M1 Unlimited Wireless Broadband Service
DOGGED by complaints about its 'unlimited' wireless broadband service that in fact had a limit, MobileOne (M1) is tweaking it to win back unhappy customers....But customers who signed up for the supposedly surf-all-you-can service found there was a limit - in small print on the brochures - on how much they could surf....M1 said it was raising this download limit to 5GB a month - more than double the original 2GB limit...98 per cent of customers do not need or use more than 5GB of data....
- The Straits Times, 2 Mar 2007
M1 has finally reacted to the unhappiness of customers who expressed unhappiness at being misled about the "unlimited" service. With the raise from 2GB limit to 5GB, which supposedly caters for the needs of 98 percent of customers, M1 is hoping to resolve this issue.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a marketing campaign gone totally wrong. "Unlimited" IS unlimited and imposing a limit of 5GB and getting clients to pay extra for usage above 5GB goes entirely against the consumers' understanding of "unlimited". Furthermore, there is even a maximum 10GB limit!!All the other unlimited plans in the market truly mean unlimited usage. It is a matter of managing client expectations when you market your product.
When a high price is paid for a product and you do not get the features expected, you will definitely check with the supplier. When the supplier points you then to the fine print that is not easily readable at arm's length and says "I told you so", you are definitely going to be angry at being misled into the purchase.
Since M1 says that 98 percent of customers will not need more than 5GB and it has a present customer base of 10,000 for this service. Why start penalising the 9800 customers for M1's own inability to provide for the needs of 200 customers? Should it even think of penalising the 200 customers who are heavy users of this service? The heavy users are the ones who will be able to put the service to good test and are also the most likely advocates for unlimited wireless broadband service.
The way M1 marketed and handled this Unlimited Wireless Broadband is a good lesson on how not to do things. It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds eventually.
- The Straits Times, 2 Mar 2007
M1 has finally reacted to the unhappiness of customers who expressed unhappiness at being misled about the "unlimited" service. With the raise from 2GB limit to 5GB, which supposedly caters for the needs of 98 percent of customers, M1 is hoping to resolve this issue.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a marketing campaign gone totally wrong. "Unlimited" IS unlimited and imposing a limit of 5GB and getting clients to pay extra for usage above 5GB goes entirely against the consumers' understanding of "unlimited". Furthermore, there is even a maximum 10GB limit!!All the other unlimited plans in the market truly mean unlimited usage. It is a matter of managing client expectations when you market your product.
When a high price is paid for a product and you do not get the features expected, you will definitely check with the supplier. When the supplier points you then to the fine print that is not easily readable at arm's length and says "I told you so", you are definitely going to be angry at being misled into the purchase.
Since M1 says that 98 percent of customers will not need more than 5GB and it has a present customer base of 10,000 for this service. Why start penalising the 9800 customers for M1's own inability to provide for the needs of 200 customers? Should it even think of penalising the 200 customers who are heavy users of this service? The heavy users are the ones who will be able to put the service to good test and are also the most likely advocates for unlimited wireless broadband service.
The way M1 marketed and handled this Unlimited Wireless Broadband is a good lesson on how not to do things. It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds eventually.
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