Not sure how common this is in the States or if it's even possible, but thought I'd make a thread about it as I've just completed the process of changing my mothers TV & Broadband over to Bt from Sky here in England. Sky were charging her an astronomical £95 a month for her TV & internet package! After phoning them and negotiating with them, they agreed to bring the bill down to £78 a month, which I still didn't feel was good value at all, especially considering the internet speeds my mother gets are pretty terrible. So at this point I phoned up BT and started talking with them and seeing what they could offer her and at what prices, we got into a bit of haggling on the phone and I came off the phone having just wrapped up a £42/month package for her, which was the exact same she had on Sky, just provided through BT this time! I was astounded at the savings and so is she... So, has anybody else haggled with their providers for a better price in the past, and what was the result?
You have to do this, these companies make more money than they know what to do with! I just did this recently with SiriusXM Radio - I was not going to pay $20 a month for my car and internet radio subscription, that's just ridiculous. I called them after my trial period was over and told them that I was going to leave because the cost was too much. After spending about 20 minutes on the phone I got it to the point where I have my car and internet subscriptions for $100 for the entire year. Again, I'll have to put on the tweed jacket and play "let's make a deal" a year from now but to save over $100 a year on a service that I use daily...yeah, I'll play the game. Don't be afraid to play - cable companies, radio subscriptions, they all play the same game!
I agree. My son tells us to talk with our satellite provider DirecTV because their rates will increase in February, I think up $8.00 for the package we have currently. Our bill is already $125+ a month and there are some channels not being visited at all.
You can definitely save a lot of money if you negotiate with the companies. They want your money and are willing to give a discount to keep you as a customer! If they won't offer you deals, see if another company will. A lot of companies will offer a discount to take you from another company! I keep telling my mother she needs to try this but she's too afraid that they will cancel her service if she does. They won't cancel it! She pays $80/month for 13 cable channels and internet. I pay $25 for just internet and faster speeds! I can throw netflix on there and still be under half what she pays. It's crazy.
Maybe you should offer to help your mum with this? I try to imagine what I would feel or think as an older person, and yeah, 20 years ago business practice wasn't really a big issue so some companies might have cancelled service if you tried to, in their eyes, "mess around with them". These days they can't just do that. Maybe explain to your mother what she could do with the money she saved!
I have, I have! But unfortunately the provider she uses is really fussy about it so if it isn't the person calling then they won't even continue talking. I've tried 'impersonating' her before, but they caught me when they would ask information that I didn't know the answer to. Then they put a lock on her account and it made a whole mess. It took a few days just to get everything sorted out again. It would have been fine if she just did it. She's only about 46, so she's not too far stuck in the old ways, but since there are no other options she's worried about loosing her service all together. I can understand, but for all the more she uses it would be better to get rid of it anyways.
I have haggled with Sky too. Well, when I say "haggle", I mean tell barefaced lies! I told them I needed to cancel as I just couldn't afford it anymore. They ended up knocking £6 (around $10) off my monthly bill and giving me abrand new HD box. There's this saying, "If you don't ask, you won't get"!
I've had to go through similar experience with my bell Canada provider, we have been with them for generations. We must've had the same provider for at least 40 years until we made a small change to our plan that we can get more channels, the next thing you know our bill skyrocketed, you would think that they would give us some kind of the incentive for being with them so long, but that wasn't the case, we eventually went with some one else, after that they keep calling us with these great deals trying to get us back, I'm not sure if I'll take the deal, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.
I've never really thought of haggling with telecom companies. I was sure they'd just prefer to keep their full price, however, as long as only a small proportion of their customers actually try to get a better deal I suppose they can offer them to the small percentage of people who call up to negotiate.
Yes, this is common these days. As long as you have a quote from another provider all companies will match them. My friend did it with Virgin from Sky, as all companies have retention departments and you spout the new customer discounts offered and they match the price. I think they have targets to hit and will do whatever to keep you. I cancelled my broadband and you get asked why and if you are moving why they can't transfer it. When you think about it with broadband, it's a password really as the connection is there and they provide their own routers for you.
To be fair, that's win-win for everyone involved. The customer gets to pay a lower sum every month while getting the same services, while the provider gets to keep a customer even if they make less off of each subscriber. I wonder what would happen if more people started asking for price cuts though.
They rely on people renewing early with a small discount under the guise to save them time. Ultimately you have to make the effort to call the call center and get through. If you can do that then that's sorted, but many people like the OP have parents that don't like hanging on the phone or know what to negotiate with. That's why 'Which' and comparison sites can help out.
Negotiating with cell phone providers is a can do in the USA. I was a long term sprint customer for over two years and was paying nearly $70 a month for one line. I moved out of state and signed up for a new carrier- when I called sprint to let them know I was leaving and to dispute the over-charges they offered a monthly bill of just $20!! I was so mad and would have accepted had it not been that I already signed with Metro PCS. What a mistake!
That sounds like a smart move to do in order to save some extra money. Sadly, i don't know why but I never bargain with the provider but lately I've been thinking of doing so. Nothing to lose really.
