Cable Bill Tipping point

BoatHouse · 03-03-2020, 01:28 PM

Wondering what others see as the tipping point that would drive you to call the Cable/Telco company and demand a reduction in your monthly bill.

For me it is between $225 - $250. This is for a "Standard" Triple Play service(Phone/Internet/Video)

I personally think that $175 - $200 per month is a reasonable price to pay for quality TV/Internet service.

My situation is/was -
MA Home - $265/mo for Comcast(Triple Play)
NH Home - $255/mo for Atlantic Broadband(Triple play)
NH Apartment - $117/mo for Comcast Basic TV only(no internet, no Telephone)
Total - $637/mo -> $7,644 per year!!! Not to mention the $280/mo ATT cell phone bill and the Spotify, Pandora, Apple music,... monthly charges.

Wholly crap, I can not believe I have been paying this for almost 3 years.

I finally reached my tipping point last July(7/2019) and started calling Comcast to lower my MA Home bill.

After the 2nd call to Comcast, I was able to lower the bill by $30/mo by cancelling the "pay" channels(HBO, Showtime...)

But I was not satisfied so I called Comcast for a 3rd time in December. I talked to the retention department for the second time and told them I needed to get my bill under $200 for the same service I currently have or I would be forced to switch back to Verizon Fios. His response was "I am sorry to hear that, but there is nothing I can do." This was the final straw and I committed to switch to Verizon in January.

Side note - over the Christmas break, my 19 year old son came home from College. I noticed he was watching Game of Thrones on HBO. I asked - "how are you watching HBO? I cancelled that." His response - "I signed up for HBO Go. It's only $15/mo." My response - "Um no! Since you make $0 per month, that is costing me $15/mo. Cancel the service immediately or the bank of dad is shut off."

Come January and I receive an add from Verizon and make the call - End result - $170/month for TV/Internet/Phone. It was such a pleasure bringing my Comcast equipment into the XFinity store and cancelling the service!!!

On to March and I start thinking about the NH house with Atlantic Broadband and make the call. The good news is ABB has much better customer service and retention people than Comcast. I explained that I am trying to get my bill below $200. The person was great. She ran through 3-4 options, but was still over $210 for triple play. She finally said she may be able to offer a "Customer Courtesy" 12 month discount for the service I currently had. I am on an old Metrocast plan with old equipment. So everyone that has not called about their Atlantic Broadband bill since they purchased Metrocast should call about this:
I am getting the following "Customer Courtesy" monthly discounts - $20/mo off Telephone, Internet and Video each for 12 months. After 12 months it goes to $10/mo discount each. I know this is kicking the can down the road, but my bill after the discounts is now $195/mo for the same service I have had.

Now my Cable bills are ~$482/mo; $5,784/year. Still way too expensive, but better.

As I know many on this forum have multiple homes, I am curious what your tipping point is and what you have done to combat the rising costs of Cable/Internet?

03-03-2020, 01:28 PM	#1
BoatHouse Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 123 Thanks: 244 Thanked 46 Times in 26 Posts	Cable Bill Tipping point Wondering what others see as the tipping point that would drive you to call the Cable/Telco company and demand a reduction in your monthly bill. For me it is between $225 - $250. This is for a "Standard" Triple Play service(Phone/Internet/Video) I personally think that $175 - $200 per month is a reasonable price to pay for quality TV/Internet service. My situation is/was - MA Home - $265/mo for Comcast(Triple Play) NH Home - $255/mo for Atlantic Broadband(Triple play) NH Apartment - $117/mo for Comcast Basic TV only(no internet, no Telephone) Total - $637/mo -> $7,644 per year!!! Not to mention the $280/mo ATT cell phone bill and the Spotify, Pandora, Apple music,... monthly charges. Wholly crap, I can not believe I have been paying this for almost 3 years. I finally reached my tipping point last July(7/2019) and started calling Comcast to lower my MA Home bill. After the 2nd call to Comcast, I was able to lower the bill by $30/mo by cancelling the "pay" channels(HBO, Showtime...) But I was not satisfied so I called Comcast for a 3rd time in December. I talked to the retention department for the second time and told them I needed to get my bill under $200 for the same service I currently have or I would be forced to switch back to Verizon Fios. His response was "I am sorry to hear that, but there is nothing I can do." This was the final straw and I committed to switch to Verizon in January. Side note - over the Christmas break, my 19 year old son came home from College. I noticed he was watching Game of Thrones on HBO. I asked - "how are you watching HBO? I cancelled that." His response - "I signed up for HBO Go. It's only $15/mo." My response - "Um no! Since you make $0 per month, that is costing me $15/mo. Cancel the service immediately or the bank of dad is shut off." Come January and I receive an add from Verizon and make the call - End result - $170/month for TV/Internet/Phone. It was such a pleasure bringing my Comcast equipment into the XFinity store and cancelling the service!!! On to March and I start thinking about the NH house with Atlantic Broadband and make the call. The good news is ABB has much better customer service and retention people than Comcast. I explained that I am trying to get my bill below $200. The person was great. She ran through 3-4 options, but was still over $210 for triple play. She finally said she may be able to offer a "Customer Courtesy" 12 month discount for the service I currently had. I am on an old Metrocast plan with old equipment. So everyone that has not called about their Atlantic Broadband bill since they purchased Metrocast should call about this: I am getting the following "Customer Courtesy" monthly discounts - $20/mo off Telephone, Internet and Video each for 12 months. After 12 months it goes to $10/mo discount each. I know this is kicking the can down the road, but my bill after the discounts is now $195/mo for the same service I have had. Now my Cable bills are ~$482/mo; $5,784/year. Still way too expensive, but better. As I know many on this forum have multiple homes, I am curious what your tipping point is and what you have done to combat the rising costs of Cable/Internet?