What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Can you negotiate with DirecTV? (3 Viewers)

Anybody having trouble getting through?  I've called the number from the email a few times tonight to see what they can do.   I keep getting put on hold then told they are busy and to leave a message. 

 
What do you suggest I do with 5 months left on contract?  
I'd keep calling until August. Then I'd set a cancel date. If nothing happen by the cancel date for 8/15 call them the day after saying your giving them one more shot. Don't pay any cancel fees as part of you comimg back. 

 
FiredMartz said:
It s on your billing statement.............where it says your discounts ...."  premiere channels....$ 5 discount.....( # 11 of 12 )"

That is how many months left on your contract
I have a paper bill but see nothing like what you describe.

 
BroncoFreak_2K3 said:
lol. this thread is like Groundhogs Day every 2-3 pages.
But so are their ####### phone call responses.   Its pretty clear that creating billing confusion is DTV's goal.  I love DTV picture quality (except for service interruptions when it is overcast - raining) but their marketing staff and executive management should be tortured.  

 
Last edited by a moderator:
But so are their ####### phone call responses.   Its pretty clear that creating billing confusion is DTV's goal.  I love DTV picture quality (except for service interruptions when it is overcast - raining) but their marketing staff and executive management should be tortured.  
:shrug: Actually it is "smart" business.. I spent 4 years out of contract paying full price before finding this thread letting me know there was a better way... guessing 60-75% of people never call to get better deals. 

 
:shrug: Actually it is "smart" business.. I spent 4 years out of contract paying full price before finding this thread letting me know there was a better way... guessing 60-75% of people never call to get better deals. 
Smart for them maybe, for now.   Deceitful for sure for your estimated 60-75% of their customers, which includes the elderly, disadvantaged and others that can't read the fine print of contracts and tend to take things at face value.  Example 1.  Example 2.  Hopefully more people catch on as streaming becomes more prevalent and the FCC continues to try and break up the Monopoly.   

 
:shrug: Actually it is "smart" business.. I spent 4 years out of contract paying full price before finding this thread letting me know there was a better way... guessing 60-75% of people never call to get better deals. 
Yeah, I paid full price for Sunday Ticket for about 10 years before knowing about this stuff. This covers 2000-09 for sure. It was 2010 or 2011 when I found out you could fight for deals. Since then, I haven't had ST three times because I didn't get a good enough deal. 

 
In year 2, with 10 months to go. Bill just went from 79 to 133. What's the game plan here?
call* and tell them exactly what you just said and see what promotions are available.  I got everything I wanted this year with out even having to threaten cancellation.  If nothing is available then you need to decide if you want to cancel or not.

*If you are poor on the phone, I had very good luck on the online chat this year.  Just be super polite and thankful even if getting no where on either phone or chat.  I have had some reps say nothing was available only to then change their mind when you are nice to them with them saying "well let me look one more time for you"   Some of these reps get so abused by callers that they really appreciate someone who is nice.

 
call* and tell them exactly what you just said and see what promotions are available.  I got everything I wanted this year with out even having to threaten cancellation.  If nothing is available then you need to decide if you want to cancel or not.

*If you are poor on the phone, I had very good luck on the online chat this year.  Just be super polite and thankful even if getting no where on either phone or chat.  I have had some reps say nothing was available only to then change their mind when you are nice to them with them saying "well let me look one more time for you"   Some of these reps get so abused by callers that they really appreciate someone who is nice.
Just tried the chat.  Got nowhere

 
Just got off phone with Direct

Bill went up to $ 240 due on July 15....talked to an actual American, sounded like a young black guy

He reduced bill to $ 166 for a year

Free Sunday Ticket Max

$ 200 gift card

Weird..... how since I set a cancellation date of July 16 th,,   they said my account is pending. They are shutting down service at Midnite and then restarting it in the morning when they call me....He said "  it's like your'e a new customer "
I love young black men. 

 
So the chat guy gave me a special number with a pin. Anybody go down this road?  Seems like a trap
I have seen that in this thread last year, as well as the main thread on the other site.  It can't hurt to call and tell them you got the pin from the online chat.

 
Just wondering if people read this thread or just come in here and ask the same questions over and over and over.

:loco:

 
Just wondering if people read this thread or just come in here and ask the same questions over and over and over.

:loco:
Some people don't have time to go through a 70 page thread for one piece of info ?
:goodposting: It's not like it's the same people asking the same questions... newbies to the "game" don't have an easy way to see the script...

To bad there isn't  a way to pin the script to the top of each page.

 
:goodposting: It's not like it's the same people asking the same questions... newbies to the "game" don't have an easy way to see the script...

To bad there isn't  a way to pin the script to the top of each page.
The search function is also average at best

 
Last edited by a moderator:
There's always nuances, especially with each rep claiming to see anywhere from no offers up to giving away the farm. 
Yea, at this time it seems the only "win" is to not only say you want to cancel, but if the offers are not up to snuff, set a cancel date.. even then it seems some have had to wait until the Cancel happened to get the deals to come back..

Guess I'll find out the first week of September when my current deals end :oldunsure:

 
Yea, at this time it seems the only "win" is to not only say you want to cancel, but if the offers are not up to snuff, set a cancel date.. even then it seems some have had to wait until the Cancel happened to get the deals to come back..

Guess I'll find out the first week of September when my current deals end :oldunsure:
I felt like I got a good deal when I called a few months ago. I got $50 off my bill for 12-months. No, I didn't get free Sunday Ticket, but I get to watch all the Redskins' games anyway, so that wasn't a deal breaker. I was more so looking to save money and get my bill back down to a reasonable price. If you want free ST, then sure go ahead and cancel and go through that, but if you just want to save some money, then you don't have to go through the cancellation process.

 
Yea, at this time it seems the only "win" is to not only say you want to cancel, but if the offers are not up to snuff, set a cancel date.. even then it seems some have had to wait until the Cancel happened to get the deals to come back..

Guess I'll find out the first week of September when my current deals end :oldunsure:
So...just like last year...that is to say, if you are nearly out of contract and want all the goods and don't mind cancelling (i.e., free movies for 3 months, free ST, $200 gift card).  I set a cancel date last year and before it went through, I got the email and reupped for a year and got all the goods.  This year all I did was make a phone call one night on a whim and they offered to keep me at my same rate for another year and throw in ST.  Wasn't interested in going through the cancellation route for any of the other, but I suspect, I would have gotten the movies, ST and gift card as well at the time...

Seems to me its the same thing every year, if you are nearly out of contract and/or want to go through the rigmarole of cancelling, you fair pretty well.

Sometimes people complicate it up it seems  to me.

:shrug:

 
I felt like I got a good deal when I called a few months ago. I got $50 off my bill for 12-months. No, I didn't get free Sunday Ticket, but I get to watch all the Redskins' games anyway, so that wasn't a deal breaker. I was more so looking to save money and get my bill back down to a reasonable price. If you want free ST, then sure go ahead and cancel and go through that, but if you just want to save some money, then you don't have to go through the cancellation process.
Yep, the play is the same as its always been...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
So...just like last year...that is to say, if you are nearly out of contract and want all the goods and don't mind cancelling (i.e., free movies for 3 months, free ST, $200 gift card).  I set a cancel date last year and before it went through, I got the email and reupped for a year and got all the goods.  This year all I did was make a phone call one night on a whim and they offered to keep me at my same rate for another year and throw in ST.  Wasn't interested in going through the cancellation route for any of the other, but I suspect, I would have gotten the movies, ST and gift card as well at the time...

Seems to me its the same thing every year, if you are nearly out of contract and/or want to go through the rigmarole of cancelling, you fair pretty well.

Sometimes people complicate it up it seems  to me.

:shrug:
Like I said, I will find out the first week of September.. last year I didn't have to set a cancel date.. Just said we were going to cancel and move to streaming/Antenna due to costs.. Got ST/Redzone for free, Movie channels for 3 months, and multiple discounts... 

Seems some this year are finding they need to go all the way to setting a cancel date and then wait for the emails/phone calls to get the deals..
Might be just the luck of the draw on the Rep :shrug:

 
Just called Directv. My discounts form last year are over.

Best they could do for me is 15 off every month and 20% off Sunday Ticket.

She verified that I had no early termination fee.

I set my cancel date fro Jul18th. Waiting for the emails.

 
My contract is up, so I set a cancellation date 2 weeks out with a goal of getting the $50 per month off deal and gift card (all they would offer me up front was $20 off per month). Waited one week; no email and no phone call. Called again today, and the best they could do was $30 off per month, and no gift card. Guess I may actually have to cancel to get them to offer their best deal...

 
Update == no calls or emails yet.  I am going on a 10 day vacation on Tuesday so I may wait until after then to figure out my next step.
Got back from vacation and the boxes to send everything back was waiting. 

I gave them a call in the number that was in the boxes.   Essentially, got what I wanted.   $67 a month (including taxes) for Choice (2 receivers), 3 months of movie channels, Sunday Ticket Max for free, and $200 gift card.  One year contract. 

Boxes went to recycling. 

 
I found out my contract and credits expire on the 26th.  So I'm calling on the 27th.  Best time to score imo

 
Last edited by a moderator:
My contract is up, so I set a cancellation date 2 weeks out with a goal of getting the $50 per month off deal and gift card (all they would offer me up front was $20 off per month). Waited one week; no email and no phone call. Called again today, and the best they could do was $30 off per month, and no gift card. Guess I may actually have to cancel to get them to offer their best deal...
Let the service get turned off. Then call the next morning. 

 
So DirecTV was not scheduled to turn off our service until next Friday. Wake up this morning and we are disconnected. Go figure.

So I call Retentions, and then they give me $47 off per month, free Sunday Ticket Max, free Movie channels, the $200 Gift card, and I asked and    received a $33 credit for the extra that they charged me last month. 12 month commitment. All without a fight.

Bottom line: I don't really see the point of putting your cancellation date out into the future if your contract is up. Just cancel now, then they will treat you like a new customer and you are eligible for all of the good offers. They would barely give me the time of day prior to cancelling.

Thanks to all for relaying your experiences.

 
ManOfSteelhead said:
So DirecTV was not scheduled to turn off our service until next Friday. Wake up this morning and we are disconnected. Go figure.

So I call Retentions, and then they give me $47 off per month, free Sunday Ticket Max, free Movie channels, the $200 Gift card, and I asked and    received a $33 credit for the extra that they charged me last month. 12 month commitment. All without a fight.

Bottom line: I don't really see the point of putting your cancellation date out into the future if your contract is up. Just cancel now, then they will treat you like a new customer and you are eligible for all of the good offers. They would barely give me the time of day prior to cancelling.

Thanks to all for relaying your experiences.
Yep this is the way to do it. I truly believe they are not able to offer this until you are a "new" customer. 

 
Just called Directv. My discounts form last year are over.

Best they could do for me is 15 off every month and 20% off Sunday Ticket.

She verified that I had no early termination fee.

I set my cancel date fro Jul18th. Waiting for the emails.
No emails yet. I might wait until Friday and call the number that was listed earlier.

Oh, and now they've billed me for teh first payment of Sunday Ticket too.

 
Set my cancellation date for tomorrow back on July 2nd. Got the email on July 4th. Called yesterday and the woman couldn't find any offers for me. She said she even tried to trick the system, but came up empty and couldn't figure out why since I got the email.

She told me to just disconnect and go from there. Offers will be available then. Exactly what I did last year.

 
I got the email about The Big Deal and ended up getting 37 dollars a month off plus 10 a month off for auto pay.

I had to prompt the guy but got free Sunday Ticket max

And then I had to prompt him for the 200 gift card.

Monthly bill supposed to be 79 a month for Choice + Sports Pack.

My contract had ended but I had to sign up for 12 month contract. No new hardware.

Guy said I would have to let service disconect and reconnect overnight tonight.

 
Had to call these ####s today because my free service call was charged to my bill. Got that reversed. Asked about sunday ticket. Best they could do was 9.99 off a month. F that. Ill call back

 
I got the email about The Big Deal and ended up getting 37 dollars a month off plus 10 a month off for auto pay.

I had to prompt the guy but got free Sunday Ticket max

And then I had to prompt him for the 200 gift card.

Monthly bill supposed to be 79 a month for Choice + Sports Pack.

My contract had ended but I had to sign up for 12 month contract. No new hardware.

Guy said I would have to let service disconect and reconnect overnight tonight.
I disconnected yesterday at midnight. Waited for the email, none came. Called around 4pm and thanks to this post I told her I got the email for the Big Deal. She looked around and couldn't find anything, but said I should definitely qualify because I was disconnected. Talked to her superior and he OKd me getting the same package (Choice Extra) with a credit of $37/mo for 12 months, and a $10 credit for auto-pay for 12 mos. Like you, I had to prompt her for Sunday Ticket Max, and the $200 gift card. All done in less than 15mins and only a 12 month contract!

Total bill will be $65.99 + tax. I also received a credit for $45 towards my last bill that went to $118.Kind of a hassle, but definitely worth it!

 
I disconnected yesterday at midnight. Waited for the email, none came. Called around 4pm and thanks to this post I told her I got the email for the Big Deal. She looked around and couldn't find anything, but said I should definitely qualify because I was disconnected. Talked to her superior and he OKd me getting the same package (Choice Extra) with a credit of $37/mo for 12 months, and a $10 credit for auto-pay for 12 mos. Like you, I had to prompt her for Sunday Ticket Max, and the $200 gift card. All done in less than 15mins and only a 12 month contract!

Total bill will be $65.99 + tax. I also received a credit for $45 towards my last bill that went to $118.Kind of a hassle, but definitely worth it!




 
Way to go!  My major chunk of discount is up on the 25th of this month.  I called today and the best I got was $15/mo. off and 3 months of Showtime.  I brought up the deals and she basically ignored what I said and kept launching back into her POS offer.  

My disconnect date is the 18th and boxes are on their way.  Do you think that - even though its necessary to ship stuff back at some point after disconnect, that this hard move with the boxes is some part of their plan to still play hardball as long as they can?

 
Way to go!  My major chunk of discount is up on the 25th of this month.  I called today and the best I got was $15/mo. off and 3 months of Showtime.  I brought up the deals and she basically ignored what I said and kept launching back into her POS offer.  

My disconnect date is the 18th and boxes are on their way.  Do you think that - even though its necessary to ship stuff back at some point after disconnect, that this hard move with the boxes is some part of their plan to still play hardball as long as they can?
Sure, people do that all the time, just toss the boxes.

Just wait til you're disconnected. Check email all day and if you don't get anything by 4-5pm, call and tell them what i did, that you got an email saying they want you back and something about the Big Deal. Play dumb and tell them you're not in front of your computer if she asks what the email said. I was actually at work and stepped out of a meeting to call....lol, and that's what I told her. Just roll with it. You'll get it. 

Remember to be firm and tell them you're not interested in lowering your package, that you have a deal with Time Warner that they are scheduled to install in two days, and the TV package you get from them is the same you have now and want to keep.

But you like DirecTV and want to see if they can keep you.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
DirecTv is ticking me off. After my bill went from $80ish for the last year to $130 last month to $155 this month, I called and got rid of all my premium channels, and Im going to drop down a notch in my channel package. With my Fire Stick, I can get all the NFL games (as well as movies, ANY TV show, live sports, sports PPVs, etc), so Im not even worried about the Sunday Ticket any more. I may just dump DTV for real and go with something cheaper. If they offer me a great deal to stay/come back, I will, but Im not gonna sweat it, and Im not gonna go through the song and dance this year and beg for deals.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top