The free laptop is a great incentive - if you can get it

Noreen · May 17, 2008, 11:00:56

QuoteIt's one of the most appealing broadband deals on offer: a free laptop if you agree to take out Carphone Warehouse/AOL's £20-a-month contract for two years. But six months after she signed up (and paid extra for a better laptop) one customer is at the end of her tether, with no computer, mysteriously cancelled contracts, non-existent refunds and endlessly frustrating attempts to contact the company...........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/may/17/internetphonesbroadband.consumeraffairs?gusrc=rss&feed=technologyfull

Rik · May 17, 2008, 11:06:04

The joys of dealing with the CPW.

Lance · May 17, 2008, 11:08:11

I wouldn't call the CPW appealing!

Rik · May 17, 2008, 11:27:44

Only in the litigious sense.

Sebby · May 17, 2008, 11:48:01

To be honest, a broadband provider offering a free laptop is alarm bells to me. If they have to give away a laptop...

Rik · May 17, 2008, 11:49:25

Orange have done it too.

I guess if you know no better than to tie yourself into an 18-24 month contract with a bad ISP in return for a low spec lappy...

Sebby · May 17, 2008, 11:51:59

Indeed. Even though you can get a fairly decently laptop for as little as £300 these days, I can see how the offer of a free laptop would entice a lot of people into signing a long contract. What they don't realise is that they're paying for it anyway (and not just in money!).

David · May 17, 2008, 11:56:41

If something seems to good to be true................it usually is

Rik · May 17, 2008, 11:59:14

Unfortunately, David, neither the laptop nor the contract is good - but the people signing up don't seem to realise that's the case.

Sebby · May 17, 2008, 11:59:30

Absolutely, David. There's no such thing as a free ~~lunch~~ laptop.

Lance · May 17, 2008, 12:02:06

The only time I could understand someone signing up is if they currently didn't have a computer or the internet. It's these poor souls who don't know any better I feel sorry for.

Rik · May 17, 2008, 12:04:19

That is an issue, isn't it. It's only once you get on the net that you can really find out about ISPs, at which point it's going to feel like a very long contract.

Lance · May 17, 2008, 12:09:25

But will it though. As these people don't know how it should be, they might just take it as standard.

They will be happy browsing their shopping sites and receiving emails, rather than running speed tests and reading the ISP's forum

Rik · May 17, 2008, 12:11:58

In which case, I guess, they are happy and no harm is done.

Lance · May 17, 2008, 12:14:00

The harm, as I see it, is the ISPs taking advantage of these poor people by providing a sub-standard service, and getting away with it

Rik · May 17, 2008, 12:21:17

You forgot the sub-standard lappy. It's snake oil all over again.

David · May 17, 2008, 13:05:15

Have they just upped the anti though,it wasn't that long ago people were signing for the fact that a "Free Modem" was part of the deal and at that time it seemed very attractive..
I think I may have been suckered into such a deal at that time,its not until you experience it and look around that things start to get clearer but given that the majority of people see and ad buy the product and don't really know what a real service is they,on the whole are happy.
I know someone with cpw and they are very happy with the service but I asked if the service was good and did the service slow down at certain times/also why didn't they answer Emails...........I rarely go on it,its there but I only switch on when I feel like it and all they really know is that its there and have no interest in speeds or anything else so they are happy...................This person would not even know if the service was down or even how to check their speeds so there is a market and I think its huge

madasahatter · May 17, 2008, 13:51:33

Quote from: badpianoplayer on May 17, 2008, 13:05:15
so there is a market and I think its huge

Tbh David, I think that type of market is probably as big as 50% of the ISP market - possibly even bigger. I know plenty of peeps who turn their PC on, do a bit of surfing, send a couple of e-mails then turn their PC off, and that's it - the regular pattern for them. You look in any ISP forum, and it's usually more or less the same faces that you see complaining again and again - simply because they are among the small percentage that actually know what they are doing and therefore what they should be able to expect out of the ISP. Peeps sign up with these ISPs for a number of reasons - I would suspect mostly because they don't know what they're doing and they like the price. Those are the ones who will be happy with the substandard service.

David · May 17, 2008, 14:09:23

Wonder if they will ever wake up,this is the same people who think I need my head testing for spending too much time on the pc,but the upside is my typing speed is not bad at all,in fact Wendy thinks its amazing,I don't think about it and just type,also I find the more you learn the more you want to know,and although I do struggle a bit.I am amazed at the lack of the basics I am still unaware of.

I prefer to try and get to grips with the fundamentals at least.I,with the help of this forum in particular have saved hundreds of pounds and gained a hell of a lot of knowledge.I don't panic anymore just try and figure it out.I am no longer scared of having a delve into my pc where others wouldn't dream of going further than what they know........they are what I once was...an engineers meal ticket..

madasahatter · May 17, 2008, 14:43:51

Quote from: badpianoplayer on May 17, 2008, 14:09:23
Wonder if they will ever wake up,

Doubt it - they are happy doing what they're doing, and that's great. The only trouble for me is that they put the rest of us at risk by clicking on anything going, having no security so they get infected and infect others etc.

David · May 17, 2008, 14:52:36

This is so true the one machine I lost was because I was very new,very wet behind the ears and received one of these round robin things,where people with good intentions send a message to all in their contact lists.needless to say I don't accept any of them anymore and just delete them.But the danger is there all the time.......not for me thanks keep your Prayers,and jokes and all that stuff,send it to someone else......

Tacitus · May 17, 2008, 19:05:00

Quote from: madasahatter on May 17, 2008, 13:51:33
Peeps sign up with these ISPs for a number of reasons - I would suspect mostly because they don't know what they're doing and they like the price. Those are the ones who will be happy with the substandard service.

My neighbour who was signed up to AOL, recently dumped them and went to TT mainly because of the 'everything including international calls for £22/month'. Price is the sole consideration.

I have to say it's one of the few times I've felt truly sorry for the people on a tech support line. Not that she isn't a nice person, but neither she nor her husband have a clue, even though she thinks she has. In all honesty if I had to deal with people like her on a support line all day, I think I'd slit my wrists...

That said I rang TT a couple of times on her behalf, found one operative in SA the other in Glasgow, and both were helpful and knowledgeable. Couldn't really fault them. It makes you wonder just how many of the complaints about poor service are really clueless folks not having any idea how to troubleshoot and giving wrong directions to the support line. Further confusion follows and then the customer starts to slag off the support people when it's not always their fault. Many of the problems I suspect are not broadband, but Windows related.

The thing is that it's those sort of people who will go for the bargain basement stuff which means (or should) greater support costs. I can see a point where cheap + greater support cost just doesn't add up to profit.

Places like iDNet, Zen etc attract a more discerning clientele, more willing to learn.

Rik · May 17, 2008, 19:38:36

Agreed, Tac, plus most of us have learnt a bit before arriving here.

Tacitus · May 17, 2008, 19:44:56

Quote from: Rik on May 17, 2008, 19:38:36
Agreed, Tac, plus most of us have learnt a bit before arriving here.

TBH Rik, when you're on a rubbish line you learn pretty quickly

madasahatter · May 17, 2008, 19:48:05

Quote from: Tacitus on May 17, 2008, 19:05:00
It makes you wonder just how many of the complaints about poor service are really clueless folks not having any idea how to troubleshoot and giving wrong directions to the support line.

Having worked on an ISP support line, I would guess far too many to be honest. The main problem is the peeps who won't or can't give you any information like the error messages that come up, what OS they are using, what mail client they are using, what ftp client they are using, what exactly they are doing when the problem occurs, have they updated their computer recently, is their firewall turned on, is it set to allow the traffic that they are complaining about being blocked etc etc etc.

All too often when I asked what the error message was all I got was things like "a load of gobbledook", or "I just clicked it off and phoned you"

Where I work now, I provide support (among other things) for a web hosting company and you'd think these peeps would be a lot more savvy with running businesses from their sites etc. Unfortunately quite often not.

You also have the problem that some peeps think that whatever their issue you should be able to just push a button and rectify the situation, or that you've deliberately caused the issue in the first place.

Trust me, being in support isn't an easy job at the best of times............