Verizon DSL, 3 months free, for current subscribers

[oshelef]

I just got off the phone with verizon dsl, and I asked them about canceling, since Cable is now availible in my area and cheaper. I told him that the cable was much cheaper, since I don't need the phone line for other calls(I use my cell phone anyway, my house phone has no long distance or anything)


He just refunded my Current months fee, and put me in the system for the next two months free. After that he said I can move down to 39.95 a month instead of 49.95 as I have been paying. He said they are going to be dropping the prices soon anyway. No new contract or anything like that(I am about to finish my 1st year).


Call and go to the cancelation department, tell them you aren't happy with the price. See what you can get.

I'm in Philadelphia, PA btw.


Orie

 

[apothos]

Sweet! I was really starting to think about cancelling my DSL and going back to cable anyway, but hey if I can get 3 months free I'll keep it at least that long Thanks for the heads up oshelef! I'll let you guys know what I get if anything from them when I go to cancel.

 

[freebee]

This is not a hot deal....this is taking advantage of an individual extending you an offer to try and keep you as a customer.

Thats like saying...hey you robbed a store...it has no security, so why doesn't everyone go do it. Someone extended you a gesture of goodwill and you bend him over the table for more.

 

[Rally1]

i've seen similar "deals" posted here before, an example would the Sprint PCS thread, it had a similar feel.

he was really thinking about cancelling, so no biggie.

the best will be if someone calls to cancel (just to get lower price), and they say, ok we turned off your service, have a nice day
once an order to disconnect DSL is made, you normally have to start all over again

 

[Dre]

Originally posted by: freebee
This is not a hot deal....this is taking advantage of an individual extending you an offer to try and keep you as a customer.

Thats like saying...hey you robbed a store...it has no security, so why doesn't everyone go do it. Someone extended you a gesture of goodwill and you bend him over the table for more.

It is a hot deal. How are you going to compare robbing a store with this?

 

[Rally1]

plus everyone knows robbing stores is such a pain these days, almost worse than rebates.

 

[GPz1100]

This is a retention plan.

Since he was serious about canceling, it was a hot deal (or was it?) for him.

For those of you that try to take advantage of this, this may backfire, and you'll be left with the shaft.

Or is that SOL'd

Earthlink pulled the same thing on me when I tried to cancel. I canceled anyways.. Net cost of cable + cell phone
was cheaper than dsl + phone line + cell phone.

 

[mgravy]

This is not a hot deal....this is taking advantage of an individual extending you an offer to try and keep you as a customer.


boo. hoo. poor large corporate phone provider. This has nothing to do with taking advantage of anybody. If an offer is made, take it. Companies know that a large majority of people forget to keep track of the offer and bingo, the cash flow is right back in their pocket. This scenario cannot even be remotely compared to jumping into a store and stealing raw material goods. Unless, of course, the owner of the store is holding the merchandise and offers it to you.

 

[rochlin]

This doesn't impact everyone, but if your local cable vendor is comcast or AT&T there have been stories that cable modem charges are going up and are likely to be sold by comcast on a "tiered" basis - e.g. you pay so much for so much bandwidth.
Comcast has already reduced Usenet downloads, as well as website and email MB. There are also credible stories that they will shortly be increasing their cable (data) prices.
Still, it might be a better deal than DSL...

 

[ragazzo]

Just tell them that you heard VerizonDSL will be lowering their prices soon and then ask them if you can get that lower pricing now.

 

[Bulk Beef]

plus everyone knows robbing stores is such a pain these days, almost worse than rebates.

No kidding. And the managers are always such a pain about it.

 

[babyjayc]

For those that don't think this is ethical...
people can lower their interest rates with credit card companies by telling the company that they want to cancel the card because the interest rate is too high... they'll immediately offer a lower APR to keep you as a customer.

What is the difference between the dsl deal and this example?

 

[Fusion]

You are all terrorists.
You all go to jail NOW!

I use VerizonDSL and have had a "lower" rate for as long as I remember. Probably because I was their subscriber way before GTE became Verizon, so they just kept my "lower" price. Not going to argue there! But what are these new prices going to be? Anyone have any numbers they are willing to cough up?

 

[JingP]

my take is...., are you taking advantage of these companies when you do this? Yes.

But its nothing that they don't do to you. What do you think a mail-in-rebate is?

Its a 0 sum game. They screw US, we then either buy less stuff or screw them back. And when we screw them back, they screw us even more with higher prices, which causes us to screw back or buy even less.

Gosh: we humans are so clever.

 

[Mday]

considering that the bells are going to squeeze out independent ISPs, rob them as you wish.

 

[marill999]

Originally posted by: oshelef
I just got off the phone with verizon dsl, and I asked them about canceling, since Cable is now availible in my area and cheaper. I told him that the cable was much cheaper, since I don't need the phone line for other calls(I use my cell phone anyway, my house phone has no long distance or anything)


He just refunded my Current months fee, and put me in the system for the next two months free. After that he said I can move down to 39.95 a month instead of 49.95 as I have been paying. He said they are going to be dropping the prices soon anyway. No new contract or anything like that(I am about to finish my 1st year).


Call and go to the cancelation department, tell them you aren't happy with the price. See what you can get.

I'm in Philadelphia, PA btw.


Orie

Isn't there a $200 early termination fee? If you cancel before the 1 year contract is over?

 

[oshelef]

As to if this is a "hot deal": I can understand your point about not being a deal since it applies to a limited group of users with special circumstances, but not because it is fraudelent, or misleading, or as a whole bad(see below). I am confident that if you call the cancelation department and say: "I'm happy with the service, but I feel that the price is too high, can you help me?" I think that they will be willing to help you, be honest, just tell them the price is too high.

as to taking advantage of them: I simply wanted to let everyone know that they told me they would be lowering their prices soon(back to ~40, I assume, since that was what was offered to me) and that they are willing to remain price competitive with other broadband choices.

For those that say this is bad, I say that it is in fact good, in that it enforces market efficency, by forcing them to compete on price with similar services. If as a consumer I am willing to switch to the lowest price provider, they need to meet that price to keep my business. This makes prices less "sticky".

As to the contract, my "1 year" contract had a cancellation fee if you canceled in the first 8 months of the contract. Obviously, if you just signed up, I doubt they would be as flexible.


Orie

 

[blahbooboo2]

Hope all of you can get cable modems soon

I had verizon, but the upload speeds on Verizon DSL are so pathetic I switched to cable. Now I get two times the download speed (went from 75k/sec to 150k/sec max) and 10 times the upload speed (from Verizon's PATHETIC 12k/sec to 100k/sec on cable) for the SAME MONEY! And I always get these speeds, I have never experience any drop in performance on cable (think it is because they cap bandwidth).

But, this is nice,, get 3 months free from them!!!

 

[spinn]

AT&T did raise their rates for cable internet...as of July 1, it's now back up to $42.95 (w/o modem lease). But they're so nice, that they are gonna discount my next 6 months by $7, so I'm paying $35.95/month. So I get shafted beginning 2003.

 

[Soldat]

normally i would side with those that would refer to this as 'fraud' or 'dishonest' but as a long time resident of the mid atlantic region and thus a long time verizon customer I can't help but to encourage anyone to get whatever they can from verizon. Verizon is a nightmare to deal with as far as customer service is concerned and if i'm not mistaken it had gotten so bad that a judge had to order the company to address the service issues post haste. Any business that routinely provides such poor service like verizon has over the years deserves to get burned.

 

[slaman]

Haha I cannot believe people think this is dishonest. It's a simple way of getting companies to fight for your business. They can call your bluff or they can offer you a better plan. Simple - that's how business works. Consumers look for the best deal! Bartering should be mainstream and in stores etc...

 

[Stifko]

Earthlink gave me no love on their pricing. I have had DSL w/them for 1 and 1/2 years and I pay 49.95. Their current promotion is for a year of service at 39 for 6 months and 49 for the last 6. They wouldn't give me any break on the price. If Verizon drops their price, I am gonna switch even though I hate Verizon. Their service is consistant, right?

 

[ValsalvaYourHeartOut]

Originally posted by: freebee
This is not a hot deal....this is taking advantage of an individual extending you an offer to try and keep you as a customer.

Thats like saying...hey you robbed a store...it has no security, so why doesn't everyone go do it. Someone extended you a gesture of goodwill and you bend him over the table for more.

This is a NONPARALLEL ARGUMENT. The analogy for your example would have to be stealing DSL service without paying for it telling everyone else how to do it too. He's not saying that. He's saying that if you're a current Verizon DSL subscriber, you can get a lower rate by calling them up. I don't see why you're getting all emotional about it.

Just FYI, Verizon's promotion for NEW subscribers is 1 free month, 2 months at $30/mo, and the rest of the year at $50/mo. I don't believe there's a 1-year commitment. So at any rate, anyone can get on this deal, new or old subscriber. Relax, people! Sheesh!

Valsalva

 

[blueribb]

You can do this with your long distance carrier and cell phone carrier. Threaten to leave and they will do everything in their power to keep you. I called to cancel my cell-phone service and got a new Nokia 8260 phone and reduced rates for staying.

I signed up with Verizon DSL when they had the $39.95 rates and I have Comcast Internet at my business. Comcast cable is about 50% faster.

Good post lshelef

I'm near Philadelphia too

 

[Wiser007]

if the company is willing to give you a discount to keep you as a customer, so be it. EZ as that, i doubt that these companies are losing any money.