Cutting My Cable Bill
I was livid when I opened my cable bill. Another increase!!?!!! It seems every few months I am paying more. To be honest, I have argued with myself about cutting the cable. If it wasn’t for the Noggin channel, I would have cut it long ago. I’m growing tired of waiting for the FCC to give us the ‘a la carte’ option so I finally decided to take the plunge.
I called my cable company and asked them why we have yet again seen an increase. Their answer . . . another $10 hike in my internet charges. Eeeekkkk!!!!! I have to have my internet, so I told her I wanted to switch to the basic cable package for $15.95. She wanted to see if they had any promotions to offer me.
I expected her to come back and offer me at least some sort of deal. Instead, she wanted me to upgrade for only $5 more a month. Can you believe her? I told her the point of the call was to save money, not spend more.
Since she couldn’t help me, she transferred me to someone to downgrade my package. Of course, this lady was interested in keeping my business too. I told her the only way she would keep my business was to give me at least a 30% decrease in price. I told her I had been with them for over 2 years and I wasn’t going to continue paying ridiculous prices for cable and internet. I also mentioned that I would be shopping around for another company if they couldn’t make me happy.
And guess what happened? She immediately gave me an offer for 30% less than I was paying. The price isn’t much more than the internet and basic cable. Also, I was offered the promotion deal for 1 year. I’m happy and I think Dave Ramsey would be proud of my negotiating skills.
I’ve cut my bill by $35 a month. Have you tried negotiating with your cable company? Perhaps the 15 minute phone call could save you too.
image from abc news
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POSTED IN: saving money
9 opinions for Cutting My Cable Bill
Butrfly Garden
Jan 21, 2008 at 11:16 am
Good for you! When I’ve tried telling Qwest I was leaving, it was basically a “Good riddance” type of response. I’m SO glad they genuinely appreciate my $1200/year!! And we. don’t. even. have. cable!
Emily
Jan 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Way to go! I think we pay around 80 a month for superfast internet and digital cable (with 2 movie channel packages that we didn’t even ask for). Something like that. Not awful, but not awesome, either.
Karen
Jan 21, 2008 at 1:41 pm
We’re down to about $80/month now for cable and wireless internet. It’s not great, but we’ll live with it. It’s way better than the $115 they were charging me.
DramaMama
Jan 21, 2008 at 2:29 pm
My cousin works for a cable company and she said if you pay your bills on time and have been their customer for a few months (and you ask!) they always will give you some sort of discount to keep you. My family has always done all those things and we keep getting good deals. My neighbor applies this principle to credit cards. He does all that and then threatens to shop around. It works! He gets his rate reduced frequently. Good job and great tip!
Karen
Jan 21, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Thanks Drama Mama. I’ve listed calling credit card companies with my list of ways to save money. Check out the link below. It never hurts to make the call. All they can tell you is no.
http://www.thriftymommy.com/75-ways-to-save-money/
kellys
Jan 21, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Way to go, Karen! I also call my credit card companies to lower my ratges periodically and it works.
Chris
Jan 22, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Wow. We dont have cable or dish. Some days I really want to, but then again….not if I have to put up w/stuff like this ! Thanks for sharing that great story! XO
Jess
Jan 22, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I refuse to have cable or satellite. Sometimes it would be nice since I live alone, but I find that I am more productive without it.
I have internet through my phone company - AT&T. It’s $14.99/mo DSL. I have never really cared for cable internet service and it is much more costly. My DSL is pretty decent. I don’t get aggrivated with it like one would with dial-up or something, considering I use the internet all day at work and have speedy service through our network.
In total, I pay an average of $45 for phone and internet. I have a basic 50 call phone plan.
The kicker, for me is, the cell phone. Blasted things anyway! LOL I have the best plan for the money. 1000 anytime Nationwide minutes with Alltel for $49.99 (plus all those stupid fees and taxes). It’s been great but seems like a lot. So, in all, I pay roughly $100 for phones and internet. I suppose it’s a toss up then between cable/internet or phone/internet???
Michelle
Jan 22, 2008 at 3:57 pm
We just negotiated for our cable package. We get 5mg internet, hd cable (no movie channels) and the phone with unlimited calls and no long distance charges for $99 per month locked in for a year. I thought that was pretty good. I may end up having to switch back to packet 8 for the phone after a year if they want to hike it up and not give me a deal, but I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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