Retention Vouchers and Recontracting Tips with Singtel / Starhub / M1

Most of us stick with our telco providers, be it Singtel, Starhub, M1 for loyalty and convenience sake. Year on year, we renew our contracts, and in procecss, get a discount for a new phone purchase. However, there are vouchers for rewarding loyalty customers or just a little extra to retain you as a customer.

Well, if you are at the end of your contract term, or even sometimes at the 21 month mark, you could try to request from your respective telco to ask for a loyalty voucher. Your mileage may vary. Some have reported that despite being with a telco for 10 years, they were still rejected. Persistence do help and it is much easier to do it over the phone, rather than email, or at the physical shop.

Under what circumstances do they give vouchers?

For M1, the process seems clearer, with a check on the website revealed that upon 5 years with M1, you will receive $25 voucher per year and can be accumulated for another year, so in total you can claim $50 for year 6. And $50 is applicable for customers more than 10 years. For M1 specifically, they are e-vouchers, so customers can redeem the electronic voucher on the spot but only at M1 shop and not authorized dealers.

For Singtel, and Starhub, you would have to call in to request. Ocassionally, for the high volume or usage customer, you may be identified by the marketing department and automatically be sent a recontract voucher. Lucky you. Well, if you do not fall under this camp, typically, I would ask first for loyalty vouchers, and if that fails, then to be transferred to the retention department. The retention department has greater authority and flexibility in awarding these vouchers. I used to get $30-50 vouchers for phone redemption, but recently, it seems like the trend is moving towards monthly bill rebate, with up to two months or three months worth of rebate.

Alternatively, if all this still fails, there’s also the increasing trend of people taking it to social media. Complaining on either Singtel, Starhub, or M1 social media websites do help garner some attention and they would be pressed to respond to you. It’s a little ugly, but it might just work for you, especially if you have a strong case to present.

So if you are in the market for a new phone, with an expiring contract, do give the telcos a call and get a little something extra for being the loyal customer that you are. These vouchers and discounts also work for those crazy phone launches, like the iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and the equivalents… so despite desperatately craving for the new phone and are in the mood of the picture shown below, maybe you might want to give yourself a little discount first.

Hope it was helpful. Have fun bugging the hell out of the respective telco call centres.