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STLCompGuy
join:2003-01-11
Saint Louis, MO

STLCompGuy

Member

[Upgrades] Does Charter have a new pricing policy going?

Is it true that Charter will not let you get a better price? I called in just a few minutes ago and wanted to see if I can get a better price for the services I am getting and they said they don't do that anymore. I am locked in to the price I am paying now. I know I am under contract but still. Right now we have 2 TVs with HD on both of them and DVRs on both of them. We basically have HD, HBO, Shoetime and a lot of other stations, Internet and phone for a grand total of about $190/month. Is that worth it?

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup

Member

They've changed the way they do it. Now new customer don't get a contract, but the "promo" discounts are not as good. However, the pricing at the end of your promo doesn't jump as much.

They've basically leveled everything off, and then eliminated the ability to call in and get put back on a new contract/promo.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to STLCompGuy

Premium Member

to STLCompGuy
said by STLCompGuy:

We basically have HD, HBO, Shoetime and a lot of other stations, Internet and phone for a grand total of about $190/month. Is that worth it?

IMO,
Not worth it in a million years, unless you like watching reruns all the time. I don't care how many channels you have, eventually stuff gets re-ran over and over and with the junk crap on tv now a days, it's not even worth owning a tv anymore! Still trying to convince my wife of that one.

No,
You can not negotiate a new price with Charter once your promo is over unless you cancel and wait a month to re-subscribe and get a new promo.
STLCompGuy
join:2003-01-11
Saint Louis, MO

STLCompGuy

Member

my wife and I are interested in having HBO and Showtime. I need my Sports and News channels and my Big Ten Network. My wife DVRs a bunch of shows on many stations so I have no idea what stations we use and don't use.
armed
join:2000-10-20

armed

Member

Are you sure the $190/month is just for TV?

I have 4 DVR's, telephone and 30 Mps Internet and I don't pay that much in total.

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA

msmisfit

Member

OP said he had internet and phone also, you just missed it.

Icarus
CHAOS RULES
Mod
join:2000-11-08
Off Center

Icarus to STLCompGuy

Mod

to STLCompGuy
said by STLCompGuy:

.... I have no idea what stations we use and don't use.

In the cable box menu/settings under preferences there is a Favorites section. Mine(Cisco Explorer8640HDC) was default at Auto Favorites. That should give you a good idea of what your most viewed channels are.
armed
join:2000-10-20

armed to msmisfit

Member

to msmisfit
I sure did miss it! I read it twice too.... :-(

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA

msmisfit

Member

LOL... no sweat. I had to re-read it twice, to be sure I hadn't misread it.
FIB
join:2013-10-27
Rockford, IL

FIB to STLCompGuy

Member

to STLCompGuy
I'd say yes - that's a helluva lot too much. Personally, I pay $30 a month for internet - that's it. I switch to DSL for a month every year to keep the new customer pricing. (If you leave their system for 30 days, you're a new customer!) I have a free home phone through Google Voice.(You just need a $40 Obitalk device to make your home phones run through google voice) I use Hulu, Netflix, and some other sources for content not on those two platforms.

Just based off always keeping my $30/mo price by going away for a month, here's the savings:
1 years payments going away every year:
($30 install fee + 30*12 months) + (30 for a month of DSL + $10 install kit)
$430.00

Paying Charter $54.99 a month every year until the rates go higher still:
$49.99 * 12 = $600.

That's $170 a year savings. Then factor in I have free home phone service courtesy of Google and that's $530 in savings. Giving up TV? Even more. Even if you don't, giving it up for a month would still be worth new customer pricing.

Yes, you are paying too much.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

said by FIB:

I switch to DSL for a month every year to keep the new customer pricing.

We should organize and have everybody and their friends, that are on Charter, do that, and see what Charter thinks of that!

MiscPoster
@umich.edu

MiscPoster to STLCompGuy

Anon

to STLCompGuy
Can you be more specific with the packages you have? They are listed on the second page of your bill. If you can list the name of the TV packages I can give you a better idea of your situation.
FIB
join:2013-10-27
Rockford, IL

FIB to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
Please please please tell me you meant that as sarcasm.

Most people would NEVER go through that amount of work, even if it does result in saving over a hundred dollars for about an hours worth of work. Seeing as we're both talking about Charter, I feel safe assuming we both live in the USA. You should know that logic is not an appropriate adjective to append to anything relating to that. :P
rd1144
join:2009-02-26
Denver, NC

rd1144 to FIB

Member

to FIB
Too bad free calling with Google Voice on a Obitalk will no longer work after May 15th, 2014 as google is ending support for xmpp. No more free calling.
Expand your moderator at work
FIB
join:2013-10-27
Rockford, IL

FIB to rd1144

Member

to rd1144

Re: [Upgrades] Does Charter have a new pricing policy going?

Damn. Thank you for that information. I'll hope they look into a workaround for this (6 months seems long enough to me). Worst case though I'll just pony up 5 bucks a month to use a paid SIP provider, or look into how plausible hacking my raspberry pi to serve as an intermediary might be.
Zone15
join:2004-04-22
Spartanburg, SC

Zone15 to STLCompGuy

Member

to STLCompGuy
I tried calling several times and was never able to get a new deal. It wasn't until I did the live chat and threatened to cancel my service did they transfer me to an "Account Specialist" who was able to give me a new promo.
FIB
join:2013-10-27
Rockford, IL

FIB

Member

Out of curiosity, what services do you have? And did they give you your same promo, or one that meets in the middle between the original and normal rates?
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN

Chubbysumo to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
CenturyLink here will not sign you up unless you sign at least a 1 year contract with them.

matt314159
Premium Member
join:2006-01-18
Orange City, IA

1 edit

matt314159 to STLCompGuy

Premium Member

to STLCompGuy
said by STLCompGuy:

Is it true that Charter will not let you get a better price? I called in just a few minutes ago and wanted to see if I can get a better price for the services I am getting and they said they don't do that anymore.

About ten days ago, I called and got both my parents' and my grandparents' pricing down (I live in Iowa but was visiting california family for the holidays)

For my parents, they were standalone HSI customers paying $53/mo for 15/3 and I got them upgraded to 30/4 for $39.99 for year one, and $44.99 for year 2. Year three goes up to the then-applicable retail rate.

Grandparents had 15/3 and a TV package with expanded basic, HD, and a movie pack of some sort, with two HD boxes (non-DVR). He was paying $143.99 a month, I got him down to $99/mo for 12 months.

The key, I've found, is simply threaten to leave. Call their 800 number, and tell the automatic attendant that you want to cancel your service. The female voice will ask if you want to simply remove a service, or cancel all services. You want to "cancel all services."

This will route you to a representative in their customer-retentions department. it's their job to get you to stay.

For grandpa, I told the rep that he had his eye on a plan that offered 15mbps verizon dsl bundeled with Dish's Top 250 plan, for $99/mo for the first 12 months. Considering this would save nearly $500 his first year, he was really thinking about switching, but I worried that he would have a tough time learning the new channels and would rather not see him leave. The rep was right there with me, we got a good rapport going on --we're on the same team here, we're trying to keep grandpa from dumping charter. The first plan he offered me would have upgraded his internet to 30/4 and given him all kinds of movie packages and additional channels for the same $143 he was paying, but I reminded him that our goal was to get the cost down, not necessarily get more service. He "looked into the system" to see what h could do, and offered the $99 promo rate for 12 months. A ten-minute phone call saved grandpa $480.

For my folks, I pulled a similar stunt, told the retentions rep that they were looking at 15mb Verizon DSL for $29/mo for the first 12 months, but again, reminded them how happy I've been with Charter and how I'd really hate to see them change, because I had heard that DSL with verizon were famous for "up to" speeds, and all that...again it's about establishing a rapport with the rep as quickly as you can. We heartily agreed that Charter was vastly superior to dsl, and she quickly offered to upgrade us to 30/4 for $39.99 (whcih she kept reminding me was the out-the-door rate, not the pre-tax/fee rate). The cost savings for my folks wasn't so dramatic, but they're saving $13 a month the first year, and $8/mo the second year, while doubling their speed.

So my answer would be that yes, it's still possible, but you have to play hardball.

You need to be extremely polite, professional, friendly, but confident, and be very careful not to ACTUALLY ask the rep to cancel your service, or they may actually do it. The few times I've been rebuffed, and they said there was nothing they could do, I told them thanks for their time, and would they please leave the service in place for now while I get the other service set up--I'll call back when I'm ready to set u pthe disconnect. Of course this was a bluff, and we kept the service another four or five months before calling and trying again.

One thing to note was that I was completely bluffing on both of the competitors' offers--I have no idea if grandpa could have gotten a dish/verizon bundle for $99 or if mom could have gotten their 15mbps dsl for $29 (or if she'd even qualfiy for 15mbps in her location) but I know, and the rep knows, that those are their competition, but the rep believed it and that's all that matters.

If you just call charter billing or sales, they'll assure you that this is the best price they can do, but my advice is to never accept a "no" from somebody who doesn't have the authority to say "yes" in the first place. The retention department has the authority to say "yes".

Good luck, STLCompGuy, I hope you can get your rate hammered down quite a bit! I think you will have good luck, after all, it stings more to lose a high-end customer like yourself, since they stand to lose much more monthly revenue. $130 a month probably sounds better to them than $0 a month, which is what they get if you were to leave.

Also, I should note that my grandpa has been a charter customer for 10 years, and my parents have been charter customers for 12 years. Your liklihood of success is much less if you call in on month 7 after a six-month promo expires and try to reneg your service.

lineofsight
join:2003-01-03
East Saint Louis, IL

lineofsight to FIB

Member

to FIB
The free Google Voice, using the Obi device is coming to an end. »www.obitalk.com/forum/in ··· c=6867.0

May 15, 2014

matt314159
Premium Member
join:2006-01-18
Orange City, IA

matt314159

Premium Member

That is truly a bummer about the XMPP loophole getting closed. I'm thinking about switching to ooma. I switched my parents to it from Vonage a couple of weeks ago and it seems to be running incredibly well, the quality matches or beats vonage, and I think it even sounds better than my obi calls back at home on my GV line. I have about $30 in eBay Bucks that I'll be eligible to spend in January, and I think I'll buy a used telo on eBay to activate.

I have thought about something like voip.ms, but I kind of like having the flat-fee unlimited service. It will be $3.72 per month according to their calculator at ooma's website.

lineofsight
join:2003-01-03
East Saint Louis, IL

lineofsight

Member

I have a friend who uses Ooma. There is a monthly fee, in addition to the acquisition cost and activation.
Additionally, it has certain things crippled in the basic service like caller's name, backup number, etc. I have Phone Power, I pay about $280 for 24 months, that is $11-12 per month, but I get all of the features.
He says that he really doesn't care about anything more than the basics, and he therefore likes it, but he reminds that is it not free after the initial cost, it does have ongoing monthly fees.
To each his own!

matt314159
Premium Member
join:2006-01-18
Orange City, IA

matt314159

Premium Member

I think I'm more like your friend, I want nothing but the basics. It's really mainly for the two or three people that I hold longer conversations with, I enjoy talking on my panasonic cordless phone a lot mroe than my cell phone.

Ooma for me would be about $80 for the Telo box (more like $50 after ebay bucks cut the cost down) and then $3.72 a month.
markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO

markopoleo to STLCompGuy

Member

to STLCompGuy
I wanted the basics, so just got broadband and got all my TV/Movies from the internet. I pay $54 and get everything the OP gets

Most people I know do this now-a-days.

KoRnGtL15
Premium Member
join:2007-01-04
Grants Pass, OR

KoRnGtL15 to lineofsight

Premium Member

to lineofsight
No monthly fee accept for local taxes. Mine are $3.72 a month. No activation fee either and you can find the device new. For $99 easily. If you go to the forums. People post their promo codes for other users. Basic service is perfectly fine for most people like myself. Premier has some features I do not want or would need. Yet you still have to pay the full price of $9.99 a month. Also when you buy the device new and trial runs out in 60 days. I was offered $57.99 for a full year of Premier service. You can pay monthly or yearly. So, complete FUD about "ongoing" fees. I dropped Charter phone service for Ooma and never looked back. It has been just as good and reliable as Charter.
said by lineofsight:

I have a friend who uses Ooma. There is a monthly fee, in addition to the acquisition cost and activation.
Additionally, it has certain things crippled in the basic service like caller's name, backup number, etc. I have Phone Power, I pay about $280 for 24 months, that is $11-12 per month, but I get all of the features.
He says that he really doesn't care about anything more than the basics, and he therefore likes it, but he reminds that is it not free after the initial cost, it does have ongoing monthly fees.
To each his own!


lineofsight
join:2003-01-03
East Saint Louis, IL

lineofsight

Member

Not sure what you mean. There are ongoing fees. You said it yourself. Nobody cares who gets the fees, the fees are ongoing. There is no escape.
My service cost includes all fees.
15444104 (banned)
join:2012-06-11

15444104 (banned) to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
said by cork1958:

said by FIB:

I switch to DSL for a month every year to keep the new customer pricing.

We should organize and have everybody and their friends, that are on Charter, do that, and see what Charter thinks of that!

That is going to be my next move, as I have no interest in paying even 40$ a month for speeds I don't want or need.

Tom Rutledge is typical current day arrogant prick CEO
the ONLY thing he cares about is the Shareholders, oh and his own pocketbook.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup

Member

said by 15444104:

the ONLY thing he cares about is the Shareholders, oh and his own pocketbook.

Not sure if you understand how a private, for-profit business works, but that is his job.