What price customer loyalty?

So I’d really like to know why some of the UK’s best known companies treat their existing customers with complete contempt.

 

I’ve been a member of the AA for four or five years, and have a package that means they will sort things out if my car has a problem at home or while I’m out and about. It’s a joint membership and they recently offered to extend the package for another year for £201. I thought this seemed quite high for a service that I don’t use most years, so I thought I’d check out the options. I started with the AA’s own website, and found I could buy the same package on line for almost £60 less. If I went via a cashback site, I could get an additional £50 off, taking it down to £92. So, I could save more than half the bill by taking a different route to doing business with the same company and getting the same coverage. That seems a particularly shoddy way to treat customers. 

 

A quick check on the RAC showed me I could buy the equivalent coverage, with a cashback discount for just £79. £122 is a substantial saving on the original £201, by anyone’s standards. 

 

This seems quite puzzling. Surely the AA doesn’t take advantage of loyal clients? Surely it wouldn’t charge them extra for staying with them over several years? Surely they would recognise that, especially now, loyal customers should be valued? 

 

Evidently the very fundamentals of customer care elude them.  

 

And am I still with the AA? No, because like most customers, I have no interest in or intention of paying someone almost three times the going rate for a service. I also refuse to deal with a company that treats my business with contempt.  

 

There are two things we can take from this. The first is never to assume that your suppliers are giving you the best possible deal and the second is to make sure you’re not taking your existing clients for granted, because they can always talk to your competitors.

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