So my home internet bill is normally $60/month, plus tax. Yeah, it's the cheap plan (Shaw). We don't have much in the way of competition up here in Canada.
On my December bill, I noticed some fine print at the bottom - "Effective Jan 1, we are raising your rate to $67/month". That was the last straw. I googled around, and found two other local companies (TekSavvy and Lightspeed) that offer the same calibre of service for $40/month! That's new, last time I checked one didn't exist and the other didn't offer service in my area. I was about to call them up and change over before I noticed the $120 installation fees they had. But, I thought... "Self, that should pay for itself in 4-5 months, and then it's all gravy. Just do it!"
But then I thought of the trick that my mother is the master of.
I called my current company and threatened to switch. I said, "I noticed you are raising my rates next month, and that makes me inclined to switch to either TekSavvy or Lightspeed. They both offer the same service for $40/month. Is there anything you can do to keep me as a customer?"
Instant response: "Oh sure, we have a loyalty discount for long term customers. Let me see what I can do." *cue elevator musak*
3 minutes later: "Okay sir, I've added an account credit of $20/month for the next 10 months to your account. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"
Nope, that's great! Thanks.
$20/month * 10 months / 10 minutes of research and phoning = $1200/hr. Not bad!