FIOS - Negotiation Tactics or Moving On

Parent Cafe
1

I live in the Philly area and have been a loyal Fios customer for 18 years. Not surprisingly, that loyalty is not returned, either in spirit or practice. A couple weeks ago, I spent more than 2 hours in an online chat with them, trying to get a better deal, since my last 2 year commitment expired and the resulting monthly bill went up almost $30 and now exceeds $240.

My online chat was painful, being transferred from person to person, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. As my frustration mounted and my upcoming flight time neared, a floor supervisor finally admitted there was some flexibility regarding pricing. Unfortunately his offer didn’t seem to be any better than the first person I spoke with, and he refused to put anything in an email, despite my implied ultimatum as I told him I’d run out of both time and patience.

We’ve had their triple play service for years, even though we don’t need a land line. But they never appear to give you a break for removing it, so it’s mostly just a receptacle for robocalls. We have a slew of devices connected to the internet, especially when the girls are home from college, and I’m hoping to better that part of our service, whether with Fios or someone else.

We recently joined Netflix, but we also enjoy HBO and Showtime programming, as well as (too many) cable shows, including cooking and design competitions and a couple realty shows (just to prove we’re not the craziest people on the planet).

So what I’m hoping for is some advice regarding negotiation tactics with Verizon. Would trying to cancel my service result in a plea from them to not do so, including a reasonable best offer, like what happens with XM radio subscriptions? Can I really expect at least a $30 per month discount and no upgrade charges? I’ve had this equipment for a long time and feel entitled to what ought to be newer and better.

Alternatively, I’d be open to another solution for internet and television options, maybe even switching to Xfinity if that’s the best way to get “introductory” pricing. It really irks me that these companies don’t take care of their existing customers. But I know it’s just business for them, and every dollar they forego is a dollar less for execs and shareholders. Thanks for reading and any advice.

2

We ditched cable. We didn’t even consider a phone company based TV plan. Simply put…these folks won’t usually negotiate a decent price but oddly offer newbies a good deal to suck them in.

We have an antenna, a Roku stick, and the ability to watch everything we want to watch. For certain things, we just subscribe via Sling for the period of time we want. For example, we subscribed during the Olympics to whatever channel broadcast them. Same with the NCAA women’s basket ball championships.

We had a one time $250 cost for the antenna which gives us all the local channels and PBS stations…and a few odd others. We stream things we want to watch if we can. Sure there are some channels we don’t get…but we don’t miss paying for TV service monthly at all, and we have found plenty to watch on what we can get.

Frankly…I don’t think you have a chance of a significant price reduction from Verizon. My sister tried a similar negotiation with ATT Uverse and got no where either, so she just cancelled, and went with something else.

I should add…after we cancelled our TV cable, we got a bunch of “we miss you” mailings which we shredded.

3

I went through the same thing about 4 months back with Comcast/Xfinity. Have been a 20 year customer. Have triple play. They raised the price to $240 as well and I was already thinking it was too high at $200. They wouldn’t budge. I was ticked. I dropped cable (they didn’t care) and kept internet (only decent choice around here) and phone line (they don’t charge much). Plus my husband was ticked because Xfinity dropped some of their sports coverage which was one of the main reasons we had cable. We have had Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV and we added Fubo (sports heavy access). Working fine for us. I’m watching less TV and I’m perfectly fine with that and don’t miss it but Fubo has a lot. Next, I need to drop the phone line and switch it to Ooma or something like that. Internet and phone are $140. Dropping phone should save me another $40.

At least you have other options in your area to get introductory rates. If I was you, I’d drop Fios and pick up something else.

4

2 hours of online chat?! That would seal the deal for me - I would move elsewhere!

5

@thumper1 @doschicos I appreciate the comments. Sounds like we’re not alone in dealing with these things. The funniest thing about my communications with Verizon is that every one begins with them expressing their appreciation for our years of loyalty. Apparently I’m supposed to see some sort of value in their thankfulness. Instead it just pisses me off more when they follow it up with a complete lack of appreciation where it matters.

6

I don’t get their business model. There are plenty of options these days beyond old school cable. Crapping on long term customers isn’t a good way to stay profitable longer term especially when your client base is aging. None of my kids and their friends have cable and I don’t see them every having it.

7

While you did chat, I tried to negotiate by phone. Two different customer service reps hung up on me when I told them I wanted to cancel. I guess they didn’t want that going towards whatever measures and goals they must meet. Boy, it was irritating.

8

I tried to call first. The customer service number posted on their site resulted in a phone company message that the number wasn’t “available” to my area. As a result, I was a bit angry when the chat started, but that didn’t seem to help (or matter), and they probably couldn’t tell how hard I was hitting the keyboard to type my messages.

Believe it or not, the total chat time was closer to 2.5 hours. But it was one of those situations where things seemed to be progressing, and I never knew I wasn’t 10 minutes from having things resolved, one way or another, until I realized I’d never eaten lunch and was at risk to miss my flight.

9

Try calling during business hours (M-F), ready to cancel. That’s the only time their customer retention department is around. But be ready to cancel.

One strategy is to call today, for example, and say I want to cancel service on (x days from now). They ask why - I’m switching to Xfinity’s (current deal). Give the details of what the current deal is, so they’ll try to match.

FWIW it’s probably cheaper to get internet only, and get HBO or Showtime or Hulu etc whatever over the internet. Plus those are easy to drop.

Fios internet is better than Xfinity though (quality and speed).

10

We got tired of the promotional deals always being more money than they said and then gradually creeping up in price. Finally dropped TV service and went with Cablevision’s cheapest internet package and Hulu Live TV. The retention department actually lied to me about what their cheapest internet rate was, but a different rep had already told me. There are loads of streaming services available, as well as free streaming of some stations and free over the air tv.

11

Where we are, Fios is crap ? compared to Comcast which is also ?.

12

We finally cut the cord 3 years ago. 5 tvs with HD attenna and 5 Amazon firesticks. We pay for Hulu live which gives me every sport I want to see especially like every college football or basketball game. Never have to pay for a sports package. Plus local stations but would rather change the input and use the HD attenna. We get all the normal stations like CNN, epsn 1/2/3 college and so on. There is nothing I am missing that I want.

I think the upfront costs for all of that was like $300. I am saving like $150/month.

Hulu live is like $40.00/month and we have Netflix and Amazon prime. Each of us those have movies, TV shows and music with Amazon prime.

If we really want to watch something we would just pay for it or the series… This is so much less expensive then what we were doing before. Some hiccups… Yes but I keep reminding myself we are saving like $150/month.

13

I am also frustrated with FIOS (been using it for like 25 years - basically since they first wired our neighborhood). I have tried many times to bring my bill down. We even cut a settopbox this year and it saved us a measly $5 a month (full savings negated by new taxes and fees). When I call to negotiate, they are actually in shock that my bill is that low and they can’t come near it with any deal. We also have Verizon for a cell plan. I have been able to get a $10 a month loyalty discount on either the cell or the house bill ( I still have this discount - been several years now) because of being a long time customer for both. I think you can also get some $ off when you go paperless - did that for the cell plan.

14

If you want to play the game, you just have to be ready to switch providers every 2-3 years.

15

You know…the more people who bail on these companies, the better chance they will realize they are losing market share.

I vote for moving on.

We have Spectrum here…used to be Charter. Their packages were awful, plus regardless of what you got, they decreased your channels, and increased your cost. My street only has 14 houses…and no one here has cable TV, or phone company based TV anymore. We all got sick of paying for garbage, poor customer service, and increased costs.

16

I agree. I switched every year for a while. Also switched names on account.

17

They are losing market share. Lots of studies showing this which makes it all more bewildering why they just don’t lower their costs. The only company that gets it is Tmobile for phones. Been with them for like 15 years. We used to call to play the game and they would give us just great rates. When we wanted two phones and it was not a bogo they actually offered that to us.

In Chicago we had Comcast then Rcn now none. I even offered both the ability to keep me. They were like “when would you like your cutt off date to be”

One reason we “cut the cord” was looking at the taxes alone. This was my wake up call. We had like over $65.00 just in taxes /fees. Take a look at your bills. One HD antenna and one Firestick on sale is less then that.

18

They need to go to an ala carte channel selection process…like Sling has. Pick the channels you want…not be forced to buy the $200 or so premium package because that’s where they moved ESPN or something to.

That’s their game. We flatly refused to play.

19

That is why the streaming devices are taking off. I don’t need 250 channels and still nothing good to watch. Hulu has 65 and most likely we use like 4 all the time. If I want HBO I can just add it etc.

More companies like Disney are looking at more Ala Carte and that is going to be a mess and drive up costs since everyone wants a larger piece of the pie.

20

I only have FIOS for internet and have a two year contract with them. It will be expiring in a few months and I’m thinking of closing my account and have my D open a new account so she can take advantage of the lower rates they give to new customers. She will get to build her credit and I will reimburse for the lower bill.