How I reduced my Internet Provider bill.

[autoxer]

So I got my January Bill and it was 65% higher than the previous month. I called their billing department and they told me that the promotional rate has run out. They offer to reduce next months and future bills by $10, but couldn't do anything about the current bill. I wasn't very impressed, because their website clearly states a lower price and doesn't say anything about it being promotional, so I asked to cancel the service.

Then they transferred me to the cancellation department, who is much better at handling billing issues than their billing department. They kept throwing offers out and reducing the price until I agreed to keep the service. I said no to a couple of their offers and they finally gave me a reason to keep their service. So in the end, I increased the internet speed from 1.5mbps to 10mbps and reduced the bill by $15 per month with it prorated for the current period. That killed my temptation to switch to FIOS, at least for another year.

[Beppington]

Similar: I signed up to check my credit score (which I had never done before) on freecreditreport.com, & you have to cancel the $15/ mo service quickly in time so you don't get charged.

When I called to cancel, they immediately said, "What if I could get you a lower rate of $7/ mo?"

I still said no because I just don't care or need it. I was just curious.

[feh]

I did the same thing a couple weeks ago - received notice that my bill would be going up about 20% because the introductory rate was ending. I called up and asked that they continue the original pricing, which they agreed to. I didn't need to threaten canceling the service, although I was prepared to...

[Mike75]

That was real good

Wow... I am gonna have to remember that the next time my cellphone company tries to extort money from me.... Good job.

[kork13]

Wow... I am gonna have to remember that the next time my cellphone company tries to extort money from me.... Good job.

You should -- it works! It's all about knowing the right buttons to push, just like with car salesmen. The "thanks, but no thanks" card works very well when companies have to compete for customers.

[BlackGothic]

You should -- it works! It's all about knowing the right buttons to push, just like with car salesmen. The "thanks, but no thanks" card works very well when companies have to compete for customers.

Great ideea. To much bill to pay and every month the bills ar higher. They ar robbing us. But i think we can make them to "play as we want". I think i will try it to.

[elessar78]

I work for a cable/internet provider and it makes sense that they'll play ball with you. Especially for internet. Assuming that their infrastructure is paid off, providing internet is pure profit. PURE PROFIT -- just for good measure. Providing cable comes with overhead, we have to pay the networks for programming.

On a totally unrelated note... if you're wondering why you can't have a la carte cable channels it's because all the many different channels you get on cable are owned by like 5 companies. These 5 companies force us to buy their whole portfolio and air all their channels.

Also, my company is a regional provider. We aren't one of the big boys like Comcast or Verizon but I think that plays to our customers' advantage. We're not publicly traded, so our income stream is dependent on keeping our customers happy. So there's much more emphasis on customer service. Something to think about if you're ever able to shop for cable/internet providers since when people post about their "utilities" it's always so adversarial.

[kilapapipa]

I read about calling companies before so when a CC bill was paid in full but the amount arrived 2 days late, the company charged us interest and a late fee of I think $39. I called and said I would like to have this removed and they did with barely a question. It is worth calling about.