This is partly a rant, partly a discussion of appalling customer service. I've been with Demon Internet Services, an ISP since 1992, right from when it was an independant company through to it being owned by Vodaphone. They've always offered a good service, which is why I have stayed with them. Now, some of you may know that I had an operation recently which meant a lot of time sitting doing nothing, which leads to me spending a lot of time watching catchup TV and watching YouTube (as you do).
Next thing that I know is that I get a threatening email from Demon entitled 'Demon Broadband Fair Usage Policy - Warning Email' It explains that I am close to (not at, not exceeded, but close to) a capped limit of 60GB over a monthly rolling period. The threat is that if I exceed my 60GB then my service will be capped at 128kbps between the hours of 9am and 11pm which basically means that it would be close to unuseable. I have been getting these emails every day for the last three days - they're automatically generated, so it's not surprising. I did a bit of digging around and eventually wound up talking to a very nice chap by the name of Alan. It transpires that the contract that I'm on is an old one, and there's a newer, cheaper one available - well thanks for telling me! However, it's not close to the price or speed of something like BT Infinity, which is where I'm going to next.
I really didn't want to move - mainly because of inertia but also because I've had good experiences with Demon. However, any company that treats its customers in a threatening and harrassing manner really doesn't deserve my loyalty. I did try - my requests were simple - stop sending me harrassing emails, and put my usage back to zero, so we can carry on. Apparently that's not possible - I would need to go onto a new contract with a 12 or 24 month agreement, and that's just not going to happen at all. Alan was apologetic, but said that there was nothing that could be done, which is of course nonsense, because they're not going to have a system that they can't play around with and reset.
So well done Demon! In three days you've managed to turn a loyal customer into one who is going to be leaving you as soon as possible. The moral of the story is that (as we all know) companies don't care about customers, they're not interested in loyalty, and they seem to think they can threaten, bully and harrass people with no comeback. We're not back in the 90s - there are plenty of choices available to customers - it's just a shame that not all companies understand that.
Recent Comments