So, my elderly neighbour is on TalkTalk for her phone, broadband and TV. She pays for all of this despite rarely using the broadband. The broadband gets used when a son or more are staying.
In addition she pays for an ‘Entertainment Booster’ on her TV package, which, broadly speaking, squirts various ‘Sky’ channels down the broadband and to her TV, via a TalkTalk provided YouView box (sitting where many have a Sky+ box).
Again, for most of her life, she, like almost all older folk I know, just rotates between the more well known channels (available for ‘free’) and doesn’t venture into the ‘Sky’ stuff. The ‘Sky’ stuff gets used when a son or more are staying.
This didn’t go unnoticed to TalkTalk who activated one of their sales team to call her.
In a confused and round about way, the sales lady, probably calling from Delhi, was telling her that TalkTalk could upgrade her (twisted pair) broadband to fibre. This would give all these extra speeds and would come with a new super dooper router that would provide Wi-Fi from earth to the moon.
Amazingly, all of this would cost about a Pound less a month than she was currently paying.
The sales lady told her that she (the liccle ol’ lady) would just lose the ‘Sky’ channels package in order to keep the price so low. She (the liccle ol’ lady) protested that her son enjoyed them. Cutting across her the sales lady said “But you rarely watch any of the channels in that package, so there’s no point.”
The sales lady was adamant that the ‘Entertainment Booster’ would have to go in order to keep the price the same as now (except for the £1 difference) for the fibre broadband and super dooper router. She argued round and round that the liccle ol’ lady would not be paying any more. The liccle ol’ lady kept saying that her son wanted the ‘Entertainment Booster’, and the sales lady said it was pointless.
Eventually she turned this into what appeared to be a begrudging suggestion that she could certainly have the ‘Entertainment Booster’ back but it would cost an additional £15 a month on top of the costs for the fibre, etc. £15 a month is exactly what the ‘Entertainment Booster’ costs anyway when you follow the on-screen instructions to set it up (“You can’t see this channel, but click ‘yes’ to instantly add an ‘Entertainment Booster’ to your account, and you’ll be able to watch it and dozens of others”).
In other words, to keep her service exactly as it is, but upgrade to fibre, they would want an extra £15 a month compared to what she was currently paying. However, rather than try to sell up the fibre for an extra £15 a month, they’d re-packaged the presentation as if she was getting something for nothing.
Crafty. I wonder how many people get ‘tricked’ by this phone call. And, most likely, only to realise they have lost their ‘Sky’ channels and so re-establish the ‘Entertainment Booster’ all over again (at £15 a month), not realising that they were originally conned into it being ‘switched off’ in the first place in order to be given fibre they didn’t want or need.
Pity the elderly and confused who will just say ‘yes’ without realising what they are saying ‘yes’ to.
England's England 