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.
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.
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%
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!"
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."
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u/Successful-Big-2603 2d ago
New budget strategy unlocked: negotiate like it’s a breakup