Loyalty Is a Two-Way Street

I enjoy my cable TV, Internet and phone service through a single provider. It’s called “bundling” and usually saves the customer money. The company we use for these services gave me an incentive to switch to them; it saved me quite a bit of money. Then, after a year, that sweet deal went away. As expected, I started receiving bills showing we were being charged the “normal” rate.

Then one day I received an advertisement with a promotion that was very similar to the one that had given me the incentive to switch. I called to take advantage of the lower pricing. The customer service representative said that if I switched to them, I could get this great deal for the next year. I informed the customer service rep that I didn’t need to switch because I was already a customer. The rep said, “Sorry. This is only for new customers.” This was not the answer I wanted to hear. I asked why they bothered to mail the promotion to me. He didn’t know. The bottom line was that they offered the promotion to new customers only. Thinking somewhat creatively, I asked if I could terminate my agreement and start over, but the rep said that was something they would not agree to.

Here’s my take: I would like to know why companies create a promotion with special pricing for their new customers but don’t take care of their loyal customers? I know, this is marketing and sales, but it’s not a good practice. It can make a loyal customer become disloyal. If I’m loyal to a company, shouldn’t I be treated at least the same—if not even better—than someone who has never done business with the company before? I would hope so!

I agree that we sometimes need to create special promotions for newer customers. It gets their attention and gets them interested. However, why not offer something of value to the existing customer? The company bought our good will with discounted pricing. Why not renew or further solidify our good will and loyalty with some other type of special promotion?