A little while ago I did some research and discovered I could save a lot of money (at least for the first year) if I switched electricity providers.
With the way the thing is set up, I’d still be stuck with the same basic provider (they own the pipes), but I can choose a different end provider.
So I happily switched from company X to company Y and all went well.
And today I received a call from company X, asking if I had time for some questions. As I love to see how these conversations go, I said yes.
The lady asked if I wanted to tell which company I switched to. ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘I went to company Y.’
When she asked why, I said they were cheaper.
She then said, in one of those tones mothers use to scold her children: ‘Well, ma’am, I have some bad news for you, they are much more expensive!’ at which point she basically lost me and I figured I’d finish the conversation just for kicks.
I had done my research and just said ‘Oh, they’re giving me a discount.’
She then asked if Y informed me I’d still be getting a monthly bill from X because of the pipe-ownership. I said that they had not (but as I have brains I figured either Y would charge me and pay the pipe-thing, or I’d get separate bill. Either way I didn’t care much, the amount is fixed and I’d see it on the first bill I’d get).
The lady continued with ‘Well then! You’re massively screwed there (she used different words, but clearly meant that) as you do not only have a more expensive provider now, you also have to pay that extra money per month!’
Yes, and I would not otherwise? This amount is fixed, I have to pay it no matter what, so pff.
I simply repeated I get a pretty good discount (but did not mention the amount)
She then stated that with the price drops in June or something I’d end up paying much more than I should! Up to 35% for gas alone! (This price drop applies to variable contracts, I went for a fixed price for a year, which could mean I do indeed ‘pay more than I should’, but I like security so I happily pay a little more now. I’m also a bit sceptical about the price drop in general. And I barely use gas so price drop or not, I still pay a very fixed amount for that.)
I said ‘Yeah.’ not feeding her with any more info.
She then made a comment roughly like ‘Well, you wouldn’t want to pay more than the neighbours, now would you?’
I said ‘eh…’ and blinked a lot, which of course she did not see. The comment took me a bit by surprise, and I wish I had said what I thought at the time: ‘I don’t give a crap what my neighbours do.’ ‘Cause seriously, I mostly don’t care what others pay (unless they’re deliberately duped, then I try to educate them on the matter as much as I can. But if they found a good deal, yay for them. It’s not like I’ll benefit from them having to pay more than me…)
She then got all friendly-lovey-dovey and said ‘So how about you stick with us and we give you a nice variable contract? Wadda ya say?’
I said no. :)
She asked why and I said I didn’t feel like going through the administrative crap again. Not that I did before, but I was done with her. She said goodbye and I wished her a nice day. It was pretty simple for me, I have a new contract with Y, ‘sticking with X’ would mean breaking the contract and having to pay for it. Yeah, sounds great! ;)
The thing is, all through the conversation, she clearly tried to make me feel I had made a horrible mistake and I don’t buy that. If you start out like that, you lose me straight away. I’m okay with making mistakes, I’m not okay with anyone rubbing it in. And certainly not when I made the right choice for me. (little side-step here: people will often try and rub in ‘your’ mistake because they simple would not have done the same thing, regardless of what’s best for you or if you’ve already accepted the fact you made it and moved on. No need to drag that out…)
Anyway, I firmly believe I made the right choice and this phone-call leaves me with a bad feeling about company X where before, I had none.
Please treat me as an adult, and as a client. I am not your friend or your child, if you want to keep me as a customer, treat me like a decent person. Thanks :)
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