Negotiating with Xfinity

[Valley of Plenty]

I was scrutinizing my spending recently looking for ways to trim the fat, and I'm thinking it's time to give Comcast/Xfinity a call to try to negotiate a reduction to my bill. It's been steadily increasing since I opened the account about 4 years ago (started at $85, now up to $137), and I'd like to see if I can get it back down to $100 or so, possibly even lower if I can manage it.

My plan is strictly internet. When I first opened the account it was part of a cyber Monday deal where I got 200mbps internet (best speed available in my semi-rural area at the time) plus something like 200 tv channels including HBO. I didn't care about the TV channels at all, but the deal was cheaper than what it would have cost me to get just internet, so I went with it. When the promotion ended a year later my bill went up to like $110, so I called and was able to drop the TV service to just internet, which brought it back down to about $90. Since then however my bill has been steadily creeping up by a few bucks every few months. I've been aware of this, I just haven't cared enough to call and make a fuss about it until now.

I know I've heard that it's usually pretty easy to get your bill reduced by just calling and saying you're going to switch to a different provider, but I've never tried this myself. There are a couple cheap internet providers around here that would probably cost less, but they're also notoriously unreliable. Plus, I have my cell service through Xfinity as well which only costs me $15 a month, and I would lose that if I were to switch internet providers.

I'm sure plenty of people on this forum have experience negotiating lower prices for their internet bills, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best way to get them to give me what I want, hopefully without me having to spend an entire day on the phone listening to hold music. I remember seeing somebody here post the direct number for Comcast's customer retention department, that number might come in handy if I can find it again.

[sonofsven]

Oh I used to hate that, they (centurylink) did that t00 for years-give me a great promo price and then it would slowly creep up and up, and I got real sick of calling to beg them essentially to lower the price.
Finally I just cancelled my internet out of spite. After a weekmy SO felt sorry for me and called to have it re-instated and they gave her a deal of $49 for life, that was a number of years ago, and it's still $49.
Don't know if that's a strategy or just luck or what.

[uniwelder]

Xfinity is about the only provider for my area. We’ve tried negotiating over the phone when the 12 month promotion ends, but they won’t budge. Instead, we just cancel service and open a new account (either my wife’s name or mine) for the next 12 months under another promotional offer. This has been our routine for the last 12 years. We get the slowest service at about $40/month and it’s good enough for us.

[Valley of Plenty]

Oh I used to hate that, they (centurylink) did that t00 for years-give me a great promo price and then it would slowly creep up and up, and I got real sick of calling to beg them essentially to lower the price.
Finally I just cancelled my internet out of spite. After a weekmy SO felt sorry for me and called to have it re-instated and they gave her a deal of $49 for life, that was a number of years ago, and it's still $49.
Don't know if that's a strategy or just luck or what.

Dang, getting them to offer a lifetime rate would be the best outcome I could imagine.

I don't see actually cancelling being an option I'm going to take here. I'd be unlikely to find decent service through another provider, and I'd also have to switch to a different cell service provider, for which there wouldn't be many good options (Xfinity Mobile uses Verizon's towers, and Verizon is basically the only provider with good coverage in my area; most of the cheap providers like Mint and GoogleFI use T-mobile)

My hope is that by merely telling them that I'm considering switching providers I'll be able to get them to offer me a better rate.

[yachi]

Why not lower your plan speed?  I'm paying $65, up from $59 about 6 months ago.  I don't know what the exact speed is - it just tested at 90 MBPS, but I thought the service was 60 MBPS.

I increased the speed to whatever we have now during COVID lockdowns when the kids were schooling online and I was working from home, but the issue actually ended up being my older-than 10 years modem and wifi router.  Speaking of which, I suggest you buy your own high-quality physical equipment.

With this setup I regularly play Fortnite, while a movie streams on Netflix, and 2 or 3 kids play Robox on tablets. A few days ago I had high ping issues, but then found out my computer had downloaded an update while I was playing.  I'm not convinced 200MBPS would be worth paying that much more than we pay now.

[volleyballer]

You don't have leverage since only one ISP in your neighborhood. Heck, I have FiOS and spectrum options and FiOS won't budge either.

Is 5g (or even just LTE) home internet an option? You can switch to that until the promo deal runs out, then switch back to wired ISP.

[snic]

The way you deal with this depends entirely on whether there is competition.

If there is, call and tell them you are canceling. They may ask why, and if the agent is empowered to reduce your rate, then if you like their offer, you're done. If you don't like it, insist you are canceling. They will probably transfer you to someone else who will try to get you to stay. Keep insisting you are canceling until they either give you an offer you like or they relent and set up a date for cancellation. Remember that nothing is final if that date is in the future - you can always call back and change your mind. When I played this game with Verizon Fios, they contacted me a day or two later with a much better offer than their agents were willing/able to give me over the phone, so I accepted it and canceled the new service appointment I had set up with the competitor for the day before the Fios cancellation date. To my surprise, the Fios rate has remained the same ($49.99/month for 300 Mbps) for the last few years (and I think they increased the speed once or twice, too). They probably finally wised up to the fact that customers are more likely to stick around if they don't have to play stupid games to get a fair rate

If there is no competition, you're stuck playing the game uniwelder described, where you keep canceling and reopening the account in someone else's name to get the promotional offer.

[Silrossi46]

My area has very little competition.  Xfinity  is the worst company I have ever dealt with.  I have just internet.  The minute there is other availability I am gone.

[tygertygertyger]

If you DO have a competitor in your area, call your provider and tell them you want to cancel. Tell them about the promotional offer from your competitor for $xx. They will transfer you and ask you why you want to leave - keep restating the issue. "My bill has gone up slowly over time, and I can get this much better offer from Other Company".

Do not mention to them anything about your phone, just keep repeating the line. The person you're speaking to DEFINITELY has a script they're supposed to follow, and they need you to say the right lines to keep you moving until they can agree to match that competitor's rate.

Some companies even have a chat feature where you don't have to talk to someone on the phone, so you can see if yours does.

My partner does not have the patience to play "the game", so he hands this off to me every time. Hasn't failed yet. Good luck!

[Valley of Plenty]

Why not lower your plan speed?  I'm paying $65, up from $59 about 6 months ago.  I don't know what the exact speed is - it just tested at 90 MBPS, but I thought the service was 60 MBPS.

I increased the speed to whatever we have now during COVID lockdowns when the kids were schooling online and I was working from home, but the issue actually ended up being my older-than 10 years modem and wifi router.  Speaking of which, I suggest you buy your own high-quality physical equipment.

With this setup I regularly play Fortnite, while a movie streams on Netflix, and 2 or 3 kids play Robox on tablets. A few days ago I had high ping issues, but then found out my computer had downloaded an update while I was playing.  I'm not convinced 200MBPS would be worth paying that much more than we pay now.

200mbps is the lowest speed Xfinity offers in my area, so there isn't much room to reduce my speed, and I doubt it would save me much money over my current bill.

[Valley of Plenty]

You don't have leverage since only one ISP in your neighborhood. Heck, I have FiOS and spectrum options and FiOS won't budge either.

Is 5g (or even just LTE) home internet an option? You can switch to that until the promo deal runs out, then switch back to wired ISP.

There are other ISPs in the neighborhood, they just aren't particularly good ones. They're much smaller local outfits that have low prices but poor reliability with frequent blackouts.

I haven't looked into LTE internet, not even sure what the options are with that.

[Valley of Plenty]

If you DO have a competitor in your area, call your provider and tell them you want to cancel. Tell them about the promotional offer from your competitor for $xx. They will transfer you and ask you why you want to leave - keep restating the issue. "My bill has gone up slowly over time, and I can get this much better offer from Other Company".

Do not mention to them anything about your phone, just keep repeating the line. The person you're speaking to DEFINITELY has a script they're supposed to follow, and they need you to say the right lines to keep you moving until they can agree to match that competitor's rate.

Some companies even have a chat feature where you don't have to talk to someone on the phone, so you can see if yours does.

My partner does not have the patience to play "the game", so he hands this off to me every time. Hasn't failed yet. Good luck!

This sounds like the right approach. I might give them a call Monday morning and see what I can manage. I just looked on Xfinity's website and the promotions they currently have for new customers are ridiculously cheap - only $35 a month for the same plan I currently have. That's like a 75% discount from what I'm paying! I'm actually mad at myself that I waited this long to look into this. My complacency with this has probably cost me a few thousand dollars over the last few years. That's not exactly pocket change!

[zolotiyeruki]

If you DO have a competitor in your area, call your provider and tell them you want to cancel. Tell them about the promotional offer from your competitor for $xx. They will transfer you and ask you why you want to leave - keep restating the issue. "My bill has gone up slowly over time, and I can get this much better offer from Other Company".

Do not mention to them anything about your phone, just keep repeating the line. The person you're speaking to DEFINITELY has a script they're supposed to follow, and they need you to say the right lines to keep you moving until they can agree to match that competitor's rate.

Some companies even have a chat feature where you don't have to talk to someone on the phone, so you can see if yours does.

My partner does not have the patience to play "the game", so he hands this off to me every time. Hasn't failed yet. Good luck!

This sounds like the right approach. I might give them a call Monday morning and see what I can manage. I just looked on Xfinity's website and the promotions they currently have for new customers are ridiculously cheap - only $35 a month for the same plan I currently have. That's like a 75% discount from what I'm paying! I'm actually mad at myself that I waited this long to look into this. My complacency with this has probably cost me a few thousand dollars over the last few years. That's not exactly pocket change!

Did you give them a call?

I play the game yearly with Comcast. We also have internet only, and have kept it down to $20/year for many years, rising to $25 recently.  I call them up, say I want to cancel, and when they ask why, I say that we've been on the promotional rate that is expiring, and we are going to their competitor (we have a fiber company in our area now, too).  The rep checks the promotions for the area to see what they can offer, might ask a few questions about whether we're interested in bundling phone, etc, and eventually it's all done except for clicking a link in an email to approve the order. Typically it takes about 10 minutes once per year, and saves us at least $300/year, making it a $1200/hr endeavor, or close to $2400/hour pre-tax-and-other-deductions.

[Sibley]

It wasn't an option until recently, but I now have ATT fiber in the neighborhood. I fully intend to switch back and forth as needed to keep that bill down. If you have alternatives, using them is a good idea.

[snic]

You don't have leverage since only one ISP in your neighborhood. Heck, I have FiOS and spectrum options and FiOS won't budge either.

Is 5g (or even just LTE) home internet an option? You can switch to that until the promo deal runs out, then switch back to wired ISP.

There are other ISPs in the neighborhood, they just aren't particularly good ones. They're much smaller local outfits that have low prices but poor reliability with frequent blackouts.

I haven't looked into LTE internet, not even sure what the options are with that.

The quality of the competition doesn't really matter for the purposes of getting your ISP to lower your rate. The fact that they have any competition means that they will be more flexible with pricing than if they are a monopoly in your area. They might very well point out to you that the competition has problems with reliability or whatever, but your easy answer to that is that you don't care, your bill is too high and you are switching unless your rate goes down

[dreaming]

Xfinity is awful to deal with.  They will not budge (at least they didn’t for me and I even played the I have been with you for 25 years card.  Still didn’t care). I tried to get a decent internet and tv package.  One they would give to new customers.  Nope.  So I cancelled the cable part and am pretty happy with just the internet though I’m sure I’m paying too much for it.  I’m interested in knowing what they say when you call. 

[ender]

I had someone in store do some creative stuff cancelling me and then resigning me up for service for full new promos.

I normally hate in store stuff but that worked out well, our total was a lot less as a result  (though we just have internet and xfinity mobile).

[Valley of Plenty]

Did you give them a call?

I play the game yearly with Comcast. We also have internet only, and have kept it down to $20/year for many years, rising to $25 recently.  I call them up, say I want to cancel, and when they ask why, I say that we've been on the promotional rate that is expiring, and we are going to their competitor (we have a fiber company in our area now, too).  The rep checks the promotions for the area to see what they can offer, might ask a few questions about whether we're interested in bundling phone, etc, and eventually it's all done except for clicking a link in an email to approve the order. Typically it takes about 10 minutes once per year, and saves us at least $300/year, making it a $1200/hr endeavor, or close to $2400/hour pre-tax-and-other-deductions.

I have not made the call yet. Got distracted by projects at home (though if I'm being honest it's probably more than I'm just subconsciously putting it off because I hate dealing with customer support reps over the phone).

This week is going to be busy as hell, but I will try to find time to make the call. It doesn't help that I work night shift so my sleeping hours pretty neatly coincide with most places business hours.

[Padonak]

i just call every year and tell them honestly that i'd like to keep the service if they keep the price the same

[Valley of Plenty]

Much belated update:

I finally got around to calling Xfinity and asking about getting my bill reduced. It went surprisingly well! At first the automated system kept trying to give me the run around, so I hung up, called again, and just kept saying "representative" until it gave up and connected me with someone. I wasn't on hold at all, the line rang once and a representative immediately picked up. I filled them in on my situation, told them I wanted a more competitive rate, and they were immediately like "Okay yeah I can put you on the promotional rate for $35 a month"

It did knock my internet speed down from 450mbps to 200mbps, but I don't foresee that being an issue. I used to live in the middle of nowhere with less than 1 mbps, so 200 should be just fine.

They did try to sell me on some new streaming box they have, and I just told them "Thanks but I don't watch any TV" and they were like "Oh okay but how many streaming services do you have?"... "None" I replied. They seemed a bit confused but by that time the wait for my internet to reboot was over and they wrapped up the call. They did tell me that the promotional rate is good for 24 months and to just call back in 2 years and they can get me back on the newest promotional rate.

Overall I'm very surprised by how easy it was. Total call time was 22 minutes. 22 minutes of my time in exchange for $1200 in yearly savings seems like a great deal!

[zolotiyeruki]

Our family of 8 does just fine on a 100Mbps connection, even when there are half a dozen people streaming videos at the same time. 200 will be more than enough for you

[tygertygertyger]

Nice! It's a good feeling to have that behind you, especially if you were dreading it (or just not looking forward to doing it...) Way to go!

[AMandM]

Congratulations!

And also, thanks! Because I just switched to Xfinity for home internet because Verizon wouldn't come anywhere close to matching their promo offer. Maybe in two years I can just call Xfinity and renew the promo offer in stead of having to switch back to Verizon.

[snic]

Our family of 8 does just fine on a 100Mbps connection, even when there are half a dozen people streaming videos at the same time. 200 will be more than enough for you

Convincing you that you need higher Mbps (of course at a higher cost) is one of the bigger cable/fiber company scams. Very few people need much more than around 100. If you consistently deal with downloading or uploading very large files, or play certain online games where milliseconds count, or have 6 teens all streaming at once, then you might need higher speeds. The rest of us will find absolutely no difference between the lowest speed a typical cable company provides and anything higher.

[RWD]

Our family of 8 does just fine on a 100Mbps connection, even when there are half a dozen people streaming videos at the same time. 200 will be more than enough for you

Convincing you that you need higher Mbps (of course at a higher cost) is one of the bigger cable/fiber company scams. Very few people need much more than around 100. If you consistently deal with downloading or uploading very large files, or play certain online games where milliseconds count, or have 6 teens all streaming at once, then you might need higher speeds. The rest of us will find absolutely no difference between the lowest speed a typical cable company provides and anything higher.

I wish they priced download and upload speeds separately. I don't need a gigabit of download but having 100+ Mbit upload is huge for work-from-home and VPN access to home network while traveling. Instead Comcast wants to sell you 200/10, 800/15, 1000/20, etc. type plans. Embarrassing upload connection even with the blazing fast download speed plans.

[Valley of Plenty]

Our family of 8 does just fine on a 100Mbps connection, even when there are half a dozen people streaming videos at the same time. 200 will be more than enough for you

Convincing you that you need higher Mbps (of course at a higher cost) is one of the bigger cable/fiber company scams. Very few people need much more than around 100. If you consistently deal with downloading or uploading very large files, or play certain online games where milliseconds count, or have 6 teens all streaming at once, then you might need higher speeds. The rest of us will find absolutely no difference between the lowest speed a typical cable company provides and anything higher.

I wish they priced download and upload speeds separately. I don't need a gigabit of download but having 100+ Mbit upload is huge for work-from-home and VPN access to home network while traveling. Instead Comcast wants to sell you 200/10, 800/15, 1000/20, etc. type plans. Embarrassing upload connection even with the blazing fast download speed plans.

I've always wondered why there's such a massive discrepancy between download and upload speeds. Presumably hardware that can handle gigabit download should also be able to handle gigabit upload? Or am I misunderstanding how data transfer works?

Why are ISPs so stingy with the upload speeds?

[zolotiyeruki]

I've always wondered why there's such a massive discrepancy between download and upload speeds. Presumably hardware that can handle gigabit download should also be able to handle gigabit upload? Or am I misunderstanding how data transfer works?

Why are ISPs so stingy with the upload speeds?

I suspect there are a few reasons.
1) Streaming services like Netflix can stick hardware in a datacenter right next to (or even in) Comcast's network, containing a lot of their video content.  When Netflix subscribers on Comcast then stream those shows, that traffic doesn't have to traverse the whole internet to get to them--it's already on Comcast's network, so Comcast doesn't have to pay for that traffic.  Upload traffic doesn't have that issue
2) The general population doesn't upload much
3) There's only a single wire coming from Comcast into your house, and it has to handle traffic both ways
4) So if Comcast wants to advertise a faster 1Gbps connection speed, they may have to prioritize download speed over upload.
5) People who are uploading lots of stuff probably rely on it for their income, so it gives Comcast an opportunity to force them into a more expensive tier.

Of all those, #5 is by far the most likely IMO, particularly given Comcast's business practices over the last 20 years.

[snic]

Upload/download speed differences are historical consequences of physical limitations in the DSL and cable hardware. Few people have DSL anymore, and cable companies are gradually upgrading the hardware to allow up/down speeds to both be high. Fiber-to-the-home internet never suffered from the up/down difference. So, over the next few years, up/down speeds should become more similar for more people.