Haggle To Lower Your Direct TV Satellite Bill
In response to my post on watching free online TV content, I got an e-mail pointing out that if you love to watch live sports, it’s still hard to beat a Direct TV subscription. Instead, they lowered their bill significantly with a phone call and some haggling. The overall process is basically the same as haggling with your cable internet provider.
Call customer service and tell them you are thinking about canceling your service. Your goal is to reach the Retentions Department. As you can tell from the name, the primary goal of this group is to keep you as a customer (for as cheaply as possible). This means they have the most discretion when it comes to service discounts.
Prepare your pitch. The “open-ended approach” consists of basically saying “I’m thinking of canceling my service because it costs too much. Are there any discounts available to me?” You leave it up to them, and see what they throw at you. A script suggestion:
DirecTV Retentions: How can I help you today?
You: Hi, I’ve been a DirecTV customer for a while now, but I am trying to lower my expenses these days and I don’t really need all these channels. Am I eligible for any service discounts to lower my bill?
If you don’t get something satisfactory, either haggle upwards (instead of $10 off for 6 months, ask for 12 months) or try going in with a goal and a good idea of what the competition is offering. Look up the current DirecTV promotional offers for new customers in your area, as well as competing offers from Dish Network or local major cable provider (Comcast, Charter, etc.). Depending on your viewing preferences, you may ask specifically for a combination of the following:
- Lower monthly fee (i.e. $15 credit each month for 12 months)
- Free installation / free additional receivers
- Free or discounted upgrades to HD DVR rental
- Free premium movie/sports/HD channels
DirecTV Retentions: How can I help you today?
You: Hi, I’ve been a DirecTV customer for a while now, but I am trying to lower my expenses and seeing what bills I can reduce or cancel. I’ve been seeing commercials for [competitor's name] offering service for [$XXX]. Is there any way you can offer that to me as well if I stay?
Remember, you lose nothing by asking. Even the most shy person can simply ask nicely until you hear “no”, there’s no requirement for verbal ninja skills. Share the discounts that you scored in the comments!
Find more in Frugal Living | 10/13/09, 3:08am | Trackback
October 13th, 2009 at 5:14 am
I did this with Dish Network recently and cut my bill in half. They gave me a monthly discount and dropped my DVR fee. I also dropped HD service (local HD is free, so I get some) and switched to the basic package after confirming that my favorite channels were all there.
Alternatively, the digital TV switch added a lot of new channels in my area (Dallas). There is no better price than free!
October 13th, 2009 at 5:35 am
I also had luck with Dish Network. Got a $15 credit per month for 12 months. (I agreed to another 24 month contract) They also offered 12 months of Cinemax for $.01 if you sign up for autopay and e-statements.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Does this work only when the contract has already expired?
October 13th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I did this with comcast internet. It took about 3 minutes and I cut the cost by more than half. The cost of Comcast internet is outrageous compared to the competition.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:22 am
My two year contract with Direct TV finally ran out this month, and I decided I wanted to cancel service altogether and see if I could get by without television. When I called to cancel, they offered me a small reduction in my monthly bill, but I was pretty set on my no TV experiment and I went through with the cancellation.
The next day, the retention department called me three different times, offering me a better deal each time. I held out for awhile, but by the third call they offered 7 months free and a reduction of my monthly bill from $75 to $45. So for anyone wondering how low they will go, the answer is REALLY LOW.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I would assume you can do this while in a contract, because the loss of a long term customer weighs greater to a retention rep than a customer willing to pay the cancellation fee to terminate contract in order to save money in the long term.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I lowered by Dish Network bill by doing something similar. I looked got it lowered based off what they were offering new customers. Haggling works with auto insurance also. It used to work with credit card compaines and interest rates but I’ve had less success, with American Express in particular, with lowering interest rates.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Your site seem to has popped up on a scam site list and gotten red rated on Web of Trust. You may notice a drop off in Google traffic because of this. I tried to counteract the negative ratings but you may need more positive ratings to overcome all of the negative ones.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I recently did followed a similar process with my internet provider (Comcast) and managed to save $12.00 a month for the exact same service I had before I called.
Not a life changing monthly savings but I’ll take it!
October 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
@JB - Hmm… it seems that I am associated with another site on some huge list, it is unfortunate how someone can just list you by accident and get people to rate you red blindly without even actually reading your content. Any suggestions as to how I can fix this?
October 13th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I’ve had similar experience with Comcast as well. I’ve been paying $29.99 for internet for 3 years now. It was initially 6 months at that price (about 50% off for my area), but I called and asked if I could continue at the promotional rate. The first person I talked to told me, “no” and wouldn’t negotiate. I hung up and called back. The 3rd person I talked to guaranteed $29.99 for 1 year. At the end of that year I called back…same offer $29.99. Sometimes persistence pays off.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I had previously called and got a discount for my cable, read this, called again and got internet down from $42 to $30 (Comcast). Thanks.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Thanks. I just called Directv and said I was thinking of going to Dish Network. The Directv rep said I will get $10 off each bill for 6 months.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
At times you definitely need to be persistent. I ended up saving $35 a month for a year with RCN, but I did have to call three times. CSR 1 told me promotional rates are only for new customers, so I can’t get any discounts. CSR 2 only applied $15 discount for 6 months. Finally I asked CSR 3 if I could get RCN’s 1 yr promo for new customers and she gladly said yes.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:01 am
@Jonathan. It looks like the WOT people have corrected the mistake and your site now has a good rating. apparently there was a site at “my-moneyblog.com” (note the dash) and this was mistaken for your site. If it happens again the best bet is probably to enlist your readers to go to http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/mymoneyblog.com and rate your site truthfully.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Thanks for the tip! I did try to negotiate my cable/internet rate a couple of months back but they wouldn’t budge, so I just said fuggetaboutit.
But reading this entry pushed me to try again so I called and stated that I was interested in going to Verizon FIOS and they were able to match their rates and dropped my monthly bill by $30 a month for 12 months!
That’s a total saving of $360!
October 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
About two weeks ago my old DirecTV TIVO box died outright. I had previously called about getting a replacement/upgrade box and was told I’d have to commit to 24 months of service (with a $500 cancellation fee) to get a High Def box. As I was a 4+ year customer paying “insurance” there was NO WAY that I’d sign a new 2 year contract.
Anyway, I got sent to the Retentions Department and had only 1 condition: remove the 24 month commitment or I cancel DirecTV today. Well…I had to cancel. The guy was nice and offered to effectively match the new customer rates but I wanted fair treatment as a *loyal* customer.
Now I’ve upgraded my DSL and use Netflix unlimited streaming video. The quality usually is better than DVD, and I’m paying $20 a month ($10 Netflix, $10 for faster DSL) instead of $80 for DirecTV + Netflix. The writing is on the wall for traditional cable and satellite: streaming video is the future. Don’t sign any contracts and let the old boys squirm. Cable/satellite is the next business model to die after newspapers.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I’m a full time RV’er and have a DirecTV in my home and a portable satellite antenna I use when out camping. They use to charge me an arm and a leg for the second receiver and even more to keep turning on the house install as I’m on the road 6 months out of the year. I finally had enough, called Dish Network and told them my story. They set me up, no connect/disconnect fees and I’m up and rocking. Don’t let them get away with taking your cash!
October 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am
For DirecTV and Dish…. If you ever receive a change in terms letter in the mail you can choose to “not accept new terms” and get out of your contract without penalty!
I get these once or twice a year from Direct.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
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October 18th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I call DTV once or twice a year and ask for lower rates. They usually offer $10/month off for 6 or 12 months. Small, but better than nothing. At least it covers the HD fee. Oh, and they always throw in some movie channels for 3 months, just for complaining.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I got a second DVR with installation for free by doing this. An ATT Uverse salesperson had made an offer and I called to see what they could do.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:56 am
I called DirectTv a couple of weeks ago and was set on canceling my service. It was going to cost around $440 to cancel it but I was going to spend around $1700 to keep it until the contract ran out. After going through the first couple of offers the customer service rep threw at me(what it would cost me through my contract) I ended up getting my service reduced from $70 per month to $30(I kept my 2 DVR receivers for this price), plus another $200 credit which gave me free service for 6 months. The economy is extremely bad right now and they are loosing lots of customers. They will budge!
October 28th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I just called DirecTV and they took $10 off my bill for a year, free HD access for a year (another $10/mo) and free Showtime for 3 months (hello Dexter!). I’ll take it…….