In the last week I have had to do a couple of things that involved engaging with customer service departments. The first was with my car insurance company, who had sent a renewal quote through. As seems to be the case in the last few years, this had increased massively with no changes to my details or any claims. SO I called them, to see if this was the best they could do, and they promptly knocked some money off – however, a quick visit to some price comparison websites showed I could still do cheaper, which I did.

I then had to phone and cancel the renewal, at which point it seems they were able to knock off even more. Which made it almost (but not quite) as cheap as the new offer – enough of a difference that I would have gone with it to save the hassle of switching. Why do they do it? Surely the current financial situation is such that it would be better to retain customers by offering them the best deal straight away?

The second situation was switching broadband provider. We joined up with BT when we first moved in just over a year ago, and recently discovered that O2 would give us a great deal as we are O2 mobile customers. Such a good deal, that we would still save money even paying a cancellation fee. When I called BT to cancel, they said they would be able to give us a new deal in a months time, when there would be 3 months left on our contract. What appeared to be a very good deal in fact. However, it was not available then and there.

I just don’t understand it – but then if I had my way BT would be renationalised….