This year was indeed a little different. Last year after my account was 'scheduled for cancellation' but before actual cancellation, I got a call from an 'account manager' who gave me the deal I wanted, and told me to call her back again this year to have the same conversation.
When I called this year, she was of course gone but there was a different account manager, who told me her system wasn't showing any decent offers and stopped short of saying I had to schedule my account for cancellation (I think it's against their policy to say that, obviously). So I called the regular number to cancel my service, and while I was at it, talked to the retentions guy to see what he could offer. As he could only offer something minimal, like $20 off per month for 12 months, I said to just schedule the cancellation.
I was expecting someone would call me to try and get me to stay, but my cancellation date came and went. Possibly because of Labor Day, perhaps. Then I called my new 'account manager' to see what she could do and I got the following (with a 12 month contract) --
- $37 'rebate' for 12 months
- $10 off per month for 12 months, due to Autobillpay (and another 12, if I stay next year too)
- $200 visa gift card
- HBO+Showtime+Starz free for 3 months
- Sunday ticket max free
Seems to be similar to the deals others have been getting in this thread.