Got my FiOS renewal, after some bait & switch pricing, they tried to jack my rates up over 10%.
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Two years ago, I just renewed, paying for the full suite, which jumped the up bill $10, from $207/mo to $217 after taxes, even with a $10 Verizon cell phone discount. Then, three weeks into my 2-year contract, they notified me that Cinemax was going ala carte and if I still wanted it, I would have to pay an additional $10/month. I cancelled Cinemax. Effectively, they were trying to increase my monthly fees, but I said no. The rep was surprised I cut it loose.
Unfortunately, to get HBO, you need a better package plan and they use that as leverage. We don't have any ala carte options, other than a few premiere channel packages.
Now, Gigabit service and 3-way calling are required by me, as I often work from home long hours, so those were not negotiable.
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Well, this year, I go on-line to renew my 2-year plan and I am initially told I will get $80 in savings, bringing down my base Ultimate package to $139.99, just like last year, but that Starz/EPIX are now rolled into the base plan, so I would save $10 a month compared to last year's plan... keeping everything else the same. So, the total before their $12 desktop box and $12 DVR service and taxes was $179.99/month, instead of the $189.99 I'm paying now. This includes was including $10/month paperless and auto-billing discount that I didn't have before, so it looked like I was saving just a little bit--my bill should be back to the older $207/month rate again (which still includes a Verizon cell phone discount of $10).
I clicked the Checkout button, and I was presented with a monthly estimate pennies below $240/month. What? I'm not paying $3K a year for TV, Internet and Phone. I contacted the support people and they said that while I was initially offered those lower rates, the system bills me based off of my current billing structure, and that the $240 amount didn't include the $10 paperless billing discount, which I didn't have before. That should drop it to $230/month--still without Cinemax. In the bill, there was also forced a $9/month Local Sports fee. I said I didn't want it, but the rep said it was more of a forced tax that everyone pays.
So, I went next level. I cut my TV plan from my package, keeping just Gigabit Internet and Phone. With the paperless billing and cell phone discounts, the total bill, after taxes is now just $91/month--almost $140/month in savings. HBO Now is just $14/month and we already have Netflix for the kids. The TV is probably used two hours a day at most for cable channel viewing.
Cutting TV saves me almost $1,700 a year, or $3,400 over the two-year contract span.
If I get HBO Now, that would cost just $336 back over those two years.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I always feel like I'm on defense when I'm talking to a rep to set up service, or change my service. I don't like doing it online either, because I feel like the reps have some leeway to let me know about deals that won't show up online. 
