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April 13, 2007
Pay less by threatening to cancel orders: Part IV
Wow, this just worked again. I got the cable bill, saw it was shooting up from $30 to $60 a month next month, and called up Comcast this morning. I was a little nervous because if it didn't work, I would look like an idiot after my posts from the last few days. Wait a second - no one reads this blog and I already look like an idiot for many other reasons. Anyway, here goes:
Me "I need to cancel my cable modem service. My bill is going up to $60/mo, so I'm going to switch to AT&T's DSL since it's cheaper."
Comcast Cable "I'm sorry to hear that ... blah blah blah ... we have great service ... blah blah blah ... how about a cable TV package ... blah blah blah ... cable modem is faster than DSL ... blah blah blah"
Me "Ok, so can we cancel that service?"
CC "What if I could lower the price?"
Me "That would be great!"
CC "How about $44/month for our 8 Mg service, which is twice as fast as your current service?"
Me "No, I'm not interested in faster service, I need help on the price. I think I'll just go with DSL."
CC "Wait, what about $33/month for our 6 Mg service, which is 50% faster than your current service?"
Me "How about $28.95/mo for my current service? That's what I paid last month."
CC "I'm sorry, that's just not available any more"
Me "Dang, ok let's go ahead and cancel then. That stinks because I like Comcast and it's a pain to switch services but I just don't want to pay that much to check my email from home."
CC "Can you hold on a minute? I might be able to do something else."
[Hold one minute, listen to elevator music].
CC "I can get you $24.99 for 6 months. Would that work?"
Me "Sure!"
CC "Actually, it's going to be for the upgraded 6 Mg service, too. It's supposed to be that price if you have cable TV as well but I was able to waive that requirement."
Me "That's great!"
When this current special expires in Oct 2007, we will have had the "introductory" offer (either $28.95/mo or $24.99/mo) on cable modem since Sep 2003.
Posted by brian at April 13, 2007 06:40 AM