I wish there were a telecommunications company that would give me a fair price on my television, phone and internet service without my having to renegotiate the deal every year or two.But it seems like carriers are more interested in attracting new customers than keeping their old ones. Knowing this can save you a lot of money, especially if you're willing to call your cable company's bluff and change your provider, at least temporarily.
Case in point: My carrier, Verizon, recently informed me that it was increasing my $149-a-month Fios bill by nearly 50 percent, to $219. When I asked why, a customer service representative told me that part of the reason was that my customer loyalty discount had expired. Expired? Why? Did Verizon catch me watching a TV with a competitor's service?
It's just one of those things in the telecommunications industry that doesn't make a lot of sense. But whatever Verizon's reason, I've been through these threatened increases many times before. And as unpleasant as I knew it would be, I was ready to do anything necessary to avoid shelling out anything like $200 every month for cable. It's bad enough that I've been forced to pay for sports channels and lots of other content I don't even want.
When I was a money writer at Consumer Reports in 2013, I penned this blog about how I had successfully avoided an earlier Verizon bill increase. I compared the experience to a boxing match in which I took on one Verizon customer service heavyweight after another, suffering my share of uppercuts and jabs before finally declaring victory.
But it was short-lived. In 2016, Verizon informed me yet again that I should expect my next bill to look more like a mortgage payment. That time, nothing I said or did worked – until I canceled my service and switched to Cablevision (now Altice), which was offering me its Optimum service with more channels and other upgrades for substantially less. Suddenly Verizon saw me not as an old customer, who wasn't worth its time, but a valued new one. Now, for about the same price I was paying before, Verizon was promising me more stuff. Truthfully, I much prefer Verizon's service over Altice's Optimum, so with my new discount in hand, I reluctantly went back two week's later.
Naively, I had hoped that this would be the end of it. But here it is, two years later, and I've been facing another big Verizon increase. And like before, there seemed to be no way to avoid it. So once again I decided to switch to Altice's Optimum service, which was offering me dozens of more channels, twice the internet speed and even a $120 prepaid card for the same price I had been paying Verizon. This time I was determined to stay with Optimum.
But now it's week's later, and once again I've found that I just don't like Optimum, which I think in some ways is even worse than when I tried it in 2013. So just like before, I asked Verizon what it would do to get me back. And sure enough, it was a lot. I was now eligible for a new customer deal that had me paying slightly less than before, while adding HBO and increasing my internet speed ten times. And Verizon promised to give me a $100 prepaid card and $200 toward the purchase of one or more connected Google and Nest devices, such as an indoor or outdoor security camera or a video door bell.
This Doesn't Make Sense
Of course, none of this seems to make sense. All I wanted was to avoid a big increase in my Verizon bill. Now I've not only successfully dodged the hike, but Verizon is giving me all these extras I never requested. And its technicians once again have to come to my home to reinstall the equipment that I returned to Verizon just weeks ago at the company's request. Is this any way to do business?
I asked a Verizon customer service rep, who told me that the company counts on the likelihood that most customers simply will accept a higher bill than go through the trouble of switching companies. If Verizon kept everyone at the rate I'm paying, she said, the carrier would lose money. I don't doubt it, given all the prepaid cards and other perks the companies are handing out to attract their competitors' customers. And that appears to be what's really going on. Existing customers end up having to pick the tab for all these new-customer incentives.
And what about Cablevision-Altice? In two years, it twice installed Optimum at my home only to see me go back to Verizon a couple weeks later. (All I've paid is for a few weeks of service and a $50 equipment activation fee.)
There has got to be a better way. Telecommunications companies have to figure out how to treat loyal customers so they don't have to go through this charade every two years or so. (Altice did offer me an additional $15-a-month discount to keep me from returning to Verizon. I just wish its service was better.)
What To Do
There are so many things that are more fun to do than comparing your cable company's prices, negotiating with recalcitrant customer service reps and, if it comes to it, changing back and forth among carriers. But until the telecommunication industry changes how it does business, you have to work within this crazy system to avoid being charged a fortune for sticking with your cable company.
So every year or two, or any time you're notified about a bill increase, take a look at what your provider and its competitors have to offer.
Start with the competition. Get its best deal and then try to do even better. Ask for more channels, faster internet speed, free installation and equipment or anything else you can think of. If you're bound by a contract with your current carrier, find out whether the new one will pay your early-termination penalty. But don't just call. Sometimes carriers' online offers are better than what their customer service reps can give you. For instance, with my new Verizon service, signing up online entitled me to free installation (regularly $99) and that $100 prepaid card, perks a Verizon phone rep insisted had expired until I threatened to stay with Optimum.
Once you get your best deal, find out what your current provider is willing to do to keep you. If you don't like the answer from the first rep you speak to or even a supervisor, try again. And do the same after you've given your carrier a formal disconnect notice in anticipation of switching companies. And if you do switch, you might even ask your old carrier what goodies it's offering for your return, especially if you don't like your new service.
It sounds like a ridiculous amount of work, but it's the absurd system the telecommunications industry has come up with. And if you play the game wisely, you can save a lot of money and perhaps even end up with improved service, as I did.
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