How do you handle this?

Not much we can do about it but yes, I complain too. Two that I fight with every yr is our cable company and Sirius radio. They keep offering great deals for new customers but what about us that have been loyal customers for many years? It really ticks me off.

 

Darn tootin' - it tremendously bothers me.

 

I am with you.. I am a smart ass too as I really think that you should say well fine cancel me and open up a new account it really annoys us to that they are bending over fir new business but not offering incentives to keep business and their loyal customers who have been with them for years. Ugh !

 

I think it's SO unfair!! My DH does call on lots of things, though, and they usually give us SOME compensation. We changed to Sprint because their prices were so much better than Verizon and low and behold, about a year later, they started raising their prices. He called and told them if they didn't do something, we were going back to Verizon. Miraculously, they found some "bargains" for us. It never hurts to try.

 

Yes. I try to steer clear of generational griping. but it DID used to be that good business involved honor. Not only personal honor but as in honoring those who helped you build your business to where it is now. I find that the current generation (20's-40)is lacking a culture of honor. It's why I don't like the expression "all about me".

 

You go girl! I get a bit of flack from the family when I speak out, but if done properly it can be productive.

 

I know that AT&T is very happy to keep you on the same cell phone plan FOREVER -- especially if it is one where you have to pay for things that other (often newer) plans include free. In fact, one time at the store, an employee told me how he had signed up his 3 year old for a phone plan because it was such a good deal - a deal that was not going to be offered in the future. As long as he keeps the phone, he can get the deal. Of course, he has an advantage as he is selling these plans and knows all about them --- but us? Who has time to research plans when they seem to change constantly?

Always, always read the small print... those promotional prices rarely last past the first year.

That said, there are still some places that offer loyalty rewards -- like the shoe store where I get my walking shoes. They said congratulations: this is your 6th pair and you get 30% off this pair. You can count on me going back!

 

I have to say there are some companies that still honor longevity! I have been with the same pest control for 10 years (my future SIL sold us the service and gave it to us at close to cost).

The other day I called to change my service date and they actually said “I see you have been with us for 10 years, we are going to offer you a discount. YAY!

I don’t think they know that in that 10 years, we have moved to a house double in size, triple in land (next to open space so we have more vole and mice issues they control) and an extra “garage” they have to deal with!
First time someone has lowered my cost automatically!

 

I'm curious what age you think most CEOs are? Granted, the website business Kat mentions probably has a young owner, but most businesses are run by older people. Millennials can barely get their foot in the door...and forget about finding a job that allows us to afford to pay off student loans AND buy a house (mostly because Boomers are "aging in place" and driving up prices). And forget pensions: Boomers got those, but Millennials have to piece together their retirement plans, both in terms of money and healthcare.

But back to businesses: the average age of a CEO is 50.

 

Ugh. I absolutely HATE that we have to call every year or every other year to "negotiate" with Comcast. Although I will say that this last time we did end up getting them to keep our price the same. I think they agreed mostly because so many people are cutting cables and they finally actually NEED us as a customer. Drives me crazy how confusing and hard they make it too.

I do kind of understand why they do that though, give you a deal and make sure you know the price will go up after you've tried out their service, but I don't understand your situation Kat where they have added a new service but only want new customers to be able to use it. If it's a good service they should want all their customers to have access. I would definitely call them on that.

 

I'm going to disagree with the bold somewhat. I am a "boomer" and I do not have a pension. I never worked for a company that had that available as pensions were becoming less and less popular in the 70's. I am retired and I had to piece together my retirement and health care options as well. And, the only boomers I know that do have a pension are those that worked through a union or a teacher that contributed to the state teachers retirement system here in Ohio.

And, back to businesses: if the average age of a CEO is 50, they are not baby boomers. They are a part of Gen X.

I have found that small businesses are more likely to show the loyalty to their customers with discounts. I switched from a large lawn care company to a small locally owned one several years ago. Every year, the other one raised their prices and did not offer a discount for pre-payment for the year. The small company actually charged less to start with and by pre-paying for the year, I get a 10% discount. Works for me.

 

If you gripe and complain and threaten to leave, in our experience, we've always had a deal almost as good as our original one. And you don't want to hear my dh when he makes those calls. It's scary!

But remember, that first price IS a deal. It's advertised as such. So is loyalty rewarded? no not much. Would we all (making a guess here) like it to be like it once was? Probably but it's not, so I try not to get in a tizzy about things that are as they are now.

 

@HavaDrPepper I never meant to imply that *all* Boomers have those options, so I apologize. My issue was assuming that all millennials have an entitled, "gimme" attitude and have had everything handed to them (or expect it to be handed to them). It's not the first time it's been mentioned here and it disappoints me that previous generations are quick to assume the worst about the generation they helped raise and/or interacted with while the generation was being raised.

As for the age: age 50 is Gen X, which is not Millennial. That was my point--not that it's a Boomer, but that, on average, it wasn't the oft-maligned millennial as stated.

 

@Tree City. No problem. I have found that quite a few of the millenials that I have interacted with do believe that the Boomers are the root of all their problems when some of us have had the same problems they have throughout our working life. So in a way, it goes both directions. Things are assumed about boomers that aren't necessarily true just like millenials.

As for the "gimme" attitude... I am guilty of assuming that but it is because I have seen a lot of it in my personal interactions with employees where I used to work although I worked directly with a girl that was so far from the gimme even though she was a millenial. It was refreshing to work with her.