Well, it took me long enough, but I caught onto their shenanigans. When I got the G37, I was on a renewal of every three months. Last year, they bugged me relentlessly to go to an annual renewal, which would save me a little bit. Sure, I finally gave in, though I did tell them it's exceedingly silly for them to hound me to pay less, when I was a happy subscriber for four years already. Well, now I find out why they do this.
Fortunately for me, this year, my credit card was replaced, thanks to expiry, and they ended up having to call me. This time, "my" annual plan would have saved me nothing over even a monthly renewal, after doing a quick calculation in my head, and actually cost more, thanks to them adjusting plans and modifying the tier, with them bumping me up into a higher tier, just because the plan changed (I didn't have internet radio on my previous plan, but this renewal would give me internet radio, which I never asked for, and never had before). I told her that the online plan, right in front of me, showed me I should be getting a month free. Oh, she can correct that and give me the free month, she says. I told her to cancel. What if I were to be given three free months? Nope, cancel it. How about five free months, nope, cancel it. I had to be bumped up the totem pole, of course.
I told the next person to cancel, and she asked if the the free months aren't enough. I told her that this isn't an issue about pricing. They have a price for a product, and it's either worth it to me and I'm a customer, or it's not worth it, and I don't buy. Since I've been a customer for almost five years, I obviously was satisfied with the pricing. What it costs isn't the issue. I'm not even terribly upset with prices going up on occasion. That happens. What I'm upset with is that my annual plan, which I signed up for last year, is basically a legacy annual plan, on legacy rates. The annual plan price actually dropped, but I'm on last year's annual plan, so I don't get the rate drop, but am bumped up a tier instead? How can that be an annual plan?
I told her the issue is that they cannot leave well enough alone. They have to monkey with their plans constantly, and give the bare minimum of notification, and simply have credit card renewals, making a set of ideal circumstances for people to not be paying sufficient attention and have their plans and/or pricing altered in an unanticipated fashion. I told her I'm not interested in a bunch of months for free. I told her I still want to cancel, because we know exactly what's going to happen.
Within the next twelve months, I told her, we both know that the plans will be tinkered with once again. And then, twelve months from now, we know I'll be back on the telephone again, spending ten minutes to half an hour trying to determine what's changed and trying to wrangle a discount or getting onto the new plan or whatever. This, of course, absolutely defeats the purpose of an annual plan with annual renewal, and I want no part of it. I want my package to stay the same, with no mysterious new addons, with the same basic discount, and I want it every year, and I'm not concerned about inflationary adjustments.
The real kicker is that I couldn't go to their self-service online, since my account information was no longer valid because I was on a legacy plan. A year old annual plan is a legacy plan and doesn't let me do online self service to correct my credit card number or select a current plan? Good grief.
Fortunately for me, this year, my credit card was replaced, thanks to expiry, and they ended up having to call me. This time, "my" annual plan would have saved me nothing over even a monthly renewal, after doing a quick calculation in my head, and actually cost more, thanks to them adjusting plans and modifying the tier, with them bumping me up into a higher tier, just because the plan changed (I didn't have internet radio on my previous plan, but this renewal would give me internet radio, which I never asked for, and never had before). I told her that the online plan, right in front of me, showed me I should be getting a month free. Oh, she can correct that and give me the free month, she says. I told her to cancel. What if I were to be given three free months? Nope, cancel it. How about five free months, nope, cancel it. I had to be bumped up the totem pole, of course.
I told the next person to cancel, and she asked if the the free months aren't enough. I told her that this isn't an issue about pricing. They have a price for a product, and it's either worth it to me and I'm a customer, or it's not worth it, and I don't buy. Since I've been a customer for almost five years, I obviously was satisfied with the pricing. What it costs isn't the issue. I'm not even terribly upset with prices going up on occasion. That happens. What I'm upset with is that my annual plan, which I signed up for last year, is basically a legacy annual plan, on legacy rates. The annual plan price actually dropped, but I'm on last year's annual plan, so I don't get the rate drop, but am bumped up a tier instead? How can that be an annual plan?
I told her the issue is that they cannot leave well enough alone. They have to monkey with their plans constantly, and give the bare minimum of notification, and simply have credit card renewals, making a set of ideal circumstances for people to not be paying sufficient attention and have their plans and/or pricing altered in an unanticipated fashion. I told her I'm not interested in a bunch of months for free. I told her I still want to cancel, because we know exactly what's going to happen.
Within the next twelve months, I told her, we both know that the plans will be tinkered with once again. And then, twelve months from now, we know I'll be back on the telephone again, spending ten minutes to half an hour trying to determine what's changed and trying to wrangle a discount or getting onto the new plan or whatever. This, of course, absolutely defeats the purpose of an annual plan with annual renewal, and I want no part of it. I want my package to stay the same, with no mysterious new addons, with the same basic discount, and I want it every year, and I'm not concerned about inflationary adjustments.
The real kicker is that I couldn't go to their self-service online, since my account information was no longer valid because I was on a legacy plan. A year old annual plan is a legacy plan and doesn't let me do online self service to correct my credit card number or select a current plan? Good grief.