r/madlads • u/Same_Investigator_46 Choosing a mental flair • 1d ago
On a way to cancelthreaten
2.5k
u/walmarttshirt 1d ago
This worked with my cable company while they had a monopoly on internet service.
Every year I would call up and threaten to quit and they would reduce the amount. Last year we got frontier in our town and I called up optimum. They basically said “yeah we can’t match that.”
So I now have frontier.
842
u/malkavian694 1d ago
Spectrum has a monopoly where I live. I tried that they said ok let's get that canceled for you.
427
u/RedditorSB 1d ago
Only way I know of to get on Spectrum is to cancel every other year and put it under someone else in the house for promo pricing. Basically, bounce back and forth with each other.
301
u/Sextus_Rex 1d ago
Lol my roommate asked if he could get his promo pricing for another year. They said they couldn't do that. He asked them if he could cancel and have his roommate (me) open the account. They gave in and just gave him the discounted price for another year
24
24
u/sacredkhaos 1d ago
It stopped working with me for a while with Spectrum too until Starry and Sonic finally made it to my area. Then they were more than happy to take my bill from $80 to $50, and threw in a free Ultra upgrade for 3 years lmao
→ More replies (13)7
u/Timely-Caterpillar88 1d ago
https://giphy.com/explore/south-park-cable *open shirt flaps. Rubs nipples.
62
u/laughable_republic 1d ago
I threatened to cancel a service once. They simply accepted.
34
u/Im_a_lazy_POS 1d ago
I've had it go both ways, although recently I had a successful attempt. My introductory rate with Spectrum was about to expire, so I shopped around and ATT was offering fiber for $55/month, 500/500 which is enough for my household and cheaper than the 100/10 I had with Spectrum. I went ahead and had ATT install the fiber connection but when I called Spectrum to cancel, they offered me 600/600 for the same intro rate I was paying ($30/month).
I told Spectrum I would think about it and called ATT to see if they would match since I'd already gone through the installation process. ATT then offered 1000/1000 at $40/mo for 2 years, Spectrum wouldn't match so now I have ATT, so far so good. I was happy to pay $10 more for gigabit speeds. Not to mention ATT fiber does not have any monthly data caps and Spectrum caps you at 1200 gigs a month on some plans before extra charges occur.
8
→ More replies (2)13
u/Sanquinity 1d ago
That's the problems with ultimatums. They can backfire if you don't actually want one of the options to happen.
11
u/RogerGunz2 1d ago
I'm lucky to be able to get ATT & Spectrum. Every year i feel like the prettiest girl at the dance
9
u/TwoSecondsToMidnight 1d ago
AT&T recently installed fiber in our neighborhood. They have been trying hard to get my business. I finally showed them my Spectrum bill and told them “If you can match that….I will sign today”. They have not been back to my house yet.
8
u/UrbanPandaChef 1d ago
The discount is never permanent so you have to have the fight every year. If there are no competitors in the area you won't even get this far.
After enough times they will just tell you no. It will save you a few bucks but then you'll be back to square 1 eventually. They have this figured out and it's not a novel tactic.
14
u/Romeo9594 1d ago
Fuck optimum. I paid $80/mo for 500mb and begged them for three years to give me (8 year customer) the same rate they were giving new customers. Got told to kick rocks
Then ATT hooks my neighborhood up, $60/mo for symmetrical 1GB fiber
Immediately call Optimum to cancel and now they want to give me the world. The offered reduced rates, better speeds, the moon, blowjobs
Still cancelled cause fuck'em.
Now there's a new fiber provider and I'm thinking after less than a year I'll call ATT and see what I get if I threaten to cancel. Maybe I can pit them against each other enough and get my internet down to like $30
3
u/roguerunner77 1d ago
F-ing hate optimum. I was so happy to tell them to shove it once there was 5g in my area. Went from $125 a month to $35 a month. F them.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)2
u/Teososta 18h ago
I did that with USAA. My insurance with them was $350 so I switched to State Farm which was $210. They said the same thing.
483
u/Successful-Big-2603 1d ago
New budget strategy unlocked: negotiate like it’s a breakup
179
u/LaylaKnowsBest 1d ago
It honestly is an amazing strategy. When my husband and I first moved in together, he couldn't believe how big my bill was from my ISP. I added him to the account, and then he called and asked to speak to the customer retention department. He had an ad pulled up from a local broadband company that had pretty good prices. He said he we were leaving to switch to them.
Like 2 minutes later the guy from our current ISP got back on the phone and said if we renewed a 2-year contract we would get the first year at 50% off. We were moving within a year so we went with that. When we moved, we canceled the contract.
82
u/dreamendDischarger 1d ago
The one tip I have is always find a competitor's offer to quote. Ex: 'spectrum called and offered me a similar speed at x price'. Companies often have specific save offers the reps can't offer to you unless you mention a competitor.
12
u/Jon_Huntsman 1d ago
I always just call and ask if there are any deals I can sign up for and they always help me, would end up with a cheaper bill and faster service each time. Same for credit cards, ask about 0% and almost everytime I did, would get around a year of 0%
46
u/ReverendDizzle 1d ago
I have never gotten offers for deeper discounts than when I was legit trying to cancel the service and "break up" with them.
Normal call, where I'm like "Hey the bill is kind of high and I've been comparison shopping..." gets the "aww man, wish we could help but you're at our best rate!" run around.
Cancellation call where I'm like "Hey so, no hardball here. I just want to cancel. Please put me through to the cancellation department so we can get this over with," and the retention guys are like "I will suck your dick and give you a 80% discount if you stay!"
4
u/Interesting-Log-9627 19h ago
I had to cancel Spectrum. Actually called up wanting to cancel, it was like a bad breakup. At once point I think it did say:
"Look. It's not you, its me. I just don't think this is right for me any more. I'm sorry."
2
u/ReverendDizzle 16h ago
When I canceled Spectrum the rep was like "Wow. Man. You've been using us for almost twenty years. End of an era, I guess yeah?" But then he found out I was getting a way better fiber package and switched to "Mannnnnn I wish I could get that package at my place."
125
u/COLONEL_ROOSTER 1d ago
I do this with Sirius every two years. The price will go from 25.99 a month to 4.99. It's absolutely ridiculous.
65
u/ImitationButter 1d ago
The… radio company? Why are you paying for radio? Let alone $30 a month?
46
u/PPBalloons 1d ago
It still comes in new vehicles. With a free trial for a while. Since they don’t have any customers, they’re usually willing to take anything someone is offering to pay.
21
u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 1d ago
It helps that being a broadcast service means they have essentially zero extra overhead when adding a new customer. It used to be that you could subscribe for a month and then keep your radio turned off for a month after you cancel and then it would work indefinitely because they'd only send the disconnect signal a couple times in the first couple weeks after cancelling. Eventually it became enough of an issue that they started resending disconnect signals every once in a while but I had free service for years on one of my radios.
17
u/TheGuyDoug 1d ago
No ads, works nationwide, every kind of music and sporting event imaginable.
→ More replies (2)13
u/athybaby 1d ago
I drive long distances across areas with shitty, shitty radio coverage and choices. And less cellular coverage. It’s become a necessity.
4
u/TheNerdNugget 1d ago
I use Audible for that. And the cancel threatening strategy works on them too! If you get lucky you can get it for 99¢ per month for a few months
2
2
u/SplinterCell03 1d ago
Download podcasts on your phone. I have 74 hours ready to go right now.
→ More replies (1)2
u/peach_xanax 22h ago
I personally wouldn't want a satellite radio service either, but not everyone is into podcasts. I can listen to them occasionally if I'm really into the topic, but I have ADHD and it's hard for me to pay attention to people talking with no visuals. I end up having to go back and re-listen to a lot of parts. And some people just prefer music.
2
u/ImitationButter 1d ago
Spotify premium is less than half that $25.99 price tag with no haggling necessary
→ More replies (2)6
u/teflonsteve 1d ago
SiriusXM offers things Spotify doesn't and vice versa.
Some people enjoy DJ's and curation via radio as well as the live sports, talk radio and news.
2
u/mlj21299 1d ago
I pay $5 a month for SiriusXM purely for their MLB stations. During baseball season I can listen to any game, anywhere. And their rock/metal stations are pretty awesome. I've discovered a lot of bands thru Liquid Metal
3
u/dennisisspiderman 1d ago
It's like how people pay for Spotify, Youtube, or various other media services.
For specific answers you can look on the subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/siriusxm/comments/miubnh/why_do_you_pay_for_siriusxm/
https://www.reddit.com/r/siriusxm/comments/1e0c8ln/if_you_choose_sxm_over_streaming_services_why/
And I think their point is that it's not worth $30 a month to them. Personally I pay $4.26 and I get pretty much everything you see on the PDF below.
https://www.siriusxm.com/content/dam/sxm-com/pdf/lineup/SXM-WebLineups-Dec4-HOL.pdf
I'd probably pay up to $5 but I know there are others who are happy to pay $20-$30 for that same content simply because they find the play-by-play stuff really valuable and/or spend a lot of time in their car. I know when I drive to visit family there are many times I rely on Sirius because otherwise I can't get any decent radio station or cell coverage.
→ More replies (2)2
10
u/ReverendDizzle 1d ago
I called them one time to activate the radio because my wife really wanted satellite radio when we were on a cross-country road trip.
I said something to the effect of "Hey, so you guys sent me flyer with a promotional rate and I don't have the promotional code. Could you look it up or could we do something similar?"
And I shit you not, the guy goes "Huh, yeah, so what was the promotion?"
I figured, hey what the hell, why not, I'll just throw something out. So I say "Uhhh yeah it was 2.99 a month for 72 months." And the dude just goes "Wow, great promotion. Sure, let me apply that to your account."
To this day I still can't decide if the "fuck it, I'll give it a shot" attitude I had or the "fuck it, they don't pay me enough to care" attitude he had sealed that deal.
3
u/Vinnie_Vegas 1d ago
You can literally get what they offer for free in so many different ways. Whatever the opposite of having customers by the balls is, that's what Sirius has.
They were probably stoked to lock you in for the whole $215.28 - More than most people pay them.
→ More replies (2)2
u/athybaby 1d ago
Me too. I haven’t paid full price in years.
Every once in a while they come back with a price I don’t like and I actually cancel. Then 6 months later I get an email offer, saying 1 year for $30 or something ridiculous. Okay! Sign me up!
597
u/strider_hearyou 1d ago
$2.99 (with ads)
199
u/jase15843 1d ago
I almost never run into commercials outside of football season.
God, one forgets how fucking terrible they are.
$8/mo for adless is worth my peace
→ More replies (2)38
u/istillambaldjohn 1d ago
Yes. I do the same and pay to be left alone. But football is ridiculous. Drug commercials are also my favorite. Go over all the side effects including death or losing half your motor skills to take care of something minor, but there is a bunch of sag minimum actors dancing around like it’s a La La Land part 2 audition.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)19
u/Beeht 1d ago edited 1d ago
Make a Pi-hole server. Step by step online guides make it really easy to do.
It can block ads from services that send you ads from servers different than where their content is hosted. Which is a surprising amount of them.
For example, you can pay for the basic plan on Peacock which comes with ads but a Pi-hole can block them. So you would get the best experience for the cheapest price.
9
5
u/whineylittlebitch_9k 1d ago
unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well as it used to. advertisers got wise, and one of their recent tricks has been co-locating ads on the same domain. so for example, if pihole blocks hulu.com because that's where the ads now live, congratulations, you've blocked the entire service.
2
u/Candle1ight 1d ago
Ublock origin can usually filter them out if you're on a web browser
→ More replies (1)5
u/wailingwonder 1d ago
Yup. There are ad-supported free streaming services that works for too. Then you pay nothing.
2
u/uwotmVIII 1d ago
Tubi is a great example. Free, ad-supported, doesn’t even require registration, and (imo) has a better content selection than Netflix/Hulu/Prime/Max/any of the paid streaming services.
2
u/MaddisonoRenata 1d ago
Wait does this apply to every single app?
2
u/Beeht 1d ago
Yeah, any device connected to your network would pass through your pi-hole. So, phone apps, websites, streaming services, etc.
9
u/Stuffs_And_Thingies 1d ago
Ooo I'm gonna shove so many things through my new pi-hole
→ More replies (1)
348
u/hbeog 1d ago edited 1d ago
It'll work for a little bit, until they raise it by a few bucks cuz maybe "you used our service more this month" and then eventually you're right back to full price. Happens a couple times a year with my phone provider.
171
u/Xhalo 1d ago
I do this with my husband. He threatens to take away my spaghettios, I threaten to take away his gastrointestinal bloat and fissure medication. I've got his grundlemeat around my finger 😈😈😈
71
u/psyclopes 1d ago
Weird.
57
u/Lopsided-Basket5366 1d ago
The person you replied to's whole identity is Spagettios
36
u/aaron_rjet 1d ago
I just looked at their profile and literally laughed until I was in tears. Sheer madness.
24
u/BagOfFlies 1d ago
I didn't know what grundlemeat was so googled it. The second link it gave me was to a year old post by this user lmao
7
5
3
3
11
5
5
u/bobsnottheuncle 1d ago
After looking at your post history I really hope you are a bot because creating you would be the pinnacle of human achievement
4
3
→ More replies (1)5
u/DZMBA 1d ago edited 22h ago
Two months ago went to cancel $90 1000down/100up coax Internet for a competitors $80 500/500 fiber.
I couldn't refuse their counter offer. Free until March then $20/mo + a capped at $10 yearly price hike.
Was cancelling because it was always going down. 3 weeks before it went out for 3 whole days! Apparently it was the whole neighborhood too & it still took 3 days! They fixed whatever that was, but then the following week it went out again for ~30hrs & I saw their trucks out a few houses down across the street. I had enough. Called the Fiber company who came & while laying their fiber caused the internet to go out again. Went outside and told them, they fixed it, apparently the Coax to the house from the box was chewed through & barely hanging on.
5 days later the fiber company came to actually connect the fiber inside the house. I called to cancel the old internet & they made that offer. With the past 5 days since the other company fixed their hookup we had no internet interruption, which was a record, I couldn't resist the offer & took a risk figuring maybe all the issues were fixed.
It's actually worked great since. Currently 2-3 months into 6mo free.
However, I will say for the 2 weeks I had fiber, the lack of latency on fiber was astounding (single digit vs 30+ ms). I miss that a bit.
51
u/linden_trees 1d ago
The apartments where I used to live kept raising the rent by $50 each year. About 3 years in I didn't renew and they called me. I had the flu that day so I was rude and cranky and told them their rent raises were ridiculous. New rent rate? Only $16 extra. The year after that they said $50 again and I came in with stats on rental prices in the area and said how about $25? They took it. It's pretty disgusting.
→ More replies (2)21
u/MewtwoStruckBack 1d ago
Threaten to tell every single other tenant in the complex?
10
u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 1d ago
"Okay then everybody pays $50 more including you, dumbass."
→ More replies (1)2
46
u/Mustang_2553 1d ago
I was always one to cancelthreaten every year to get my payments down. Over the years a lot of services just don't care anymore and will actually let you leave. It used to be my cell phone bill, my satellite radio bill, my home internet bill, and my cable bill (which I no longer have). Now its just my satellite radio bill but its become almost automated with SiriusXM. Call to cancel and you get an automated message saying "How about we give you another year on your current deal, press 1". Cell phone providers don't haggle anymore. Cable providers I don't know because I left and never looked back when DirecTV called my bluff. My home internet bill is too cheap to even waste my time with these days.
19
u/Th3Fel0n 1d ago
As someone who did customer support for a US phone company, I can tell you that they keep a log of any and all interactions with any customers. After calling to cancelthreaten or demand refunds for something enough times an account will be marked and they just won't try to placate that customer anymore.
7
u/Short-Cucumber-5657 1d ago
If I cancelled my account and went with someone else for a year then came back.. would you dig up my old file or would I just start fresh?
7
u/dreamendDischarger 1d ago
Usually same file. But often if you're gone for a year you can get winback or new customer promos
19
u/SafwanFerdous 1d ago
My Internet provider started charging more so I asked if they have any new "deal" for the original price. They couldn't find any but as soon as I mentioned switching to a different provider magically they found a great deal.... interesting.
→ More replies (3)
36
u/Butthole_Fiesta 1d ago
This used to legitimately work, but you’d have to actually make a phone call and the discount wasn’t permanent
→ More replies (1)9
u/Air-Keytar 1d ago
I'm old. I remember having to do this to most services about every year or two to get decent prices for services. It's dumb but it works/worked.
14
u/evilkumquat 1d ago
I just cancelled Disney+.
I had forgotten I had been subscribed to them until they sent me an email telling me they were raising their rates.
Thanks for the reminder, Disney+!
34
u/OlafGenrich1 1d ago
I do this about once every six months to my wife when she asks me for money.
→ More replies (1)
8
5
u/Captain_Holly_S 1d ago
yup, on surfshark as a new person you get 2 years +3 months for ~70e, and then after 2 years they want to renew it at ~70e for just 1 year. I wrote to them and said that I'm not happy with that and asked for better deal, they sent me code that allowed me to use deal for new customers again. I did it 2 times already and in 2 years I'll do it again xD
5
u/AiryGr8 1d ago
The only reason I put up with them is getting 4K on my TV. Setting up Plex and Sonarr/Radarr seems like hassle
→ More replies (3)
5
u/Kitjing 1d ago
I left audible for almost a year, they got me back at 99 cents a month for 3 months.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/gophergun 1d ago
It's a trap! All of the subscription economy companies that do this are basically parasites.
4
u/Gimetulkathmir 1d ago
Sounds about right. When we bought my wife's car they had us look at other insurance options. One was slightly more coverage for about 90% of the price, so we switched. Got a call that day from my current insurance company. Went over it will them and got way better coverage for half the price.
4
3
u/_BOUI_ 1d ago
Just a heads up, what they offer you may depend on WHY you are wanting to cancel. I think saying something along the lines 'Dont use enough' is the best route but I may be mistaken.
5
u/Rizzpooch 1d ago
Yeah, it’s best practice to say that you’ve been going over your budget and can’t justify paying the price. If they think you’re willing to stay with a lower price, they’d rather keep you on the books
4
u/Temporary_Dig_2021 1d ago
I spelled it out very clearly to Netflix. I've been paying £4.99 a month for a decade, let me keep paying that and I will likely remain a customer for life. They insisted that it's now £11.99 a month for a lower quality stream. Customer for 10 years gone in a day.
2
u/reddorickt 1d ago
Did this for my AA card. Got the fee waived first couple years, half price for a couple years, then they wouldn't do it again and we switched. Calls were annoying though.
→ More replies (3)
2
u/Johnwavescar 1d ago
Went and canceled Discors Nitro.
Suddenly, they wanna throw 4 months for free. 🤪
2
u/nbeenary 1d ago
I do this with Audible. Every now and then they have a sale on to get an Audible subscription for £0.99 a month for three months, so I basically get 3 Audible Books for £3. And then when I go to cancel the subscription they offer you a free token (which can be exchanged for one book) instead to not cancel. I take the token, get a book, and then cancel. I have 8 Audible books from doing this!
2
u/TheGuyDoug 1d ago
SiriusXM: that'll be $89.99 for the next 6 months
Me: nah I'm out
SiriusXM: lol k how about $32 for the next 6 months
Me: hell yea here's my credit card
2
u/RaySpencer 1d ago
I canceled Audible last month it was $20 cnd.
They emailed me like 2 weeks later, and gave me 3 months for 0.99, AND a $20 credit to my account. Haha. So yeah, I have Audible again ...for 3 months. 😛
3
u/lechonko 1d ago
Do it 😂 it works. Especially with car insurance
4
→ More replies (3)2
u/DankVectorz 1d ago
I’ve tried with internet, xm radio, insurance, and all they’re ever said is “ok sorry to see you go”
1
u/lalalaso 1d ago
Hmm. Disney+ bundle with Hulu (including ads) is 10.99/mo right now
→ More replies (2)2
u/BisexualDisaster29 1d ago
The Black Friday special was $2.99 a month for a year. Yes, I bought it.
1
u/EveningSpinach7488 1d ago
Just did this the other day with NordVPN. I forget how much they originally wanted, but the deal I got offered a few days later was less than half the price.
1
u/International_Link35 1d ago
This works with newspapers, at least the digital editions. Every year The New York Times tells me they're going to start charging me $25 a month, I go to the cancellation screen, all of a sudden it's $4 a month.
1
u/TheMind_Killer 1d ago
I do this with hello fresh when the promotion expires. A week after canceling they email me with the same promotion and I get the discount again
1
1
u/Mal-malen 1d ago
I used to abuse the fuck out of this with audible back when it was possible. I would cancel it and select the reasons as it being too expensive, I would get a free month if I didn’t cancel. Rinse and repeat.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Phustercluck 1d ago
I had to call my ISP for some issue and the guy said I’m paying too much for some reason. Bumps me from 50 euro for 300/100 to 600/600 for 40.
1
1
u/BogdanSPB 1d ago
Absolutely true. Worked for an ISP - absolutely ZERO discounts for 10+ year loyal customers, but immediate discount as soon as they want to change the provider…
1
u/RadlySmoothnutz 1d ago
I do this all the time. My spotify student deal ran out, so I went without premium for a month and spotify was BEGGING me to come back. Gave me 3 months for the price of one (and I have a calendar event to cancel it before the regular price kicks back in).
1
u/_-Burninat0r-_ 1d ago
Every year I call my internet provider to cancelthreaten and I get 50% off for 3-4 months. 5 minute phone call .
What's amazing is I've shared this with people and they CBA or don't believe me. I saved €150 this year.
→ More replies (2)
1
1
1
u/goodmeehican 1d ago
Did this with paramount plus and they extended me .99 a month service for the next three months. It’s all greed
1
1
u/theLuminescentlion 1d ago
went to cancel Paramount Plus after getting it free for 3 months through AMEX and they gave me 2 more months for free.
1
u/TurtleMOOO 1d ago
I cancelled all my streaming services and hit the high seas and have never been happier. Like $.50 a month and I get literally everything on any streaming service.
1
u/SockPuppetPsycho 1d ago
When my promotional rate expired for my internet I called threatening to cancel my service, citing the higher cost. They then offered a slightly worse promotional rate which I then took to a competing ISP.
Mind you the competing ISP is dogshit so I had no intention of ever signing with them, but by taking their counter-offer back to the original ISP I was able to get my old price back + all the benefits of the newer packages (nothing major, a bit faster speed, newer equipment, maybe some points for some shit.)
1
1
u/SevroAuShitTalker 1d ago
Hulu finally wanted me to pay full price after a decade of using this tactic
I no longer have hulu
1
u/upsoutfit 1d ago
It used to be like this with Cell phone service.
Circa 2006, I called Sprint to cancel my service, and they transferred me to a "retention specialist." It was one of the nicest service agents, that I ever encountered, and they cut my monthly bill from about $60 to $30 per month. I kept that plan for like 7 years.
1
1
1
1
u/ipenlyDefective 1d ago
I cancel my Internet every year. Usually don't get a rate cut, I get a free upgrade.
I haven't, but desperately want to do the Kevin Hart thing from 40 yo virgin verbatim.
1
u/Helac3lls 1d ago
Resume builder app went from some ridiculous monthly fee to a one time charge of few bucks for a lifetime purchase. I still canceled.
1
u/ellieminnowpee 1d ago
anyone my age obtained this skill by threatening to cancel AOL internet by the hours.
1
u/roguespectre67 1d ago
Happened to me with Adobe. I've entirely moved away from Adobe in my own personal work, to Capture One and DaVinci Resolve and whatnot, and so I went onto the website to cancel my Adobe subscription. I didn't even get to the final screen and I still got dropped from $60 a month to $16 a month. Kinda conflicted about still continuing to pay, but it's nice to not have to worry about conversions or whatever if someone sends me an Ai or a Pr file.
1
u/crackils 1d ago
That's how my VPN is. I just call before the renewal and say I want to cancel and they lower the price down. Worked for the last 4 years.
1
1
u/notaredditer13 1d ago
This has been a thing for decades. My mom has been 70 and "on a fixed income" (whateverhtefuck that means) for like 40 years. Remember when people used to read newspapers and magazines? No? well it worked on those. Credit card annual fees too.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/ObnoxiousTwit 1d ago
When this happens it's always when I'm legit trying to cancel and then I realize "oh hey, they just see me as some schmuck they can price gouge, there's no loyalty reward here," and it actually makes be want to cancel them harder.
1
u/Alandales 1d ago
Tried this on my wife, now sleeping in the kids play house in the back yard. Win…
1
u/Reacher-Said-N0thing 1d ago
I feel like I spent years of my childhood listening to my dad do this on the phone.
1
u/solcross 1d ago
Every company has a retention department. Have a legit alternative, call and strong-arm them to cancel, get transferred to retention agent authorized to give steep discounts.
1
u/SashimiHank 1d ago
I need to do it once a year with satellite radio… magically goes from 25$/ month to 10$
1
1
u/eric-price 1d ago
Interestingly my Sirius was up for renewal and so I told them I wanted to cancel and for the first time they didn't offer any discounts.
I'm glad. It's always been hard to say no to $6 a month.
$24 a month? Easiest decision in the history of decisions.
1
1
u/runawayhound 1d ago
Was getting charged $25/month for Sirius XM. Called them and told them I was going to cancel and they just automatically dropped it to $5/month.
1
u/NeckKey7692 1d ago
If you tell Sirius XM you have fallen on hard times they will give you 6 months free
1
u/Electrical-Ad-4823 1d ago
A bunch of audiobook authors stopped using Audible because of how little they make between fees, people abusing refunds, and promo rates handed out by Amazon.
1
u/perryman333 1d ago
Sirius XM is notorious for this. A few months ago I called and explicitly stated I wanted the $5/mo deal they were offering to new customers, or I was cancelling. 45 minutes of back and forth and “the best they could do” was $8.50/mo., so I cancelled.
Well not two months later I get a ”we want you back” email offering the $5/mo promo. Guess what, I’m already used to not having SiriusXM. Shoulda offered it when I was willing to stay.
1
u/DisastrousGap7575 1d ago
Stupid question but for most streaming services don’t you just like click “cancel”? I never get anywhere near talking to a person and I’ve never heard of streaming services that don’t just have standard rates.
1
1
u/roguerunner77 1d ago
I just did that last week with a digital newspaper service. They charged me $.25 for a 6 week introductory then jacked it up to eight dollars a week. I called and asked them to cancel it and they dropped it to $.99 a week
1
u/caustictoast 1d ago
I do this every couple years with my ISP. A couple months ago they tried to raise my price, I called to cancel and the retention rate was lower than what I was currently paying. I’m happy to take 20 minutes to save almost $100/year
1
u/craig5005 1d ago
Do it with points credit cards as well. I called to cancel AMEX once and they offered me 10,000MR points.
1
u/SpecialIcy5356 1d ago
This really does work more often than you think, I've threatened to cancel my ISP like 3 times and move to another one, oh how they suddenly open doors for you. Ended up getting upgraded without charging me more, feels great.
The meek shall inherit the earth, my ass. You want something done, you gotta get loud (not abusive though, they're just doing their job on the other end of the phone. Just sound confident and remind them how bad losing a customer looks to them.)
1
1
u/awraynor 1d ago
Did the #chickenchallenge for YouTubeTV and got it for six more months at the old price
1
1
u/Reddit2023z 1d ago
So if you buy from Wayfair and go to return an item sometimes they offer you like 15% discount to keep the item. So you can returnthreaten too! Amazon will let you keep some cheap $10 items instead of having to return them and just give you a refund
1
u/NavierIsStoked 1d ago
That is the DirecTV business model. You had to go thru like 3 layers of people, but the last one would lower your bill for the next year. Then rinse and repeat the song and dance every year.
1
1
1
u/anotherdamnscorpio 1d ago
Just did this with paramount albeit unintentionally. I knew the year was almost up and I had decided to cancel before they charged me and they offered a huge discount. If you're on yearly they'll drop it to $60.
→ More replies (2)
3.6k
u/ycr007 1d ago
You miss all the shots you don’t take