[browna]

Back to Shaw, thanks to those who reminded me to call them, and, thanks to Telus for having competitve offers to push Shaw into action.

Called and put right through to loyalty (been with Shaw for 9+ years). Told them had no issue with service, but Telus would save me a bundle of money. Didn't even have to tell them the Telus offer, and he started typing away.

Ended up saving $75 a month for a year...exact same services (cable, full HD, no movies, with Extreme Internet), hand ave to switch home phone from Telus to Shaw, and told him I have a cheap plan $20+$5 CID/VM that I netgotiated with Telus. He said no worries, and came up with the overall price, and got 1 year long distance. Not sure the breakdown per month for each service, but when someone's going to save you half your bill, you take it.

After that, reverts to regular pricing, which is still $15 less then what I am paying now...but the guy was upfront and said after 6 months of paying the regular rate, call back and they'll give a reduced rate for the next 6 months...and so on. Found that interesting. Said that Shaw was trying to implement a loyalty system outgoing, so long time customers didn't have to call in (I call BS, but whatever).

Anyways, very accomodating, as Shaw has been (except for their scheduling of service calls in our case) the entire time been with them. Very easy call, pleasant CSR and no haggling. Got a time for them to come in and setup the phone and then we'll be setup. He even gave me his ID in case when the first bill came, it wasn't exactly as he said.

Edit: Forgot to say, he also threw in free HD PVR rental for 2 years. We already have one but could certainly use a second box. New Motorola boxes, out I guess just in the past few weeks. Said the Pace ones were a big issue and moving away from those. And can then purchase for $150 in a year, although he hinted the free rental would likely continue too. So, can add another $10 savings per month, so saving about $85 a month for 12 months.

So if you're a long time Shaw customer, just call and mention you've got an offer from Telus you are considering. Again, no need to threaten to cancel, or demand anything and you should get some form of tangible savings, without having to change a thing from whatever you're getting.