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Bobzilla
@telus.net

Bobzilla

Anon

[AB] Solution to Price Hikes

1) Ditch Telus
2) Sign up for Shaw $30/mo plan for first 6 months
3) Ditch Shaw after 6 months
4) Sign back up with Telus for $30/mo plan for first 6 months
5) Repeat
rewrite2
join:2008-06-29

rewrite2

Member

If you receive Shaw promotion mails from time to time, you can also try call telus and ask them to match it or you will switch. I did it last year and they matched shaw's offer (15/15/15) for one year. Once promotions over, wait for another Shaw promotion and call in again, if they refuse to match, switch and repeat.
mithrilG60
join:2011-04-21
Vancouver, BC

1 edit

mithrilG60 to Bobzilla

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Like rewrite2 says, call Telus customer service and ask to speak to the retention department. I had no issue getting them to price match a $39.99/mon for a year that Shaw promo was running in my area and because of the way they're applying promo codes to achieve the price match my bill actually decreased by $10 when the recent pricing changes to ThemePacks was implemented (not that I expect that to last). At the end of that promo I'll give them the choice of price matching whatever the current Shaw promo is at that time or switch to Shaw.

I'm sure it also helps in my case that I'm not, nor ever have been, under contract with Telus so I can walk anytime I want. That was a completely intentional decision as i switched to Telus back when Shaw was trying to ram that UBB crap down their customers throats and wanted to make sure i had the freedom to jump in case Telus decided to follow suit. If you're currently under contract YMMV. The RedFlagDeals forum is a great place to find all the current promos from all the vendors with a presence on your local area.
Symtex
join:2005-04-06
Burnaby, BC

Symtex to Bobzilla

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Did you know that TELUS makes 0$ in the first year they acquire a new customer ? The initial COA (Cost of Acquisition) is pretty high for Telco. This is why they want you to sign a contract so we can make a little bit of profit along the way.
fuzzmania
join:2003-08-19
Maple Ridge, BC

fuzzmania

Member

People don't care about companies making money, they just don't want to spend money to get services
Symtex
join:2005-04-06
Burnaby, BC

Symtex

Member

said by fuzzmania:

People don't care about companies making money, they just don't want to spend money to get services

If companies don't make profit, they won't be in business to offer you the service. Its a necessary evil.

Lakebottom
Future Fishermen are Friendly
join:2006-10-28
Sylvan Lake, AB

Lakebottom to Bobzilla

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Ditch Telus and Shaw and hangout at McDonald's while spending your Internet provider fees on 'smoothies' and salads. You will lose weight socialize with other people and actually feel better. :0)

PS. McDonald's WiFi is free!
xtachx
join:2005-11-19
canada

xtachx to Symtex

Member

to Symtex
They could also be a bit competitive, and not raise prices every now and then and actually be efficient, and I will be with them for a lot longer than 1 year.

If they want to make a quick buck (shitty contracts, price increases and for mobility, crap like "activation fees"), then I would also switch from one to another - rinse and repeat
zod5000
join:2003-10-21
Victoria, BC

zod5000

Member

I doubt you'll go a whole year without a price increase anymore. Carriage agreements are getting out of control and it's not likely the cableco/telco is going to absorb the increases they have to pay in retransmitting tv channels. It's a pretty big shift in the TV industry. Ratings are down, advertising revenue is down, and now they keep raising the carriage fees to make up for the lost Ad revenue.

I left telus for shaw last year (mostly for the faster internet speeds). I've thought about switching back, but once you look past telus' intro deals, the regular pricing is either the same or worse than Shaw's (Telus really seems to be missing a Best of HD type package).

Telus uses their intro deals to get clients. They lose money on them. They need clients to stay on at full rates afterwards to recoup the money they lose. Hence the contracts.

Shaw has really slowed down on intro packages. Probably because they don't do contracts and they don't want people who switch every 6 months. From what I understand Shaw has only been offering signup deals in areas with competition. Like downtown Vancouver to compete with Novus.
DanteX
join:2010-09-09

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The Best solution to the price hikes would be to

A make services more affordable for people to subscribe to

B get peoples wages raised t match the rate of inflation or the rate these price increases happen which is greater then inflation.

zod5000
join:2003-10-21
Victoria, BC

zod5000

Member

That's not really a solution. How would you reshape the industry so that TV services were affordable. How would make it attractive to the various owners (TV Channel Operators, Media Corporations, Telco's and Cableco's) so they would want to jump on board? Operating costs go all the way to the companies that own the TV channels.

Your TV provider isn't going to lower fees if their cost of providing you the service keeps going up. You gotta come up with a plan that's in depth and tackles all these issues.

You're not going to get very far if you walk over to Telus and tell them to lower your fees because it prevents them from having to raise prices lol!
DanteX
join:2010-09-09

DanteX

Member

well lowering the prices would make it more attractive to get more customers other then raising your prices to compensate for people leaving your service because prices are to high. if telus is going to substitute loses by raising prices then that just means more people will leave.
zod5000
join:2003-10-21
Victoria, BC

zod5000

Member

said by DanteX:

well lowering the prices would make it more attractive to get more customers other then raising your prices to compensate for people leaving your service because prices are to high. if telus is going to substitute loses by raising prices then that just means more people will leave.

I don't think that works as well with TV services. Carriage fees are usually charged on a per subscriber basis. IE Channel X costs Telus $2/month per subscriber (as example).

You're not going to dilute those fees with more subscribers. With the current system of carriage fees you're going to hit a wall with how low a provider can sell them to you.

I personally think the system is doomed to fall. I just don't blame the end provider for all the problem. They're stuck in a no win situation.

TV channels can't make enough money from ad revenue. They charge more to Telus/Shaw to broadcast those channels. The subscribers trim (or cancel their packages) to remove pressure from price increases. Repeat cycle.

Cable is so expensive now your almost better off going a la cart with a service like itunes to just buy the shows you like.

I'm only raising these arguments because you seem to think the cableco/telco is the only entity in the chain that impacts the price (or has the ability to impact your price). You don't seem to see the bigger picture of a TV industry struggling to survive and digging its own grave.
bluenote73
join:2009-02-17
Canada

bluenote73 to Bobzilla

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I was irritated enough (after signing a contract 5 months before they hiked the price) that I called in and berated them about their deceptive practices until they credited me for the whole amount for the life of the contract. Spread the word that at least its possible.