Negotiating with Verizon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you how you negotiate.. You phone them and say you are canceling the service because its so bad and their customer service is a joke.

They will offer you something for free.

They only offered me a $5 discount. I had to cancel and restart.

I also asked to be transferred to switch and they didn't offer us any great rate either. Call twice. In my experience they don't negotiate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sport - you can get ESPN on slingTV for $20/month
HululPlus - $8/month
Netflix - $8month
NFL Network - $200 for the season (available on xbox or we stream for the laptop)

My guess is you would say more than $50/month... we saved over $100/month when we canceled.

I tried renegotiating with them 2 years ago, and the best I could get was free HBO. My spouse did not want to drop cable then, so we did another 2-year agreement. Now we're up for renewal again, and we are cutting the cable tv cord. We'll have FIOS internet, and MagicJack phone. For tv, we'll have Roku with Amazon Prime, Netflix, and HBO Now. For sports & news & PBS & network shows, we are using a $30 digital antenna that gets tons of channels. Saving about $100 per month, and getting more useful tv options than cable offered.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/01/should_i_cut_the_cable_cord_decide_on_streaming_services_with_this_calculator.html

We're condsidering doing something like this- getting a Roku stick, Sling TV, MLB channel and either stream Netflix or Hulu. The one thing I have not quite worked out is NFL games. I know about NFL rewind but I want to watch games in real time, not after they're over. We don't currently have Direct TV (which is the only way to get the NFL Sunday ticket AFAIK) so I'd be happy to get the games aired on the major networks (CBS, FOX, NBC). Are the new "digital" antennas really that much better than the old kind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sport - you can get ESPN on slingTV for $20/month
HululPlus - $8/month
Netflix - $8month
NFL Network - $200 for the season (available on xbox or we stream for the laptop)

My guess is you would say more than $50/month... we saved over $100/month when we canceled.

I tried renegotiating with them 2 years ago, and the best I could get was free HBO. My spouse did not want to drop cable then, so we did another 2-year agreement. Now we're up for renewal again, and we are cutting the cable tv cord. We'll have FIOS internet, and MagicJack phone. For tv, we'll have Roku with Amazon Prime, Netflix, and HBO Now. For sports & news & PBS & network shows, we are using a $30 digital antenna that gets tons of channels. Saving about $100 per month, and getting more useful tv options than cable offered.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/01/should_i_cut_the_cable_cord_decide_on_streaming_services_with_this_calculator.html

We tried cutting the cord and couldn't cut (sorry) it. We don't even watch that much TV, but it got tiresome trying to stream network shows or rely on the digital antenna, which worked well sometimes but not other times. We ended up switching to RCN from Verizon. I'll NEVER go back to Verizon after the runaround we got from them.

[Anonymous]

We are in the process of switching. What's helped make our decision easy was buying a Roku a year or so ago. At first, we kept watching the basic cable shows and using Roku only occasionally (mainly out of habit). But over time, as we got more used to streaming, we've found ourselves going to the Roku first and checking out the actual cable shows only if we cannot find anything we want on Roku. With our savings from eliminating cable, we are planning on paying for Netflix and Hulu, which we haven't done before, so I suspect we'll have more than enough tv to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of switching. What's helped make our decision easy was buying a Roku a year or so ago. At first, we kept watching the basic cable shows and using Roku only occasionally (mainly out of habit). But over time, as we got more used to streaming, we've found ourselves going to the Roku first and checking out the actual cable shows only if we cannot find anything we want on Roku. With our savings from eliminating cable, we are planning on paying for Netflix and Hulu, which we haven't done before, so I suspect we'll have more than enough tv to watch.

PP again. For those considering the switch as a possibility, I'd encourage you to spend $30-70 on a streaming device now (Chrome, Roku, Apple, etc), and just hook it up as an additional option along with cable. Over time, you can judge for yourself whether the cable shows are really important, or whether the streaming device is all you need. That way, when your cable contract comes up for renewal, you can make an informed decision and won't face a learning curve with a new device. It's a relatively small investment to try weaning yourself off of cable.

[Anonymous]

Are the new "digital" antennas really that much better than the old kind?

Yes, lots better, especially if you live close to DC. Here is an easy search tool - http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

[Anonymous]

Good link for those considering switching - Diary of a Cord Cutter - http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/10/the-diary-of-a-cord-cutter-in-2015-part-10-the-rise-of-niche-video-streaming-services/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't call and say you want to negotiate -- say you want to cancel your service. That's when they will make you an offer.[/quote

This- the cancelation people have the power to negotiate. I do it every time our contract is up. Sometimes I even go through the motions with Comcast so I have an actual price to give Verizon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you how you negotiate.. You phone them and say you are canceling the service because its so bad and their customer service is a joke.

They will offer you something for free.

They only offered me a $5 discount. I had to cancel and restart.

I also asked to be transferred to switch and they didn't offer us any great rate either. Call twice. In my experience they don't negotiate.

Have a competitor's offer in hand like direct tv. Dh threatened to cancel, he actually did cancel phone (recommend magic jack instead), and set a date, for example, he told them as of Friday cancel. Then Thurs afternoon Verizon called and gave us free premium channeks, lower rate, etc.

[Anonymous]

For those who completely cut the cord, how much is your internet and who do you go through? It was cheaper for us to get basic cable (plus HBO) and Internet than internet alone. We pay $85 after tax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who completely cut the cord, how much is your internet and who do you go through? It was cheaper for us to get basic cable (plus HBO) and Internet than internet alone. We pay $85 after tax

Are you saying Verizon offered you internet + TV + HBO for a lower price than Verizon would have sold you internet alone? So $85 for internet + basic cable + HBO, while internet alone at the same speed would have cost $90 or more? Well if that's the deal, then I guess it's a no-brainer.

Or was it not really an apples-to-apples comparison? Maybe a lower rate fro the first 3 months, and then higher for the remainder of the term?

IIRC from looking at the Verizon website, basic internet is something like $60 or $70 only, but maybe I'm mis-remembering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sport - you can get ESPN on slingTV for $20/month
HululPlus - $8/month
Netflix - $8month
NFL Network - $200 for the season (available on xbox or we stream for the laptop)

My guess is you would say more than $50/month... we saved over $100/month when we canceled.

$20 for just ESPN? Or does that include other things. How about MASN? Who's your internet provider and how much do you pay?

No you can get ESPN on SlingTV, which includes: ESPN, TNT, TBS, AMC, Adult Swim, Disney Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Polaris+, and others.

Sling TV has an odd channel bundle, but I guess if those are the channels you happen to like then it's a good deal.

[Anonymous]

Does MagicJack work for long distance? What are the downsides?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who completely cut the cord, how much is your internet and who do you go through? It was cheaper for us to get basic cable (plus HBO) and Internet than internet alone. We pay $85 after tax

Are you saying Verizon offered you internet + TV + HBO for a lower price than Verizon would have sold you internet alone? So $85 for internet + basic cable + HBO, while internet alone at the same speed would have cost $90 or more? Well if that's the deal, then I guess it's a no-brainer.

Or was it not really an apples-to-apples comparison? Maybe a lower rate fro the first 3 months, and then higher for the remainder of the term?

IIRC from looking at the Verizon website, basic internet is something like $60 or $70 only, but maybe I'm mis-remembering.

I just checked Verizon's website. Basic high speed internet is only $30/month, but if you get the 50/50 high speed FIOS internet, it's $55/month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who completely cut the cord, how much is your internet and who do you go through? It was cheaper for us to get basic cable (plus HBO) and Internet than internet alone. We pay $85 after tax

Does that included equipment charges?

Going internet only on fios is cheaper than internet + tv but the delta is driven because of the DVR/cable box you are required to rent.

Internet alone was around 55-60 I believe.

We have internet + phone for 79.