Hmm, my experience has been that my price has been pretty stable for 8-10 years. I call when the contract is about to expire, or when it just did. They have generally found a deal to keep me at the same rate or within a few $$. Sometimes that even includes a gift card, free HBO, etc. It takes a bit of patience though.

We pay $145 for Fios (can't remember what package - lots and lots of channels but no premiums), moderate internet (not the fastest, not the slowest), and phone service. Our free year of HBO just expired and try as I might I could not get them to extend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to say you are canceling their service. If they say they want to give you some deals, just listen. If they say no, really, just cancel it. Don't be afraid to walk away and say, forget this service. It's like buying a car. Just walk away when you don't like the # the dealer tells you.
They probably transfer you to 3 other places and finally get to their Retention Office. Their job is to keep you.
I hate their customer service.

Not anymore. They just send out return boxes.
I wonder if this is their new model? Just not back down on prices? It must be working for them.

For now. Until it doesn't. Online streaming still takes a bit of work, but it's only going to get better. If the cable companies don't learn to adapt, well we all know what happened to the music industry!

Threaten to leave and they'll negotiate.

Anonymous wrote:You have to say you are canceling their service. If they say they want to give you some deals, just listen. If they say no, really, just cancel it. Don't be afraid to walk away and say, forget this service. It's like buying a car. Just walk away when you don't like the # the dealer tells you.
They probably transfer you to 3 other places and finally get to their Retention Office. Their job is to keep you.
I hate their customer service.

Not anymore. They just send out return boxes.
I wonder if this is their new model? Just not back down on prices? It must be working for them.

The best deal I got was when I switched the bill from my husband's name to my name. They treated me as a new customer and I received a free netbook (when they were the thing). Two years later, I was able to renegotiate and ended up with a $150 Visa gift card. It isn't always the monthly rate that goes down. Sadly, I have another year on my contract so we'll see what happens. One thing I have no problem doing is throwing around the "I have three cell lines AND home Fios service. I've been a customer for X years, do you really want me to go elsewhere when everyone else is paying my fees to break contracts?" It usually works, but you have to make sure to spin it the right way. I'm also fond of going to the Verizon Experience store at Fair Oaks Mall (not far from me) and negotiating things in person. Seems easier that way. They do cell and Fios home service there.

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.

You have to say you are canceling their service. If they say they want to give you some deals, just listen. If they say no, really, just cancel it. Don't be afraid to walk away and say, forget this service. It's like buying a car. Just walk away when you don't like the # the dealer tells you.
They probably transfer you to 3 other places and finally get to their Retention Office. Their job is to keep you.
I hate their customer service.

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

Cancel and re-subscribe in your spouse's name (or vice-versa).

I wish Verizon's model for Fios was more similar to their cell phone plans. With your cell plan, you sign a contract for two years and either have the option to keep your current plan at same cost or change plans with a new contract. With internet/cable, I think they know the plans are overpriced, so they suck you in with a promotional deal and then the regular prices are even higher because to make up for it. I wish they would do away with two-year promotions and just have a stable, middle of the road price with more options. When I tried to switch from a triple to double play they told me I wouldn't save any money and I couldn't take advantage of the new channel packs they were offering (eventually they admitted that I could, but at the same price for the current plan of 200+ channels). I wanted a decrease in service to keep a similar price and they would not work with me to do so. Their model really is set up to favor new customers over existing ones. You have to game the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmmm...so you get a promotional deal knowing it will end, then you want to extend it...it was only a promotional, not a lifetime commitment

Right. But the whole industry is a joke. the fact that different customers end up paying different rates at the end of their contract depending who they get on the line and whether they're having a good day is ridiculous. And they bundle everything together so that it can be stupidly expensive to cherry pick select services. Like the OP I never even set up phone service, but "triple play" was cheaper than "double play". For two years anyway, and then the price doubled. But when I asked about a double play option at that point the price was the same as triple play. How dumb is that? It's a confusing land mine.

I also think you should reward loyal customers, not drive them away.

Not just services but channels. Most of th 200+ channels we have are shit. Ala carte is coming soon though I predict.

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?

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.

We did all the right things trying to negotiate. They wouldn't play ball so we dropped them. For six months they continued to charge us, claiming we never officially severed our contract (even though we sent back their boxes, etc.). It took me at least 10 phone calls to straighten this out. Hate, hate, hate Verizon.

Anonymous wrote:hmmm...so you get a promotional deal knowing it will end, then you want to extend it...it was only a promotional, not a lifetime commitment

Right. But the whole industry is a joke. the fact that different customers end up paying different rates at the end of their contract depending who they get on the line and whether they're having a good day is ridiculous. And they bundle everything together so that it can be stupidly expensive to cherry pick select services. Like the OP I never even set up phone service, but "triple play" was cheaper than "double play". For two years anyway, and then the price doubled. But when I asked about a double play option at that point the price was the same as triple play. How dumb is that? It's a confusing land mine.

I also think you should reward loyal customers, not drive them away.

hmmm...so you get a promotional deal knowing it will end, then you want to extend it...it was only a promotional, not a lifetime commitment