"The Loyalty Penalty."

This never stops does it?

Each year when I get either my car or house & contents insurance renewal notice, the insurers always try it on. I was notified of an increase of 14% in the latter today.
So I phoned them up and said it wasn't acceptable.
After a lot of waffle about all insurances are going up, which I cut short by saying, that as I hadn't made a claim, ever, I didn't want to know, so cancel it. There was a silence.

Then, I got the usual "Oh hang on! I see you phoned and complained last year and we reduced it. I can see I can reduce it to £2 less than you paid last year."

"Oh what a surprise!"

Sorted!

I guess they rely on people to accept the nonsense that accompanies your renewal notice. I ignore all that and just look at the figure, then reach for the phone.

 

Absolutely no rewards for loyalty . Always get new quotes for motor and house insurance every year . It only takes a moment when you are set up on Go Compare , Compare the Market etc etc. I change most years.

 

You can even get a BB8 Meerkat if you take out new insurance !

 

My car insurer for the last few years always put things up a few percent which they mostly knocked off when I questioned it, but this year, they put it up 25% !

Did a new online quote via the comparison sites and it came back £2 lower than the last years premium, never mine the new !

When I contacted them and gave them the comparison sites name, which they can clearly look up the same quote straight away, they just said yes we will match it, no argument.

Just got to play them at their own game.

Virgin Media next, with mobile call packages so big and cheap,we just do not use the old landline, so why pay nearly £20 a month for something we do not use.
Just got to box clever as their basic broadband here is 70mb and very good quality.

 

Let me put another slant to the whole "they are money grabbers" argument, if I may?

Those people (yes, they are real people) at the other end of the telephone are ... (wait for it .... ) employed! How wonderful that they are. Their mortgages are met, they get to put food on the table, they get to so on and so forth.

Any numpty turnip can now (thank you Mr/Ms Technology) go online and make comparisons at the flick of a keyboard to find the cheapest/best prices should they choose to do so. If they choose not to, so be it. Call the centre, speak to a real human being and hey, (what a surprise!) they have the power that Mr/Ms Technology does *not* have; they can barter as a result, they get p.a.i.d! This is called capitalism

All hail the employed some one isn't going hungry or being repossessed or, at those wages and more likely, being evicted. All you did was make a phone call and let someone else highlight a better deal on your behalf which you could also have negotiated (up to a point) online.

Delighted to read that you got good customer service from a human being You put food on their table tonight

 

I've always consider that if you go on-line for insurance, you won't get a good deal. Companies are wise to the fact that many people can't be bothered to phone, so they load the on-line premiums as people think it will be the cheapest.

I've never considered that anything I've bought has actually put food on anyone's table.

They wouldn't have given that fact a second thought.

 

That's interesting to read.
Are you saying that it hasn't occurred to you that the people on the end of the phone are doing so for a wage/living?
Or, that the people who serve you in a shop are doing so for a wage?
Or, any order you have made for an online purchase is dependent on a human being facilitating that purchase?
Or even that a product has to be "produced" by some means or other, which, in turn, means that someone, somewhere, is earning a living?
Which, all in turn, puts food on their table?

I've always been aware that any purchase I make, be it online or in person, puts a wage into someone's pocket ergo food on their table.

Most interesting!

 

Well that's a point of view, but not one I share and I was distracted by your over-use of smilies, but as they say, "each to their own."

I'd suggest that we've all had or have jobs, but I doubt if many would have ever considered that completing any small part of it on just one day, (particularly me) would have made them think "Well that'll put some food on my table." I think to suggest it should have done that for someone at the end of the phone, or for the subject of that person just doing their job think the same, is being a bit over dramatic.

 

Comparison sites get paid by the companies they recommend.
Perhaps some people think they're doing them a favour recommending a company.



If anyone really bothered to think about it, "what puts food on the table," for people in call centres, is if they can talk you into paying more for a service than you need to pay. I'm sure some are on bonuses for doing just that. So that's "extra food on the table."


It's the way the world works, I earned my annual bonus at work each year by controlling costs, not by any philanthropy.

 

I don`t mind people having food on their tables, but not when they`re nicking it off mine.

 

I agree.

Anyway, someone just sitting in a call centre, which I think can be a thankless job, is still putting food on their table, even if they speak to no one all day.

I think there's probably enough on the table now, don't you?

Anyone for afters?