SubscribeCablevision CEO Jim Dolan may have to eat his words when he told shareholders he was done giving promotional discounts to customers bouncing back and forth between competing providers. Now Verizon has given Cablevision customers an excuse to say goodbye to the cable company for at least the next two years.
The Verizon FiOS $79.99 Triple Play promotion is back and includes a $300 Visa rebate card and free activation when ordering from Verizon’s website.
The package includes:
- FiOS TV’s “Prime HD” tier, which includes around 215 channels, 55+ in HD. (See channels);
- FiOS Basic Internet (15/5Mbps), upgradeable to 50/25Mbps for $10 more per month;
- Verizon Home Phone including unlimited calling and features including Voice Mail, Caller ID and Call Waiting;
- a 50% optional discount off HBO and Cinemax for one year.
The fine print:
- Promo rate shows up on your Verizon bill as a $35 credit during months 1-12 and a $25 credit for months 13-24. That means you will pay $79.99 for the first year, $89.99 for the second. Factoring in the $300 gift card, your rate is still under $88 a month for two years;
- Offer for new FiOS customers only. (Existing customers – see below);
- A $230 early termination fee applies to this 2-yr contract offer, with the dollar amount gradually decreasing for each month of service;
- Equipment costs, a $3.48 Regional Sports Network fee, taxes, franchise fees and other similar charges are extra.
Here are some tips for current FiOS customers:
- Current FiOS customers may be able to negotiate a very similar deal (without the gift card) by talking to Verizon’s “Elite Team,” a/k/a Customer Retentions. Call Verizon’s customer service line (1-800-837-4966) and select the option to cancel service and your call will be transferred.
- Customers off-contract will have the best results securing a new promotional deal. On-contract customers nearing the end of their agreement can suggest they are willing to pay the last few months of a pro-rated early termination fee to leave if they cannot get a better deal with Verizon.
- Let the representative know you can always cancel your existing service and take advantage of a new customer promotion under your spouse’s name, but “to save both of us time and aggravation, let’s work out a comparable deal with my existing service.”
- Verizon often has one-year customer retention deals available that do not impose any term commitments. Make sure to ask the representative about no-contract options, if not volunteered, because certain off-contract retention deals can actually cost less. It is very unlikely you will get the gift card, but you might be able to win a one time courtesy credit.
- Request a free upgrade to Verizon FiOS Quantum (50/25Mbps service) as part of a retention deal.
Earlier this year, customers told Stop the Cap! they had success securing a 12 month, no-contract retention offer that included a mid-range television package, 50/25Mbps broadband, and home phone service for $95 a month with an invitation to call back and sign up for a similar deal one year later.
Verizon’s pricing is very aggressive and beats both Cablevision and Comcast in the northeast.
Cablevision now offers a triple play bundle for $84.95 a month for one year that doesn’t include installation charges or other ancillary equipment, service, programming, taxes, and franchise fees. Cablevision isn’t offering a $300 gift card either. But the cable company does include a free Smart Router and free Optimum Online Ultra 50 for six months.
A similar two-year promotion from Comcast runs $89 a month in northern New Jersey and includes a $300 gift card and then a nasty surprise after the first year. Once a customer reaches month 13, the promotional rate increases to a whopping $109.99 for the remainder of the two-year agreement — quite an increase. The Comcast promotion also offers far fewer television channels (80+), but does bundle HBO and X1 Advanced DVR service for one year, includes 20Mbps download speeds, and Streampix free for three months. The usual extra fees also apply.
Hi There, I have been FIOS customer for more than 5-6 years in btw i did switch to optimum but I did come back due to poor service from optimum. Now my 2 year contract expired I used to pay around 95 inc of taxes and fees for 50/25, extreme HD and DVR for life package. Now they took of 25 credit which I used to get which leaves me with a price of 114.99+ taxes for next 2 years. When I called the verizon rep. She said this is a good deal and they longer offer DVR. I dont… Read more »
Retentions just dropped my no-contract monthly price from $124.99 to $89.99 (with a 2 year contract)when I told them I was going to move to twc because that’s the price they were offering for a triple play. I had to drop from Extreme TV to Prime TV to get that price, otherwise would be $99. My internet speed is 15/5. I asked if I could get the $300 gift card new customers get. They said no but they could give me a $150 one time credit. Nice! Call took about 15 minutes. Good luck!
Can you share what phone number you dialed to reach this retention department? Any particular person or extension?
Steve, regular phone number 1800verizon. Go through automated prompts until you hear “cancel service” or something like that. That should connect you with retentions.
I currently have Triple Play for $95 per month. For the renewal, they wanted $105 after $10 per month discount. I spoke to the rep in the Customer Retention department and we went back and forth on what’s available, what Comcast was offering for their Triple Play($90 per month), etc. Finally, I just said, look here’s what will make me happy. Please keep the $95 per month price for 2 years. She put me on hold and came back and said OK.
I’m happy.
I’ve been going back and forth with retention and they basically tell me that $25 a month off the regular price is the best they can do (this would mean $10 more than I am currently paying). Plus my half-price Showtime will expire in a few months and it will go up another $10 at that point. They don’t seem to give a damn about my comments that I will go back to Comcast. Is there something I’m missing?
My 2 cents for suggestions: 1) be nice to them, speak softly and courteously 2) renew at the end of the month when they have quotas to hit 3) come armed with facts on what special deals Comcast is offering for the same Fios package(double or triple play) If they’re telling you $25 a month off regular price is the best they can do, it sounds like you’re renewing for the first time. It’s well documented that the price for new customers is ridiculously low. For my first renewal, the price was $20 higher, I got them down to $15.… Read more »
Actually this is about the 3rd time I’ve renewed and it keeps getting harder to get any concession from them. The price keeps going up and I tell them that when I originally switched from Comcast, they specifically told me that when it was time to renew, I would be able to get whatever deal they were offering to new customers. They have told me again and again that that is incorrect but I keep saying that it doesn’t matter – that was what I was told and so they are bound to honor that. It frankly is not worth… Read more »
So I’ve had FIOS for close to 8 years now and always on a 2 year contract. Most recently, I had been paying $109/month for ExtremeTV+SHO, 35/35 internet and phone. My existing contract had expired last week and they were pushing me to $125/month (price was staying the same but I was losing $15/month discount) So I called 1800verizon and went through the prompts to select “Disconnect Service”. That got me right to a customer retention specialist (I even asked to confirm that’s who I was speaking with). I simply said that I was trying to decide whether to sign… Read more »
My initial two-year contract ended recently and I was looking for ways to save money with the price jump. My bill use to be, including taxes and what-not, about $140 per month (triple play new customer deal, plus some added phone features, plus faster 50/20 internet). It jumped to $183 per month, so I needed to get that cost down. I followed the advice in the article above… I was very pleasant and so was the “retention expert”. I barely had to say much of anything other than “I’m looking to get closer to the deal I original had, but… Read more »
Just got off 2 phone calls with Verizon after seeing this site. We have the triple play and are out of contract paying 162.99 a month which includes $20 a month credit for multi room DVR. 1st “regular” person I spoke to offered me $5 off the monthly bill. Big whoop. When I asked about downgrading service (which I didnt really want to do) he said I’d save $15 a month but I’d lose a ton of channels. Most I didnt care about but I still wanted Cinemax and Starz, which I would lose. Again, $15 off a month didn’t… Read more »
I didn’t do this on purpose but it worked: Comcast came to my door – I usually politely listen but say no thanks. But I listen to see what they might have in the future. They offered me a great deal to change from Verizon – even giving me some $ towards my early termination fee. I agreed and signed. I sat on it a couple days and then called Verizon. I pressed the option of cancelling my entire service and then described that I had a deal from Comcast and asked if they could match it. Because I had… Read more »
Such a pain to get a better deal. But better than when Cable was a Monopoly and there were no other choices.
I am in the middle of a 2 year deal with FIOS right now that is not so great when compared to the current Deal going on.
So my deal, which used to be $125/mo. seems to have crept up and up and up. Now I’m paying $240 a month after fees for two tv’s, basic DVR, and the ability to have Disney Junior/XD and BBC America (only available on the highest two tiers of channels) as well as HBO – which are the only three channels we watch. I don’t even watch that much TV any more! Charter came by my house, as did DirecTV. Both of them get me back down to $125 a month, AFTER taxes, for EVERYTHING. The best that anyone at Verizon… Read more »