Getting a better deal from the cable company...

[MulletMan13]

Hey guys,

Wondering if anybody has called the cable/satellite company about changing their rates or plans.

Currently I have the following:

Road Runner
Digipic 1000 ( a crapload of channels I don't care for)
HBO
HD-DVR
HD Channel package

My bill is around $125 per month when all is said and done. I'm wanting to call Time Warner up and threaten to switch to DirecTV or Dish Network, but I really don't know what to say. Would it be all right to just tell them the promos the other companies are offering and see if they can match it? What I'd really like to do is to lower the rate to under $100 overall, and get another premium channel for about 6 months. I've never done this so I don't really know how to go upon doing it. Advice?

[Veggita2099]

I got a temp deal with direct tv. I have 185+ digital channels (many of those are music), 12 starz, and the handful of HD channels they have all for $80 a month. However it will go up next yet. When that happens I will probably go with the 115 channel plan and ditch starz.

Honestly its annoying how nobody hardly has any good HD channels yet.

[pavelbure]

i just downgraded my cable service. i hardly ever watch tv. i called comcast up and wanted to cancel the tv cable and just keep the internet. my internet would have went up to about $60 a month. but, if i kept basic cable for $8 a month i could keep my $45 a month internet price, which is what i did. weird that it is cheaper for basic cable and internet than it is for just internet. i'm just sick of paying $100+ a month for a bunch of crap channels i don't watch or need. b.e.t., e, vh1, the 10 news channels... ect. ...ect.
if there is something i really want to watch, i can just watch it on their website, cbs, abc, or just download it from itunes.....hopefully.

[Covar]

find out what deals you can get from directv or dish, then call up the cable company, tell them what you could be getting from the competitors and ask them what reasons you should have for not switching to satellite.

my dad regularly switches between cable and satellite because its the best way to keep rates down and get the best deals.

[MulletMan13]

Got 1/3 off my total bill, and a free month... woooooh!

If you haven't called your company, do it... you'll save some money

[Thomas]

Last time I tried to call TWC to complain, I was on hold for an hour before giving up and hanging up.

[Lartrak]

A while back we switched our plan. We got way more premium channels, a DVR/Cable box combo thing, more on demand, and it cost LESS.

[zman]

Every three months or so I complain to the cable company to get a better rate and free movie channels. It's usually around that time frame they like to up my cable bill. It's the same deal with the cell phone company. Every three months or so I call, just to keep them in line with the contract agreement. You can cancel anytime on the cell phone if they break your contract agreement for any reason. The cell companies always make mistakes on bills.

[Dew]

I have Time Warner cable internet right now since it's my only option. I live in a dorm, we have to pay for cable internet when the dorm was all wired for the school's T1. I mooch off someone's wireless they're paying for. Yeah, it's fucked up.

My first semester I paid for my own service and I complained to Time Warner about how my cable "modem" kept getting screwed up and I found out it was due to the Adelphia merger and their DHCP servers were conflicting. Long story short they refunded me everything I ever paid them. I guess they got tired of my bitching.

[Sir Slash]

i just downgraded my cable service. i hardly ever watch tv. i called comcast up and wanted to cancel the tv cable and just keep the internet. my internet would have went up to about $60 a month. but, if i kept basic cable for $8 a month i could keep my $45 a month internet price, which is what i did. weird that it is cheaper for basic cable and internet than it is for just internet. i'm just sick of paying $100+ a month for a bunch of crap channels i don't watch or need. b.e.t., e, vh1, the 10 news channels... ect. ...ect.
if there is something i really want to watch, i can just watch it on their website, cbs, abc, or just download it from itunes.....hopefully.

Honestly its annoying how nobody hardly has any good HD channels yet.[/quote]

yeah they add to the internet only package because in a lot of areas you just get a splitter and you can get basic cable through the internet cable

i ditched comcast and got wow! its like 70 a month for basic and internet(though its their slowest internet)