I just spent 10 minutes on the phone with Verizon’s “Elite team” and lowered our Internet bill *and* increased the speed (not that we need more speed).

We have FIOS Internet, and have since we moved into our house.  In fact, one of the “requirements” for our house when we were looking was that FIOS was already in the neighborhood, or being put in (not just in the planned stages).  We started at a small 5/1 speed for $59.99 – you couldn’t do any better without bundling, and we didn’t need TV or phone, so that’s what we got.  Over the years, We made it up to $64.99 for 15M/5M – I honestly haven’t noticed the difference in speed – at most, we’re streaming *one* show/movie/music at one time, so 5 really was just fine for us (I’m also reminded of when DSL speeds were 384k/56k and we liked it – get off my lawn!)

I got the notification of my new Verizon bill, and I was being charged $72.99 – whoa! With no notice, my rate goes up, so I checked online to see what the new prices/rates/bundles were.  I could get a 3/1 for $69.99, but for $3/mth, we were going to just stay with the 15/5.  Nothing much available for us through their web page.  So, I looked over at Cox – our local cable company: they had 25/5 for 48.99/mth for 3 months, then 59.99/mth after that.  I don’t really like the cable company, but we use them for our office, and it’s been stable and we haven’t had to deal with their customer service, but hmmm..

I called Verizon and got transferred to their “Elite team”, and spoke with a nice gentleman who asked me how I’m liking the FIOS and what I’m using it for.  He did try to up sell me to a TV package, but I told him we just don’t watch TV (and anyway, our house isn’t wired for TV – I’d have to run the wiring myself – yech!).  I told him what Cox was offering, and he said “let me see what I can do for you”.  He looked through his computer and was able to offer me 20/5 for $57.99/mth for at least one year, but after that, it’d go up to whatever the current rate was at the time.  I accepted and set a reminder in my calendar to call again next January!

The whole call took me about 10 minutes, and some of that was BSing with the guy who lives in Pittsburgh about Pittsburgh (I gave him my Pittsburgh area code cell phone for a callback number).

Twice this year, I’ve been able to save money by talking to a human on the phone for about 10-15 minutes.  Have you called the services you use to ask for a better rate?