discounts, that is.
We have had cable for many years. Is it frugal? Probably not, but we can afford it and we enjoy it.
When Hubby and I married, we both had cable, so were able to cut out one account. Yeah! We cut our cable expense in half, just by getting married. LOL!
We have Comcast now and were still on a plan known as "expanded basic". When the world went to digital, we did not. I mean, why should we change plans and pay more money when we were really already getting digital. I mean, no one was transmitting analog anymore, so it didn't matter what it was called, it was digital.
Our rate has gradually gone up over the years to the most recent $54.50/month + taxes. Once again, it is a splurge, but we can afford it.
Recently, Comcast has been advertising a "Digital Starter" package for $29.99/month, for new digital customers, everywhere. I have been seeing it on tv and on-line.
Hey, I would be a new digital customer!
So, I called Comcast and got amazingly excellent customer service! Once upon a time, calling their customer service was an exercise in torture. I hated it and avoided it with a passion. But the rep was so pleasant and told me that I could "upgrade" at no cost buy picking up the cable box at my nearest Comcast store. Hey, there is one RIGHT BY MY KROGER. I go there every week.
So, I went and picked my box. NOTE TO SELF: Do not ever go to the cable store on Saturday again.
When I picked up my box, I got the "new customer" deal....$39.99/month for the first 6 months and $54.50/month after that. So, after 6 months, we will be paying what we are paying now. So, just buy asking, we saved $14.51/month for the next 6 months. That's $87.06 for the year.
Oh, and somehow we have HBO. I didn't order it and I am not going to pay for it. Maybe it is a free limited thing. I will have to check. But, if is a mistake, I am not paying for it. So there!
So, ask for discounts. Sometimes you will get them.
Now I need to call AT&T.
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22 comments:
I have heard this mantra so often, "just ASK!" Then, in the whirlwind of purchasing and signing and committing, I forget! Thanks for the reminder! Enjoy your HBO!!
Good for you!!
We had free cable for the longest time. Both in our rental before this and our first couple of years here, the cable was still on when we moved in. Rather than call the cable company, both times I was able to call previous tenants/owners, who both claimed they had transferred their accounts to their new addresses. Not our fault that the cable company didn't actually come out to shut off the service (my brother works for a different cable company and said it's typical...techs just don't want to bother with doing the disconnects). Maybe a more honest woman than me would've called the cable company, but I didn't.
When we decided to have our cable company provide our phone and internet, too, then we started having to pay for cable as well. No big deal to us, after getting it for free for several years.
Hi, Naked! Thanks for coming to see me.
Annie Jones, I think honesty had nothing to do with your free cable. It is not your responsibility to make sure that the cable company cuts off service.
I would not have called the cable company either.
It is worth the time, and the frustration, to call those places fairly regularly. My mom does that and she scores discounts all the time.
Hi, Debbie. Thanks for coming to see me.
I may be calling Comcast again. This morning I saw a commercial for $29.99/month and free HBO for A YEAR. They should at least give me my $39.99 price for a year as well.
"Once upon a time, calling their customer service was an exercise in torture."-Agreed!!
I love to ask for discounts!! Makes me smile as do stories like this one.
Hi, SonyaAnn. I figure if you ask for everything you want, you will get some of it. :-)
Can I have a million dollars?
Yes, SonyaAnn. I will write you a check.
~snicker~
Cool for you! We just have the basic package as we hated having full frontal nudity on one of the movie channels during prime kids time and the kids were getting to the age when they noticed things like that...
Then we tivo everything that looks interesting and watch that when we find time.
Enjoy your movies!
Hi, McVal! thanks for coming to see me.
We have had "expanded basic" for years. We had to get expanded to get channels like Food Network and Comedy Central.
We haven't had any move channels ever. Well, I did MANY, MANY years ago, but Hubby and I never have. It's okay if there is nudity, we don't have any kids here. :-)
Good for you! Sounds like you had a great deal. We had a miserable time with Comcast and some weeks they were working here at the house 2 or 3 days out of the week. Never did get the problems straightened out and thank goodness AT&T came along. It's wonderful! So it's great that you are happy with them and enjoy HBO!
Hi, Pam. Sorry you had such a bad experience with Comcast. We have always had good luck and usually any problems were handled quickly. But in the past, I was not so impressed with their customer service. I must say, they have improved since I last dealt with them.
thanks for coming to see me!
So that snicker at the end was sarcasm? Hmmmmmm, but you said ask and I shall receive.
No, SonyaAnn, it was not sarcasm. I WILL send you a check for a million dollars. As soon as I save it up.
I love that. We called and asked about getting our DishNetwork package reduced because of all the kids medical expenses and they took off $5 a month for the next three months. That's not much but it's better than nothing! Congrats on being a digital customer.
I have done this with Comcast for at least 4 years now--call every six months and if they see you are not on a plan, they will put you on one and I typically save about $15.00 a month minimum on my cable bill (my internet goes down too but my work pays for that so I don't really even care).
BUT.....I made my 6-month call a few months ago and was DENIED!!! For the first time ever!!! (not my first time being denied ever, i'm denied all the time--just the first time by comcast)
And I called back THREE diff times. And I threatened to jump ship to the other cable provider and was denied THREE more times!!!!! I was totally shocked.
I'm glad you got yours though. Call back again and ask for a better rate when you go back to the regular rate, cause you might have a good four years like me....and the worst they can do is deny you. And it was the worst!! Denial is hard to accept!
Pam, I agree, a $5 discount is better than nothing.
Hi, Kaylen. Thanks for coming to see me.
So sorry you were denied by Comcast. Actually, I have called Comcast before and been denied any discount, so I refused to upgrade to digital. LOL! Like there is any other kind of tv you can get. It doesn't matter what it was called. We were getting digital tv.
But we weren't getting as much of it. (Like we really needed more tv.)
But I will call them back in 6 months.
We have had a Netflix account for the past 4 years and a cable account forever. A couple of months ago we decided it was silly to keep both. I watch just about everything on my computer anyway. So we purchased a Roku box for 80.00 to watch Netflix Live on our downstairs tv (mostly for the daughter in the family) and canceled the cable. Haven't every looked back. Don't miss the suggestive commercials, etc. that I used to have to worry about with a younger person in the house. I watch alot of free stuff on Hulu too.
Blessings
diane
Hi, Diane! Thanks for stopping by.
We currently have a Blockbuster account, similar to Netflix, but I have been thinking about getting a Roku so that we could get Netflix and stream movies.
Hubby and I do not like watching movies on the computer.
I know we could give up cable. I didn't have it for many years, but I am really spoiled to getting Food Network and Lifetime. LOL!
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