Candies at the Exit Door

I have switched my broadband plan from Singnet to Starhub. At the end of the whole process, I found out that I could have just stayed on the same plan at the same monthly rates. It's a story that began late last year, just before my previous Singnet broadband plan expired.

A Singnet rep called me in October to remind me of my expiring plan and to dangle a sweet carrot for renewing the plan. 8Mbps for only $36.90 (I was paying $47 then). I decided to resist, thinking that there would be better deals during the November IT fair or at least during the month of December where the Internet Service Providers would be going all out to meet annual sales quotas. Alas there was no sniff of such good deals.

After Christmas, I checked again. Singnet was still charging $45 for the 8Mbps plan, even to re-contracting clients. The best on the plate was the Starhub Triple Freedom Pack Plus that cost $59.62 for 8Mbps broadband, Cable TV (basic channels) and digital home (telephone line). That roughly translates to $36 for the broadband, but I would have to get a wireless LAN card ($33) for my PC and a wireless home phone ($99).

So I called Singnet again. I explained to the staff that I wish to recontract and wanted to know whether there were any promotions for people like us. $45 per month, they would not budge. The plan was not an improvement of my previous plan I explained, cause I had 4 months free subscription the last time. No such promotions for now, but I could wait till end of the month.

I was fed up so I took up the Starhub plan. After spending a night hooking up the new voice-enabled modem and figuring out the router settings, it looked like I was all ready to terminate my old plan. So I called Singnet and they referred me to the 'Termination' department. A lady asked me why I decided to terminate, then came the clincher ... "Sir, what if we offered you 8Mbps at $36.90 per month and free home phone line subscription for two years..."

I do not know whether to laugh or to cry. I just wonder why they had placed the 'Candy' lady at the 'Exit' door and not at the door that reads 'Recontract' !