I just thought I'd share how I snagged a pretty good deal yesterday. :) I have XM radio in my car; I really do enjoy having it, but I just thought that paying $34/month was just a tad "overkill"...know what I mean? Well, I had read an article in a magazine that was talking all about money-saving-tips. One of the things the article mentioned was that sometimes it doesn't hurt to try to get a better deal [on your satellite TV service, satellite radio service, internet service, etc.] by just calling the companies. So, I did. I called XM's customer service and I went through all of the "automated prompts" acting like I was wanting to cancel my subscription. By the time I got to talk to an actual human being - she asked me why I was canceling. I said, "Well, you know, in these economic times - satellite radio isn't something that I really need." As soon as I said that - she was quick to offer: "Well, we could cut your service fee to $4/month until December if you'd like." Wow! I didn't even have to ask for a discount! I guess they just really want to keep an 'x' number of subscribers - no matter what discount they need to give. So I went from $34/month to $4/month.
So, give it a try! The key (I think) is to "threaten" to cancel - but make sure to mention that you are trying to cut-back because of the poor economic situation. The service-rep girl really seemed to react to that - maybe they've been told to offer discounts to people who say that or something? ...well, whatever it is - I got a pretty good discount. :)
P.S. I'm going to be changing the blog's design within a day or so...I love my current design - but I thought a fun change would be nice. (I'm going have more bright, fun colors)
The exact same thing happened to my husband....but beware they will charge the lump sum ($20 or 24) to your next bill...it's not $4 each month like you'd expect...at least that is what happened to us.
ReplyDeleteTree Frog-
ReplyDeleteI actually did ask them about that. I asked the service-rep girl "Now, you are not going to be back charging me, are you?" She said no - and that she was actually going to make sure I get credited for this past month as well. I asked her for her name - so if I ever do get a bill for anything more than what she said I would be charged, I can repute it by saying that "so n' so" said "such n' such"
Wow, I'm totally doing this. Hubbo has XM in his car, and I could definitely use a break :)
ReplyDeletei got a similar kind of treatment from the cable/telephone/internet company when i called wanting to drop some of the services on cable to reduce my bill which had just increased...i ended up with the same bill amount (that is, the amount the bill WAS prior to the increase) but now with MORE channels. (i didn't care about more channels, i just wasn't happy with the higher bill) it was some special that they had that was time-limited but at the end of that time, i'll call again and claim economic hardship and want to cut back and will see what happens. i do think they have a lot of latitude with this. thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletewow that is a great deal i think im going to try that myself!
ReplyDeleteGo you ! What a great deal!
ReplyDeleteHoly moly, your service was $34 a month!! We've had XM since May of 2006. Our service is $12.95 a month and stays there unless we change something in our subscription. Did you have some sort of extras that you got for that amount? Maybe there are more stations that we don't get, but I am happy with what we have. I love my XM and it is awesome out here in rural Montana where AM reception is not so good and FM is nonexistent!
ReplyDeleteCindy - To "my knowledge", no. I don't have anything extra. But, I have the subscription for a vehicle. Maybe that's why it's higher?
ReplyDeleteWow, that is amazing! I watched a show with my mum the other day that pretty much said the same thing.
ReplyDeleteNext time something like that comes up, I'll give it a go and see what happens!