MarloElaine

How a 9 minute phone call will save us over $400 this year!

Since we are a single income household, I try to find ways to save money. As the cliche goes: a penny saved is a penny earned.

After reviewing my Comcast bill a few weeks ago, I realized I was paying roughly $100 a month on my combined cable and high speed internet service. Luckily, I encountered this blog entry. Jonathan of MyMoneyBlog writes about how he was able to save $105 on his Comcast bill.

I decided to give it a try and was able to haggle for much more savings.

Here’s a rough transcript of my conversation with the Comcast retention specialist:

Me: Hello, I just received my Comcast bill today and realized I am paying too much for my Cable TV and High Speed internet. I am seriously considering switching my service to AT&T Yahoo DSL at $14.99/month.

Comcast: Can you verify your account information? [taps on keyboard] OK, we’d like to keep you as a customer. We can’t match the DSL offer but we can provide you High Speed Internet for $19.99/month for six months.

Me: What about my cable service?

Comcast: For TV, we can provide that service at $29.99/month for a year.

Me: Is that the best you can do?

Comcast: Please call us back after six months and check in with us.

Me: When will this new rate be effective?

Comcast: Today. Since we bill out a month in advance, we will credit your account. We will be owing you money.

Me: [With a fat grin on my face] Thank you.

I made sure to talk someone in account cancellations so I did not have to waste time going through the automated prompts. If you have Comcast service, give it a try. It might save you some money on your monthly bill.