It's that time of the year for me. Both my cable and cell phone agreements are ready to expire. Right now I am with Xfinity for cable and internet and AT&T for my cell phone. Originally with both providers I got a great "introductory" rate for service. Since I have had both for a few years the costs have been creeping up annually. Even though I call before my agreement is done and negotiate the best deal I can get it is still not as good as the "introductory" rates.
Why is that? I'm sure it has to do with how they measure their success to stock holders (New Customers). I don't understand why they don't value me as an existing customer as much as a new customer. I pay my bill on time, I like their service and recommend it to my friends. I really don't want to change.
Yet I am getting lots of mail from U-verse(AT&T) and DirectTV to switch right now with great offers. I just don't get it why Xfinity does not want to match these offers to keep me as a customer. I have a friend who will take her Xfinity equipment in and cancel her service at the end of an agreement. Then she will call a few days later and sign up for service again with Xfinity. BAM! New Customer. She gets the introductory rate again!
I don't blame her for doing that because she is trying to keep costs down for her technology. Yet why should any customer have to go through that to get a better price for internet, cable or cell phone services?
Right now I'm not sure what I will do. I hate change. Yet I would really like to keep my costs for cable, internet and cell phones reasonable. So I will try negotiating for something better than what I have now. If that does not work then I will call one of the other companies which are bombarding me with mail and email about the great deals they have.
Maybe someone needs to start a cable, internet and phone provider that rewards its current customers, who pay their bills on time, with great rates. What a concept!
