I have written about my frustrations with Comcast in the past, in large part because in their industry, because there are other options, it makes no sense to me that they have such horrible customer service and support.
So this morning when my friend Mark told me about how he is saving $800 a year this year on Comcast, I wasn’t so surprised – they know they have competition.
Mark told me that he had gotten an offer from Dish Network for $30 a month, so as a Comcast customer paying about $100 per month for cable TV with no premium channels, he called Comcast to ask for help. Mark said he called in a very friendly voice and said he loved Comcast but he needed help with their price because his wife heard about the Dish offer. And with that they lowered his bill by $70 per month for a year.
When I got home I went out to the Dish site, clicked on the online chat button, and with what I have today from Comcast (Showtime and HBO), I learned can get it from Dish for just $39 a month, so I called Comcast, like Mark, in a very friendly way, and with that they lowered my bill by $60 per month. It took about ten minutes and I will save $720 this year as a result. Nice.
I think the trick is to have a specific price from a competitor and Comcast knows they have to match that.
So in the notion of the “how” trap that’s central to the book Rethink, this is an example of a way to change “how” you pay for your cable. Pass it on . . .
-Ric
In truth, immediately i didn’t understand the essence. But after re-reading all at once became clear.
Ric,
Did they try to back-out of price matching with the argument that the offer from Dish was a 12 month promotional price?
Bob
So what are you going to do with the $720? 😉
Hey, that’s a good idea. I’m going to try this and save $720 too.