Psst, have you entered my $100 giveaway?
So last week, I called DirectTV and told them my bill was too high and I needed a way to lower it.
I do this every few months, and every few months they shave about $10 off my bill.
But this time, they said they didn’t have any offers, except to go to a cheaper package and reduce my channels.
Reduce my channels?!?!
I love my cable. Even when we were broke, we never lived without cable because it was like my source of survival.
How am I supposed to live without Sister Wives, people?
BUT–they said I could reduce my bill another $8 a month if I chose the cheaper package. And since I didn’t recognize any of the channels he listed anyway…
Saving money > cable channels.
Of course when I told Eric we didn’t have Lifetime anymore, he freaked out a little bit.
He didn’t really care that we lost ESPN…hmmm.
Everything was going fine with the cheaper channels. Didn’t even really notice the difference.
But then Sunday night came, and when I turned on my DVR for the latest episode of Mad Men, I realized AMC was included in the list of channels we lost.
WHAT?!
F that.
I called back Monday morning and told them I needed my old package back.
The guy was all “haha, that didn’t last long!”
Yeah, shut up.
And then, since I was already on the phone, I asked if they had any specials for HBO.
Everyone keeps talking about Game of Thrones. And darnit, I want to know what everyone is talking about!
Of course, I got the $17.99 three-month deal of HBO and Skinamax Cinemax. But hey, they threw in Showtime for free.
So, in case you’re math challenged like me… I called to save $8 off my bill, and instead added $17.99.
hmm… $17.99> $8
Complete and utter Saving Money Fail.
What’s your example of a saving money fail?
13 comments
Sigh, if it weren’t for sports we’d quit cable! But sports channels are only on the medium-sized packages of Comcast, not smaller. When ESPN has a paid subscription service online, I’ll cut the cord! And AMC – such good programs! Almost as good as HBO (which I will never, ever, pay for!). We eat out only 2/mo – our indulgence is cable (not internet since that’s necessary for my job).
We’ve been TV-free for a year now, and I’m pleased to say that I don’t miss it. The me of years ago never would have thought that was possible. (I was forced to pretty much go cold turkey when we lived in Germany with only 10 English TV channels and shitty internet.) Netflix is pretty much my primary TV vehicle. But in terms of saving money, we probably aren’t saving that much. TV is a pretty harmless vice, so if you want to keep watching it, and add in some extra channels, I say go for it!
Ha… this sounds like something I would do!
I went years without cable. I was so busy that I was never home to catch the shows I wanted to see, and didn’t have a DVR, so I just cancelled it and found, um, other ways to watch. I now, however, have cable once again (with a DVR) and it’s going to be so hard to get rid of it if we ever need to cut back. Netflix and HuLu and all of those might be sufficient, but I too like to be up to date with tv, so I don’t blame you at all for keeping (and upgrading) your cable.
When I cut off my cable subscription last year, I knew I really made a good decision. I’m not really a TV fanatic, I only watch it every night for the latest news.
Starting next week HBO content will be available on Amazon Prime (content 3 years or older). I think game of thrones season 1 will be available. If you don’t mind being behind on shows this may work for you and save you money.
I didn’t know that! Thanks for the tip
I can’t think of a huge money fail recently. HBO has great shows. What I do is I wait until my favorite one (True Blood) comes out new to netflix then I get the DVD subscription only for a very short amount of time, then binge watch and cancel my subscription after I’d done. I try to do this in a month. As far as the other shows, I figure if I don’t start watching them, I won’t get addicted. Lots of good stuff already on Netflix and Hulu!
Haha I call my cable company all the time and ask for a discount. Lately, they’ve been pulling the “I have no offers for you, lets just downgrade your package” line to me as well. Eventually I keep pestering them until they send me to their retention center and I end up getting my discount anyways!
Haha, that wasn’t too bad, actually. I’m not a TV person, but I am just that way about internet. I can do without TV (have been without one for years!) and could bear to be without phone, but not without internet. I can’t remember where I was going, but it was very out of town, and I parked at a public parking garage. It was supposed to be only $8 an hour. It had credit card processing, and I didn’t even look at the receipt for 2 days, to see I had been charged $30 for 2hrs! I was MAD! I called, but they couldn’t do anything because it wasn’t on the same day. Oh well… live and learn.
Uh oh. Watch out. Once you get hooked onto GoT it’s all over. Newsroom is another good HBO show. Also, Showtime has all of the REALLY good shows. Use your three months to binge watch Dexter, Shameless, Weeds, Homeland and Tudors (although Tudors is also on Amazon Prime I think). I desperately want to cut channels, but the Premium channels are all that we watch!
That sounds like something I would do. Last week, I had ordered a laptop online, and the day after I placed the order, it went on sale locally. I canceled the order, went to the store, they were out of stock! Called back, they said no problem the laptop should still arrive. Long story short – the carrier got the original return request, it shipped back to the sender, and after many phone calls, it finally got here Tuesday. Definite saving money fail.
I recently waited too long to buy a plane ticket, determined that the price was going to go down….and it went up by about $75. Oops. Should’ve bought it sooner!
I bet all the Game of Thrones fanatics would call that a win!