Trustpower, giveaways, anyone with them?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Trustpower, giveaways, anyone with them?

TeaLeaf

5101 posts

Uber Geek

#265680 4-Feb-2020 23:15

So they are $240 a year more than Bigpipe but Im tired of BP pooping on its existing customers and not letting them take up a new contract (its not rocket science).

Anyway, I do need a new fridge but unless you go the big plan you dont get a 450L fridge.

Still the $1000rrp 360l would do the job. That more than makes up for BP not rewarding loyalty.

Plus I finally get a free modem, something BP wouldnt give me every time I resigned with them.

And strangely the power prices are cheaper than Contact, I cany figure that one out as supposedly contact is the cheapest where Im going.

https://www.trustpower.co.nz/promotion/youchoose?lcra=true

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11220 posts

Uber Geek

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#2412772 4-Feb-2020 23:37

As mentioned before, when power companies try to do broadband, it's not normally a great experience. My Aunty and Uncle were with Trustpower for a while, but moved away as they found the service wasn't that great.

For my money, I'd look at someone like Voyager - their service and pricing are pretty good. I hear 2degrees as good as well.

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TeaLeaf

5101 posts

Uber Geek

#2412773 4-Feb-2020 23:41

I wasnt worried much about service, more the giveaways. Strange, Ive worked for a few energy/telcos in Aus but they tend to be dark fibre commercial prior to NBN (and possibly still preferable lol)

ermat

161 posts

Master Geek

#2412777 5-Feb-2020 00:27

Everyone I know with trustpower pays a lot more than I pay with Flick. No comparison. Hundreds of $ more per year. Trustpower is expensive !

Dial111

958 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2412785 5-Feb-2020 06:39

There’s cheaper ways to get a fridge. It’s not a freebie.

The supplied Netcomm router is diabolical for wifi in terms of range.

Power is usually priced a lot higher

Customer service is crap.

If you decide to break contract because of the above (or what ever), be prepared to pay a huge fee to do so

You’ve been warned.

Jase2985

12348 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#2412789 5-Feb-2020 07:14

Not sure where trust power is cheaper but for me it looks like below.

trust power = $0.2089 per kWH

$2.17 DAILY CHARGE

Contact = 16.2 cents/kWh + 0.13 cents/kWh electricity council levy = $.1633/kWh

$1.675 dollars/day

All prices are excluding GST

you end up paying for the "free item" somewhere

Handsomedan

5968 posts

Uber Geek

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Subscriber

#2412813 5-Feb-2020 08:56

A friend joined up to get the free 65" 4K telly offer from Trustpower.

He wasn't overly bothered about the higher per-unit cost based on his calculated usage and worked out that effectively it was the same as getting the telly on interest free for 3 years and sticking with his current provider, so by the time his contract ends he'll be about $400 ahead if he moves on to another provider (his calculations, not mine).

That said, he could have got a much better deal elsewhere and bought the telly, but that didn't seem as good because there was no mention of the word "Free" (his words not mine).

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mrdrifter

522 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2412835 5-Feb-2020 09:22

When i ran the numbers before moving house, it worked out that the cost of electricity and gas was on par with everyone else in the Wellington region i.e. +/- $10 a month, the only one that worked out better was electrickiwi if you maximised the free hour of power - this might push the price difference out by $10-20/month depending on the typical household.

The higher cost portion was in the internet connection being approximately ~$20 / month higher than many providers. So realistically over 12 months that is ~$240 or over the 24 month term you could round that up to ~$500 extra. The contract break price if broken in the first 6 months was/is $1,300.

If you went for the top end 65" TV with the Soundbar, the average price on that TV was (mid last year) sitting around $2,000 and the soundbar $400-$450. Although the TV has now dropped to ~1,500.

We did end up signing up knowing that it's not free, but at the end of the term we do come out either slightly ahead or at worst, cost neutral. I was bringing my own router and wifi gear etc... I didn't need to worry about their kit. So far we haven't had any real issues and when we thought we had a fault on the gas side of things they were very quick to respond.

jonathan18

6996 posts

Uber Geek

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Trusted

#2412844 5-Feb-2020 09:37

TeaLeaf:

I wasnt worried much about service, more the giveaways.

If you do go with them, you may end up regretting focusing on the latter not the former; and for someone in the tech industry I find that an unusual call!

Why do you think they offer freebies? To get the attention and custom of those who are indeed enticed by the shiny "free" baubles, and who haven't necessarily done the calculations to determine whether it's financially sound nor necessarily investigated the quality of the service.

There are enough posts and threads on this exact topic in which the predominant message is to avoid; there are decent RSPs out there provide quality service at cheaper rates; that way you can select the exact model of fridge that suits your needs rather than compromise simply to get what appears to be a good deal. Also, other RSPs provide decent enough routers free or at a very low cost, so I don't think that's something they have a monopoly on...

quickymart

11220 posts

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#2413342 5-Feb-2020 22:01

TeaLeaf:

I wasnt worried much about service, more the giveaways. Strange, Ive worked for a few energy/telcos in Aus but they tend to be dark fibre commercial prior to NBN (and possibly still preferable lol)

A nice new fridge isn't much good if your connection isn't working and you can't through to your provider on the phone, or they can't/won't help you with your connection issue. The fridge won't fix it either.

quickymart

11220 posts

Uber Geek

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#2424177 19-Feb-2020 18:18

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/19-02-2020/why-youll-no-longer-get-offered-a-fridge-to-go-back-to-your-old-power-company/

scuwp

3764 posts

Uber Geek

#2424183 19-Feb-2020 18:50

Friends don't let friends sign up with Trustpower. Our community FB pages are full of unhappy customers. The shine on a new fridge or TV will quickly disappear when your internet is crap. As mentioned it's not free, you are paying for it somewhere. We checked our account with them and found there were far cheaper providers. Go to Powerswitch and check yourself.

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

Linux

10300 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#2424253 19-Feb-2020 21:15

You would have to have rocks in your head to take up any of the Trust Power offers of free TV, Fridge etc....

Nothing is free end of story!

loceff13

988 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2424266 19-Feb-2020 21:39

It's never been easier to churn ISP/phone with minimal downtime, vote with your feet.

giollarnat

138 posts

Master Geek

#2438276 14-Mar-2020 21:08

I've been with trustpower for 2 years now and I can only give you my experience which has been pretty good.

been on a VDSL plan unlimited with a static IP the only problem I had when I first signed up was quickly sorted by their support person who was articulate and knew her stuff. UFB has only just arrived on my street and they have offered to switch me onto it - so just did a big price scan for power and broadband

They were and still are the second cheapest power provider in my area and the cheapest with smooth pay which is the main reason i signed up with them . if you don't want a shiny appliance you can get year half-price price broadband on a two-year contract ( which brings it down to a respectable $70 a month for a fibre connection Unlimited) They also bundled my power gas and broadband with cumulative discounts which have made it cheaper than almost any other option and more convenient than three separate contracts.

So if I was just looking at broadband I would probably have gone for a specialist telco /isp but for everything else they have very cheap bundles as long as you are happy to lock in to a 2yr contract... I would do it again in fact I am just about to.

bonkiebonks

383 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2438280 14-Mar-2020 21:29

Just thought I'd add my 2c.

I've been with TrustPower a little over 6 months now, and I have to say I have had no issues with my internet - contrary to what many people read here or elsewhere.

I have done my calculations prior to joining and while fully aware that they might be a little higher on the price side, I bit the bullet as the "free" TV and soundbar more than offsets the higher price (at least in my case).

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