Anyone managed to negotiate not getting hit with the price increase? I only joined 3 months ago and they have said sorry we missed you in the price increase but this is applying to you too..
"Earlier in June we told our customers about this change, but because your connection was fairly new, we missed you off the list and you were charged the new price from August. Sorry about that."
IMO if people signup to a contract to pay a certain price, (eg $80 a month for a minimum 12 month contract), I think it the company should honour that price for that term, as that would be the fair thing to do. I mean they charge a penalty fee if you break the 12 month contract from you end. That is just my opinion. Imagine the problems if people signup to a home loan for a fixed period, and the bank still increases the interest rate. Changing ISP is a PITA and you can experience downtime. I had a days outage after changing from Skinny to Slingshot and they couldn't explain why.
It's a highly competitive market where customers can easily churn and have same day swapover with minimal inconvenience to them. The reality is their terms allow them to increase pricing and allow you to exit the contract at no cost to you.
So lets say wholesale cost is set to go up $5 in Feb next year and you are an ISP charging $77/mo today
Do you take new 12 month terms at $77/mo and eat $5/mo from your margins for the remaining 8 months or average it out over the 12months. ie (8x82) + (4x77) =964/12-$80.33/mo
$80.33/mo is a hard sell when your competition might still be priced at $77/mo for 4 months taking those price sensitive new customers and increasing the price only when they have to.
I don't know the solution here but I can see why ISP's are doing it this way.
It seems that the prices go up $5 a year, (at least it did with my old ISP) which is more than inflation. But it is something that they should be able to factor into their offers IMO, as it is likely that it will go up by $5 a year. They also probably know that other ISPs will also be increasing their prices by the same amount, so they know that switching ISP may not help them save money. I wouldn't say it is all that competitive now as it once was, as many of the brands have consolidated and are owned by single companies.
It seems that the prices go up $5 a year, (at least it did with my old ISP) which is more than inflation. But it is something that they should be able to factor into their offers IMO, as it is likely that it will go up by $5 a year. They also probably know that other ISPs will also be increasing their prices by the same amount, so they know that switching ISP may not help them save money.
Unfortunately, most people can't understand, or perhaps more likely, are unwilling to spend the few minutes it might take them to understand, so businesses have to act accordingly, which is why they do what they do, and just wait until their input costs rise, then put through a price rise at that time.
yeah they do say that in the email but looking to move within 12 months so rock and a hard place situation!
Yea got the price increase notice, I asked for a price match with another provider they said no. You can end the contract because they upped the price so I said fug u I'm going elsewhere. Signed up with OneNZ with the $300 promo.
thats a shame, thanks for letting me know
You might be able to move elsewhere with no penalties if they are hitting you with a price rise?