By not doing their homework.

They did not take time to compare my current rates with rates offered by their competitors. If they had (and I am assuming they didn't because I can't believe they would take this risk), they would not have sent me letter about increasing my rate.

The letter led me to call them to find out actual amount of increase. The significant (to me) price increase led me to call their competitors.

Before letter I was content to pay their fee. I hadn't planned on checking prices and making comparisons. But when they brought subject of fees up, I took initiative and ended up with a much better deal.

Maybe they were counting on most of their customers to roll over and accept it. But I wonder how many will now renegotiate their fees since subject has come up.

They obviously have different customers on different fee schedules. So why wouldn't they take time to determine which customers should have their fees increased and which should be left "overlooked" this year.

Customers who were paying close attention to their competitors fees would probably accept their "modest" price increase because of hassle (read: barrier) of switching to a competitor. Even if they did a price comparison a small increase is usually not worth trouble.

I guess moral of story is that before you bring up subject of increased fees, make sure you know your customers' alternatives.

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