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
[...] Haggle To Lower Your Direct TV Satellite Bill @ My Money Blog [...]
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…….
November 24th, 2009 at 5:41 am
I have DirecTV. I got $10 off for six months from the first person I spoke with. Then, I was transferred to the retention departmen and haggled away to get another $200 statement credit. Saved $260 overall. They kept trying to give my a free HD receiver (I don’t have an HD TV yet, so that was easy to refuse) and free upgrades, but I held out for cash.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Thanks for the tip. FYI, Comcast, and maybe others, have an online chat support so you wont need to call. I was able to lower my internet bill from $57.95 to $34.99 for six months.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
i called dtv. 3 times. first two people offered 10$ off for 6 mths and 50$off a hd rec that i needed. i said not good enough and hung up.
called right back and said i was going to cancell service. I was honest and said I will switch to dish, get my hd rec for free and lower my bill at the same time. Long story short they gave me an hd DVR for free along with install, showtime/starz for 3 mths, and 20 off my bill for a year. i maybe could have gotten more since i have been a customer for over 10 yrs but right now i am satisfied with there offer.
December 16th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Direct TV seemed to be good for the move and new cable I wanted to put in the house. They had a decent offer for HD (less than Comcast, but more than Dish). They came to install and did not complete the job thoroughly. The following day, the customer service line rang to inform me that I was misquoted on my service. Apparently they don’t offer HD contracts on a 12 month service time, it must be 24 months. Nice to know AFTER it was already installed…remember though, improperly (the wrong cable wire was used). So, I decided that I did not want to continue with them because I did not want a 24 month contract and they wouldn’t work with me. Good time to lose a customer in these economic days!! Since then (first week of November) I have been charged $460. Not just that, but it was on autopay which I never approved and it came directly out of my checking account. I have spoken with no less than 15 people (I have all the names and ID numbers) in regards to getting my money back. I have written the President of the company with no response. I have written the VP of the company with no response. Today is December 16th and I still do not have my money back. I was told that I would have it in 5-7 business days. I waited 10 and when that didn’t happen, I called back. I was then informed that I should expect the money between the 12th and 14th of this month. Again, its the 16th and no money!!! So, I called today. The new thing is that now I need to wait because its going to be put back into my account with two installments. Funny, they can take it all out in one nice swoop, but can’t put it back…Someone please help me!!!!
December 18th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Hey,
I called Directv today to try to get them to lower my bill. We suspended our service for six months in order to save $75 a month, and also because we weren’t going to be around enough to justify having it.
Service is set to turn back on, on January 18, but we really don’t want to pay $75 for what some people are getting for $30 or less.
We have been with them for about 3 and 1/2 years, so we are no longer in a contract.
When I called today, I sat on the phone for about 20 minutes in silence as the lady I talked to tried to see what she could do. She said that she could only do $10 off for 6 months, and she admitted (without any coaxing from me) that, that probably wasn’t good enough, so she was going to transfer me to a “Specialist” who could help me out.
I repeated my spiel to the specialist, and told her that I was transferred because they recognized that saving $60 wasn’t going to cut it, but the specialist was absolutely unwilling to do anything. Some specialist.
In the end, I decided to tell them that I’d like to cancel, but she said that in order to cancel, she’d have to un-suspend my service, and she wanted to know what day I’d like to have it terminate. I didn’t want to end up having to pay for service just so I could cancel, so I said that I’d like to move the cancel date to the 18th of January.
I’m going to try to call again and see what results I get. If I can’t get anything, I’d rather go with Dish than keep getting hosed by Directv.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Branden: Thanks for offering the tip about using the online chat session. I tried this with Comcast and lowered my bill from $115 to $50 just by asking. The two previous times I called I was unsuccessful and this was a lot easier than calling.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
actually did this with NFL Sunday Ticket — had never had it before, called them up and said I was thinking about following football this year, but thought the sticker price of $300 for the package + $100 for the complete package in HD was a bit too steep. They knocked off $100.
December 28th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I’m only in the 18th month of a 24 month contract with DirecTV, so didn’t have a ton of leverage, but called customer service and asked if there was anything they could do anyway… they knocked off $10/month for 6 months without hesitation. Now, when this little perk runs out, I’ll be done with my contract and can really haggle them for a better discount… thanks!
January 5th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Question. My contract with DTV has expired. DTV is offering a $100 visa plus $26 off your bill for 12 months.
Can I just cancel my account and sign up again with someone else in my household? (They have different last names).
January 5th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Update,
I called DTV today. My contract has expired. I told them that I would have to cancel my service if they couldn’t give me a good deal. They gave me a $20 a month credit for 6 months plus 6 months free Showtime. The customer service rep said call back in 6 months and they will give me another deal.
January 17th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
FYI, I called to cancel the $12.99 sports pack (Fox Soccer, College networks, regional sports networks from across the country, etc.) and was offered a $5 credit for 12 months. When I turned that down, they offered another $5 for 6 months, which would have made it $2.99/month. I still turned it down since I don’t think I use it enough even to justify $3/month. That might be good though for anyone who wants to keep a premium service but doesn’t want to pay the absurd price…
January 19th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I called to cancel my Direct TV service today. At first, the customer service said all he can do is give me $5.00 off my $75.00 bill. I said it not good enough and I want to cancel my service. Then he transfer me to retention department.
The lady offer me $45.99+tax. I asked how much after tax the bill would be. She then said she will give me $46.00/month included tax plus 6 months of Star and Showtime for free. I asked if I can get them for 1 year. She said yes.
So, I end up with 40% off the bill with free showtime and star for 1 year. But the best part is I not even have to sign a contract and my price is good for 1 year and I can cancel at anytime.
Do you think if I call back and ask to get HBO and Cinemax instead of showtime and star, will they give them to me??
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm
@Ann:
They will give you HBO and Skinemax, but only max for 3 months. Those are worth more to DIRECTV than Showtime and Starz. Believe me, I have tried.