Directv NFL Ticket.... (5 Viewers)

Just did my annual call. 8 year customer. NFL ticket every year. I always call every August and always get it for free somehow. Got Cheri in retention tonight. She could not have been sweeter. "wife is cracking down on bills anything you van do for me? For example I see on your homepage you're offering NFL ticket for free to new subscribers.". She goes, "you want that?". I say sure. She goes on to see what else she can give me and she throws in $20/m for a year and free HBO for a year. 10 minutes. Done.

'Buck Stop said:

'Franknbeans said:

'houston said:

having to make this call gets more and more annoying every year.

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I used http://www.atdhenet.tv/ very successfully last year to stream the Redzone. DIRECTV can suck it.

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So I assume the Redzone channel just shows up on Sundays right? Does it ever get taken down or interrupted? And good posting on the bold part!

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Correct. I had a few issues getting it to stream but that was probably due to my truly crappy internet speed (or lack thereof) more than anything else. Sometimes they will give you more than one link. Not to mention they also have individual games you can stream as well. The only time I could not receive the NFL games was once the playoffs began. But for that, I will go to a bar.ETA: I was a 15 year DirectTv subscriber.

Does Max not have mobile? I was offered Max and declined the extra charge for mobile, but everything I've read says Max included mobile.

'Franknbeans said:

'Buck Stop said:

'Franknbeans said:

'houston said:

having to make this call gets more and more annoying every year.

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I used http://www.atdhenet.tv/ very successfully last year to stream the Redzone. DIRECTV can suck it.

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So I assume the Redzone channel just shows up on Sundays right? Does it ever get taken down or interrupted? And good posting on the bold part!

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Correct. I had a few issues getting it to stream but that was probably due to my truly crappy internet speed (or lack thereof) more than anything else. Sometimes they will give you more than one link. Not to mention they also have individual games you can stream as well. The only time I could not receive the NFL games was once the playoffs began. But for that, I will go to a bar.ETA: I was a 15 year DirectTv subscriber.

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Yep, I am in the DIRECTV can suck it camp too. 10+ year subscriber and had ticket for the first 5 of them I think. Price got too high and family busting my chops for wasting every Sunday watching the games so got rid of it. Never been happier, especially since it seems every year more and more games are available via regular TV or stream. Plus we start to love a show or channel and all of the sudden DIRECTV is in a contract squabble with them or they make it part of a premium tier. Now that I have Netflix, Hulu, etc. I will most likely be dumping the dish.

'[icon] said:

'Monsters of the Midway said:

'H8tank said:

'houston said:

having to make this call gets more and more annoying every year.

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Then don't be so cheap, pay the very reasonable price they are charging, and be happy.

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We have different definitions of "very reasonable"

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What exactly do you think is a "very reasonable" price for "pay per view" of over 300 games? Seems to me a charge of less than $1/game or a little over $10 a week is a pretty good value.

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Interesting. It is impossible to watch every game as they're on at the same time in two bunches (early and late games), so I don't find $1/game to be a meaningful number. I have a built in definition of "reasonable" being $200-because that's what I have been paying for years. "Very Reasonable" would be less than that. Actually, thinking about it, "reasonable" for me would be to offer standalone RZC as other carriers do. The fact that they don't is unreasonable to me.I'm a big boy and can change carriers if I don't like it-I have done this a few times in the past. I'm listing those since you asked

'Monsters of the Midway said:

'[icon] said:

'Monsters of the Midway said:

'H8tank said:

'houston said:

having to make this call gets more and more annoying every year.

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Then don't be so cheap, pay the very reasonable price they are charging, and be happy.

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We have different definitions of "very reasonable"

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What exactly do you think is a "very reasonable" price for "pay per view" of over 300 games? Seems to me a charge of less than $1/game or a little over $10 a week is a pretty good value.

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Interesting. It is impossible to watch every game as they're on at the same time in two bunches (early and late games), so I don't find $1/game to be a meaningful number. I have a built in definition of "reasonable" being $200-because that's what I have been paying for years. "Very Reasonable" would be less than that. Actually, thinking about it, "reasonable" for me would be to offer standalone RZC as other carriers do. The fact that they don't is unreasonable to me.I'm a big boy and can change carriers if I don't like it-I have done this a few times in the past. I'm listing those since you asked

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If you call them, they will give you the red zone channel as a stand alone option. I have just that.

I ask every year and am turned down. You must be more persuasive than me

'solorca said:

'Monsters of the Midway said:

'[icon] said:

'Monsters of the Midway said:

'H8tank said:

'houston said:

having to make this call gets more and more annoying every year.

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Then don't be so cheap, pay the very reasonable price they are charging, and be happy.

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We have different definitions of "very reasonable"

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What exactly do you think is a "very reasonable" price for "pay per view" of over 300 games? Seems to me a charge of less than $1/game or a little over $10 a week is a pretty good value.

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Interesting. It is impossible to watch every game as they're on at the same time in two bunches (early and late games), so I don't find $1/game to be a meaningful number. I have a built in definition of "reasonable" being $200-because that's what I have been paying for years. "Very Reasonable" would be less than that. Actually, thinking about it, "reasonable" for me would be to offer standalone RZC as other carriers do. The fact that they don't is unreasonable to me.I'm a big boy and can change carriers if I don't like it-I have done this a few times in the past. I'm listing those since you asked

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If you call them, they will give you the red zone channel as a stand alone option. I have just that.

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what? I asked, repeatedly and they said they dont have this.I got Sunday Ticket Max for 175. 5 paymetns of 34.99. 5 bucks off my bil for 2 months for the viacom fiasco (big whoop) thats when I called.

I signed up in January and was under the impression, along with some of you, that new customers get ST for free. I called last night and the girl who I spoke to, who was quite rude, told me that i do not get it for free and will have to pay the full price. So i asked how much longer is left on my contract and thats the whole reason I switched cause I was told i would get it. Then she Asks if i want to cancel, not even trying to change my mind or anything so i hung up. Anyone have any advice on what to do next?

Just Called.

15 year subscriber.

Offer 1: $40 x 5 payments ($200)

Mention cancelling, transferred

Offer 2: $35 x 4 payments ($140)

Asked if she could do better.

She adds $10 off per month for 2 years. (-$240)

So I basically got Sunday Ticket Max for free + about $100

I'm happy with that.

'Fiasco518 said:

I signed up in January and was under the impression, along with some of you, that new customers get ST for free. I called last night and the girl who I spoke to, who was quite rude, told me that i do not get it for free and will have to pay the full price. So i asked how much longer is left on my contract and thats the whole reason I switched cause I was told i would get it. Then she Asks if i want to cancel, not even trying to change my mind or anything so i hung up. Anyone have any advice on what to do next?

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Call back until you get a better answer

Guys, check your August billing statement. I called in June and got ST for $100 and was just hit with a Max renewal of $49.99 for 6 payments. Looks like an autorenewal. Called and got it taken off

I called and got the RedZone as a stand alone for FREE this year.

So what is their deal on PS3 this season?

Do they show all the pre-season games as well??

'ponchsox said:

Guys, check your August billing statement. I called in June and got ST for $100 and was just hit with a Max renewal of $49.99 for 6 payments. Looks like an autorenewal. Called and got it taken off

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Standard operation procedure for them. That happened to me last year. They will try this and hope to get a few suckers who don't check their bills.

'Leeroy Jenkins said:

So what is their deal on PS3 this season?Do they show all the pre-season games as well??

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I check the web every day for this starting a few weeks ago, nothing yet. Articles from last year were in the last week of August. I hate waiting on this info, since I'll be all over this for 2012.Even on the PSN website, there is an image for ST, but when you click it for 2012 info it redirects to the home page.

Thinking of switching over to DirecTV. Are the reports that you get no reception on bad weather true? How bad is it? Unwatchable or just flickers every now and then?

Also, if you're a new customer you can get Sunday Ticket free if you sign up for the Choice plan or better. And also get 25k frequent flyer miles from American Airlines. Just got this in an email the other day: http://www.aa.directv.com/DTVAPP/new_customer/base_packages.jsp?ref=aa

can anyone confirm if redzone will be on any of those streaming sites? i got my cable provider to offer me only $19.99, but if its gonna be on adthenet or something, id do that

Anyone know the Client Retention direct phone number?

'Longtucky Lemmings said:

Anyone know the Client Retention direct phone number?

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AS far as I know - there is no direct number. Call the main number when answering machine asks who do you want to talk to say cancel service - and they will ask change service or cancel - answer cancel service - sends you to customer retention.

just got off the phone....pretty good score....

Half price ST Max ($149)

$5/mo of HBO for 6 months ($30)

$10/mo credit for HD service ($120)

$20/mo credit for being loyal customer ($240)

$539 savings for making 2 phone calls....not bad.

'SouthJersey said:

Thinking of switching over to DirecTV. Are the reports that you get no reception on bad weather true? How bad is it? Unwatchable or just flickers every now and then?

Also, if you're a new customer you can get Sunday Ticket free if you sign up for the Choice plan or better. And also get 25k frequent flyer miles from American Airlines. Just got this in an email the other day: http://www.aa.directv.com/DTVAPP/new_customer/base_packages.jsp?ref=aa

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only extremely bad weather. During a bad thunderstorm it may be out 5 or 10 minutes while the clouds pass. deep snow may need to be brushed off the dish (so don't put it on the peak of your roof).

I've rarely had an issue and maybe once in 13 years had it out longer than 15 minutes and even then it was maybe an hour. I used to lose cable more than that

'mquinnjr said:

'Leeroy Jenkins said:

So what is their deal on PS3 this season?Do they show all the pre-season games as well??

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I check the web every day for this starting a few weeks ago, nothing yet. Articles from last year were in the last week of August. I hate waiting on this info, since I'll be all over this for 2012.Even on the PSN website, there is an image for ST, but when you click it for 2012 info it redirects to the home page.

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Yea, I am getting worried. I haven't seen anything for this season. I wish it was up for pre-season games too.

It took me 4 phone calls but I finally got something lol. Since this was my first time ever trying this I really didnt want to push for too much or really know what to say. The first time I called I said, Im a new customer, I signed up in January, shouldnt i get ST for free like it says on the website? Their response was basically I signed up to early and the deal wasnt going on then and Id have to pay full price. This was a normal rep and this girl was a complete bi**h. Didnt even care when I said I might have to cancel and i hung up on her.

2nd time I called I told them I was told before I switched to DTV they told me I would get it for free, which isnt true but sounded good, and now theyre saying no. Girl said she'd give me some type of auto renewal deal and ended up putting it on my account after I told her Id need to think about it. When I checked my account it was no deal at all, 49.99 for 6 months.

3rd time I called I told the guy my whole story and what the previous girl did. After some talking I finally got him down to $200 for ST Max but told him Id need to talk it over with the girl. He then tried to sell me some other stuff and I told him money was tight but Id think about it. He told me to hang on and gave me a different # to call for sales and said they might be able to give it to me for free.

4th call Im not really sure which department it was but they were deff the most helpful and a real nice lady. She offered me ST for $150. I asked about Redzone and she put me on hold and came back and said she could upgrade me to Max for free. I was happy with that so I took it.

At the end of my 3 days I got ST Max for half price, $150. Im happy, not bad for my first try.

I signed up last year for the free ticket.

Autorenewal just hit us, so I called to cancel. I thought it was $50/month for 6 months, but it was $33/m for 6 months, so I was surprised. I was still going to cancel, got an offer, said no, got another offer of $25/m for 6 months plus Redzone for free, I accepted.

So, $150 for Sunday Ticket plus the Redzone channel without really trying.

'SouthJersey said:

Thinking of switching over to DirecTV. Are the reports that you get no reception on bad weather true? How bad is it? Unwatchable or just flickers every now and then?

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I live in central Florida, thunderstorm capital of the USA. I very rarely have an issue. 80% or more of the time when there is rain, there is no issue. The other 20% is mostly a brief interruption (less than a minute), maybe two or three times in the last year has there been a longer interruption. Longest has been maybe 6 or 8 minutes. In fact, we just had a monster storm pass through, monsooned for 20 minutes, and we had no interruption at all.

'Blue Thunder said:

Here's how my phone call on Friday went.

Me: "Cancel Service"...

Lady: "Thank you for calling DirecTv. How may I help you?"

Me: "I'm considering cancelling my DirecTv service."

Lady: "I'll transfer you to Cancellation."

Me: "Actually, can you transfer me to Customer Retention instead?"

Lady: "Sure."...

Guy: "Thank you for calling DirecTv. How may I help you?"

Me: "I am considering cancelling my DirecTv service because we have one receiver that is going bad (true) and also we can't really afford for our bill to go up right now (also true)."

Guy: "I'm sorry to hear that. If you stay, I can offer you $20 off your bill month for 12 months."

Me: "Well, that's good, but the main reason I have DirecTv is for the NFL Sunday Ticket. I know that Dish has some pretty good deals going, including one that is for $19.99 a month, and also I could just pay $50 bucks for the whole season of NFL Rewind online. I'd rather have the Ticket though, but it's just too expensive."

Guy: "Let me see what I can do."...

Guy: "What if I were able to throw in the Ticket and the Redzone Channel for free?"

Me: "Is that the Sunday Ticket Max?"

Guy: "No"

Me: "I'd really like the Max because I like the Short Cuts."

Guy: "Really? I think you're the first person to say that. Most people say they want the Red Zone Channel. Let me take another look"

Guy: "I can offer you the Max for four payments for $39.99. That's $159.96 for the Max... no wait... that's worse than the other offer... hang on... okay... umm, yeah, I can go ahead and give you the Sunday Ticket Max for free.

Me: "Great. Is that in addition to the $20 a month for 12 months and do I still get the Red Zone Channel?"

Guy: "Yes"

Me: "Awesome... Now what can we do about replacing the old DVR? We are wanting to upgrade to an HD DVR. The DVR we are replacing is standard def."

Guy: "Let me check"...

Guy: "I can offer you a free HD DVR to replace the old DVR. Plus, we will pay for the installation and the handling fee and also knock another $10 a month off for a year to cover the HD upgrade charge to your package. However, you will have to sign a two year contract in order to get the free HD DVR"

Me: "Hmm. Would it be possible to just do a year contract instead?"

Guy: "We could do that if you just wanted a standard DVR, but for the HD DVR it has to be two years."

Me: "Well... okay. Let's set it up"

So, this was the end result from this 15 minute phone call:

NFL Sunday Ticket Max = $299

$20/month x 12 = $240

HD DVR = $199

Installation = $99

Handling fee = $19.95

$10/month x 12 = $120

Total amount saved = $976.95

True, I did end up having to agree to a 2-year contract, but I'm quite sure that I would have stayed with them anyway. Plus, since my discounts expire in a year, even though I will still be under contract, I can call back again next August and try to see what they are willing to offer. Last year I got a little under $400 back, so I was thrilled with this outcome.

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This script is money. I just used it as the framework:Me: is this customer retention

Girl: Yes

Me: I'm thinking about leaving Directv after 12 years because my bill is too high and there are so many options. what can you do for me?

Girl: Well what are you interested in?

Me: Lowering my bill (I wanted to get the bill down first before going in for ST)

Girl: How is $15 off for 12 months?

Me: Well that's certainly a start (could have gone for $20 but was going in for the ST kill)

Me: To be honest I'm a huge NFL fan but I have so many choices now with online access, Dish rewind, that I just can't justify the cost in these times

Girl: let me see what I can do. how is 50% off?

Me: Not good enough unfortunately

Girl: let me see what I can do...............................well i'm pleased to say I can give it to you for free

Me: is that ST Max?

Girl: No

Me: Can you please check if I can get that for free? That would make me very happy.

Girl: let me check...............yes i can. sorry that took so long

Me: No problem. While I have you on, I would really like HBO so I can watch Hard Knocks. I'm a huge dolphins fan

Girl: How about 2 months of free HBO, Starz, Cinemax, Showtime and Sports Pack

Me: That's great.

All in all, 10 minutes. Sweet girl. Just casually chatted, no heavy negotiating. I wrote out exactly what I wanted: Money off, ST Max for free, and HBO for Hard Knocks. Got it all. Huge Directv fan.

Just got off the phone. Called the main number and indicated I wanted to Cancel (even though I'm under contract).

Transerred to retention.

Very low key discussion with a nice guy, no drama. He offered a number of different things to keep me from cancelling, and I ended up agreeing to a package that includes:

- $20/month off for the next year

- Sunday Ticket Max for free, including RedZone, Superfan, Shortcuts, etc

- HBO for free

- HBO GO for free

In exchange, I agreed to move my contract end date out 1 month from where it already was.

Went through the drill.

Got -$20/month for a year

Sunday Ticket

Just Red Zone (not pc,mobile)

Some have made better deals but this was easy for 15 minutes!

'spodog said:

Just got off the phone. Called the main number and indicated I wanted to Cancel (even though I'm under contract). Transerred to retention.Very low key discussion with a nice guy, no drama. He offered a number of different things to keep me from cancelling, and I ended up agreeing to a package that includes:- $20/month off for the next year- Sunday Ticket Max for free, including RedZone, Superfan, Shortcuts, etc- HBO for free - HBO GO for free In exchange, I agreed to move my contract end date out 1 month from where it already was.

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how long do you have HBO for free?

'spodog said:

Just got off the phone. Called the main number and indicated I wanted to Cancel (even though I'm under contract). Transerred to retention.Very low key discussion with a nice guy, no drama. He offered a number of different things to keep me from cancelling, and I ended up agreeing to a package that includes:- $20/month off for the next year- Sunday Ticket Max for free, including RedZone, Superfan, Shortcuts, etc- HBO for free - HBO GO for free In exchange, I agreed to move my contract end date out 1 month from where it already was.

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Bingo, The script works like gold. Pretty much got the same deal, $20 off, nfl package, and got an additional HD receiver for another tv also at no additional charge and directtv on demand.

Just called DirecTV and said cancel when prompted. When the first person came on I said that my bill was just to high and I would like to cancel.

He said he could reduce the ST by $10, told him unfortunately that wouldn't be enough to keep it so he transferred me to retention.

A lady named Renee came on, really nice and let I her know that the bill was just to high and with other competitive offers out there I'm thinking about canceling.

Renee responded by checking to see what she could do.

The first offer was ST Max reduced from 6 payments of $49.95 to 4 payments of $36.95. Also free DVR service for 12 months which is $96 savings and $10 of our bill per month for the year, another $120 saving. I said I appreciate it, but my wife would still feel that the ST Max is to much.

She put me on hold and came back with ST for free but I would need to pay 4 payments of $25 for the Max plus getting free DVR for the year and $10 off the bill for the year. I still wasn't satisfied with that and said that I would like to get ST Max for free. I also asked about getting HBO for free. She again put me on hold.

Once again coming back with an offer of ST Max for free, DVR service for free and $10 off of the bill for the year. However she couldn't give me HBO for free. I could get Showtime for free but I explained that I'm very interested in Hard Knocks. I asked if she could increase the $10 off per month to $20 off to offset paying for HBO. For the third or fourth time she put me on hold.

FINALLY, after going back and fourth, here's what I agreed to:

ST Max for free $299.95

$20 per month credit for a year $120

DRV service for free for a year $96

Pay $15.99 for HBO per month. Will cancel in a month or two after Hard Knocks

Bottom line is that you need to try and get what you want until you're happy.

Called the direct line, said I need to cancel my service because money is tight and the wife doesn't want me paying to watch more football I got transferred immediately to customer retention....

Sweet girl. Told her the same thing - money is tight and the wife is both upset about us paying so much for TV and won't agree to having me pay to watch even more football. And I told her that the Sunday Ticket is really the only reason we use Direct TV, which is true.

She was really cool. Went through a few scenarios and I just waited until she gave me a deal that gave me the Sunday Ticket plus the upgrade for free AND big savings for the next year.

$20 per month for 12 months off the Premier package

$5 per month for 6 months off each of HBO, Starz, MAX, and Showtime

$10 per month for 6 months off sports package

Sunday Ticket for free

MAX Upgrade for free

All in all, it's $470 + tax in savings over the next year, and all the Sunday Ticket stuff for free.

Took about 15 minutes.

Just called and asked for Customer Retention.

I was straight up and said I am not going anywhere and wanted to get the maximum accomodation he can give me for being a loyal customer (since 1999) and a premier package subscriber.

Ended up with:

1. Sunday Ticket Max for free

2. $20 off for 12 months (general credit)

3. $10 off for 12 months (sports programming credit)

4. 1/2 off Starz for 6 months

5. $5 off HBO, Showtime etc for 6 months

I had to extend for another year but that was no problem.

Took 10 minutes

For what it's worth I just called and added redzone for free. I used this argument last year and got the whole package for free because they said they could not do RZC as stand alone. 2 years ago I got redzone for free and it didn't come through on week 2. I called and was told they don't do that and they gave me the whold package for free. Hoping that happens again but honestly 99% of what I watch is RZC so all the same to me. I called a month ago and got about 40/mo in credits for a year so didn't want to push it much further. Next year in August my contract will be up so I'll put it to them again.

I'm still not seeing anything about the ps3 deal for this season.

didn't really push at all but got:

Ticket for free

$10 off for next 12 mos.

HBO, Cinemax, etc. free next 2 mos.

It makes me smile to think of all the free Sunday Ticket awarded to everyone in here.

$15 off programming package for 12 months

Waive $10 hd fee for 24 mths

Sunday Max $299 for free

$719 savings.

Be sincere and nice. They will reciprocate.

Sunday Ticket for free. I'm good with that. I used the 'new customers get it for free' and she just handed it too me.

'Horses Mouth said:

This script is money. I just used it as the framework:Me: is this customer retentionGirl: YesMe: I'm thinking about leaving Directv after 12 years because my bill is too high and there are so many options. what can you do for me?Girl: Well what are you interested in?Me: Lowering my bill (I wanted to get the bill down first before going in for ST)Girl: How is $15 off for 12 months?Me: Well that's certainly a start (could have gone for $20 but was going in for the ST kill)Me: To be honest I'm a huge NFL fan but I have so many choices now with online access, Dish rewind, that I just can't justify the cost in these timesGirl: let me see what I can do. how is 50% off?Me: Not good enough unfortunatelyGirl: let me see what I can do...............................well i'm pleased to say I can give it to you for freeMe: is that ST Max?Girl: NoMe: Can you please check if I can get that for free? That would make me very happy.Girl: let me check...............yes i can. sorry that took so longMe: No problem. While I have you on, I would really like HBO so I can watch Hard Knocks. I'm a huge dolphins fanGirl: How about 2 months of free HBO, Starz, Cinemax, Showtime and Sports PackMe: That's great.All in all, 10 minutes. Sweet girl. Just casually chatted, no heavy negotiating. I wrote out exactly what I wanted: Money off, ST Max for free, and HBO for Hard Knocks. Got it all. Huge Directv fan.

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Indeed, money. Just called. I'm a 10 year subscriber. Got free Sunday Ticket and Redzone Channel, $20/month credit for 12 months, a $50 one-time credit, and free Showtime for 12 months. I was gunning for a monthly credit, as much off the ST as I could get, and something on Showtime, so this was better than I'd hoped for. I'm under contract through April and I had to extend to August. No problem. Best one of these deals I've ever gotten. As everyone has said, just be nice. Don't be afraid to ask - the worst they can do is to say no!Matt

My 15 minutes resulted in:

Free ST Max

$20 credit for 12 months

That was exactly what I wanted, so I wasn't really pushing for more, though by the sounds of some of these deals there was more to be had. Oh well, looking forward to Week 1.

Saw this on another message board from Aug 14, 2012:

I contacted PSN, and this is what they told me: " Currently, the NFL Sunday Ticket is not available on the PlayStation®Store, and we do not have any information on how soon it will be available at this time. "Not really any news there, but at least it's not a "no."

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Hey guys.

I got a friend who will let use the online version if I can call in FOR HIM and get it for free.

So my question is, what do they ask to verify the account? bday? Acc number? Last 4 of Social #?. I just need to know what info i need from him so i can call in for his lazy ###.

'viente-tres said:

Hey guys. I got a friend who will let use the online version if I can call in FOR HIM and get it for free. So my question is, what do they ask to verify the account? bday? Acc number? Last 4 of Social #?. I just need to know what info i need from him so i can call in for his lazy ###.

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Just name on the account and phone number for me I beleive. Maybe address. No SS #

'BigDave said:

Went through the drill. Got -$20/month for a year Sunday Ticket Just Red Zone (not pc,mobile) Some have made better deals but this was easy for 15 minutes!

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I had to extend my contract end date from October 2013 to October 2014, but got basically the same deal...NFL Ticket free, Redzone free, and $10 off for 24 months. So basically $539 worth the stuff for a 10 minute call with a very pleasant woman from Tennessee.

Another success story...

DTV customer since 1999. Currently under contract through 2014 (we added another reciever earlier this year and got them to install for free, with other discounts, if we extended). I called & said "Cancel Service" at the prompt to get the retention dept. Very pleasant specialist answered & asked how she could help. I asked if I was speaking to the Retention Dept, and she said that I was.

Me: I'm interested in lowering my bill and recently had some previous credits end. I love DTV but am always getting offers from Comcast & Dish. Bottom line, I want to stay with you guys, so I want to see what we can do here.

Her: Thanks for being a longtime customer, let me see what we can do for you(sound of her typing on keyboard). I can offer you $20 off your bill per month for 12 months...(more typing)...are you interested in keeping your current package?

Me: Yes, we just had a third reciever installed in March, and we like our package.

Her: You have an older HD Package with the HD charge added into your bill. I can offer you an additional $10 off per month for 12 months as well. Total discount would be $30 off for 12 months, will that work for you?

Me: Let me ask you this: last year I was offered Sunday Ticket at no charge, and wanted to make sure I wasn't scheduled for autorenewal. Could you check on that for me?

Her: Sure. You are not set up for autorenewal.

Me: One of the reasons I stay with DTV is for Sunday Ticket. Is the deal you offered me last year still available?

Her: (typing sound) I can offer you the Sunday Ticket at no charge again this year.

Me: Does that include the Red Zone Channel?

Her: (typing) I can offer that at no charge as well.

Me: Great. Now is the ST deal you're offering me available with the other discounts we already talked about?

Her: I can't do those two deals with the free ST...(typing) I can give you $10 off/12 months off your base package, and another $10 off/12 months off your HD. Would you be interested in all of this?

Me: I think that'll work. This is why I stay with DTV, you know how to take care of your customers.

Her: (laughs) Anything else I can help you with?

Me: (thinking what the hell) I didn't notice any credits on by last bill for the Viacom outages. Did you guys have any type of prorated credits for that?

Her: (typing) Those credits aren't available to issue anymore, and it looks like we added access to other channels to custmomers to offset the Viacom outage. I'm sorry.

Me: No problem, just thought I''d ask.

Her: (laughs) Ok, let me confirm your credits here...(typing). It looks like I can also offer you a one time $5 credit off your most recent bill for the Viacom issue, would that work for you?

Me: Sounds great. Thank you very much. I'll take it.

I told her I was really greatful for her help & asked to speak to her supervisor to say what a great job she did. Spoke with the super & reiterated the great customer service I'd received and that I was why I remained a DTV customer.

Bottom line: speak with retention, know what you want (and ask for it), and be polite & professional. If you state your concern and be honest, you'll usually get what you want.

TOTAL DEAL (pretty much everything I was gunning for):

[*]Free Sunday Ticket Max

[*]$10/mo. credit for 12 months

[*]$10/mo. credit for HD

[*]$5 credit for Viacom outage

I've tried multiple times with no luck. Weird that I've gotten a good deal every year while on contract, now that I'm off and even asked to cancel, the best I'm getting is 6 payments of $24.99 with nothing else off. Was really close to actually cancelling but don't want to go thru the hassle and my mother next door is getting it for free as a new customer so I can easily watch there.

This thread inspired me to call. Only had DTV for a year and a half and never had ST before.

But I thought I would call and say the bill was getting a little out of hand for my family (which is actually true)

Mentioned the Viacom thing, and that I loved NFL football. Said my kids really missed Nick JR in the mornings during the dispute and the rep said her three year old was upset about that too.

She looked at my account, took 30$ off for 12 months and offered to add Sunday Ticket. I didn't even ask for it. I did ask for RedZone and she added that too.

Full success!

'ponchsox said:

Guys, check your August billing statement. I called in June and got ST for $100 and was just hit with a Max renewal of $49.99 for 6 payments. Looks like an autorenewal. Called and got it taken off

Click to expand...

was supposed to be getting it for free this year and just saw a $32.99 (1 of 6 month) billing installment.on phone now... ETA: this CS guy has to be Spicoli's brother ETA: xferred to "retention", disconnected. called again into retention, xferred to moving dept (???). they said "why are you here, you need to be in billing". xferred to billing now. guess i got the "b" team todayETA FINAL: Credited the 32.99, Ticket is free for this Year. Thanks B Team