are.

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