Today’s post is from Debbie, my wife and — as you’ll soon see — a dealmaker.
When our baby was born in February, I knew that our income would be slowing down and our expenses would be going up. Since I was on maternity leave from my job in a preschool, I wasn’t getting paid — but wanted to help cut back on our costs.
Since Jason works from home and we love to watch TV on our plasma, our Internet/cable bill always tends to be high. We’d been on a pretty good deal with Comcast, paying around $96 per month for Internet, cable, HD DVR, and some premium channels.
But after our 12-month deal ran out, the bill skyrocketed to $167 per month. While we tried to talk to Comcast about getting our bill reduced, they told us we’d have to wait 3 months at the normal price before getting a price adjustment.
Getting a New Deal is Easier Than You Think
So, after our 3 months of “normal” billing, Jason asked me to try and get the price reduced.
I’ve heard stories of people threatening to cancel their service to get a price break, but we didn’t want to do that. We are generally happy with the service, but would rather get it for cheaper (who wouldn’t?).
So instead of calling up the 800 number, I headed to Comcast’s Web site and launched the Chat Support feature.
I explained to the rep that we were told we would be eligible for a new deal after 3 months of normal price (which it had been).
I also said that we were happy with the service, but with the economy being what it is, we needed to save money.
With no negotiations whatsoever, the rep offered us a 12-month discount on our cable package — dropping the price from $116.10 to $49.55 — and a 6-month discount on our Internet from $42.95 to $19.99.
The total savings? $936.36
All in a span of less than 30 minutes. No arguing. No threatening to cancel. Just asking politely for the best deal available because we knew we were eligible. And I didn’t even have to pick up the phone.
Getting a discount from your service provider is easier than you think. You’re probably eligible for a price break and you don’t even know it. And thanks to the online Chat features, you can do it easily and at your own pace.
How much have you saved on your cable or Internet bill? Let us know in a comment below.
