Do Companies Give Their Customers What They Want?

Much like the existential question ‘which came first: the chicken or the egg?’, whether companies supply the customer’s demands or the customers demand the products because the company supplies them is a constant debate. Regardless of which way round this is though, the company provides products and services for customers to purchase and by far the worst feeling when purchasing something is to find that the company has, essentially, falsely advertised their product.

O2 have recently released a new type of contract where customers are able to sign up to one contract and pay one set price each month but they are in fact on two tariffs – one for their phone and one for their airtime allowance. O2 then advertise this product as allowing their customers to ‘refresh’ (upgrade) their phone at any point during their contract; you can ‘upgrade your phone as regularly as phones are upgraded’.

The foundation for this new type of contract being that while customers enjoy the perks of contracts (cheaper phones, higher airtime allowance, no upfront costs) they do not always want to be tied into a contract for lengthy periods of time – particularly with the same phone. Therefore this form of contract allows you to update your phone and have the most recent version, without having to buy yourself out of the contract. Doesn’t this sound fabulous? No complications, just exactly what the customer wants yes? No. Not even nearly. All this means is that you have two contracts and you only have to pay the outstanding balance on one. So for instance if you pay £17 per month for airtime and £15 per month for the phone and five months into your 24 month contract you decide that you want a new phone you can pay £285 to get out of your phone contract and get a new phone. Additionally, to get a reasonable price on the phone component of the contract the customer often has to pay something upfront whereas you can get a normal contract without doing that.

The issue with this advertisement is simply that it is advertised with the omission of the extra charges so the implication is that the customer is getting exactly what they want – the cheaper airtime allowance but a new phone whenever they’re bored. But this is not the case! There will always be an outstanding balance that needs paying off.

For more information on the products and services offered by O2, including their O2 Refresh contracts, contact the  O2 customer services department and speak with a member of their team. For any news regarding O2's movements in the business world, have a read of our O2 news updates.