Thumbs up.

I honestly wouldn't have cable service period if they didn't offer a decent rate when you ask. I simply don't want to afford the $100+ non-promo rates they offer. It's not worth it to me.

If my company decides they're done letting me use a low rate, then I'll switch to AT&T Fiberoptic service for internet only and get my TV fix via Hulu.

i called comcast to try and lower my bill and the guy i talked to told me i couldn't do that. i then told him that it was foolish and compared how cheap i could get fios compared to comcast. they guy then spent a good 10 minutes going on about how much better comcast is than verizon and that he can't price match. as soon as i got off the phone with him i emailed comcast cares and explained what happened. the next day i was contacted by comcast executive support and they lowered my bill no problem.

This doesn't work with Rogers in Ontario.

I tried. They were jerks about it - up to the managerial level.

Now I don't have cable and I'm happily rediscovering real life (and commercial-free seasons of my favourite shows on DVD.)

Before FiOS moved into the are, and my house, I did this with Comcast. Sure, they didn't give me much hassle in lowering my bill, but a few months later the rates started going back up. Keep an eye on your bill, this discounted rate is no doubt for a limited time only.

@HFC: Before FiOS moved into the area...

Ok, to start, 160/month is their standard rate, so obviously he wasn't on a promo or anything. The way he talks about it, it seems that he hasn't been for quite awhile. The problem here lies in that even $100 a month is still about $30 over what their "new subscriber" rate is.

I was in the same situation, my 12 mo. promo ran out, I didn't want to pay $160/mo. for the same thing. When I called, I was told that they couldn't do anything about lowering my bill until I had paid a non-lowered rate for 4 months. Even then, they would only lower it to $105/mo if I canceled all premium channels.

I'm lucky that there are competing cable companies in the area because now I am with a different company with equal or superior service to ComCast, and am back down to paying $50 for 3 months, and then only $75 for the remaining 9 months of service.

When its up, I'll probably flip again for a reduced promo rate.

I did the same. I was paying $67 after a 6 month promotional rate of $35, for basic cable. I called, went through three people, then was offered a 12 month contract for $45, with about 100 more channels and a year of free DVR. No problems, no attitude.

I did the same and got nothing. I've had the same acct for 10 years...

I did the same on Saturday, actually! It works the best if you go directly to a Cancellation Specialist.

I informed them I was receiving offers from DirecTV for $39.95/month and was happy with my service (which I actually am, never any real problems). I added that times were tough and I need to save the cash (currently paying $72.70 for the cable and $5 for Showtime, another rate I had negotiated on a prior call.

He told me they did not price match, but I reminded him that I received the $39.95 rate when I signed up a year ago.

He came back with $44.95/mo for 6 mos. with same Showtime rate and then it returns to the current $72.70 but Showtime goes back to $15/month.

Over the course of a year- $153 and some change, I believe!

I have no idea why anyone would want to pay for any cable or DirectTV service. Unless you want to only watch some of the rare channels there is no reason to even pay for them.

I have DSL service through AT&T and Netflix(which I only turn on about 3 times a year) to watch movies. I only go to see maybe 5 movies a year, the ones that I deem 'Need a big screen to watch'.

Otherwise I watch everything at home via the internet or Netflix. I have gone from paying +100$ for cable and another +50$ in tickets on top of my 50$ internet bill. To paying about 65$ on average a month total. A savings of over 1600$ a year for the past three years!

My experience wasn't painless, but a tweet about how Comcast sucks got me in touch with Comcast Cares and now my cable bill is lower.

I actually just did the same thing about a week ago. I called them because my promo was up and my bill jumped from 80-something to 160.

The woman said, "And you don't think you can afford $160 a month?"

To which I replied, "No, we're just college kids here, and we'd have to cancel at that rate."

She said. "Well, we don't want that to happen, let me see what we can do for you." She put me on hold for about two minutes to "talk with her manager" and then came back on and my rate was lowered back to $80 a month. I got to keep all of my HD and extra channels and everything.

They even re-printed my bill and retroactively lowered my last month's rate to $80.

To be honest, I've never had anything but good experiences with Comcast's CS.

Their techs on the other hand . . . oh God. Tar on my white carpet, three hours late, rude, clueless . . . you name it.

We did this. My husband called and said he wanted to cancel the phone service because it was too expensive (he was telling the truth; we were willing to switch). The rep knocked $50/month off our TriplePlay bill for a year.

My 12-month rate of $111 for cable, HBO/Starz, and internet ended this month. My new rate became $167.

I just called, and worked it down to $120 for the next 6 months, and then to the standard rate of $128. I gave up HBO and Starz, though (good riddance).

So I'm not sure what my next move is, but $120 - $55 = $65 for standard cable is still too much. It might be time to check out FIOS or DirecTV.

Friggin DitrectTV. I've tried this 3 times with them now that my contract is almost up, and they said that even once my contract is up they won't lower my bill even if I resign for another 2 years.

Starting to think about just going without.

My bill with Cox was $198, it originally was 161, but then my 2 free Premium channels offer expired and they raised the rates. I called and said can they give me a discount, all they would do was $10. So I said I was going to start canceling stuff. I went into the office and told them to cancel my 2 cable boxes, dvr service all my Premium channels and my phone line. They didn't even try to keep me. They said ok, now my bill is $85 a month. But having no cable boxes sorta stink. I woulda thought they would at least try to keep me happy.

@BadHairLife:

You have to hardball them. I've had two discounts from Ontario Rogers.

First one happened after I switched to Look. Look, no surprise, screwed things up royally, so I phoned Rogers back after no TV for two weeks. Told Rogers I switched because Look's full package was $50/month and Rogers was twice that. He discounted service by about $10 a month for me for a while.

I called last year for a discount--no dice, but I did get movies free for three months.

This year, they decided to up prices again. I called and told Rogers it's ridiculous to up prices while we have an economic recession and that I need to step down a tier to keep costs under control. They did that. I then asked what tier is below that one--they told me just basic cable and then that's it.

So, I explained, Rogers has two more price increases to go to lose me as a customer, so I guess that's one or two more years of service and I'll be looking at Look again (They weren't bust then).

Cx got a "manager" on the phone (I expect a retention rep) and, bam, 15% discount if I kept the tier I was on at the start of the call for a year. The discount was actually more than the price increase, so I accepted.

Just phone and hardball them. Explain that their prices are keeping you from giving them more money. Lower your service. Quit and come back if you have to. It's just the way Rogers does business.

I got my bill reduced to $0 by installing a decent antenna.

I was able to reduce my cable from 65 per month basic digital cable with HD to 45 per month for a year, 100 more channels, HBO, free HD DVR and no longer paying the $8 a month box rental.

One thing you should do is they will also give a rate for the 2nd year for $10 more a month. Not a huge drop but I wasn't going to change to the dish because I would not have the much superior Internet (No FIOS in my area in the foreseeable future).

I have no competition in my area. Comcast laughed at my request to cancel, even after I canceled.

I called Comcast a week ago to complain about my cable bill. They lowered it from a little over $80 to $59/month for the next 6 months.

Maybe your success with doing this depends on who you talk to. I didn't threaten to disconnect, just asked why my bill is so high.

My bill was also $160. My package was internet, phone (which we never used) and cable with the basic hd package which included about 130 channels we never watch. We only had the phone in the package because it dropped the monthly bill by $10 so we figured we might as well even if we never plugged a phone in.

Anyways we were going to cancel everything but Internet since we can get the few shows we really watch either free online or via Xbox Live and or Netflix instant view over Xbox Live.

We called them up saying we needed to lower our bill because it was too expensive and they gave us options to lower our internet speed and remove the HD package. I said I needed to think about it and would call back tomorrow. The Women on the phone said she would note the account that I was calling back and why to expedite the process.

The next day I called back and said since we only watch a few of the HD channels I saw no reason to pay such a high fee and get none of the HD channels so I was going to be quiting. My call was sent to retention and after about 5 min of talking and explaining what the deal was Comcast offered the following...

They would boost me up to 16mbps from 12 mbps, they would get rid of the stupid phone, they would let me keep all my channels that I currently had and they would also add in free HBO (all of them) and they would lower my bill to $99 a month and it would not go up for 2 years. I agreed and they filled out a "contract".

The contract states I cannot quit Comcast for 2 years but in that 2 years my price will never go up but its possible it could go down. My internet speed will never go down but its possible it will go up and I will not lose any channels but its possible I may get more. If I quit before the 2 years is up I have to pay a $200 ETF unless I quit because im moving.

All in all I was really damn happy with how it turned out. Oh I also got to keep my HD DVR. NICE!

@takes_so_little: even the worlds best antenna isnt as good as the the cheapest Comcast package but as long as you have internet I could live with that.

@TakingItSeriously: When the contract is up pay 1 month at the higher rate that call and cancel. They will put you through to retentions and chances are pretty high they will set you back to your former rate or lower. Just tell them you can afford it and the cable company in your area is offering to match what you had before plus some extras.

I was just notified that DVR prices for Comcast are going up 2 bucks. Also, billing for additional outlets is a crock.

We call comcast every six months or so (whenever our current deal is about to run out), and tell them that the normal rate is too expensive and we want to cancel. They always extend our current deal.

i just recently called time warner about getting their faster internet connection. when they said it would cost $59.95 per month, i said "nah. i thought it would be around $40" and then they offered to do a bundle, but i don't need cable and only have internet service. after i explained that, i was placed on hold for a minute. the CS rep came back on and told me he's giving it to me for $40 per month. so i guess all you need to do is call. it certainly can't hurt.

@shepd: They lost me as a customer three months ago. Maybe when the summer reruns are over, I'll give them a call and try what you suggest!

Thanks for the tips.

This can work well, just remember to keep your cool, and try someone else if you run into a jerk or two.
I did the cancel Comcast game, called, was polite, said it was too expensive, was planning to cancel... Got one that would not play so I called back. Got someone who would work with me and just as we were ready to seal the deal the call dropped!
I tried calling back but now every person refused to deal, would not transfer me to retention. So in frustration I canceled and then signed up directv (yeah, I know)
Before the directv was installed and I could have canceled, I did get a call from Comcast retention, but was too PO'd at them to even consider their offers.

my wife did this last week with time warner, we can afford our current bill but just didnt want to pay as much so we called them up and told them we where shopping around for a new provider (there are none in our area, twc has a monopoly!).

so my wife calls and gets greeted by a rep that is in mid-conversation and calls her "sir"....apparently he had a dropped call and picked her up while the phone was on hold...very funny. the rep then starts going off about how mean that last customer was and that he's glad he got someone else...how professional!

so my wife starts in telling him she wants to lower the bill, he ask "how much?" and she say $75, down from $140 we're paying now. he puts her on hold and says he can do $90. she blatantly says NO, just no (I was cracking up) and he goes back on hold then comes back with a new price $75!

From what I have heard they clear their database of these type of calls every three months so after this 3 month promotional type price we'll be calling again...the call took about 5 minutes (much quicker then technical support which can last hours/days!)

@parad0x360:
Whattya mean, "Better?"

You gotta ask yourself: How much damn TV do I need to watch, anyway? My answer was "Not a whole lot." Now I have 20 or so channels, only 3 or 4 of which I ever watch.

Why would it be "better" to have, say 50 more channels I don't watch?

@takes_so_little: Damn, wish I could edit, the word "better" isn't really stated in your comment, only implied, I apologize for misquoting you.

I have WOW (Wide Open West) and I've been doing this for years. I'll call them about once a year saying my bill is too high and that I want to cancel some services. They have always worked with me by cutting prices or giving me credits.

Watch, now I just jinxed myself.

We just did this a couple weeks ago. We called and asked "Why is our bill $xx?" And they pretty much immediately responded with "We can lower it to $yy." Good stuff!

I called Comcast directly for new service and customer service representative was able to give me a better rate than their web site quoted.

Again, not always true. I pay full price ($42.95 for high speed Internet + required $11.95 for cable I don't even use) for over a year. Called them, no dice. Went all the way to cancel (to switch to DSL), they said go right on ahead. Found out DSL wasn't available in my area. Went back and used Executive Support and Twitter and the response was "That's the best price we offer". Thanks for nothing, Comcast.

I tried to get my bill lowered today and the rep. tried to convince me I had a "great" deal already. Wouldn't budge on my current rate.

A friend tried this last week and he is now saving $30 a month. Times are tough, he just told them he just got a pay cut and could not afford digital cable. They were able to work him down to an amount that worked for his family. I'm next!

I pointed out to my mom how DirecTV upped the normal price of her package from what it was when she signed up 2 years ago. That price is now the promotional price for signing up. She called and mentioned the rate increase is too much for her limited income and is it possible to get the promotional rate as that was the standard rate when she joined. No dice! I think they offered a pithy $5 reduction. Uverse just got to the area and are sending all sorts of offers. Maybe she can use those as leverage against DirecTV.

@mrm514: Basic cable? Thats $18/month and 25 channels.

I wonder if this could work for cell phones? Usually though they just want to give you a new handset and for most people that probably works. But I'd rather have a further discounted bill.

@Saltillopunk:
the $5 off is likely the att / direct discount any ways direct tv is still better then comcast near me that makes me get digital classic that is just about the same price as Direct tv HD DVR. Then with comcarp you have to add the sports pack to get channels that THEY have in other areas in lower levels like digital stater / analog cable. Also the HD DVR is $15 more.

Direct tv wants $5 to add a box comcast $6-7 per HD box and $15 - $20 per HD DVR.

@DashTheHand: I usually get the cheapest service, such as the unadvertised limited basic analog cable from Comcast ($16/month). I also use T-Mobile's $10 home phone service, and I used to use the standard $45/month Comcast internet.

Every 6 months I would call Comcast and say I was going to switch to a cheaper ISP, and they would put me on the 6 month promo deal ($25/month). I really planned on switching, so I wasn't lying about it. That worked 3 out of the 5 times I tried it. The last time I tried, it didn't work, but they did tell me about the unadvertised $25/month for 1Mbps internet service. They also tried to talk me out of it, saying it would be too slow for online video. We went with it anyway, and we still watch shows on Netflix and Hulu all the time. The video quality is lower than it was, but it's still not terrible. But then again, that's the kind of low-class, non-HD guy I am.

@wcnghj: No, you're thinking of limited basic cable. Comcast doesn't advertise the limited basic, but they'll give it to you if you ask for it. The regular basic analog is the same price as the lowest-tier digital package.

@mrm514: I had a limited Basic along with 6Mbps internet that jumped to $60 after a promo ended (was $35) ive been wanting to drop my TV as i just waste time watching useless stuff (when mythbusters isnt on that is) and i have netflix, but doing that would end the discount on the Internet im getting for having tv so in the end i would only save about $4. When asked if there was anything they could do to lower the bill the guy without hesitation gave me $8 off my internet for 12 months not as much as i was hoping for but still better than $4.

The issue with Comcast could be related to old package codes due to recent acquisition of your cable company by Comcast.

I recently had major issues with blank channels I should have been receiving. No one at any call center could fix the issue.

One email to we_can_help@cable.comcast.com and I had 3 high level technicians working on the problem for 3 days until they could resolve the issue.

They determined that some old package codes were messing up the lineup in my Tivo 3 HD cable-card based system. They changed the codes and this resolved the issue and as a bonus this lowered my bill about $30 per month.

Some of the package codes were migrated from my former cable provider (Adelphia - yea, ugh). The new codes included all the same channels but were cheaper.

Anyone that has had their cable system sold to another provider should contact the customer service and have the package codes reviewed.

(As a bonus they gave me additional channels free for a year and 2 months credit on my bill - the entire month's bill and not just for the missing channels).

I'd encourage any Comcast folks with trouble to contact that email address or Twitter "ComcastCares" to get some real action.

@DashTheHand: Exactly. Comcast's price lowering scheme involves giving you a promotional discount for x months, provided you've paid the regular price for your services for at least 90 days. They know their service is hideously overpriced, and this is just a trick to make you think they care and you're saving, but overall, you're still going to pay too much.

Given their lack of service and signal, if you're paying anything for Comcast, you're paying too much.

Or just tell them you are going to discontinue their service or move to their lowest cost product. Either has worked in my case. I'm now on my 2nd round of 1/2 priced full band internet access. Each round = 6 months. Not bad!