Anyone Tried to Haggling with ISPs?

witsa on 12/05/2018 - 10:33

So I've been with TPG on their NBN plan.

I'm considering changing cause I think there might be cheaper plans out there but I also can't really be bothered especially if I'm not sure whether the other provider won't be just utter crap.

I knows sometimes with banks and foxtel, you can actually ring them up and threaten to leave and they'll give you a discount on the spot. I was wondering if anyone's tried doing that for an ISP - get them to price match other ISPs. I mean, I wouldn't be aiming to get the same rate as some of the cheaper ISPs – just a cheap enough so I wouldn't risk moving to a new ISP.

Internet

Comments

  • p1 ama on 12/05/2018 - 11:00
    +4

    I doubt that you could do this with TPG NBN. Maybe for the bigger carriers and on mobile, where there's a lot of competition, you might be able to get discounts and the like, but the margins on NBN are already quite thin as it is.

    Also, no point in making blank threats, go do your research first and find what other prices you can get so that if/when you do call, you'll be armed with information. I find that TPG's NBN prices are actually already quite good.

    • cloudy on 12/05/2018 - 11:10
      +1

      Pretty well said

  • jelko on 12/05/2018 - 11:11

    No.

  • hanofee on 12/05/2018 - 13:30

    TPG rang me once, offered me $5/month discount to move to their NBN (I had my ADSL2 with them). Cause I had no idea of pricing, I said I’d think about it first. I rang them back the week after to take the offer, they backed out, said there was no note and it was impossible to apply such discount on their system. Enough said, I left for Dodo who had no issue to give me $5/month (back then, their pricing were identical to TPG). So yeah, it’s hard to haggle with TPG.

    • John Kimble on 13/05/2018 - 17:17

      Haha awesome work by TPG

  • airzone on 12/05/2018 - 13:40

    I do it with commercial / enterprise services.

  • poohduck on 12/05/2018 - 14:46

    We do. With isp's and telco. Mostly it's worked. If we get the runaround we just move. For me it was the telcos and isps who changed the rules - changing plans and prices half way through; or putting price up when plan was due for renewal. We've always found cheaper for the same and given our current providers the opportunity not to increase price or match what we want. Vaya tried to stall us; giving us bullshit stories, saying they'd work it out and get back to us - they never did, so we moved. Same with our isp. They matched price once (kept us on existing price with no price rise) then 6 weeks later tried some other scam - goodbye. I see it as the world they created - no more loyalty from them, none from me.

  • HeWhoKnows on 12/05/2018 - 16:10
    +2

    Telstra are the only ones that will haggle to retain a customer but not to win a new one.
    That is the job of the marketing department in any ISP and they will usually stick to thier well researched offers.
    Best thing to do is to go onto the comparison sites and see which ISP has the best deal

  • follow on 12/05/2018 - 16:54

    just move. telecube for example

  • BobD on 13/05/2018 - 08:02

    Aussie Broadband might haggle. They seem very keen (or is it desperate) to get new users. I had heard about them and they seemed to have legend status in some places so I did a price check which included me giving them a phone number. In the end I decided to give them a pass. I also had an unplanned visit to hospital (no phone). When I got the phone again there were a few messages from ABB chasing me up.

    I'm with Belong (a Telstra subsidiary) and have a 50/20 fttp service (all fibre) and they were priced about the same as ABB.

  • pjetson on 13/05/2018 - 12:19

    Skymesh say they still match plans and prices from other companies.

    I have a Skymesh plan that they matched with another provider, and it's due to expire in a week or two, so I asked them what they were going to do then, expecting a price rise. They said I can stay on the same plan, and added that they still plan/price match.

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