So I'd chalk that up as a success. Background:
- Shaw customer since 2002
- Over the years hinted/suggested/threatened to switch only a handful of times
- I have internet 150, small TV, and home phone (wife and alarm are old school and require it, but it works out to $10/month)
- My bill is currently about $155 after GST ($147 pre-GST). I occasionally can get it down to about $135 through a combination of inquiring, talking about leaving, cutting services), but it creeps back up.
- No contract. Not opposed to one, but only if the price was right as I would lose any leverage.
First lady I spoke with seemed good and was looking into prices and what she could do, and I felt that I'd get somewhere. Then (as mentioned above) internet went down. Called back, waited, and eventuality got a super nice guy named Tom. He asked some questions about out services while assuring me that he wasn't a a sales guy - just wanted to make sure we had what we needed. I told him that 150 is plenty fast, and even more so when it gets automatically upgraded to 300. He laughed and asked "you know about that already?" as he didn't think that the press release went out yet. Thanks CP.
So he did some crunching and I was expecting that he's get me down to $120 or $130. At which point I was going to bust out the Telus deal that Hockeyguy15 had posted about (
here's a direct link, by the way). He kept saying how great it was that I was a customer for so long, etc. etc. Then he came back with $97 plus GST for the exact same services that I have. So that's precisely $50 lower per month (before GST) and on par with what Telus was offering. And without the hassle of switching. The only thing that I gave up was that I got a 2-year "value plan" as they say, and although I was previously not keen on contracts, the price is definitely right. I had a contract on Internet 150 when it first launched, but Internet was the only service I was guaranteed to keep. And let's be honest, after 16 years with Shaw, all I wanted was the same sort of deals that the new customers get, instead of a small promo here and there, but the bill still creeps up. And I think that I got that today, and in two years I can see where I'm at with everything.
So thanks to all that participate in this thread, and especially the recent discussion about the current promo. I'd have settled for less of a cut, so I'm really pleased with the outcome. Thanks!