You CAN Negotiate a Better Rate
How many of you have been with the same phone, cable, satellite, or internet company for years?! If so, you may want to pick up the phone and call their customer service departments. Often times, a simple phone call can lower your monthly bill significantly! Check out my sister’s recent experience with Qwest and DIRECTV…
As I was going through my junk mail a few days ago, I happened to notice an advertisement for Qwest. The Qwest ad was for new customers and offered a lower monthly rate than the one I was currently paying. This really bothered me as I had been a loyal Qwest customer for 4 years and had never received a rate reduction for my on-time payments and loyalty…the fact that a lower rate was being offered to new customers really got me fuming! Instead of tossing the ad in the trash, I picked up the phone and called Qwest customer service and explained my frustration regarding the new customer offer. To my surprise, the customer service rep offered to give me the lower advertised monthly rate for the next year…a $10 monthly savings (that’s a savings of $120 for the year…not bad for a 5 minute phone call)!
Feeling energized after my Qwest victory, I decided to contact DIRECTV as I had also received a flyer in the mail advertising 5 FREE months of the Premier Package (285 digital channels) with purchase of the NFL Sunday ticket for new DIRECTV customers who sign a 2 year contract?! As with Qwest, I had been a loyal DIRECTV customer for 4 years and had never been offered the Premier package for FREE with an NFL Sunday ticket purchase?! So I grabbed the phone and called DIRECTV and to my surprise and delight, they offered me the premier package AND the NFL Sunday ticket for an extra $2/month for the next 5 months (after that time, I will need to cancel or I will be charged the regular price). Yippee…I was so excited as my husband is a HUGE football fan so this was like Christmas in September for him!
If your hubby is a HUGE football fan like my brother-in-law and my own husband, you may want to consider signing up for DIRECTV. New customers can snag the premier package (285 digital channels including HBO, Starz, Cinemax and Showtime) for FREE for 5 months with the purchase of the NFL Sunday Ticket for $59.99 (you must also sign a 2 year contract to snag this deal). This is an amazing deal as you are saving almost $200 per month! At the end of 5 months, you can call DIRECTV and cancel the premier package and the NFL Sunday ticket without any penalties… your only obligation is to continue with a DIRECTV base programming package ($29.99/mo. or above) for 2 years.
What do you think? Have you ever taken the time to call companies and negotiate for a better rate? Please share your success stories (or failures if you like) below.
Directv is great,but please read the fine print with these people. Deposits are non-refundable and they can take money out of your banking account without permission(no notification whether by phone call or email) when canceling a contract.
By deposit: Do you mean the $19.95 you pay upon sign up? That is like with most any company – it is a sign up fee and so it is non-refundable, since you are getting over $1000 worth of installation FREE. Theyask people to pay it, so they know you are serios about the appointment and install – they do not want to send installers to a house and that person wasnt serious and now the company is out of money on the time wasted to set up the customer, and the technition is not going to get paid for the time he took to get to that persons house.
Keep in mind, my husband has driven over 100 miles to get to a persons house just to find out they want to back out of it and he doesn’t get paid a penny unless he does the installation. So, it is a small price to pay to save the company money from people who aren’t serious. That wasted cost falls back onto the customers monthly bills, so it helps keep prices lower. Lastly, it is refundable if you the order is canceled due to no fault of your own, such as the installer cannot do the install due to no line of site etc….
And, I worked for directv for 2 years and my husband still does after now 5 years and we have never seen DIrectv take any money from anyone with out permission or unless a person agreed to something and then try to cheat the company and even then it is still not likely.
*I know Directv has one of the most customer friendly services out there: they are willing to suspend service for you and you do not get charged while it is suspended: if you go out of town, financial reasons, and more up to 9 months depending.
*They do not charge you for services if your tv is cut off for nonpayment – like cable companies will
*they can waive an early cancellation fee if you reconnect your services and pay any, if any, past due amounts you owe upon reconnect request and manytimes will even reinstall free
* I felt like people were contstantly taking advantage of the company while I worked there, I felt like I was “giving away the farm” – but it is how directv takes car of the their customers. — keeping in mind, not everyone will qualify for freebies etc…. it is always based on the customers level of service, time with the company and payment history.
DIrectv service is awesonw, they have tons of children/kids channels and they have tons of awesome football and sport features built into your service. So, great company for families and sports lovers! If you want to know more about the sports features and how to use them, call directv.
Yes I have :). I called Time Warner Cable and told them I could not pay more than “x” amount for my internet and phone, and they came down to that price, a savings of about $20 a month.
I live in Ohio and I too have Time Warner. We only get the cable internet from them. I’ve found that the trick is to call and speak to someone in customer service. Ask for a lower rate and mention AT&T. Then, when they say no ask to speak to a supervisor. They will say yes! We get business class cable internet for $24.95 a month! It regularly runs $60+! We’ve also paid in advance for a year to get a special rate. It will pop back up after a year. We just call again and mention “loyal customer” for X amount of years and it goes back down again! HTH!!
I did the same thing with Time Warner!!! They have a special department called the retention department according to the customer service rep. I was given no trouble at all. I was on hold longer than it took to get a lower rate
I called DirecTV when I saw the great offers for new customers. The rep was unable to give me the same rate as new customers but she honored the free HD for life offer and we are no longer being charged the $10/mo HD access fee. Plus they threw in free premium channels for 6 months. You can almost always get free channels when you call and ask.
Good job, Collin’s sis!
Every year when my cable and internet are up for renewal, I call Comcast to see what deal I can get. The secret to getting a good deal is, don’t just talk to customer service. I listen to the prompts and then I select “downgrading or cancelling service”…these are the people who will go out of their way to make you a happy customer. I have had free HBO for 2 years now!
Anyone ever have any luck with comcast? They are soo expensive and our only choice where we live for high speed internet. So it’s not like I can call and theaten to switch. I’ve called before trying to get on a new customer deal and was told no.
what state do you live in? I HATE comcast and finally ditched them out of my house. I did have some luck negotiating with them before I dumped them completely. I know they have different packages in different states that are NEVER clearly advertised so you need to know what to ask for.
1. I am in NH and have another internet option along with phone and I negotiated a lower price with that company (fairpoint) by explaining that comcast was offering a lower package. They put me in a package that saved me $15/mo. Despite what everyone has said about fairpoint, it was a real nightmare in the beginning, but no issues now. More than I can say for my neighbors who have comcast.
2. I would call comcast every few months to find out how to lower my bill and the only option they gave me was to give them all 3 services…uhmmm..NO WAY! Once a year they send out a notice with all their options/packages and always price INCREASE. Well I noticed a little package called digital economy that is not advertised on line and reps NEVER tell you about it. Price = $50/mo. Not bad. I want in. I did email blast execs at comcast explaining that it is deceptive and feels like they are stealing money from customers by not explaining all packages when people call and ask. By law apparently they don’t have to put it all on the website. So, I get in this package, lose a bunch of channels, but then within 3 months I have an offer to bump up to the better package for the same price. Count me in. The catch, it expires in 6 months. So after 6 months I bump down to the lower digital economy package, and low and behold, 3 months later I can go back up at a better price. But NEVER will comcast just give me the best price.
3. Bye bye comcast, hello dish network. For $25/mo for one year I have everything I want. After the year it goes up by $15 – still cheaper than comcast and I don’t have to keep calling every 3/6 months.
4. If you do happen to live in NH like myself I can share with you some legislation that is trying to be pushed forward for more competition in this are.
Jen,
I live in Canaan, NH and would love to hear about legislation concerning cable/internet. I don’t think fairpoint is an option here yet. Where do you live?
Robin
We used to have Comcast. We got them when we moved into our apt in December. We then ended up buying a house 3 months later, and transferred Comcast with us. When I scheduled the transfer, I asked if it was at all possible to extend our new customer deal with another 6 months, since we were “new customers” in that region. The guy said: Sure!
3 months later, they bumped my price up to full price. After a month of haggling back and forth, they refused to budge (basically saying I’m a liar). We switched to DirecTV and AT&T. Husband ordered HD from DirecTV, but when we got around to hooking it up, it turned out that our box was regular. No biggie, I figured, just call DirecTV and get them to come with a new box and up our monthly payments. WRONG! DirecTV wanted us to pay $300 for a new box, that we didn’t even OWN! Nope, we had to pay $300 to LEASE the box of them. And ofcourse, we’re stuck in a 2 year contract. I had no issues paying maybe $50-100 for a new receiver, but not $300. I figured we’d just leave it. Then, I saw they were offering new customers not ONE but TWO free HD receivers in their house. That really got us angry.
So, husband contacted BBB, and last Tuesday, DirecTV was out here installing a free HD receiver free of charge. 😛 Oh, and I posted about my woes on my blog (totally small and unknown blog) and Comcast was on it within hours telling me to contact them. They have a WHOLE TEAM who deals with former customers, but they don’t realize they wouldn’t be former customers if they weren’t treated like dirt in the first place.
Dish Network next? 😉
Thanks ladies. I’ve been so fed up with them that I’ve almost considered going back to dial up. Just wish I had another choice! I’m in Woodland, WA and comcast is the only choice for high speed internet. With the phone I can go through verizon but it would be the same price a month as Comcast but without long distance calls included. We don’t have cable/satelite just phone and internet and pay 100 a month…ICK!! Charlotte~ we did have dish before we moved and I loved them as well as Qwest for internet and phone, loved them too!
Comcast did call me last month and offer me cable for $9.99 a month but I refused knowing that in 12 months it would go up to full price and harder for my family to let go of. 🙁
Where I live (in AL), the only option for cable is Comcast. What annoys me is that they have a $9 Limited Basic package (about 20-30 channels) or the $100 digital package. Whatever happened to regular cable? We have the $9 plan — as much as I like TV we just can’t afford to spend $150/month for cable and Internet.
I feel ya. My only option other than sattelite is COMCRAP! I hate it. I don’t have the credit to get Dish or Direct. They want a credit card anyways. Discrimination to those who chose to live without one in their life. We are supposed to be getting a new cable option sometime soon. They need some competition. I hate calling every few months to see what “promo” they have. They constantly raise their rates. Terrible.
And have you ever noticed they CHARGE YOU A UPGRADE/DOWNGRADE fee. How stupid is that. You are going to give them more money a month and they are going to charge you a few bucks for that. Ticks me off. They also tried to charge me $25 fee for coming to my house and fixing a cable that was bad on their box they put in. Technician said the old cable couldn’t support the internet so he fixed it. When I seen that bill I flipped out on them. As soon as a cuss word came out they took that right off the bill lol.
We have been loyal DirecTV customers for over 10 years (although, their database is different because we moved several times and some operations are independently operated). I tried calling them about a month ago to negotiate some lower rates, and they would not budge. They didn’t even offer any special rates on the NFL Sunday Ticket – which we had also been loyal subscribers to in the past. Hugely disappointed at our situation, but I am very happy that others were able to get some deals. Maybe it depends on the rep you talk to? It is worth a try if you have the time to call them!
I have also been a loyal customer for years and tried to do this a couple months ago and they would not do anything for me. The rep was very rude and not helpful at all. I think it is very unfair that new customers get such great deals but we never get any offers. You would think they would want to reward their loyal customers also.
They do reward you! If you are a true loyal customer you are rewarded with free programing, free or reduced equipment and what not. Just remember when you signed up there was some offer or incentive that got you to choose them. You had your turn.
I too had this same problem… and was planning to disconnect it, when they called me a few days later to offer me the $2/month Premier/NFL discount… so I’ll be keeping it at least 5 more months, past that I’m not so sure. Just makes me so mad they will do anything they can to get you, but won’t do anything to keep you!
I worked for DIRECTV as a Rep for about a year. Your sister just happened to get lucky she was able to get that offer. Not all good loyal customers are offered the NFL/Premier deal. It’s just kind of the luck of the draw. But there is no harm and calling and asking, just please don’t get mad when it’s not available for you. It’s not their fault:( If you truly are a loyal customer most of the time there is some sort of free offer for you—HBO/SHOWTIME/HD Upgrade. Just be careful with your agreement and not to extend it any further……Because they will hook you to it!
You go, girl! Good for you!
My hubby have been subscribing for cable TV & internet service from Media.com for years. He thought current DirecTV deal is so awesome b/c he is a huge football fan, but he thinks we can’t switch to them b/c of the internet service we have now is good, and if we change, we can’t find better deal than this. I wish Media.com give us a lower bills or anything.. 🙁
You should be able to keep phone, internet and cable with whoever you want. sometimes you will get a better deal by keeping it all bundled, but other times it works out better or the same to unbundle them. IMO, if you unbundle and pay the same but are happier with all your services then don’t feel like you have to give all your business to one company. This is what they are counting on.
Thanks Jen s! I’ll show your post to my hubby. 🙂
Always a No-go with Comcast. 🙁 So we only have internet through them now. I won’t give them any more of my money than that.
same here – Comcast never offered any reason to stay with them (and they didn’t offer us any reason to sign up with them either; they just bought the company that we used to get our cable TV from years ago). The only option Comcast ever gave me if I tried to get a better price on anything was to add more services. LOL! So we took all of the equipment back and now get just the basic networks and lower-lever Internet. Ironically, if we get just the lower-level Internet service, it costs as much as getting it bundled with the basic cable. I don’t really understand that and I hardly watch the TV anymore, but since the TV cable is now basically free, I’ll keep it.
I always try to get a good deal through our phone, internet, and Direct TV. I have done pretty well. Even gotten 20 dollars OFF each month of my Direct TV bill for 6 months …. 2 seperate times! Make sure you are friendly when you make these calls, it usually helps. I will write down info on my calendar so that I know when my ‘contract’ is up or when the deal runs out , so that I can call them again and see what promo’s they are running at that time.
Good luck with your calling!
We have Comcast, and with them, have to worry about getting the service we are already paying for before thinking about getting any sort of discount! I could go on for DAYS about all the problems we’ve had with Comcast, despite the fact that we are good customers who always pay on time! We even had one customer service rep refuse to give us his name and hang up on us, and we were NOT being rude to him… we were trying to figure out how Comcast managed to screw up our automatic payment so that the bill would be paid on time! If we had another choice, we would definitely switch services. Comcast is the worst!
I agree!! I wish I had a choice as well
me too. my service has been out off and on for the past month so i called today to figure out the problem. the guy mumbled into the phone and didn’t seem to care to much. i’m irritated that i have to as much as i do and then to not have it working… very irritating.
$10/month is all I’ve been paying for Dish Network for about 5 or 6 years now…
I signed on with them when I bought my house about 10 years ago and the rate was $25/mo. a few years later, they sent me a notice that it would be going up to $30/mo and, I didn’t feel I watched it enough to justify it at all muchless an extra $5/mo so i called to cancel. They tried talking me out of it and offered me a small package which included every channel i said i watched and a few extras for only $10/mo. The guy said it would only be a 6 month deal…so 6 months later when it went back to the normal rate, I again called to cancel, they renewed the $10 plan if I agreed not to cancel. $10 I can handle! and well, after the second or third 6 months, i have never had to call again! i just get a bill every month for $10…even after I got married and moved to a different house! Of course I’m scared to ever call them and ask about anything in fear they’ll decide they shouldn’t let me have it so cheaply… so i’m content with my $10 dish bill:)
What you are talking about is being “grandfathered” into a rate. And, yes – becareful – if you call into change anything about your package – you will most likely lose that rate as adding anything new is based on current prices etc… and you will get bumped up to what it is now. And, it cannot be undone.
If you add anything like showtime etc… they have to do it a la cart (if possible) otherwise, it will change your whole package and price and you will get the new prices that are available now.
PS – there are a lot of reps who do not know how to properly use or even know what a la cart is (people in billing are first level employees most of the time and just came out of training) and can mess up your package by just adding it on. My husband has delt with that a few times when customers move and he calls in to add new recievers and add a feature – the darn rep refuses to listen to him because he is an installer – they do not care he had 2 years of call center experiance; he hangs up with them and calls back in until he gets someone who knows what he is talking about, so not to mess up the customers account perminatly. So, I would be very careful about calling to to make any changes. Or, have a supervisor do it – good luck
HTH
Note: my hubby works for directv, I do not know how dish works – that is why I said: if possible. So, it’s best to talk with a supervisior about it to protect your account if ever youwant to change.
My wife is a huge XM Radio fan. When we purchased a new car last year we received the first 6 months free. When that expired they called to offer me the rest of the year for $69. I told them to cancel. They countered by lowering the price to $24. I grabbed that and when it expired I tried to negotiate another deal. They declined so I cancelled (the wife was not amused). Two weeks later they mailed us an offer for renewal of $69 for a year which was a savings of over 50%. Personally, I think it is silly to pay for radio BUT my wife loves all the channels and the static free reception so I splurge (to keep the peace). I have found that most vendors are open to negotiation. Comcast can be difficult though. I will say that anytime I have a problem with their service, I call them and they have been very good about crediting me for a weeks (or even one time a month) service for my troubles.
You’re such a good hubby! I sure hope your wife appreciates you! 🙂
Fran is correct, choose the “downgrade or cancel” option and you will get your rates reduced. They are trained to try to keep you as a customer (within reason of course). I have had my $140/month bill for cable, phone and high speed internet (I have them all bundled) reduced to $105/ month for 2 years now (that includes all fees and taxes, basically $35 a month for each), and in December I will do it a third time.
The key is to tell them that the tv cable really isn’t that important to you (and mean it, too!) but you will keep it if they come down in price. If they don’t, then stand by what you said and cancel, cancel, cancel. Last December I told them their rates go up every year (and they do) but my wages do not and in this economy they are crazy if they think I will pay more, so either lower your rates and cuts your costs or you lose me as a customer.
I was planning on doing the same thing with Comcast but they would not give me another year at the special price and were going to increase me to $167. I said I would cancel and they basically said, “Go ahead”. So I did. We just had Direct TV and Verizon installed for half the price.
We just did this recently with our internet through At&t. We’re moving and called to change our service, and I told my husband to downgrade our service or see if they would give us the new rate, a reduction of $25 a month. They did without even blinking twice. Granted, its up in a year…but for a year that’s another $300 in my pocket!
Just called Qwest. NO WAY….they would not come down. I am in the “price for life” for internet at $39.99/mon. they said thats as good as it gets!
Tried last year to get a better rate from DirecTV (loyal customer for 3 years). I tried stategic thinking, and asked for a better rate, I told them I would cancel, and everything…NOPE. I even asked to talk to a manager, NOPE. So guess what? I dropped them and switched to Dish Network. NOW guess how many “we want you back” offers I get in the mail. Guess they shouldn’t have called my bluff.
Did the same thing and I think they now spend more money sending me junk mail trying to get me back then they would have spent trying to keep my happy in the first place …..
I had DLS light with AT&T for more than 5 years at $14.99, I decided to take a promotion for 30 days and upgrade to a faster speed (Part of the promotion was that I had to pay for the higher speed in advace and then if i cancelled within the 30 days, they’d reimbursed me back ). It only took a few hours for me to realized that the faster speed wasn’t worth the additional $20 a month. So I called within the 30 days and downgraded to DLS light. At which time, AT&T refused to give me $14.99 price i was paying prior to the upgrade. They rised my rates and told me to wait for my reimbursement to come in the form of gift card. I waited 8 weeks for my GC and never got it, so I called and they told me I didn’t qualify to be reimbursed because i was supposed to keep the upgraded DLS for as long as it took them to process the reimbursement. I finally got my Gift Card only after I fought with a supervisor and wrote a letter to Corporate. AT&T SUCKS!
That’s why we call them AT&Suck in this household. Oh, and Comsuck. We’re working on a name for DirecTV… 😉
I call them Comcrap lol. I hate them with a passion. I would love to give them the boot.
called media.com and told them that i was going to cancel because i thought their prices were outrages (which they are). they cut me a deal that let me keep everything i had for $50 less a month than what i was getting charged (no lie). this is going to save me $600 for the year. i actually told my 2 friends about what i did and they did the same thing and they each got between $40 and $50 off their monthly bills too.
I’ve always liked Direct TV and had pleasant reps. We were recently offered the deal for all premium channels with NFL package since they said our old plan was going to be changing. We could have been grandfathered in, but after asking extensive questions, it turned out to be an excellent offer to change over. Next bill was actually lower. Will cancel channels in 5 mths, but enjoy in the meantime. This did not lock me into a contract and rep was not pushy. Even offered to call back so I could discuss with hubby. Glad your sis got great deals!!
To make our lives simpler all around, we ditched DirecTV last year and went with an antenna only. We love the limited television, and better yet, we love the savings. Our relationship with DirecTV did not end on a good note, but now I don’t have to worry about dealing with them.
I have Time Warner. My bill for cable and internet is $29.89. I get all the channels of the $50 package because they don’t have any filters for the lines. Roadrunner Lite is $17.95.
I heard about that – there is analog and then digital – analog you can get free to additional tvs, where digital you need the box – and if you are doing what I think you mean, it is called stealing cable service and is possibly why you are not posting your name. Lovely, I do not think Collin wants people promoting stealing or crimes of any sort on her blog to save money,
I will say that once you get the reduced price once, most companies will not do it again. I effectively lowered both our Dish Network and local newspaper subscriptions to the new-subscriber rates, but once the specified period was over, it went back to the original price and those companies would not offer me another discount. But it never hurts to try! I’ve always found that killing your sales people with kindness is also a great way to get deals– they deal with grumpy people all day and I’m sure it’s nice to speak to a rational, thankful customer 🙂
Funny you brought this up, I did this with my newspaper subscription just this week! I am always looking for avenues to save some money and we have always paid for our newspaper 8 weeks at a time, which is NOT the best way to do it. So I wanted to see if I could get a good deal on our subscription. If we pay for every day of the week for 8 weeks we pay ~$38 (or $4.75/wk), but if we paid for a year it would be about ~$226 ($4.35/wk) – not that big of a savings. However, on another blog I saw she had talked about a website that offered discounted rates for newspapers across the country and my paper would be $117/yr ($2.25/wk). I was feeling a little leery about the internet deal even though I researched it and the company had an A+ with the BBB so I called my newspaper to see if they would match the price. Well, they offered me $130/yr ($2.50/wk) and I was definitely willing to pay the extra $13 for peace of mind considering I was saving a whopping $96 compared to what they had listed in my renewal!!! So pick up those phones ladies (and gents) and start savings on those monthly bills!
what was the web sight? thanks
I was a DirecTV customer for 3 years. The first year was great, but when the promotions ended it was awful. We downgraded our service to a cheaper package and it took 6 months for the billing to get it right- and that was with us calling and wasting 30-45 minutes on the phone with them every month. We put our account on hold (my husband is military and went on TDY for 6 months, I went home to stay with family) and as soon as we re-activated we had issues with the bill again. We had to call every month again, and eventually had a very large credit since they had overcharged us so many times. We needed to put our account on hold again when my husband was getting ready for a tour overseas, and they told us that while they support the military they would not put our account on hold again or let us out of our contract (they told us their policy changed and they would no longer honor the agreement that they originally had when we signed our contract). Our contract finally ended and we cancelled service. 2 months later, still no check for our remaining account balance, and now since we’re not customers they “don’t have any records”. DirecTV has the worst customer service and the worst satellite service, we tell everyone we know NOT to bother with DirecTV!
I think their billing system is one of the easiest. It is also online to view to see how things are and the paycycle and billing date are always the same.
I wish that were the case here in our area. They will not budge on their price after many phone calls. So we end up switching back and forth every two years. Such a pain but worth every penny.
WARNING: Be careful of ANY new contracts you sign. Sprint’s cell phone contract lets them take away discounts during your contract time and all they have to do is warn you with a message even though they ‘verbally’ told you – that you would get a discount. They took away the company (employer) discount for cell phone lines 3-5, starting with the September bill. And they said technically, because of the contract, they could take away the discount for cell phone lines 1 & 2, if they wanted. They are not grandfathering the discount for lines 3 – 5 for current customers in. Customers are furious and ready to change cell phone companies when their contract is out. So please read the contracts you sign from now on, Companies are looking for a way to save too (even at the cost of loosing customers in the future) 🙁
I called Verizon when we received an advertisement for the bundle package we have, just at a lower rate. I explained I was frustrated that I receive these ads addressed to me, since I am a current customer. They said it was no problem and promptly took $20 off our bundle package for a year! $20 savings each month for a year was worth a 5 minute phone call! Then, when our contract was up for renewal, I called and said we could not afford the price hike, and they kept it the same price for another year, except our internet was going to be “a little bit slower.” I have noticed no difference in the speed of our internet, and our bill is still credited $20 a month for “customer loyalty!” Works for me!
Your post inspired me to call Comcast, through which we have internet & television services. The end result was a $20 monthly savings on our bill for the exact same services we’re receiving now. The savings will be in effect for the next year, and then the price will go back up to what we’re paying now. I saw some great advertised priced on Comcast.com, but they were only available to new customers. BUT it took a total of 45 minutes and some frustration before I finally found a customer service representative who would work with me instead of just saying that they couldn’t help me unless I added a service (in this case, a phone line, which I do not need since we use our cell phones).
Whew! It was worth the time to save $240 over the course of the next year, but I wish they would make it a little easier.
Oh, Comcast. I inadvertently got myself into a 1 year contract for $140/month for tv, internet, and phone. I called 7 months ago and they said I had 7 months on my contract. So I called again last week, and they tried to tell me I was on another 1 year contract… I insisted I was not, and they looked in the records and I was right. 🙂 So I told them to cancel my cable TV since I never watch anymore. Then I asked the price for the internet and phone, $55 for internet and $45 for phone. I asked them why I should not switch to Vonage, which offers unlimited calls for $26/month. She tried to downgrade me to a local plan but I insisted that I would switch my phone to Vonage, and as a result she offered me internet for $39.99 and phone for $29.99. My bill was cut in half! I was so happy. 😀
This is not about internet or tv service, but we have been loyal Allstate customers for years. Last year when we bought a new car we decided to shop around for insurance to make sure we were getting the best deal. We found a much lower rate from someone else for the exact same coverage. When I called our Allstate agent and explained that we really loved Allstate but had found a much lower rate from someone else he told us about a new program they had just started that was for people with good driving records and good credit and who had multiple policies through them (we also have our homeowners insurance). We qualified and it dropped our insurance rates $80 per month – for actually better coverage! Took about 10 minutes on the phone.
i am with Verizon/FIOS for my tv, internet, and home phone. I call every 3 months or so, to ask if they are offering any discounts/promos. They offer for new customers promos all the time and these are available for current customers too – you just need to ask!! They are also great about giving discounts if you tell them you want to stay with them but need to save some money.
I pay just $80 a month and get HBO/Cinemmax, all the HD channels, have multiple DVR units, FIOS internet, home phone, etc – just because I have mulitple customer courtesy discounts applied to my account! Looking at my bill its pretty amazing-i have a bundle discount for having mutliple services with them, 2 loyal customer courtesy discounts, and more; for me these currently these add up to a $600/ yr savings if annualized. There are also promos I take advantage of – ie getting HBO/Cinnemax movie package for 3 months free. You must remember to cancel or you will get charged. I mark my calendar for a week or two before the promo end date, call and cancel, then call back in a month or so and ask for it again. These promos are a typically offered to new customers as a sign on incentive – but as a loyal customer, they have never told me No!
Just wanted to add – I am NOT in any type of contract with Verizon. I can leave at any time and am not committed…I am on a month by month service usage arrangement with them now. When I first signed up, I was locked into one year.
We have been with DirecTV for 2 years now and I am very happy with their customer service. I call and ask about any “deals” for current customers and normally come away with $10 off for 6 months and movie channels for so long. I am always very nice and polite and have never threatened to cancel my service. I personally can’t say enough good things about DirecTV!
I just called Direct TV and they lowered my monthly bill by $20 and issued me an instant credit of $50 on my current bill. The key, talk to a disconect person!
I JUST bit the bullet and ordered this for hubby Sunday so he could watch all his games and they offered me a $20 per month discount and I agreed to the $43.99 per month (hey, it keeps him out of my hair! LOL). So when I seen this $2 per month my eyeballs almost popped out of my head.
Well, I called to investigate. The CS Rep told me that the Premier/NFL Promotions department tried contacting me on 9/10 to give me an offer but he couldn’t see the offer and gave me another number to call.
I called the next number, told her that I missed the call and low and behold the offer was $3.50 per month!!!!
The best part is that it does NOT extend my contract. I just have to make sure to call back in 5 month to cancel.
Thanks to Collin and sis for the great tip and heads up!!!
After though—Why didn’t the guy tell me this on Sunday when I called to order it in the first place….uuuggghhh!
Thanks again Collin!
We have been with our cell phone carrier for over 10 years (Sprint). We called to check some of our services since we had recently changed plans. They asked to look and see if they could get us a better rate. They couldn’t for what we used so they gave us $100.00 off our next bill just for calling. We’ve had friends who have told us you should call your cell phone provider every 6 months and things like that happen more than you know since they want to keep your business and cell phone companies are so competitive.
We called to cancel our DishNet subscription (we are going gazelle–Dave Ramsey fans know what that means–and that was one thing we cut) and they immediately offered to drop our bill by $10. Tempting but we still said no.
Just the other day I noticed that AT&T was offering dsl to new customers for $14.95 with a one year contract. I have been with them for a number of years and was paying $35 a month. So I called customer service, who said that that rate was only available to new customers and I didn’t qualify. So I called the cancelations department to cancel because they wouldn’t give me the lower price. Then they gave me the $14.95 price for one year!
I just called Direct and asked what the cancellation fee would be and of course they asked my why. I told them that other companies are offering free hd and we dont have it because i am not willing to pay for it. They ended up giving me a free hd reciever ($220) value and for the next 12 months a $17 dollar credit per month ($10 for the hd charge and $7 for our extra reciever) which the $7.00 we were already paying. We did have to start our 2 year contract over but in Feb we wanted a DVR so we had to restart it then so it didnt add that many more months. Thanks for the tip. Also he told me that I could call back in the 12 months and work something out again for the remaining 12 months.
I just did this yesterday! I called Comcast whom we have internet, cable and phone service with. I didn’t talk to customer service but chose the downgrade / cancel my service option. I said, “I am going to switch companies this weekend unless you can make it worth my while to stay. At Qwest I can get just phone and internet for $80 with the plan I want. Why am I paying $150 for all three with you?” He said, “Let me check the plans…” and a few minutes later I am getting the same service with faster internet and 60 more channels for $120 per month for a year. Sweet, huh? Apparently it’s the current promo. After this year, we’re dropping cable. It’s just not worth the expense when most channels broadcast HD over the airwaves now. Just buy an antennae and you’re set!
I have been couponing since late spring and so a lot of this is new and useful to me, but sometimes I am surprised at things I see on coupon websites. Like this post. (Collin this is not geared toward you!! You’re fabulous) My family has always bargained and negotiated with sales people for cars, jewelry, car rentals, vacation rentals, etc. This includes our cable/phone providers. When did people get so apathetic about spending money that they just continue to let companies raise their rates without ever asking? It’s just like the APR on your credit card…It’s your money, don’t give it away. I may not always spend the huge amount of time coupons require, but for stuff that requires a phone call, you bet I am calling. I guess it just surprises me that people do not know to call and negotiate. That being said, my mom lives in Cincinnati where Time Warner will do a “dish buy back” program and she gets digital cable and internet for 50 a month. She’s never been a dish customer. I live in Columbus and can’t get basic and internet less than 70 a month. I have talked til I am blue in the face.
One of the best ways to save money is to get rid of your TV plan altogether. You can watch all your shows online (for free) or have a $9 subscription to Netflix. It’s far cheaper! Since my husband and I got rid of our TV 4 months ago, we’ve saved $240 and probably more on electricity costs.
I know it sounds crazy to get rid watching TV, but how many times do you turn on the TV and discover there’s nothing you want to watch (even with hundreds of channels)? Plus, like I said…you can watch your favorite TV shows online and you’ll find yourself much more productive!
I recently did this with my trash/garbage service. I called all the local companies and got quotes. Then I called our current provider. They were willing to match the lowest quote.
After hearing about this awhile ago I contacted my providers and saved big time! With Qwest I will be saving about $20 a month and with Dish Network I will be saving an extra $10 a month. $30 a month savings = $360 savings a year! Not bad! I only wish I would have done it sooner!