The Yearly Cable Battle

It’s around this time each year when I call Comcast to renegotiate a lower bill without losing too many channels.

But they’re crafty. They now have perhaps the perfect set up. They will lull you into a false sense of security and accomplishment before verrrrrrrrry slowly pulling the rug out from under you.

I get internet, cable and phone from Xfinity. The phone, I don’t use. It’s just there for the bundled discount. The internet is pretty reliable and very fast. The cable is the mercurial, shape-changing wizard that needs to be catered to, kneaded, caressed.

So, imagine my surprise when the very nice gentleman on the phone gave me everything I wanted and more for less money.

Mind you, I first had to work my way through all the automated BS by repeatedly saying “agent” over and over and over and over and over again until they connected me. But when I got connected– very nice guy and helpful. 

But of course he was fast, friendly and efficient. The automated service would be calling back 30 minutes after the discussion so I could rate my experience with him. So, I had a very pleasant discussion with the gentleman, saying that my year’s plan was up and I’d like to see if I could lower my bill, as we went forward. I also clarified that I was not interested in any of the movie channels, nor any of the sports add ons. 

He said that he could give me everything I have now, plus extra channels, all for a lower price. Boom. 

Amongst the added channels were Cartoon Network, making Matthew happy, TLC, which made Linda mildly happy (evidently it’s not the draw it once was, but she still has HGTV) and most surprising of all, the infamous Marquee Network comes with the package (that of course is the big Cubs baseball channel). It’s not something I was willing to pay extra for and was already resigned to listening to all the games on radio. But now I’ve got Marquee. ALL of this for about $20 less each month. 

But here’s where they’ll eventually get me. And you, if you have Xfinity, or let’s face it, any cable company….

So, I’m all happy with instant gratification and he asks if I can listen to the recording of all the details of the new agreement for my approval. I say yes and they play this four minute recording of the new deal. 

Basically, I get a certain guaranteed rate for the next two years and if I pull out, there’s like a $250 penalty etc.  This is no problem.

Then they do mention that certain parts of the package may have rate increases at any point during that two year period (hello, Marquee). So, you know there’ll be some price bumps over the next two years and meanwhile, once I get accustomed to certain channels, I won’t want to lose them anyway.

Crafty buggers.

Still, two years ago, I was looking at a cable/internet/phone bill over $200 a month, and that was about to zoom up over $250, so I renegotiated it down to $130 with a different package.

But that first year had my wife going without HGTV and that was bad, so the following year, I added some stuff including that which brought it to $145 per month.

Now, we’re down to $129 a month with everything, so even with the eventual, inevitable price bumps over the next two years, we’re still more or less ahead of the game.

And a percentage of all this stuff is a tax write off for home office purposes.

So, all in all, not bad.

The moral of the story though is that with the massive uptick in streaming services popping up everywhere, and a lot of people cutting the cord, it is possible to negotiate your cable bill down. 

And then take an automated survey.

Have fun with that.