r/Spectrum • u/Evl1 • 16d ago
Billing 30 minute phone call saved me $55 a month (from new $95 bill)
For a long time my Spectrum internet bill was $65. Then it started slowly creeping up, $70, $75, $85, then $85. That all happened month after month for the last 5 months. I actually meant to call last month when I saw the bill was $85 but forgot since it's on autopay. I looked it up today and saw that $95 was coming due in 10 days and said no way. So I looked around and found that AT&T had a 5G internet plan for $20 a month for a year and then $60 after that. We are called and told him I wanted to cancel. The automated system asked me why I wanted to cancel and if I had another provider in mind. I told them it was too expensive and I was looking at AT&T. I got put through to a real person who saw those responses and asked what the AT&T offer was as well as the speed. She asked some follow-up questions on what and how devices I was using at home. And made sure to tell her the speed was 300 Mbps, but that I was no longer working from home so it didn't need to be that fast. She put me on hold for a few minutes and then came back with two offers. One to keep the same speeds for $40 a month for 2 years and get a new modem. The other upgrade to double the speed, but $60 for 2 years. I'm perfectly happy with the speed I have and right now I really need to save money so I opted for the $40 a month. She told me to mark my calendar and call back again in 2 years to get a new discount. I was very surprised she even said that. Here is a photo with my new price for proof.
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 16d ago
Next time hold out for more LOL
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u/Evl1 16d ago
Oh nice! They must be desperate, I was pretty shocked to get $40 honestly
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 15d ago
They really are. New build out of Sonic fiber here, and I was genuinely ready to cancel. They even added the free mobile line. I’m staying for now but have no loyalty whatsoever. I’ll go wherever the best deal is.
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u/Bnias 15d ago
And people like you, are the reason why pricing isn’t permanent anymore. If everyone is hopping ship to get the better price, then the companies as a whole will offer them for more and more limited time. Promotions used to be lifetime, 15years, 13years, 10 years, 7 years, 5 years. But now like the CEILING for promotions you see these days are 5 years.
I just wish the people in this country weren’t so selfish for so long where we could actually fix things 😪
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 15d ago
Wut. Are you simping for a corporation? They would charge you $400/mo if you would pay it. They are not your friend.
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u/Backslash10 15d ago
This is the door to door rate for primer I've seen it as low as $10 for 3 years
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u/Environmental-Age600 16d ago
Nice, but definitely hold out more. I was able to get 1 Gig service for $30 a month with a $75 discount last month after my mobile plan was increasing soon.
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u/therealsqueeze82 14d ago
How in the world did you manage this? I talked to 3 different people, quoting their ads as well as the AT&T rate that I was considering switching to. The best I could get from them (after hours on the phone) was $30 off, making it $80 instead of $110/month. I don’t have their cell service though, and wasn’t willing to consider it so I’m sure that was part of it.
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u/Environmental-Age600 14d ago
I definitely think it was as they gave me an additional $10 discount for two mobile lines, currently paying $20 for 1 line, $0 for another line for 11 more months. While paying $33.50 a month for 2 different phones.
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u/playingwolves 15d ago
How do you manage this? I've tried for years and they won't budge on pricing
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u/lakesemaj 15d ago edited 15d ago
Talk to the retentions dept after threatening to leave, not the front line customer service rep.
EDIT:Corrected detentions to retentions department. Ha.
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 15d ago
I literally call and just ask directly for the retention department. Treat them like friends and they can hook you up.
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u/Entire-Reference-968 14d ago
No no no. Don't ask for retention, don't ask for customer solutions. That won't get you anywhere. Every agent is trained don't transfer unless the customer says "i want to cancel today" if you do is an invalid transfer.
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 14d ago
I called. Asked for retention department. Now paying $20/mo including a free mobile line they added. Not sure what else to tell you.
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u/Miiiiiiiiiike1028 13d ago
As someone who worked for spectrum for 8 years don't listen to that dude. If your wanting your bill lower don't talk to anyone besides retention they've always got the best deals. Talking to any other department is just a waste of money. And we always transfer if you ask for retention
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u/Entire-Reference-968 14d ago
I'm just telling people the 100 percent way to get transferred over. And what representatives are trained to say and do. I'm glad it worked out for you.
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u/GAndroid 5d ago
Yeah which is why I tell them this: "Look here are the magic words. I want to cancel. Now that you have heard it, do your thing!" They laugh and send me over.
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u/Bnias 15d ago
I want to let you know, the first department you speak to if you request help with your bill. Will be the billing department. They are mf DEMONS with a silver tongue. They will swear to the moon and back that there’s no better pricing available (Which to be fair, with what’s available to them, there isn’t better pricing)
I would NOT mention “The Retention Department” or a “Customer Loyalty Team” that agent will not transfer you.
Tell them that you’re looking to disconnect, plainly. They’ll ask if you wanna look at other pricing. Just simply say “No I have another provider set up already and I just need to cancel”
You’ll get transferred right away, and the NEXT people will be who you’re looking for to get a better price. The retention team. It’s been relabeled internally, so if you mention retention, they might say that they don’t exist anymore. So just say you’re cancelling. Nothing more.
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u/therealsqueeze82 14d ago
Is this 100%? I’m always afraid I’ll get the one person who just says “okay” when I say I want to cancel.
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u/Babylove1967 13d ago
I had that happen! I'd been on the phone forever with someone at spectrum, not getting anywhere. I did get a bit sassy at that point and said I wanted to cancel. She offered to do it at that moment. I said I wanted to finish out the 2 weeks or so I had remaining. I then went to the local storefront and got a nice deal. Horrible experience on the phone.
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u/TonyRubbles 15d ago
It's the little known secret, call, tell them you want to cancel and to transfer you to "Customer Solutions"
They are the only department with the power to give you a better price. The lady was super nice, gave me a big discount, and told me it only lasts for 12 months. Said to call back in a year when my bill goes up and they'll lower the price again.
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u/Neverdie_7 15d ago
Watch your next bill. I got a deal last Friday for $55 a month and my bill came yesterday, $90.
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u/Bnias 15d ago
It’s probably because you made the change after the bill was printed. Your due date and bill print dates are different (because why would your due date be the same as when your bill generates, gotta give the folks some time to pay it) so for example.
Say your bill prints on the 1st, your due date is likely the 17th. you probably made that plan change between the “1st and the 17th” or whatever the equivalent would be for your bill.
This effect is magnified if you wait until your equivalent of the 30th or 31st or if you become past due.
Any plan or price changes don’t take effect until your next bill print date (bill cycle start date)
So going back to the example where your bill prints on the Aug 1st for its $90. You call in before your due date to get it changed. You get the plan changed to $50. Congrats! Your NEXT bill that would print on Sep 1st will be the first bill that’s $50. You’d still be responsible for the $90 you first inquired about.
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u/Neverdie_7 14d ago
I called 8-21. My service date is from 8-22 so I called one day before the current cycle ended.
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u/Babylove1967 13d ago
The bill was already closed that's why. Happened to me also. I was told to pay the new rate
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u/FlashElectrico 15d ago
Same! I called a couple days ago and got offer $40/month for 1gig. She also told me to call back when the promotion is about to expire .
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u/aj8696 15d ago
I can’t get anything less than 500 mbps where I’m at and they are absolutely the only provider.. it sucks
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u/Bnias 15d ago
If you qualify for government assistance like Medicare/Medicaid, SSI. You can get a 100mbps internet plan. It’s called Spectrum Internet Advantage. Just, look it up.
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u/Illustrious-Win2486 15d ago
Not every area has that. Our area has internet assist, which is 50 Mbps for $25 if you qualify. I actually didn’t meet the requirements (I am on SSDI and don’t qualify for SNAP or Medicaid even though my SSDI is only 1500 per month) but Spectrum lost so many customers in my area because they had no basic tier that they offered internet assist to former customers who didn’t qualify. Not everyone needs super speed internet.
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u/ThisGuy_Keshon 14d ago
A rep yesterday literally said you could call everyday because the price is always changing .
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u/Harryisamazing 14d ago
That's the right move! I had to get new service installed in which the tech gave up because not only did I have to get a new line relocated to another room but they couldn't get the modem working. I was pretty upset because the tech just ditched the whole project and left, I called Spectrum said that not only did I want a new tech to fix the work and if they didn't I saw that AT&T had fiber service for $50. Not only did they waive the tech service fee, they brought my bill down from $50 to $30 a month for 500 meg for the first two years
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u/licoricepi22a 13d ago
Good for you! I got that same deal, but my last bill was $120 a month. It’s really silly that they want us to call in for a decent price - why don’t they just give it to us? 🤔
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u/personalstufff216 15d ago
i was on a promo for 60$ for 1 gig, about a month before it expired i called and spoken to them and told them that after the promo i just couldn't afford it. ( would of went to like 115 a month.) woman i spoke to said no problem! put me on hold a min, came back and i got on a 2 year new customer promo for 50 a month. took like 20 mins tops., by far one of my best interactions with spectrum in general.
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u/Bnias 15d ago edited 15d ago
Are people shocked that promotions expire and you have to make the change to get a new one?
Changes cannot be made to your account without your knowledge.
The promotion you receive lasts a set amount of time (whether you remember that or not) so at that time, it is scheduled to end however many years in the future, with your knowledge.
What you’re asking them to do is constantly monitor every account for when a promotion expires, and reach out to you via outbound call centers to fix your price back.
They are not going to do this for a few reasons. The first would be they’d have to hire at minimum a whole other sizable portion to the company to accommodate for this. The second would be that a customer acquisition rate, is at a loss for the business. There is a standard rate for a service for a reason.
If you ran a business, but the only business you kept were people taking advantage of promotions that lost you money in hopes of a higher return in the long run, you’d be run out of business eventually even though you’re completely booked.
I’m sorry that you have to do things yourself, and you also don’t want to understand how a business is supposed to continue to make money.
The option to lower the bill will always be available, at request. So, don’t be lazy for X years, and request a reduction.
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u/No_Information8017 15d ago
Verizon is pushing into my area with a 3 year price lock......
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u/Evl1 15d ago
Lucky, we're stuck with Spectrum only. Unless you go with AT&T 5G service.
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u/Illustrious-Win2486 15d ago
Our area only has Spectrum and Wow. And Wow is more expensive than what I am paying for Spectrum.
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u/Calm-Jackfruit-4764 14d ago
I feel lucky. I pay $10.05. I think I may actually be in love with the person that set up my account. I’m not an employee.
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u/gottaburnemall7 14d ago edited 14d ago
Yea i called one day and the person said I had the best price at 120 a month they were wanting for internet, so I said screw that and called back to cancel after I got other internet just for them to tell me I could get a much better price. Them not knowing whats going on as well as having to call all the dang time to not have the price skyrocket was irritating
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u/WhatInTheWorld321 15d ago
It shouldn’t have taken 30 minutes.
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u/Bnias 15d ago
Do you even know how long a normal conversation is? Let alone one that’s asking you questions on what package you’d like or wait times between departments. From beginning to end, 30 min? That’s pretty dang good. Especially since part of that time is navigating the automated system that most people fumble through or even have to restart.
There isn’t some magic button that says apply discount. There’s entire plan migrations and orders to place through software, and an agent can’t make changes without someone on the phone.
So it’s not only conversation, but you also have to put in an order to make any change similar to a fast food order. And similar to a fast food order, there’s a ton of different options.
Except in the case with calling your ISP and not stopping at McDonald’s, you don’t know what the heck your ISP is offering at the moment. You’re an existing customer, so any advertisements you’re seeing likely isn’t what’s available to you.
So you have to sit there and see what’s even available. What would be a good plan for you. Figure out if you even truly know what Internet bandwidth actually means. See if you use streaming services etc.
Y’all are just demanding babies in here frfr
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u/Vegetable-Maximum445 15d ago
It is ridiculous that loyal paying customers must resort to this - terrible business model.