Author Topic: Cancel my internet then have my spouse sign up to receive promotional rate?  (Read 49156 times)

frugalnacho

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I'm sick of them jacking my internet rate up, then having to call in and ask for a temporary rate reduction.  They are advertising internet almost 7X my current speed, for 36% less than what I'm currently paying.  Are they going to give us any flack if I just cancel then have my wife sign up to get that sweet promotional rate for 2 years?

yachi

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It might not go smoothly if you share a last name.  I once moved into an apartment where the previous tenant had my last name.  Tried to sign up for cable internet, and they wouldn't do it until I showed up at their office with ID because I had the same last name as a previous customer.  That wasn't as bad as the time someone tried to serve me with court papers.  "I noticed her last name is still on the mailbox."  I told the guy to check with the leasing office if she left a forwarding address.

Actually none of that was as bad as the post office refusing to deliver my mail because the leasing office had put a stop to mail delivery for her last name.

sokoloff

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I'm sick of them jacking my internet rate up, then having to call in and ask for a temporary rate reduction.  They are advertising internet almost 7X my current speed, for 36% less than what I'm currently paying.  Are they going to give us any flack if I just cancel then have my wife sign up to get that sweet promotional rate for 2 years?
(Comcast here) About once every two years, I look up whatever the best new package is, call up, ask them to give me that deal, if they won't, tell them I'm considering cancelling which gets you transferred over a different group that seems to negotiate more loosely. Once I get what I want, I'm willing to lock it in for two years (to save myself the time of doing it again in only 6 or 12 months).

To me, that's easier than cancelling, getting a new account setup, getting the TiVo card paired again, telling them about my modem, etc, etc.

frugalnacho

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I'm sick of them jacking my internet rate up, then having to call in and ask for a temporary rate reduction.  They are advertising internet almost 7X my current speed, for 36% less than what I'm currently paying.  Are they going to give us any flack if I just cancel then have my wife sign up to get that sweet promotional rate for 2 years?
(Comcast here) About once every two years, I look up whatever the best new package is, call up, ask them to give me that deal, if they won't, tell them I'm considering cancelling which gets you transferred over a different group that seems to negotiate more loosely. Once I get what I want, I'm willing to lock it in for two years (to save myself the time of doing it again in only 6 or 12 months).

To me, that's easier than cancelling, getting a new account setup, getting the TiVo card paired again, telling them about my modem, etc, etc.

We only have internet.  Seems totally worth the hassle to save $500 over the next two years (probably more because I expect them to keep jacking the rate up periodically if they think they can get away with it).   Seems easy to cancel.  "I'm moving out of the country, please cancel my service at the end of the week".  Then just have my wife sign up online.  It takes like 5 minutes to sign up.  Installation should be a breeze, it's already all hooked up.

sokoloff

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I agree that it's worth the money, which is why I do it. I just accomplish the same end goal on the same account (which means I don't have to give them my cable modem information again and go through that dance of the the idiots).

By the way, if you don't own your modem and instead lease one from your ISP, look into buying one. The payback on mine was about 7 months and I upgrade them about every 5 or 6 years. I'm partial to Arris, but look on your ISP's cable modem compatibility list.

undercover

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I'm sick of them jacking my internet rate up, then having to call in and ask for a temporary rate reduction.  They are advertising internet almost 7X my current speed, for 36% less than what I'm currently paying.  Are they going to give us any flack if I just cancel then have my wife sign up to get that sweet promotional rate for 2 years?
(Comcast here) About once every two years, I look up whatever the best new package is, call up, ask them to give me that deal, if they won't, tell them I'm considering cancelling which gets you transferred over a different group that seems to negotiate more loosely. Once I get what I want, I'm willing to lock it in for two years (to save myself the time of doing it again in only 6 or 12 months).

To me, that's easier than cancelling, getting a new account setup, getting the TiVo card paired again, telling them about my modem, etc, etc.

We only have internet.  Seems totally worth the hassle to save $500 over the next two years (probably more because I expect them to keep jacking the rate up periodically if they think they can get away with it).   Seems easy to cancel.  "I'm moving out of the country, please cancel my service at the end of the week".  Then just have my wife sign up online.  It takes like 5 minutes to sign up.  Installation should be a breeze, it's already all hooked up.

His point is that if you get that far, they won't actually let you cancel because they'll offer you the "promotional" rate before they actually lose a customer. Same difference I guess.

bmelissa545

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You can always straight up just tell them that you are sick of their price ad you are considering leaving. Sometimes that alone is enough to get the ball rolling and get them to offer you the promotional rate.
Cable in general is such a scam, it's ridiculous.

frugalnacho

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You can always straight up just tell them that you are sick of their price ad you are considering leaving. Sometimes that alone is enough to get the ball rolling and get them to offer you the promotional rate.
Cable in general is such a scam, it's ridiculous.

anything less than 2 years at the promotional rate and I'll follow through on my threat and actually cancel and just have my wife sign up.

Roger D

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It's disrespectful for a business to offer a better deal to new customers than to loyal customers.

If enough people did what the original poster proposes to do, these companies would realize that they need to stop shafting their loyal customers.

Khaetra

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Depends on who you actually have.  If you have Spectrum (formerly Brighthouse) you have to wait 31 days before you can sign up again to get the promo rate (same address and same last name is no-go).  Not sure about the others like Comcast but I would check to see if they have the same kind of restrictions.

frugalnacho

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Depends on who you actually have.  If you have Spectrum (formerly Brighthouse) you have to wait 31 days before you can sign up again to get the promo rate (same address and same last name is no-go).  Not sure about the others like Comcast but I would check to see if they have the same kind of restrictions.

I have wide open west.  I can't find any information where they specifically restrict my wife from receiving promotional rates, but I anticipate some kind of tom foolery on their part.  I don't want to cancel first, then find out about said tom foolery while my wife is trying to sign up though.  I'd like to know ahead of time what nonsense they are going to try and pull.

Worst case I'll just actually cancel it and use my neighbors wifi for a month and then resign up.  My potential is to be saving at least $500 over the next two years, so I can even explain the situation to my neighbor and pay him to use his wifi for the month so I'm not free loading.  In fact if we play our cards right he should be able to use my wifi and get himself 2 new years of that sweet promotional rate. 

acroy

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I it works, then sure. It did not work for me, they said it was by address, not person.
It would be cool to work a deal with the neighbor to just share wifi, and split the bill !

frugalnacho

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I it works, then sure. It did not work for me, they said it was by address, not person.
It would be cool to work a deal with the neighbor to just share wifi, and split the bill !

So if you buy a house and the previous owner had one of the 2 providers in your area you are ineligible for the promo rates because your address is?  There are only 2 damn providers, the previous owner surely had one of them.  I think they were just bullshitting with you.

I could limp by just splitting wifi with the neighbor, but really I want my own internet that no one is sharing.  I don't want my neighbors downloading god knows what over my connection, and when the router shits out at midnight and needs to be reset I'd like it in my own house.  I think I need my own permanent service.

marielle

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Worst case scenario couldn't you just say, "Oops, thought we were going to cancel but we changed our mind." and pay the same price anyway? Maybe this is deceptive but so are the cable companies...

dycker1978

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We have two providers here.  I sign up for one at the promotional rate for 12 months.  About this time the other is advertising theirs at a promotion for 12 months.  I have not paid full price for internet is years.

GizmoTX

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Depends on who you actually have.  If you have Spectrum (formerly Brighthouse) you have to wait 31 days before you can sign up again to get the promo rate (same address and same last name is no-go).  Not sure about the others like Comcast but I would check to see if they have the same kind of restrictions.

Only Spectrum/Time Warner is available without a contract or dish in our area outside Austin. Numerous times we've played the cancellation game to renegotiate the fee but last spring they weren't offering a good deal AND had jacked up our internet-only fee to $125/mo. Since we were about to leave for a month, I cancelled & returned their equipment. When we returned, we decided we needed to sign up again, & we were already at the 31 days required. Brand new, free modem, & a promo rate of $45 for OK speed. I'm happy but still furious that this is necessary.

At the same time, DS moved to a downtown Austin apartment, & had his choice of Google Fiber, ATT U-verse, or Spectrum/Time Warner. He went with Google Fiber for internet-only: $50/month that is not a promotion, great speed, included equipment (wired & wifi) that was delivered & installed by a very knowledgeable & professional tech. Wish we had that kind of competition.

jamesbond007

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I do that every year with Comcast. I only have Internet but I renew my contract every year. I look up the rate and call them and tell them to price match. Most reps will do that. Sometimes, I get an asshole at the other end of the line. Then, I cancel and sign up my wife. A year later, repeat the same dance again. My wife and I have a different last name, so it works out well.

Cranky

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Spectrum's faster internet doesn't seem at all faster.