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This exact thing happened to me yesterday. Was trying to get Verizon to reverse a recent $20 rate increase due to a "customer loyalty discount" that automatical

This exact thing happened to me yesterday. Was trying to get Verizon to reverse a recent $20 rate increase due to a "customer loyalty discount" that automatically got removed. I spent 47 minutes going around in circles with the rep, politely explaining that I did not wish to change my plan, or even get my bill lowered to the current promo rates which are about $30 less than what I'm paying for the exact same service. She would not budge, and offered me all kinds of crappy options such as entering into a new 2-year lock in contract, or removing ALL HD channels from my TV lineup. Finally I threw in the towel and said, "I guess I just have to cancel this, I'm sorry". She immediately said, "Wait, let me see... hmm, Ok yes there does seem to be an offer here where I can extend your loyalty discount for another year. I'll go ahead and do that." Magic. Just like that. I asked her why we had to play an hour long cat-and-mouse game to get this done. She had no explanation.

mieseratte 7y ago
Seems like it's another form of price-segmentation. Just like some people take the time to cut and collect coupons, some people will spend the time on a 20 minute hold to spend another 20 minutes wrestling with a disempowered customer service representative, to spend another 10 on hold, to spend another 5 with the "supervisor" who is allowed to finally give you the proper rate. Some MBA bean-counter types figured out there is money left on the table, and the relative hit to reputation and lost customers comes out to less than they gain by doing it.
- nitwit005 7y ago
  Behaviors like this seem to mostly come out of companies with only a few competitors, such as telecom companies and airlines. They know they can push the limit of what people can or will pay due to lack of options.
  - nerdponx 7y ago
    This is literally why monopoly market power is bad.Even if you were not technically the only seller in the market, high transactions/switching costs can amount to more or less the same thing.
Merad 7y ago
> I asked her why we had to play an hour long cat-and-mouse game to get this done. She had no explanation. Because she's quite literally given a set of rules that says, "if the customer says X, you're allowed to take action Y."

mieseratte 7y ago

Seems like it's another form of price-segmentation. Just like some people take the time to cut and collect coupons, some people will spend the time on a 20 minute hold to spend another 20 minutes wrestling with a disempowered customer service representative, to spend another 10 on hold, to spend another 5 with the "supervisor" who is allowed to finally give you the proper rate. Some MBA bean-counter types figured out there is money left on the table, and the relative hit to reputation and lost customers comes out to less than they gain by doing it.

nitwit005 7y ago
Behaviors like this seem to mostly come out of companies with only a few competitors, such as telecom companies and airlines. They know they can push the limit of what people can or will pay due to lack of options.
- nerdponx 7y ago
  This is literally why monopoly market power is bad.Even if you were not technically the only seller in the market, high transactions/switching costs can amount to more or less the same thing.

Merad 7y ago

> I asked her why we had to play an hour long cat-and-mouse game to get this done. She had no explanation. Because she's quite literally given a set of rules that says, "if the customer says X, you're allowed to take action Y."