No such thing as "fair"... what's "real" is to ask how much will it cost me for the next N years with providers X vs. Y vs. Z... provider X (dish in this case) won't offer me promo pricing (nor even much on retention).. so while I perfectly understand that as a business decision, it means that I, as an admitted value customer, will find Dish not to be price-competitive when there are 3 alternatives happy to offer me promo pricing. For the next 2 years, my cost on Direct will be LESS than if I stayed with Dish _and_ I will have 2 TVs more with HD vs. what I have now. To me that is worth the hassle of doing the research and switching. If Dish had met me even half way on that... I might have decided it wasn't worth the effort. I called, I was nice, never pushy, explained the situation calmly, and asked what they could do.. turns out it wasn't much. And shrug, that is certainly their right. I've stayed _well_ past my initial 2-year commitment and now am exercising my right to walk away. The providers are the ones making the crazy promo rules.. they have no right to object if educated consumers attempt to make the most of the game which they created. As they say "friends is friends.. business is business"... this is business. Shrug.
DISH Network Retailer Chat Recap - "Hopper Special" - 2/16/2012
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No such thing as "fair"... what's "real" is to ask how much will it cost me for the next N years with providers X vs. Y vs. Z... provider X (dish in this case) won't offer me promo pricing (nor even much on retention).. so while I perfectly understand that as a business decision, it means that I, as an admitted value customer, will find Dish not to be price-competitive when there are 3 alternatives happy to offer me promo pricing. For the next 2 years, my cost on Direct will be LESS than if I stayed with Dish _and_ I will have 2 TVs more with HD vs. what I have now. To me that is worth the hassle of doing the research and switching. If Dish had met me even half way on that... I might have decided it wasn't worth the effort. I called, I was nice, never pushy, explained the situation calmly, and asked what they could do.. turns out it wasn't much. And shrug, that is certainly their right. I've stayed _well_ past my initial 2-year commitment and now am exercising my right to walk away. The providers are the ones making the crazy promo rules.. they have no right to object if educated consumers attempt to make the most of the game which they created. As they say "friends is friends.. business is business"... this is business. Shrug.
It is absolutely insane and goes against any semblance of logic to not offer the same pricing to an existing customer who doesn't require new equipment or an installation of service, as you are offering a new subscriber, when they know full well all it leads to is churn. This applies to all companies who participate in this practice.
Retention for both D* and E* would likely be much higher if they did this, and I dare say profit would increase as well. Those who do the churn would stop doing it, and giving an existing customer promo pricing would produce more profit than having a customer walk away (which results in zero revenue from them). They wouldn't even have to advertise it, many people probably wouldn't ask for any promo pricing. But for those who are going to walk, it would save a customer that you've already paid the acquisition costs to obtain, and lock them up for another two years.
Even with cable if you do their price-lock for two years when it expires you can do it again just like you were a new customer. Where did these geniuses go to business school? !sadroll
Retention for both D* and E* would likely be much higher if they did this, and I dare say profit would increase as well. Those who do the churn would stop doing it, and giving an existing customer promo pricing would produce more profit than having a customer walk away (which results in zero revenue from them). They wouldn't even have to advertise it, many people probably wouldn't ask for any promo pricing. But for those who are going to walk, it would save a customer that you've already paid the acquisition costs to obtain, and lock them up for another two years.
Even with cable if you do their price-lock for two years when it expires you can do it again just like you were a new customer. Where did these geniuses go to business school? !sadroll
I think there must be a significant number that don't churn and they make lots of money off them by not re-offering promo pricing. They would also have a hard time re-offering promo pricing to some and not others. Sooner or later everyone would catch on or there'd be a class action lawsuit over pricing.
This is an American industry custom. Just as Retailers screw current customers and try to entice new customers. Companies also screw current employees by limiting their raise and bonus possibiities , yet offer outlandish deals to get new employees. It is simply part of the short term mentality of American Capitalism. As long as management are on 1 year pay incentives , we will have to live with this type of thinking. So customers and emloyees who don't join the churn avantages will always get the raw deal.
I think there must be a significant number that don't churn and they make lots of money off them by not re-offering promo pricing. They would also have a hard time re-offering promo pricing to some and not others. Sooner or later everyone would catch on or there'd be a class action lawsuit over pricing.
Agreed that a lot do not churn, for sure that is the case. Yet revenue and profit would increase to retain those who would require no further acquisition cost (such as installation/equipment). A seasoned customer without those costs should be a higher profit-margin customer. This is pretty much "Business 101" basic business education, yet seems to allude many in the big corporations.
Seriously, do you want a new, higher cost, lower profit customer who is willing to leave you on a whim every two years...or do you want a long-time loyal customer who has a much higher profit margin? Ideally you want both new and old customers...growing your customer base and turning the new customer into a long-time customer by ensuring another can't come in and woo them with promo pricing when their commitment ends.
Regarding offering promo retention discounts, it would be perfectly legal, since they do it now. Some customers just keep paying the renewal rate (probably the majority) while others call and complain and/or threaten to cancel and get some kind of perk thrown at them ($x off per month for a certain number of months).
Of course just because something is perfectly legal doesn't mean someone wouldn't sue since that happens all the time in our legal system.
I think there must be a significant number that don't churn and they make lots of money off them by not re-offering promo pricing. They would also have a hard time re-offering promo pricing to some and not others. Sooner or later everyone would catch on or there'd be a class action lawsuit over pricing.
TWC is this way with RoadRunner.. its an open/stupid secret with everyone I know. Their main tier for broadband is ~$59/mo. The very same service (using the very same wires), Earthlink offers for ~$42/mo. Every 12 mos you have to call RR retention.. mention this simple fact to them, and they drop you to $39/mo.. sometimes (laughably) saying this is "the last year we can offer this".... shrug.. the minute they don't I'll be on Earthlink... but as long as they do, I avoid the minor hassle of switching (altho I'd get some $29? promo pricing for 6 mos with EL). some days I figure I'm tired of even calling once/year and will just switch to avoid the minor hassle and the continuing insult to my intelligence. These companies count on on the complacency of their customer base, and sadly, I think 90+% of the customers would have no clue if there was continuous promo pricing.
Understand, I'm no fanboy... I don't count Dish as being bad... I've had a good ride with them, and promoted them heavily with friends b/c for new customers (who get promos) I think they offer a very compelling value (I saved a TON vs. TWC during my years with Dish). I think I was a solid customer for them, but its simply time to part ways. Some day, maybe I'll be back. In the meantime I'll be on Direct.. where (cue dream sequence) I'm sure the HD will be 1000x better, I'll be younger, more fit, and babes will flock to me on the beach....... or maybe I'll just be the same guy, hopefully content with Direct for a few years.
And two years from now you'll switch back to DISH and be a New Virgin Customer all over again. Just think of all the goodies you 'll get then.
And two years from now you'll switch back to DISH and be a New Virgin Customer all over again. Just think of all the goodies you 'll get then.
Sigh.. it may be sooner than that...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/278635-underwhelmed-direct-so-far.html#post2790281
I may have just missed this since it is a very long thread, but does the Hopper allow an additional hard drive to be plugged in? I'm mostly thinking about all of the content that we currently have and whether it can be moved to the Hopper.
Yep. You can take your external hard drive from your 722 and move it over to the Hopper.
Yes sir, same thing with Charter Cable. A pain to do but if you call every three months or sometimes six months you get a promo. I'm sure in this case that's because they have competition from Uverse and ATT DSL here. I never threaten to switch, just ask for the promo and voila!
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