Posts Tagged ‘tv’

Dish Network retention: Saved $15/month for the next year!

June 8th, 2009

In this environment, it is smart to minimize expenses as much as possible, and one place ripe for cuts is the cable TV bill. While the argument could be made that you don’t need cable at all, many of us wish to keep the luxury of cable and would just like to knock a few bucks off the price. This is pretty easy to do; all you have to do is ask the right person the right way.

All you have to do is work your money-saving magic through the Retentions Department. They won’t send you there if you just ask for it by name, so you have to threaten to cancel to get there and get the best deals. I called Dish Network retentions today, and my call went something like this:

BillyOceansEleven: Hi, I would like to cancel my service.

DishNetwork: I’m sorry to hear that and I see you’ve been with us for two years. May I ask why you want to cancel?

BOE: Well, money is tight so I am shopping around my service and I can get a programming package similar to my current one over at DirecTV for $29.99 a month, which is considerable less than the $44.99 before tax I’m paying you guys now.

DN: Give me a second to review your account…Okay, I can offer you a $15.00 bill credit for each of the next 12 months, which will bring your price before tax to $29.99.

BOE: Well, that would put me at the same cost as DirecTV, so let’s do that.

DN: Okay, give me a few minutes to update your account.

DN: Okay, I have added the discount to your account and you should see the first credit on your next statement. Thank you for choosing Dish Network. Goodbye.

Total time spent including navigating the phone tree to get to retentions was 3 minutes 48 seconds and total savings is $180 over the course of a year. Not too shabby!

A few pointers:

  • Be absolute in your comments. Don’t say “I’m thinking about canceling.” Say “I would like to cancel.” This lets them know you mean business.
  • Comparison shop and be prepared to present them will the best deal out there. Give them a reason to adjust the bill. “I think my bill is too high” is less effective than “I can switch to DirecTV and get this service for $29.99″.
  • Give them some idea of what it would take to make you happy. If you simply want to lower your bill, focus on a competitor offer for the same service for less. If you really want more channels at the same price, present them with a competitor’s service offering around your current price.
  • Remember that you have the most leverage when you are no longer contract. If you are under contract you probably won’t get much since they know you’ll have to pay the early termination fee if you really do cancel.

Cutting costs by cutting the cable cord

March 10th, 2009

Many of us are looking for ways to cut unnecessary expenses, and one area that many of us should look at is cable TV. Not too long ago those of us who did not have cable TV service were looked at as freaks, however there are new entertainment alternatives that can be considered as a substitute for cable, detailed in this article from Kiplinger’s:

  • Digital TV – Like analog TV signals this will depend on where you live, however if you are in range of the signal the picture and sound for over-the-air digital TV are crystal clear. What a far cry from the old analog signals that could result in scratchy sound and flickering picture.
  • Legal online streaming video sites – All of the major broadcast networks now offer streaming video of their shows, with the selection of shows expanding constantly. There are also tons of shows available to stream on sites like Hulu.com. And for you sports nuts out there, there is ESPN360.com, which offers streaming video of most ESPN programming if you subscribe to participating internet providers (AT&T is one of them).
  • RedBox DVD Kiosks – Selection is limited to mostly new releases, but their rental rates are super cheap ($1 a night). Of course $1 is just too much in my eyes, so look for the free codes out there at sites like InsideRedBox.com. You can even get a free rental code direct from RedBox every Monday by subscribing to text message alerts.
  • iTunes - If you are in a pinch, you can purchase a lot of content off of iTunes.
  • The public library – The library here in Houston sucks, but libraries in many areas offer a good selection of DVDs for free checkout.

Online streaming services are great, especially if you have a laptop you can hook up to your TV so you don’t have to watch everything on a small screen. We originally signed up for satelite service mainly for ESPN, and now that we are no longer under contract we will likely cancel service now that we are sure the ESPN360.com will display on our TV through our laptop. Monthly savings = $53.26!

Of course if you aren’t ready to cut the cord on your cable, you may be able to reduce costs by changing your programming package (do you really need HBO?) or just asking for a discount.

Cutting Costs: My Dish Network Bill

November 13th, 2008

As evidenced by my last post on changing electric contracts, I’ve started looking at our monthly bills to see where we can cut costs and save some money. After effectively saving about $60 a month changing electric providers (after the one-time $69.99 early termination fee charged by my current provider), I set my sights on the satelite TV bill. We signed up with Dish Network prior to the start of football season last year, and at that point with all of the new customer promos and discounts we were paying about $30 a month. Since then all of the discounts expired and they raised the rate on our core package (and took away NFL Network from our tier, commie bastards!) , plus we decided that we needed to add the local channels, so now our bill is $47.99 a month before tax.

Looking at their website, I saw they were now offering an all-HD package that includes most of the channels we watch for $24.99 a month, with the local channels being $5.00 more. Seeing this would be $18.00 a month less than what I’m currently paying, I called to change my programming package only to be told that the all HD package was available to new, first-time customers only. In disbelief I asked to speak to a supervisor who indicated the same, and after checking the website more closely I see that is indeed in the terms of the offer. Although I’m still under contract until February, I told him that I was looking to cut costs which is why I wanted the all-HD package to lead him into a discussion on how we could bring the bill down. He of course at first tried to explore the idea of downgrading service which died quickly when I told him the main channels we watch are ESPN and ESPN2. I then asked the question that since my current package was the minimum that met my needs was there any way to reduce the price on that package. After a couple of minutes he came back offering to apply a discount of $5 per month for 10 months to my bill with no contract extension or change in programming. Seeing that I couldn’t really go anywhere until February anyway, I happily said yes and was on my way. Total time to save $50 was 14 minutes including hold time, plus about half an hour to review the all-HD package that I ended up not being eligible to get anyway.

One interesting thing the supervisor noted was that they were planning to have all of their channels available in HD by February 2009, at which time they plan to begin offering HD-only packages to existing customers. He couldn’t say whether they will have the same price points on the all-HD packages they are currently offering, but it may be a possibility to switch packages at that point.

If anyone is interested in signing up for Dish Network just send me an email and I can provide you with a referral offer for free activation, a $30 bill credit, and HBO and Starz free for 3 months. The only catch is it requires a programming commitment of 2 years and a qualifying programming purchase of $37.99 a month.