What do you think of when you hear the words 'Black Friday'? Chaotic stores with people arm wrestling over the last item on the shelf? A great chance to stock on Christmas gifts for less? So-called bargains that aren't actually bargains? People buying s**t they don't need?
I have always associated Black Friday with reduced price consumer goods and never really thought about it in a services capacity. Enter NOW TV.
I first became aware of NOW TV's Black Friday offer last year, and with savings of up to 60% off, whether you are an existing customer or not, it's definitely one to make you sit up and listen
There are Sky sports passes, kids passes, and my personal favourites: the entertainment and cinema passes. Offers range from a one month pass, a 3 month pass and the ultimate: the 12 month package (the latter being the bandwagon I leapt on last year)
At the time of writing this, the 12 month entertainment and cinema Black Friday pass rings in at £99. And whilst £99 sounds like a lot of money, know this:
1) The 12 month entertainment and cinema pass usually costs circa £252 (so it's a pretty decent saving)
2) The reduced price works out at £8.25 a month. With the cinema costing far more than this each visit, NOW TV gives me the chance to catch the latest movies freshly released before they've even made it onto Netflix or Amazon.
Since signing up to NOW TV's Black Friday offer last year, I've barely been back to the cinema and can watch many new movies a month than ever before - plus great Sky shows like Riveria (recommend) and old favourites like SATC and The Walking Dead.
With last year's Black Friday pass soon coming to an end. I hopped onto the NOW TV website here hoping to renew for another year. As an existing customer, I had to log onto my account and then head to the Black Friday offers section (this section personalised to each type of customer).
What first struck me was the lack of offers available to me. Despite being an active user of the cinema and entertainment channels, I wasn't offered anything in these areas - just a sky sports package (something I have never used and never will). I couldn't see the 12 month Black Friday offer I was seeing splashed about on every TV advert left, right and center. I heard whispers of there maybe being a 3 month offer (also not there)
I did some further research and discovered the Black Friday NOW TV entertainment and cinema offers were only available to new customers and not existing customers.
I wasn't happy. And I wasn't alone. The NOW TV forums and help pages were (and still are) full of disgruntled existing customers left feeling very disappointed this Black Friday.
Admittedly last year wasn't exactly smooth sailing either. I had issues claiming last year's Black Friday offer because my existing pass had a certain number of days remaining on it which clashed with the Black Friday promotion dates. However having popped onto the NOW TV chat, I spoke to a very helpful customer services advisor who managed to resolve the issue for me without any fuss, and even sent me a new NOW TV smart stick in the mail.
I have always associated Black Friday with reduced price consumer goods and never really thought about it in a services capacity. Enter NOW TV.
There are Sky sports passes, kids passes, and my personal favourites: the entertainment and cinema passes. Offers range from a one month pass, a 3 month pass and the ultimate: the 12 month package (the latter being the bandwagon I leapt on last year)
WHAT'S THE DAMAGE?
At the time of writing this, the 12 month entertainment and cinema Black Friday pass rings in at £99. And whilst £99 sounds like a lot of money, know this:
1) The 12 month entertainment and cinema pass usually costs circa £252 (so it's a pretty decent saving)
2) The reduced price works out at £8.25 a month. With the cinema costing far more than this each visit, NOW TV gives me the chance to catch the latest movies freshly released before they've even made it onto Netflix or Amazon.
Since signing up to NOW TV's Black Friday offer last year, I've barely been back to the cinema and can watch many new movies a month than ever before - plus great Sky shows like Riveria (recommend) and old favourites like SATC and The Walking Dead.
THE BAD NEWS
With last year's Black Friday pass soon coming to an end. I hopped onto the NOW TV website here hoping to renew for another year. As an existing customer, I had to log onto my account and then head to the Black Friday offers section (this section personalised to each type of customer).
What first struck me was the lack of offers available to me. Despite being an active user of the cinema and entertainment channels, I wasn't offered anything in these areas - just a sky sports package (something I have never used and never will). I couldn't see the 12 month Black Friday offer I was seeing splashed about on every TV advert left, right and center. I heard whispers of there maybe being a 3 month offer (also not there)
I did some further research and discovered the Black Friday NOW TV entertainment and cinema offers were only available to new customers and not existing customers.
I wasn't happy. And I wasn't alone. The NOW TV forums and help pages were (and still are) full of disgruntled existing customers left feeling very disappointed this Black Friday.
LAST YEAR
THIS YEAR
I would love to say this was the same story this year (WRONG). The advisors on chat this time around lacked empathy and were really robotic (likely bored of hearing the same complaint over and over again) and were reeling off blanket responses, likely from some company approved script. I gave it a good go, but wasn't getting anywhere.
The advisor I spoke to then had the cheek to say "stay tuned for our up-and-coming Christmas and New Years offers". I argued these were unlikely to be as good as their 60% off Black Friday offer and asked what these would be (they couldn't disclose). How can I "hang on" in good faith when I have already done this ahead of Black Friday and then been let down all because I am not a new customer?
THE REALITY
NOW TV are unable to offer existing customers anything for their previous custom and year(s) of loyalty. There is no thank you or incentive for being an existing customer (rookie error NOW TV).
Not only that, but my existing Black Friday offer comes to an end soon and when it does, I would have to pay more than I did before for the service. As a loyal customer for the last few years, how is this fair?
The whole experience leaves many (including myself) deactivating their NOW TV accounts, not wanting to pay a penny more out of principle. Surely £99 is better than no money at all? Add onto that existing customers leaving NOW TV completely. There is no value to alienating existing customers, it never ends well.
Not only that, but my existing Black Friday offer comes to an end soon and when it does, I would have to pay more than I did before for the service. As a loyal customer for the last few years, how is this fair?
The whole experience leaves many (including myself) deactivating their NOW TV accounts, not wanting to pay a penny more out of principle. Surely £99 is better than no money at all? Add onto that existing customers leaving NOW TV completely. There is no value to alienating existing customers, it never ends well.
HOW TO BEAT THE SYSTEM
There are several hacks to get around this if you are an existing customer and don't fancy shelling out circa £252 a year (and why should you?)
1) sign up as a new customer - in doing so, you will be able to claim the Black Friday offer (but check the offer is still available first).
2) sign up for a free trial - NOW TV does free 7 day trials so if you are strategic with when you claim these, you can easily be covered with Christmas movies and entertainment for your family over the Christmas break.
3) assess your usage and cut back - I have been on the annual cinema and entertainment pass for the last year and on reflection realised that I don't use the entertainment pass all that much (it's only really to binge watch a series like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead). With this in mind, it makes a lot more sense to only purchase a one month entertainment pass as and when I need it.
4) reduce the cost with Tesco Clubcard - I have spoken at length before here about my love for the Tesco Clubcard system. By shopping at Tesco and also using my Tesco credit card card elsewhere too, I can generate Tesco points which are then converted into Tesco vouchers. On the Tesco Clubcard exchange site here, these vouchers can be put towards days out and a whole wealth of other experiences. Often your Tesco vouchers can be doubled or tripled in value - meaning you get more for your money. NOW TV is currently included as one of the offers on the site and for every 50p of Tesco vouchers, this converts into £1.50 to spend with NOW TV. So say you needed a £9 one month pass (don't quote me on that number!), all you would need to do is use £3 of your Tesco vouchers (essentially free money!).
WHAT'S NEXT?
I didn't sign up as a new customer out of principle and have deactivated my account. I may go down the Tesco voucher route next year, but will only sign up when I know there is a series or film(s) I want to watch. And even then, I will only sign up for a month pass. Because £10 or less a couple of times a year is still a darn sight cheaper than their £99 Black Friday offer.
Did you feel cheated by the NOW TV Black Friday sale?
Image source: Pixabay
No comments:
Post a Comment
I am forever grateful for each and every comment I receive, and try my best to reply to them all.
If you leave a comment, I will check out your blog / Twitter and say hi in some capacity
Select "Name/URL" or "anon" from the "comment as" drop-down if you aren't visiting via a blog