Watch and Earn, Revisited

Image via alliesanswers.com

A couple days ago, I wrote about a friend who managed to get her cable bill reduced drastically. Another of our friends just pulled off the same feat with Time Warner, which is my cable provider too. So I decided it was my turn. 

I called up the company, and told them that I needed to reduce my bill, which runs me about $140 a month. The first woman said she could reduce my bill to $99.95 if I locked into a contract with them for the next two years. I almost took it, but am glad I didn't.

The reason? She was only reducing the cost of my service (which is  $106) and not the cost of all my add-ons. Time Warner charges extra for wireless and DVR service,  as well as extra for every cable box, remote control, and internet converter that you have in your home. My extras came to a little over $30, so her offer was only going to get my actual bill to $133-ish. After doing the math, I asked to be transferred to a retention specialist. She said OK and promptly hung up on me. 

I called back and got transferred to a retention specialist named Craig. (That is, after I spent another 20 minutes on hold, listening to scratchy piano music.) Craig couldn't do much for me either, he explained.  I explained that I didn't think I could stay a Time Warner customer, then, especially since I could switch to RCN for much lower. He gave me a quote of $110 for the next year--all in--and I took it. 

My friend and fellow Time Warner Cable customer had gotten her service down to $99. But I have an extra cable box in the house, so I figured this was the equivalent deal. At any rate, it's less than what I was paying, so I guess I'm happy with it. 

Another thing: the first agent told me that prices for cable will go up industry-wide in April, so locking into a contract now is probably a good idea. If she's to be believed, even people happy with their service might try locking into their current prices now. 

If anyone else has had better success at this, I'd love to hear from you!