Tired of Paying For DIRECTV? Bryn Just Saved $600 w/ 5-Minute Phone Call
Are you a DIRECTV customer? If you have been considering cutting the satellite and ditching the service, this is a must-read!
(Written by Bryn, Collin’s sister who had to share this awesome tip!)
Rumor has it that DIRECTV is running an insane promotion right now for existing customers who are debating whether to get rid of the satellite service. My husband and I constantly ask ourselves whether our monthly DIRECTV bill is worth the expense and ponder the decision to just go to a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu.
BUT, since we still have DIRECTV, I decided to give them a call! And that call just saved me $600!
If you have been considering canceling your service too, this may be an alternative! Simply dial DIRECTV customer service at 1-800-531-5000 and state “cancel service” when you get to the menu options. When asked, be sure to state that you are not moving (unless of course you are in the middle of a move!) and your call will then be routed directly to the customer retention/loyalty department.
You will then need to share with the customer service representative that you are wanting to reduce your monthly bill and are looking for any special offers that may be available for your account. Within a few minutes, the representative will let you know if your account qualifies for additional savings.
But then after those 12 months are over what’s your price going to be? I’d rather cancel my subscription and go with a streaming service
Good point but the woman in customer service said to just call again at the end of the promotion period and they would see what new promotions they have available at that time. Maybe a little inconvenient but for a 5-10 minute phone call once a year I think it’s worth the savings.
If they follow through. I was told I would get this discount 3 months ago. Calling back month after month and being told by each customer retention person they have taken care of it turned out to be false. The last person I spoke to said they saw in the notes that I was told would get the discount, but they couldn’t give it to me because it wasn’t offered in the system.
This happened to me too! Every month I was promised a change and discounted price but it never happened. Their customer service is so poor. Highly considering cutting it all off once my contract is up 🙁
What exactly is the promotion?
MY husband does this every single year since we have signed up and they always give him the discount.
I wonder if DISH does anything like this?!
I’ve had dish give us a $15 credit a month for 10 months. Worth a call. Idk if you’ll get $50 depends on how big your monthly bill is?
Almost all service companies would rather have u as a customer and take money from u instead of letting u go…
Just recieve our bill and from 149 and some cents to 154 and some cents..????we have comcast by the way…!anyone have the same issue??
Comcast/Xfinity is insane! I let them go months ago. After my promotion was up my rate was $160! No ma’am, not gonna happen. I talked it over with my husband since he’s a sports watcher and we decided to try out Direct TV Now. It is such a blessing. We choose the basic package( 60 channels and includes ESPN & ESPN 2) for $38 a month- includes tax. They also sent us a FREE Amazon firestick!! My Internet service is with Centurylink and I received an awesome rate of $33.00 per month.
We’ve recently gone with DirectTV Now & love it. Cant believe the picture quality! Much better picture quality and consistent streaming than we had with Hulu. Very happy cord cutters!
I have Comcast too and we’re paying $166 or more every month for cable and internet. Not even unlimited data. 😓
We have Comcast/Xfinity and we’re paying $165 or more every month for internet and cable. Not even unlimited data or premium channels 😓
We have Comcast/Xfinity for cable and internet and we’re paying $165 or more every month. Is not even unlimited data or premium channels. Doesn’t have any choice coz Xfinity is the only provider in our area that has fast internet. 😕
Sorry for multiple post..my app just keep loading and loading and won’t let me post then after my last attempt saw all my comment..lol
Our bill with Comcast/Xfinity is $139 after taxes/fees, no promotion or contract, 200+channels, free Starz and encore, DVR and voice remote, with 150mbps internet service. But we have 3 phone lines with Xfinity mobile and the highest bill in 6 months is $24.50 total for all 3 after taxes and fees. From Verizon $144 mo for only 2 lines with corporate discount. That savings almost pays for my cable/internet bill. I did get a letter that in January all Xfinity customers will get at least a $5 increase in billing. I negotiated my price about 3 years ago after cancelling all service, but had to go to the store because couldn’t negotiate a good deal over the phone.
Wow that’s crazy! We have Comcast and ours is 145 a month with premium channels and internet. We don’t have a data limit either?
I’m in exact same boat as Sarah! 😬😬😬 no other internet options and data is limited
How many channels do you all have? We have Comcast and pay $230 a month. I’m ready to scream!!!! 220 channels and I barely watch since I’m at work all the time so I can pay for this junk. Ugh
Wow did that to us and the bill kept creeping up. We would call and they would slightly lower it. Comcast was worse. The last time we called them the customer service rep hung up on us after telling us that he could not lower our bill. We have att and they have lowered our bill once and just today we got a free upgrade for our internet.
Yes to Comcast increasing bills. Comcast just took over Time Warner which we were with. My bill jumped $20 in one month!
I had always been able to negotiate with Time Warner. Comcast’s rep asked if I would like her to disconnect my service that day. What?! Comcast does not lower bills. They will go up dramatically every year. The CEO said he did not care if they lost customers as long as the profit increased (by raising bills).
Comcast is terrible about that. I talked to a Comcast agent and she said they do that to “ease” customers into the increased prices at the end of a promotional period. Sure…..
It works I got $60 off my bill for 12 months without having to sign a new contract..
Me too! I called last week and got $60 off for 12 months, last year I got $50 off per month for the year. I’ve called the last 2 years whenever my bill goes up because promo ends, I call retention area and they give me promotions I am eligible for. Worth a call to see if you have any promotions you’re eligible for.
Awesome! 🙂
I’m definitely going to call! Pay close attention though, the last time I called all they did was lower my package (without my permission) to make me think I was getting a deal. Took me awhile to realize I was missing channels!! I was livid, totally unethical in my opinion. Just be sure this isn’t what they are doing to you, specifically ask that this lower price is for the same package!
Completely canceled cable recently and just use the HD “rabbit ears” and stream Netflix and use the fire stick. It’s over a $110 a month savings. I only pay for internet now. That’s $1320 of savings I don’t regret! My 4 year old watches the kids pbs station and rent kids shows from the library. Also Netflix offers so many great show and movies that is enough to keep us satisfies without the expensive cable bill.
We just did this too! It was a little scary after having DirecTV for 12 years but we hooked up an outdoor antenna to where our dish used to be (using existing coax cable DirecTV installed-watched YouTube video) and we pick up a lot of free channels. We have Netflix, Hulu, & Sling and are still saving $62/month. And we are not tech savvy at all 😬
If you still have cable you are just throwing your money away. We have netflix and for current shows, we watch them on whatever network’s app
And how do you watch your shows on the network apps? Network apps require a cable login. So you must be using someone else’s login
The cable company is also the internet company so I use my own login info
That’s not how that works but ok. If you say so. You can’t just log in to a network app because you have internet. You actually have to have that station in your cable package and they authicate with your subscriber but whatever
I agree. You have to have a subscription for the network apps especially the kids channel.
Most of the network apps offer shows free. But, Hulu has pretty much every current episode of everything so definitely worth it! We cut the cord 4 years ago and just do Netflix, Hulu and amazon. Has saved us close to $7000 by my calculations. HAVEN’T MISSED SATELLITE AT ALL!!
But if you want to make sure you get every football game, you can’t just have Hulu or a fire stick. Not having all SEC football games is just not an option in our household!
Brittany – we have the same situation here. However, I’ve found that Playstation Vue plus internet was cheaper than cable (streaming from my firestick) and has all the SEC networks we need.
This doesn’t work if you have a sports junkie in your home. We both went to Ohio State and are huge fans of football and basketball. There isn’t a legal way to get all of the cable channels you would need in order to watch all, or even most, of the games. Nfl is the only thing it would work for most games, but still not all. You would need multiple different paid streaming or use someone else’s account.
Checkout Fubo TV, it is a live streaming service targeted more toward sports junkies.
Also doesn’t work if you don’t have internet. We can’t get good internet (or it’s super expensive) so dish network is what we have. Pay $89/month but we don’t have an internet bill.
I have an avid sports watcher too and we just canceled directv and got sling. They have a sports pack with most everything. Check it out.
I researched all the streaming options as I am married to a sports junkie as well (hesitant to say he’s a huge Michigan fan though 😏) and decided to go with hulu TV for $40/mo. We get all the sports channels including big ten network with DVR service as well. He didn’t miss one game this season! Might be worth a look!
We have Internet with our local cable and stream our cable through Play Station Vue – it includes a ton of sports channels (hubby is a huge Hurricane and Duke fan). It is a lot cheaper than the cable packages. We love it – we can record and use On Demand for many of the channels. The only thing is you need a PS 3 or 4 or Amazon TV or Ruby device. We use Amazon TV. Plus, PS Vue doesn’t require a contract.
Go bucks!!!!!!!!!
O-H!!!!
I-O!!
Call ur providers for any service and ask how can u lower ur bill… i call comcast evry few months and do get deals evrytime… also i have fios and did this..i got to lower my bill and even added premium and special channels.
Way to go, Bryn!
Thank you! 🙂
We just cancelled direct tv. They offered us nothing. That was 2 weeks ago so maybe they just started this. We now have Xfinity.
We called months ago and Direct tv wouldn’t offer us anything and rather lose us as loyal customers!
Yes, this does work. It’s the second year in a row I’ve done it. You have to get to their retention team. The sales teams can only give maybe $10 off. Two years ago they gave me $50. Called retention again when my bill shot up after a year and they stacked a $50 with a $20 and I got $70 off and my bill is lower than last year! We have been with them for a decade and they always give us something each year quite easily. We are in Chicago though where there is lots of compensation.
I love this extra money saving tip!
I totally despite these cable companies and their lack of ethics. If I could I would not have cable, but it is apart of my HOA fees. I would rather have a streaming service.
Bryn, I ❤️you! THANK YOU….my husband is on the job 😍
YAY! You are so welcome, Heather! Hope you score some big savings!
Did you have to give uo anything like premium channels?
Nope! I did not have to give up anything to get the $50 monthly discount.
Ditched Direct for streaming several months ago. Best decision we ever made! Will never go back.
I recently called and they cut my bill $50 for 12 months too!!
YAY! So great! 🙂
Nice! You don’t know unless you try. Way to go!
We had AT&T and our service cost went threw the roof over night! When I call They kept telling me that there was no available promotion… so buh bye they went! Directv tv was able to give us faster internet and a lot more channels for less then half the cost off AT&T! And they gave me a $100 gift card. There are negative aspects of the service though… We cannot get our free movies on demand to work and most of the on-demand TV shows you cannot fast-forward through.
Ironically AT&T owns Directv
Isn’t Directv owned by AT&T?
Yes
I called back in September(been with Dish for 13 years!) and told them I was wanting to cancel bc our bill had been creeping up over 100+ and I was tired of it! The rep was so nice and got our bill down to 60$ permanently plus upgraded ALL of our equipment including remotes, added on HD for life and gave us all the HBO, Showtime, Encore, etc for 3 months free! I didn’t even have to use my arguing voice haha!! No contract either!! I had called DirectTV the day before to price match and the rep was so pushy and even gave me his supervisor’s cell number and said she would even answer calls at 2am! I told him I would have to talk to my hubs and he was like, just give me his social and we can go ahead and set it up! I was like no way!!! I would never make a decision like that without consulting him and I would def not give out his social either!! It was crazy!!! Be wary!!! Dish will def be accommodating on helping to reduce your monthly bill!! Just give them a call!!
Thanks Bryn!! I just called and in addition to taking $50 a month off the cable part of the bill, they lowered the Internet portion by $14 a month! Total savings: $64 a month!! Thanks!!!
WOW! That is amazing. So happy for you, Ross!
Streaming would be amazing! But some of us live in the sticks with zero access to high speed Internet. With a single bar of cell service our options are limited. I contact directv again 6 mo ago and got a $45 monthly reduction for a year. When your time is up and the price is scheduled to go up you simply call them again. This has worked for us for the last 5 years. We still pay too much for service I know. And would gladly have other options to choose from! But until the technology decides rural customers are important we have to take what we can get
I can relate to the “sticks problem” ☺️.
We only have broadband for internet and DISH for cable. Dish creeps up and I call. They changed the package but now they are in contract disputes with ABC and CBS so we are missing all of our favorite prime time shows. They only offered $5 credit. 🙄
Same problem here….only satellite for internet so its metered, so no streaming for us, and Directv for tv….I agree until they feel rural customers are important we won’t have the same options.
Just got 90 bucks taken off my bill and a 25 dollar credit…that’s $1105 off total for the whole year! Thank you!!!!
So happy for you, Jennie!
We cancelled ours a few years ago. We stream thru Amazon and Netflix. We also have HD antennas in each room. Those black flat looking antennas sell for around $20 on Amazon and we get at least twenty channels in each room..for free! That’s the way to go!
I have a 50 mile radius antenna and get 2 PBS channels 😡
Well, we did have to move them around at first to get the maximum channels possible. We found that the antennas need to be up higher than the tv itself and close to a window. After finding the perfect loaction for them, we received over twenty channels.
Uummm…I believe AT&T owns Direct TV.
Be cautious of these ‘deals’. We were legitimately cancelling, cutting all cords, they called back and offered $17 a month for a year, plus free Sunday ticket! I said well of course we will stay! First month was good, second month it went up $60 and they refused to honor it and were going to charge us for ‘early termination’ until 4 hours after dealing with this they all the sudden realized I never signed another contract. We were loyal direct tv customers for well over 6 years and were planning on going back eventually but now we will never be direct tv customers again. Their customer service has really gone down hill since they merged with At&t.
Thank you! I’ve tried calling in the past and was told there wad nothing they could do. I just got off the phone with Directv and they are upgrading all my equipment and sending a tech out for free to install all the new equipment plus they dropped my bill from $150 to $80. Yay! I can’t thank Hip2Save enough for the money you’ve saved me!
WOO HOO! That is great news! So happy for you!
Problem is…..with the way direct tv operates …..it will be an every other month billing issue. Just wait and see
Sooooo agree with this. Once I switched to dish (directv claimed they couldn’t lower my bill so bu-bye) I haven’t had any billing issues. With Directv I would tell them every time they claimed to fix the issue “I guess I’ll talk to you next month when my bill is screwed up again.” 🤦🏻♀️
Totally agree as well. I have several family members that have had the same problems with Direct- bills go up with no explanation. I’ve had Dish for 15 years. About 6 years ago, I called to cancel because we just don’t watch that much regular tv (we stream Netflix) They got me on a basic package with all local channels plus about 30 cable channels for $30 and it hasn’t gone up in 6 years. I really have been happy with the customer service from Dish.
I don’t normally rant on here, BUT DirectTV Needs to be investigated by the BBB. I have a 2 yr contract. To keep the low price for the 2nd year, I was supposed to add internet or cell service. Told them none were available here and they said they would honor that low starting price then for 2nd year. So I called at month 13. None of those services are available…..still. My bill jumped to $135. I am stuck for another year. Truly wish everyone would jump ship at the same time. This is a joke of a company. I have spent HOURS, literally, being transferred and placed on hold.
Laura, we had the exact same problem. You are not stuck for another year. They will only charge you $20/month for the remaining of your contract. In your case $240, but since you are paying $135/month. Paying the termination fee is less than 2 months of your current bill. To be it’s totally worth it.
I’m on a contract with Comcast, I don’t think I can this
I just dropped Spectrum, they don’t haggle. Switching to Directvnow. If you prepay 4 months, so $140 for the basic package, they will give you a free $180 Apple TV. If you are looking to get an Apple TV this is a great way to do it at a discount with bonus TV service.
I called Spectrum yesterday coz my promo just got done (1 year) and my bill went from $118 to $149. I asked if I want to stop the cable service, do I just call them? She just said to return the dvr to a local spectrum office. That’s it. Didn’t even ask why I didn’t want the cable anymore. So tomorrow, I’m returning the box and go with Netflix and Hulu or Sling.
Spectrum is our only option…too many trees, etc to get satellite. They dont want to give any discounts, would rather let you cancel.
Does it require a contract?
It’s true. Every year I call customer retention dept at direct TV and ask them what they will discount my account. The most you get is 50. A month. Showing on your bill as 5 separate $10. For 12 months. I mark my calendar and call when that promotion is over and get another 50. This is any time of year. I don’t do it in Dec. I am July.
I got 960 dollar savings over the next 12 months. 80 a month. Plus, some free channels for a trial period. Whoohoo! !
I didn’t even know people still used anything other than subscription services like netflix, hulu, etc.
I want to try this, but be careful if you had grandfathered in deals. My husband had a grandfathered in package and DirecTv called one day and asked me if I wanted to have a channel free for a week no strings attached, no extra cost, and no need to cancel. I said, sure! After the week was over they took the channel away as agreed upon, but they left us with a plan that didn’t have all the channels we used to have. We called and they would not give us our grandfathered in plan. They said we lost it and they could not reinstate. So yeah.. keep that in mind.
They no longer offer the package we have either. We haven’t had a contract in about 5 years. Have had them call us and offer us other things but we would lose what we have now. I might try it but I am leary of losing what I have or the billing issues of it being different every month. Wish my husband would go with the Netflix or the fire stick. My sons have them but my husband thinks it must be illegal and will not do it.
We’ve been doing this for the last 3 years. It’s actually irritating to me that we have to call them and each time I am really ready to cancel, but we keep managing to get the NFL Sunday ticket abd 12 months of credits each time which makes hubby happy enough to keep our service.
Just drop it all and go with SETV for 20.00 a month with over 500 channels!
I work for DirecTV protection plan Department I can confirm that this article is indeed accurate you can call every year and get your services discounted I’m surprised that everyone doesn’t do this. If I didn’t work for DirecTV and my services weren’t free I would do this every year. I do the same for my Cox internet. I’ll cable providers want you to stay I won’t do anything to keep you as a customer.
Ditched directv a month ago after they screwed us over increasing our monthly bill by $30. I called they supposedly fixed the problem. The next month, bill came, same problem. Called again and again they won’t lower by bill. Okay I am done so I paid $138 early termination fee ( we were billed $94/month). Now we have our firestick and an antenna. No looking back
Everyone, look into something called DIRECTV NOW. It’s streaming Directv for $35 a month. Totally worth it.
We have been with DIRCTV for about 15 years. We have done this for close to 10 years. We ask for the retention department, and ask for an amazing deal on the NFL ticket. We’ve gotten the basic one for FREE and extra off of our bill. NO extended contract. One year, I got a $200 VISA debit card for a one year contract, the NFL ticket for FREE plus extra incentives or deductions off our bill. This year was over $600 off our bill over the next 12 months and the NFL ticket for FREE. We do this each year, right before the NFL ticket would bill. The retention department has been great for us!!
Currently we have sling and an antenna. We also have Netflix free through t-mobile. And we are prime members. We have been looking at ace TV it’s just a few dollars a month.
Yes! Thanks for the tip!! I got the same promotion plus a free year of premium channels!!!!!! Love a way to save!
I don’t see any posts about Verizon Fios Internet and Cable. I hate paying almost $200 a month, but my husband will not let me cancel. He says they are the best of the evils. We don’t even watch much TV, typically do not get home before 9 (work full time & part time) but he wants to watch what he wants when the TV is on. I thought about trying one of the new types (Fire stick etc), but am afraid he will not be able to get MASN, MASN II and other spots channels. I called Verizon Fios over a year ago and threatened to cancel and they did not care. Offered me no savings at all. Grrrrr
I can’t thank you enough! This just saved my family a ton of money over the next year! Thank you thank you thank you!
we had directv for like 15 years just the basic service with the kids channels but our bill was like 120 per month(when we started with premium channels it was like 45$per month) we called and did this and they actually would only give us like $10 off they wanted to give us the premium channels instead for the same price, we switched over to dish we now get more channels all the premiums for the first 2 years they gave us an amazon echo and after everything except the 2 year contract we pay around $80 with the hopper that in my opinion works better then anything we had with directv I also wanted to mention that we had so many problems with receivers over the years and we live in a rural area so getting service was always 2 weeks out now we call and its like 1-2 days if not sooner I also like some of the other options they have as well in our area we also have an option for cable for about the same price but with about half the channels, like I said I hate the fact that I have the 2 year contract and that the cost will go up after the 2 years but I couldn’t afford directv any more anyone who has looked into switching and decided against it it might be worth checking into!
I just reduced our bill from $160 to $60. We had boxes at 5 tv’s so I purchased 3 firestick & going down to only 2 boxes. We can watch all channels in real time with our directv subscription & a firestick. Plus they gave me a bunch of discounts . I would ditch sat tv but hubby wants nfl sunday ticket. So I figured out the firestick lol. (I’m not tech savvy so it was an accomplishment lol)
Cable is a must in our household for a variety of reasons. I call every year, but have only received minor discounts. I guess I wasn’t asking the right questions! I just called and was able to get a $672 discount! No change to the current package that we have, and also got the SportsPack (44 channels) free for the next six months. We also got $12 extra of our HBO/Showtime bill for the next six months. No contractual agreements! Hubby is super impressed! Thanks for the tip!!
WOW! I’m so glad to hear that, Christina!
I just called and got $50 off for the next 12 months and Showtime free for the next 4 months. I couldn’t be happier since I was just 11 months into my 2 year contract!!
Woohoo! That’s awesome, Gail!
I switched to SlingTv and we love it using the roku! Awesome quality and all the channel we watch are on the $20 with the $5 add on kids channels so no paying a crazy amount for those channels we don’t watch!