Saving money is a good thing, and since this is America Saves Week, I’m sharing how I saved $40 a month on my cable bill! The cable bill seems to be one bill most Americans hate the most – and for good reason.
It seems to keep climbing steadily upward, year after year and there comes a time when every cable customers questions, “Am I really getting my money’s worth?”
This happened to me recently, after settling into a new job and a new home I began to cast a critical eye over our family budget and realized that not only was I paying $171 per month for cable, phone and Internet but that they were raising the price another $7 a month this month!
Here’s how I fought back, and you can too…
Know the enemy’s battle plan
They will try to give you extras in the hopes of satisfying you. Let’s face it – it’s cheaper to give you extra service for free than to continue providing you your current service for less. Cutting your monthly bill hurts their bottom line, but giving you free Showtime for a couple months doesn’t.
Here’s what I was offered:
- 3 months of a free premium channel – Showtime, HBO, etc…
- Increased Internet bandwidth.
- improved phone service features like 3-way chat and the ability to see what numbers have called my number.
In my case, these were meaningless offers. I already have too little time and too much to watch, so a few months of free Showtime wouldn’t be of much benefit (besides, they just hope I get hooked on a new show and sign up for the channel at the end of the free period).
Increased bandwidth doesn’t do much good either since I don’t use all the bandwidth I currently have available to me. And I detest using the phone, so 3-way chat is a non starter and our home phone handset already logs the last 100 calls received and sent from our number so that wasn’t much of an enhancement either.
In the end, I found it very easy to reiterate my initial request that my bill was too high, and I wanted it lower. I didn’t want an extras, I just want to pay less for what I actually use.
Be prepared
Do your homework.
It’s not enough to simply say you saw a competitor’s offer and it’s for less money. Do your research and have a comparable offer from a competitor. Have the specifics. Here are some tips:
- Know what the offer includes and what it doesn’t.
- Have the specifics at hand in case you need them during the call:
- Competitor’s name
- Monthly cost
- offered channel package
- Internet bandwidth
- term of the offer, and the price once the term is up
You should also anticipate the arguments. For instance, one common argument runs like this:
Customer: “I have an offer from ABC Satellite Co. for a comparable package at $100 less per month than I’m paying now.
Cable Rep: “I understand that, but you have a contract with the competitor, and the rates will go up in the middle of the contract! With us there are no contracts – you can cancel at any time.”
You should anticipate this line of reasoning and have an appropriate response. For example:
Customer: “Yes, I understand that but even after the rate goes up, they charge $20 less per month than I’m paying now. At the end of that contract term I still save money switching to them.”
A word about what constitutes comparable service..
Many times companies try to trick consumers with what they portray as comparable offers. Sometimes they try to compare their apples to the competitions oranges. Don’t be side tracked by this. What matters is what services you actually use.
They will try to convince you that the service you’re getting now if vastly superior to the competition. Maybe so. But what you need to look at is how much of that superior service you actually use, because the truth is you’re paying for all of it anyway.
You may get a Lamborghini with your cable company, but your really driving it like a Honda Accord through city streets. Bottom line: Pay for what you use, or at least get as close to that as possible.
The key to this step is to research the competing offer as though you will actually be switching to them, because in the end you may need to do so to save money. Besides, it also makes your argument stronger when you get to the negotiation phase if you can tell the rep that you’re ready to switch but you’re giving them a last chance to keep you as a customer.
The sweet talk
Be prepared for the soft sell. They’ll attempt to justify their ridiculous rates by outlining the upgrades to your viewing experience, and a brace new world of new features they now provide.
In my case, the representative told me about new features like being able to set my DVR to record online or record a show that just ended.
My response?
“Those sound like great features for some people but to be honest, I don’t use them and I don’t see myself using them in the near future.”
I then reiterated that I am happy with the service and features I use, but am very unhappy with the price.
I like my television package, I like my cable Internet and phone service, but the truth of the matter is that you can get phone service anywhere, Internet is about the same and I like DVR and the shows I watch, but I’m not going to plan my life around them.
I’m in control of my television, not the other way around!
Negotiate
Negotiation is more art than science, but there’s nothing mystical about it. In fact, if you’ve done your homework and prepared your own battle plan then you’ll find the negotiation phase of the operation to be little more than basic scripting.
You’ve outlined your problem – your bill is too high for the services you use. You’ve presented your options – I have an offer from ABC provider for much less money. If you are truly ready to move on to the competition, then the negotiation is simply walking the customer rep down the path to your desired solution.
That being said, you still need to be reasonable. If you have an offer from a competitor that’s comparable service to what you use today but $40 less per month, don’t expect your cable company to lower your bill by $100..
Final thoughts
Keep the conversation polite, but remain firm. Reiterate your position that you are happy with the quality of service and the features you use, but you are paying too much.
Let the rep speak just long enough to get the general direction of his point established, then give your response. You don’t want to cut him off too abruptly or too often, but you can’t let him monopolize the conversation and control the direction.
Once they see you’ve done your homework and are serious about switching, they will start to offer you real options.
Using a Droid and $15 app to tether to the home computer, said goodbye to big business Comcast, and saved over $50/month.
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