Negotiating on TV and Internet Cable Rates

[TooFrugal]

My husband and I went in person to our cable provider's office recently. We ended up getting extra options on our TV and internet cable service plus got our bill reduced by $40 dollars a month, or $60 a month if we would have just added in the new options without asking to have our rates lowered.

Just thought I'd mention it since cable bills aren't something I used to think of to haggle over. I wish I'd done this years ago.

 

[utrecht]

I got a 40% discount off of the Direct TV Sunday Ticket (NFL football package) by calling them and telling them I was going to cancel.

 

[73ss454]

I called up cable and said that DW wanted me to cancel and go to the dish. They took 20 bucks off my monthly bill going forward.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Asking for a discount can indeed really pay off. It never hurts to ask.

However I suspect that your discount may be limited to some 6 to 12 months.

 

[TooFrugal]

However I suspect that your discount may be limited to some 6 to 12 months.

Yes, I should have added that. They were matching the special they gave to new customers. However we are none the worse for taking it. The woman in the office said when the twelve months were up we could always come back and ask again for the next special. She let me know that in fact the cable company gave the customer service reps the discretion to lower the bills for loyal customers if they asked about lower rates.

So like Masterblaster said it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[EO 11110]

Thanks for the idea. We are paying $113 per month for basic cable and internet (Comcast).

 

[Hershey102]

When I noticed my cable bill creeping up $3 every now and then, I asked my neighbor what he thought about the increases. We compared services and, lo and behold, they were charging him $19 less per month for the same service. He agreed to allow me to take a copy of his monthly bill to the local cable office and make my case. Sure enough, they reduced my rate. It costs nothing to ask.

 

[nun]

My bill had crept up to $160 a month for internet, phone and premium cable. I got rid of the phone (-$45) and the premium movie channels (-$20) so now I'm at $95 a month. FYI I use my cell phone for all calls and got Google Voice as they have 2c a min calls to Europe. My next step is to go from the iPhone to an Android phone that it it's own hot spot and get ride of the cable internet so I'm only paying for a single internet connection.

 

[W2R]

I never really negotiated my rates, to tell the truth.

My Cox Cable monthly bill is $62.51. That includes $45.99 for cable internet, and $15.55 for bare bones basic cable.

When I began this service back in 2000, bare bones basic cable was just $10.99, cable internet was (I think?) $39.99, but with $10 off if I got TV along with it. So, my TV was really only $0.99/month, which inspired me to get a TV. Overall my bill was about $20 less than it is now.

They gave us a lot of breaks after Katrina - - prorating our bill for days with no service, and then giving us about one month free service just for good will. That was really nice of them and I'm sure they got a lot of customer goodwill.

I'm sure I will have to pay more after we move north, but nearly everything else up there is cheaper so it will all average out.

 

[chinaco]

Dish is a lower cost alternative in many areas.

There are several internet based alternatives available or in the works.

Most people should completely rethink and evaluate their entire electronic communication services... cell voice/data plans, home phone/long distance, TV/movie services and internet access.

There are probably many feature of these services one does not use or uses rarely that can be trimmed or there is a lower cost substitute...

If one is flexible... they can save hundreds a year, maybe more if they really have a big "Cell Plan" monkey on their back!

 

[Bimmerbill]

I tried, but there is no competing high speed internet in the area. Makes it hard to play them against each other.

 

[Sue J]

I was talking today to DirecTV. My son said he rarely uses his tv and we could cancel his satellite box. So I called to cancel the one box and I asked a few other questions. We recently upgraded to HD because our SD Tivo was dying so our bill has just increased for the HD service.

I mentioned how we are a long term customer and did they have any special deals going on and the CSR said she could give me a $10/mo discount for a year plus all the Showtime channels free for 2 months.

We're not into movies all that much but I'll check out the Showtime channels.

That was worth my time for a phone call. Ka-ching!

 

[Khan]

Last Friday I canceled cable. I realized I was barely watching it.

 

[edsahara]

I canceled my cable TV altogether almost a year ago, as I wasn't watching it much either. Haven't missed it. Still plenty of good free TV. Saving $61 per month.

 

[youbet]

I canceled my cable TV altogether almost a year ago, as I wasn't watching it much either. Haven't missed it. Still plenty of good free TV. Saving $61 per month.

We've been considering that too.......

We kept a log for 3 months and determined we're paying over $5/hr for watching cable-only channels. We don't watch much TV and much of what we do watch is available OTA since we're in a major metropolitan area.

We can afford our $60+ cable bill. But it just seems expensive for the value we get from it. The major hook for us is sports. For example, when the Black Hawks were making their run for the Stanley Cup, our hours of cable-only channel viewing jumped up.

 

[Martha]

The dh gets Dish with a dvr. Once in a while I pick up the dvr with stored shows and movies and take it when I am elsewhere. I discovered that Dish and FX/FOX are having a big fight and my shows for the last month did not get recorded as FX cut Dish off. No Sons of Anarchy. No Terriers.

What an irritant. DH called up to complain about paying for something he doesn't get. Dish offered him 3 weeks of Starz or three free PPV movies. BFD.

 

[ronocnikral]

I tried, but there is no competing high speed internet in the area. Makes it hard to play them against each other.

we were in this situation. wife called like 4 times to get the internet bill lowered. was told no every time. then at&t saves the day. they come in give us internet and cable for $60. same cost as our internet with comcast. we do the switch and comcast starts to harass us. seems they can do the internet for $40/month somehow...it's a miracle. we even had someone come to the door one evening. we've already switched, so i told them if we were unhappy, we would give them a call.

who said the "free market" is a bad thing?

 

[sengsational]

who said the "free market" is a bad thing?

As long as there's real competition. There hasn't been any real competition to cable, except a little bit in recent years. Still not "there" yet, though.

I've been playing Time-Warner and AT&T off each other for broadband for a while [Check out This thread too: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/cheap-internet-access-51923.html ]. I did the same thing in the telephone long distance wars, back before long distance was basically free.

--Dale--

 

[jayc]

I used to call Dish once a year whenever I saw a Direct TV promotion that was less than what I was paying. They would always give me 1 month ($53) free to stay with them. I still canceled during one of the times when Britney Spears was flooding the air waves.