How I reduced Comcasts +37% price increase to +8.7% – Simple phone call.

Periodically, I end up ranting about Comcast particularly since moving last year. My connections have been up and down. I don’t get the Xfinity Performance 12mbs+ or anywhere near it. And today 12 months after moving I got my “REVISED” bill.

Last month my bill with Comcast totaled $83.62. That’s for the internet and a Digital Starter Package for TV. This month my bill came in total 114.64! No change in service. Just that the 12 month deal they gave me a year ago expired. NOTE. They did not highlight this. I did not get a letter of explanation. Luckily I’m not on ebills or electronic payments. I’ve used Comcast since 1999 for TV and Internet. They wrote me a new contract when I moved.

So I called up Comcast. Got a really nice guy to talk to after a few clicks for once. He handles “downgrades”. I simply wanted my “old” price plan back. Don’t know about you I just don’t think money grows on trees. So first he talked about a lower level tv plan – less features and channels that would drop my price of TV from 61.99 exc taxes to 29.99. He read out a list of channels. Frankly I wouldn’t miss much had I gone ahead with this option. Fact is I would be paying the same as now for less TV. Might have annoyed my family.

Then he gave me another option. He said I could sustain my Digital starter package and keep my Internet for the total of 86.99 before Taxes. This is the option I finally agreed to. Thus he cut the price on both programs. And there is apparently no contract extension with it.

So my bill monthly goes from 83.62 to 90.86 which is better than 114.64. So in almost deflationary times Comcast stiffs me for an 8.7% price increase. Or I could cut my service levels and get a bill more like the previous one. Apparently this is how they treat their “valuable” customers with whom they want to maintain a relationship.

So how does Comcast manage to keep me as a customer. Simple. If I drop the TV the my internet jumps from 42.95 to 57.95. In both cases there’s an additional Modem lease of $5. Yes AT&T has a promo out there… much cheaper and slower.

Which means DirectTV’s offer of 29.99 with all sorts of freebies isn’t good enough to get me through the door. Because it will cost me the same or more, or mean I have to choose another internet provider (AT&T not an option/.

What’s the bigger lesson here? If you are on a contract and it expires and the price goes up. Call Comcast. Don’t bother looking on their website, don’t bother looking at your account there and hoping it will tell you how to save money. The info isn’t there. Instead your dollars are being spent on expensive calls with customer service reps who even tell you that I won’t find the prices he quoted me on the site. They are offers for him only to share.

This business practice approach is “dirty business”. It is not designed to build a relationship. My Comcast rep today can love me to death with the thank you’s for your business. The site and the reps are designed to sell you into bigger packages which will jump in price after some period. I bet a huge percentage of people never call. That roll over is just pure profit.

Effectively a small threat to leave and I get a lower cost. I would have been happier with a 3.4% price increase with some letter to me in the first place. That’s called transparent and personal. Unfortunately, this is the broader business model. Low starter contracts and prices. Then hit us with increases.

I suspect that anyone who calls Comcast with a “downgrade” or I’m leaving call who’s come off contract can get a price reduction quickly.

Tagged as: comcast, communications, complaints, contracts, internet, service