Bearspater
@verizon.net
| Renewal Deal?
My one year contract for the "Triple Play" is about to expire. Generally, I've been very happy with FIOS and will probably renew. My old provider (11 years with DirecTv) has been calling with sensational offers however, some of them so good, I should consider them.
Anyway, my question is this: Will Verizon negotiate a special deal for a 3 year contract? My rep says Verizon will not match DirecTv's offer as it is against company policy) but is there no incentive to renew?
Thanks all. |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA | Verizon generally doesn't give special deals or promos - but if you renew you do so with whatever the current bundle prices are. |
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chitchatjf
join:2008-07-13
Lawrence, MA | reply to Bearspater
One possibility would be to test DirectTV's best offer and add it to Verizon's internet/phone bundle. |
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geekski
join:2008-05-19
| reply to Bearspater
Ask for the retention department and they will probably give you some kind of incentive. Probably not as good as the DirecTV offer, but better than nothing.
I asked the rep to give me a reason to not switch to cable for a month, switch back, and then receive the $150 incentive VZ is offering to new customers. They gave me a monthly discount for one year to keep me. |
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Bearspater
Keep in mind two things with direct tv's offer
You have to pay 99 for the HDTV DVR receiver so you can then rent it
You have to sign for two years, the termination fee is 440.00, which they then discount 20 bucks a month, so if you want to change to another provider in 12 months, its a 220 ETF
You also need to consider the cost difference on the FIOS bundle as 3 vs 2 play ... I did all the math and made the switch to FIOS, our household as no regrets
DTV comes up with some attractive offers, but if one has the FIOS option, its better in total cost, channel count, on demand and no rain fade |
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MacGyver973
join:2009-05-18
West Orange, NJ | reply to Bearspater
I would not go back to Directv. We had some torrential storms roll through yesterday and it was nice to not have the picture black out like it used to when I had Directv. |
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gregg62
join:2008-02-09
Stirling, NJ
| said by MacGyver973  :I would not go back to Directv. We had some torrential storms roll through yesterday and it was nice to not have the picture black out like it used to when I had Directv. Absolutely. The picture would go out on me every time it rained when I had Directv. It got to the point that I would watch the weather forecast just to see if I could watch TV that night. |
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robjlevin
join:2002-10-30
Millington, NJ
| With which dish? With the new larger dishes, I won't say the picture never goes out but it takes a pretty good storm to do it and it usually only lasts a few minutes.
Annoying? Absolutely, but not nearly as annoying as watching hockey in standard definition.  |
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gregg62
join:2008-02-09
Stirling, NJ | Don't know which dish it was. It was about 2 to 3 years ago, so it might have been the old dish. But to me, I'd rather watch hockey in SD, then have it go out even if it is just for a few minutes. FiOS has NEVER gone out on me. |
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to robjlevin
said by robjlevin :With which dish? With the new larger dishes, I won't say the picture never goes out but it takes a pretty good storm to do it and it usually only lasts a few minutes. Annoying? Absolutely, but not nearly as annoying as watching hockey in standard definition. We have the latest 5-lnb AT5 dish aligned as near perfect as possible ... its goes out in the thunderstorms for more than a "few minutes" here in Lakeland, typically 30-90 minutes depending on the daily storms we have.
the Mpeg4 ( Ku band ) is the first to go, so the glorious HD you speak of is long gone before the Standard def is also rain faded |
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cmullen8
Ultraman
join:2004-06-10
Silver Spring, MD
·Verizon FIOS
 ·ViaTalk
| reply to guppy_fish
said by guppy_fish :You have to pay 99 for the HDTV DVR receiver so you can then rent it I get at least one piece of junk mail per week from them with a "special offer" to waive the usual HD DVR fee. I agree with everything else you said though. |
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
·Verizon FIOS
| said by cmullen8 :said by guppy_fish :You have to pay 99 for the HDTV DVR receiver so you can then rent it I get at least one piece of junk mail per week from them with a "special offer" to waive the usual HD DVR fee. I agree with everything else you said though. DTV's offer waves the fee for only the first 12 months, your then billed the rental fee for the second year of the agreement
Once your a customer, your locked in hard ... it cost me 230 to make the switch ( but FIOS incentives covered all of this ). DTV also are raising the rates, again, the rates quoted are only for the first year of a two year lock in. This was the final push for me to switch, being locked in and having to pay higher rates |
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robjlevin
join:2002-10-30
Millington, NJ | True, but DTV doesn't charge more for HD or DVR boxes per month. VZ will nail you on a monthly basis for those.
All of the providers get their pound of flesh one way or the other. Just pick your poison. |
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gmsbf5104
join:2003-12-16
Tampa, FL
| reply to Bearspater
Yeah but DTV is really bad about it. If you own equipment you pay a 5.99 mirroring fee to each receiver. These days all new equipment is leased and they charge you a fee upfront to lease the equipment. They then waive the mirroring fee but charge you a 5.99 lease fee which results in owned equipment costing more over the lifetime of the unit.
In reality the owned equipment should have no additional monthly fee similar to how Verizon charges you nothing for owning a Tivo but will charge you a rental fee for a cable card. |
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louielouie
@verizon.net
| reply to Bearspater
I switched from DTV to FIOS because they would not waive the hd/dvr up front fee to a customer of 6 years.
Would I ever go back....NEVER!
As a note,if its storming....bad...I shut my tv down, it cost wayyyyyy to much to get zapped by power inconsistancy. |
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keyboards
join:2001-02-14
Doylestown, PA
·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
| said by louielouie :
As a note,if its storming....bad...I shut my tv down, it cost wayyyyyy to much to get zapped by power inconsistancy.
That's why I have a 1500W power conditioning UPS on my home theater system except for the power hungry Surround Sound amp (and one on the BBU to keep the TV and Internet alive). Keeps going even if the power goes out (at least for an hour).
--
REMEMBER: Stupidity should be painful !! |
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robjlevin
join:2002-10-30
Millington, NJ
| reply to gmsbf5104
I don't know where you got that $5.99 figure...it's $5.00 and the first set is free. For someone with SD only, it's pretty much a wash with FiOS but with FiOS the fee for HD DVRs is something around $15.00. DTV charges the same $5.00 no matter the receiver.
Assuming you get a DTV package similar to FiOS (one including HD and DVR) and have 3 HD sets you're already looking at $45.00 month on FiOS just for the boxes vs $10.00/month on DTV.
And I might add those Motorola boxes are crap compared the DTV DVRs.
I'm paying about the same amount per month that I would be paying for FiOS but I'm getting programming in HD that's important to me.
And just one more thing...my DirecTV bill has never been wrong.
Look, I'm not trying to get anyone to switch. FiOS is a terrific service for many people but VZ, DTV, T, CVC and the rest are in business for one reason only...to separate you from your money in the most efficient means possible. |
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gmsbf5104
join:2003-12-16
Tampa, FL
| Sorry I was thinking about the Dvr fee which went up to 5.99 a month recently which is on top of the lease fee.
You seem to be forgetting the upfront cost of leasing a receiver from Directv. With Directv you also have to pay the $100 or so depending on which receiver to lease it even before you pay monthly for a box you don't own. They don't come with the benefits of leasing from a cable company either since if it breaks it isn't a matter of simple swapping it out for free in my experience.
Actually for three receivers assuming one is a DVR you are looking at 12-45 on Fios versus 15.99 on DTV since you forgot the DVR fee which is no longer bundled with the top package. The reason I say 12 on Fios is you have a choice of buying a Tivo and only renting cablecards or even just going OTA.
I wouldn't know about the Motorola boxes since I will be going with Tivo when my Fios is installed next week. If they are crap compared to DTV DVRs they must really be bad since the DTV DVRs are nothing to brag about imho especially when it has a 50 show limit.
For me I am switching to Fios after 6 years of Directv since it saves me money every month for the same package but I gain HD. I currently pay $250 a month for phone, internet and DTV. Fios is going to run me around $200 a month for all three. On top of that I get full featured Tivos over the Directivos which DTV offers. Any cost of purchasing the new Tivos in my mind is a wash since I would have paid just as much to upgrade to the new HD Directivo if and when it comes out in 2010 not to mention the additional monthly charges they have said will apply if you want a Tivo over a DTV DVR.
If you don't care about the various sports packages, Fios to me is the clear winner. If you do then DTV is really your only choice. |
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robjlevin
join:2002-10-30
Millington, NJ
| I forgot that they changed the packages but even so, you only pay that fee once even if you have 5 DVRs. But should a receiver crap out, they will swap it out just like the cable companies. The lease fee is sort of like the down payment on a car lease.
The HD and DVR are included in the package I have now. But I got a pretty good deal. I paid $199 for the first HD DVR and $99 for the second one and got four SD receivers free.
But let me real clear about this...I don't mind spending more to get what I want. So a few bucks a month to get what I want is well worth it.
If I were a movie nut, I would go FiOS but as a hockey fan (especially in the NY/NNJ market) DTV is the clear winner. |
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gmsbf5104
join:2003-12-16
Tampa, FL
| said by robjlevin :I forgot that they changed the packages but even so, you only pay that fee once even if you have 5 DVRs. But should a receiver crap out, they will swap it out just like the cable companies. The lease fee is sort of like the down payment on a car lease. The HD and DVR are included in the package I have now. But I got a pretty good deal. I paid $199 for the first HD DVR and $99 for the second one and got four SD receivers free. But let me real clear about this...I don't mind spending more to get what I want. So a few bucks a month to get what I want is well worth it. If I were a movie nut, I would go FiOS but as a hockey fan (especially in the NY/NNJ market) DTV is the clear winner. The problem with that analogy is most people tell you never to put money down on a lease since it is just throwing money away. Yeah they replace it at the cost of shipping and with a 2 year contract extension. I never had a cable company extend a contract for replacing one of their defective receivers.
Oh I agree I don't mind paying more for what I want which is why I bought 2 Tivo HDs for $150 each in preparation for the switch to Fios. Worst case I can always sell them if I decide to return to DTV.
Yeah not a sports fan so all of Directv sports packages do nothing for me at all. My brother on the other hand wants to switch but won't because of the Sunday Ticket. Keep in mind I am not trying to say one is better than the other since obviously what everyone is looking for in their TV provider is different. I have been with DTV for 6 years or so and I am ready for a change. I just refuse to pay more to do so especially when the extra costs are just to add HD versions of the same channels I get now. |
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