New irritating thresh hold reached

[Paddy]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Dec 4 2013, 10:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE(Paddy @ Dec 4 2013, 11:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're with Verizon, correct? Which plan do you have? I just looked on their site and they don't offer any plans without unlimited texting either, even on the "Basic phone" plans without data. You might want to renegotiate your cell contract. You don't have to wait until the end of the contract to do that - I've rearranged things several times a year it seems, for the past few years. Generally, the longer you're with a company and the more services you have with them, the better the deals. They change stuff all the time - I remember Comcast in the US telling me I should check in once every 3 months to see what the new/better deals were!!

We have Verizon's NATIONWIDE TALK SHARE 700, and it doesn't include texting. If we added texting, the cost per text has gone down to $0.20 per text from $0.40. Wow. A bargain.    If we change plans, the total cost goes up considerably. Since we also pay for a landline, we're not ready to pay more for our cell phones.

I tried to renegotiate the contract, but it was a no go. I would have been hit with a penalty, and I would have had to buy a better phone outright, so I'm stuck with the brick and this contract until next Nov.

I really need Judy, or my pal LG, to do this negotiating. LG got a great deal on her cell plan, and then turned around and got a deal on a car loan that made me drool. She's tough, and that's also why she has the great job that she has.  

Well, if you've got the TalkShare 700 plan, from what I can find online, you're paying about $70 a month - no data and no text? Or do you have some data? Your plans have gotten just as expensive as ours - in fact, I pay less with Rogers than I would with a plan from Verizon that would have the same data and texting, but LESS minutes and no features! And here I thought Canada had the most expensive plans. Hah. Guess I'll have to stop complaining! Verizon's "Share Everything Plan" for three smart phones and one tablet (like us) is $220 a month for 700 shared minutes, unlimited text and 6GB of data. Our plan, for 3 iPhones and an iPad is costing us about $180/mo for UNLIMITED nationwide calling, unlimited texting and 6 GB of data. Granted, if I just went by what Rogers has on their website, I'd be looking at $215 a month, but that's still less than Verizon and has the unlimited calling. I did negotiate hard for the discounts we have overall on our services (both house and cottage are on Rogers internet, phone, cable as well as having our cell plan with them - don't ask me about the total bill; it's horrible. )

So, given that, you may have a better deal for basic usage than you would with any of their new plans, no matter how good you are at negotiating. I AM surprised that they wouldn't negotiate with you without a penalty. Rogers will quite happily renegotiate your plan any time - no penalties unless you cancel outright. I don't know what they'd do if I wanted to drastically reduce services, but I've certainly rearranged things substantially in the past year. In some cases it results in a reset of the contract date, but that's ok - I'm not about to leave for Bell or Telus (especially Bell!!!) Are you not eligible for an upgrade on your phone any time soon?

[Highmac]

Kimmer: Is the penalty greater than the savings/improvements you could make if you switched providers now? If so it could be worth a punt at your present provider to see if they come up with something better. If they don't, then dump them and take the other deal
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On the basis of this thread, we seem to do quite well here. Today's exchange rate is $1.63 US to the GBP so I'll let you do the sums.

My "original pay-as-you-go" tariff on Virgin Mobile has no monthly charges; calls to landlines and other Virgin mobiles are 25p per minute for the first five minutes each day, then 1p per minute for the rest of the day, with a 25p minimum for each call; calls to other mobile networks are 41p per minute. Calls to some charities and helplines are free. Texts to other Virgin mobiles are 10p each, to other networks 12p; no charge for receiving. Calls between the UK and other EU countries are 24p to send and 7p to receive; 8p per text sent, but receiving is free.

Caroline's VM tariff is billed at £15.76 per month by direct debit. For that she is allowed 400 minutes of voice calls to all UK mobile and landline numbers (apart from premium numbers), 3,000 texts and 1GB mobile web (which neither of us ever uses). Her account shows she still has 163 minutes and 2,924 texts to go before the end of the billing period tomorrow.

Big surprise a few months back was a call from VM volunteering a discount on her monthly tariff. After the obvious question she was told it was a combination of being a valued long-term customer and a light user. Oh, and they don't want to lose her to the competition, which is quite fierce here. We all know which was really top of that list The bill still shows £15.76, with the healthy discount shown as a credit. Posters on help forums frequently tell folk with problems to call "retentions" or "disconnections" to say why they're thinking of leaving. Seems to get quicker results because they're usually talking to someone in THIS country

Our landline phone and fibre-optic broadband line rental bill is around £35 per month, inclusive of evening and weekend landline calls, and speeds of 75MBps down/15 up with no traffic restrictions.

Here's a useful page on negotiating a better deal - from the UK's MoneySavingExpert site. Much could probably be adapted for use in any country with more than one network.

QUOTE

There are no hard and fast negotiating rules, but a bit of chutzpah and a smile (try it, it's noticeable in your voice even on the phone) works wonders. It's a game, with huge gains on the upside and no loss on the downside.
Aim to do this around a month before your current contract ends, as then you're most realistically liable to ditch and leave. Try it earlier and you're simply met with “you've a contract and can't cancel it”.

Time to leave the  

[Xairbusdriver]

"Competition" I've heard of that! The term now seems to mean how can we make our plans so complicated that no competitor will even be able to match it, much less let a customer compare them! I still say the airlines discovered this 'scheme' and are expanding on it.

BTW, thanks for letting me borrow that 'box.'

[Highmac]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Dec 5 2013, 03:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BTW, thanks for letting me borrow that 'box.'

You've definitely got me puzzled on that one...

[kimmer]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Dec 4 2013, 09:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, if you've got the TalkShare 700 plan, from what I can find online, you're paying about $70 a month - no data and no text? Or do you have some data?

Are you not eligible for an upgrade on your phone any time soon?

Have data, and we've only hit the half-way point of usage on it when my iMac was dead last year. Phone upgrade comes with contract renewal next November.

QUOTE(Highmac @ Dec 5 2013, 01:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Kimmer: Is the penalty greater than the savings/improvements you could make if you switched providers now?

Depends on how badly I want coverage. Verizon has the area blanketed, AT&T is working on it, but not there yet.

I was reminded by a friend that I should be thankful for what I have because it was the early 1950's before they got electricity to this area, and it was into the 1970's before many homes got indoor plumbing, so to speak.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

BTW, thanks for letting me borrow that 'box.'

The one you were standing on. The one that the soap came in.

[Highmac]

[Johanbgoot]

We too have an answering machine, and we can hear who is calling. We filter our calls; just because you call does not obligate me to answer. We won't answer if we're eating so don't call during meals.  We also use caller ID and if its an "unknown" caller or an "unknown" number, we don't answer.  I've had a couple of emails from acquaintances asking why I didn't answer their call, and I replied if I can't see whose calling I don't answer. This has cut out all kinds of unwanted calls.

I too escaped from Bell Canada's arrogant monopolistic attitude when competitors became available. Bell continued to harass me to return until finally I advised them that I would file a complaint with the CRTC and with the local police.  So fellow Canucks don't hesitate to tell complain to the CRTC if your telecommunications provider is treating you poorly.

As for those Microsoft scammers, they no longer call; I used to answer and then put the call on the speaker phone and tell the Techie (sic) I was in the middle of something and then just wait, soon I would hear "hello, hello?" I would answer by saying that each time they called I would waste their time and that our Macs were all fine." I played "broken record" with them until they got the message.