If you complete your two year contract and are no longer contractually bound to use them for your service, can you call them up and get a new two-year campaign special?

Has anyone had any luck in doing this?

7/11/2012 6:59:04 PM

I bet you'd have more luck now than you would have in the past with the whole viacom debacle. They're probably already losing a number of customers in your situation right now, so I'd definitely try negotiating that, using the loss of the viacom channels as the key reason.

[Edited on July 11, 2012 at 7:07 PM. Reason : .]

7/11/2012 7:07:16 PM

just tell them you want your price around $X and you're walking if they can't do that. i've not been on a contract for several years and pay 2 year promo prices
~63 for choice xtra plus (doesn't exist any more, between xtra and ultra), hd, single dvr and sunday ticket

7/11/2012 7:07:27 PM

tell them UVerse is offering you a better deal (or TWC)

7/12/2012 2:11:36 PM

Well I just called them earlier today... my contract is set to expire in October (3 months left). I was able to get NFL Sunday Ticket, and 2 months of HBO/showtime for free... but they had to extend my contract by a year when adding the Sunday Ticket which added 9 months to mine.

7/12/2012 2:41:10 PM

Just shot them an email (I hate talking on the phone with these people). Hope I can finagle something out of them as well.

7/12/2012 3:11:37 PM

Online chat works well too. I just got TWC to knock off a bunch of bullcrap on my account by threatening to leave and sign up with Dish.

Honestly if you are out of your contract, start looking at every deal available to you and use it as a bargaining chip. They will sometimes try and call your bluff, but you say "I'm cancelling", they will give normally give in.

7/12/2012 3:37:10 PM

If you buy a receiver to avoid the rental fees, how do you get the access card?

7/22/2012 5:22:55 PM

^ they mail it to you

If you are trying to get the Sunday Ticket and they don't give it to you, you can always cancel and sign up under a different address. (DirecTV has a policy that if you cancel service then you can't have their service at that same address for a year) If you have someone else's name to put it in, that helps to. It helps to do this using an authorized retailer rather than going directly through DirecTV, as the resellers typically use their own installers. In other words, they can sign you up using the wrong address, then instruct the installer to go to the correct address to install it. I have done this twice already, including 2 weeks ago to get the free Sunday Ticket.

DirecTV will send you boxes with pre-paid packing labels to return your old equipment. If you need more info, let me know. I have a very reputable DirecTV reseller that I work with and can refer you to.

[Edited on July 23, 2012 at 9:56 AM. Reason : a]

7/23/2012 9:52:03 AM

Hmmm...my fiance is about to move in with me, so maybe we can pull what you ^ said. She's never had directv under her name before.

7/23/2012 10:52:08 AM

Most recently (2 weeks ago), I had 6 months left on my contract. I had it in a false address. We started a new account under my GF's name at our correct address so we could get the free Sunday Ticket, plus all the movie channels free for 3 months, plus the discounts for a year. It only cost me $30 to break my contract ($5 for each month left). Our bill went from $105 to $55, plus we got Sunday Ticket.

In other words, even if you are still under contract, it is probably worth it to pay out of it and start a new account.

7/23/2012 12:20:51 PM

Makes you sign 2 year contract,
Raises the rates after 1 year.

DirecTV

7/23/2012 11:38:46 PM

Makes you sign 2 year contract,
Raises the rates after 1 year.

DirecTV, and every other television provider

7/24/2012 8:22:59 PM

stay out of contract for as long as possible. I went 21 months out of contract...then canceled when I moved to my new place.

7/25/2012 6:46:48 AM

What's the benefit of staying out of contract? If I can knock my bill down $20/month AND get NFL Sunday ticket, it is a no brainer...I love their service and I'm not likely to switch...I'd rather lock in as low as I can, regardless of the commitment.

7/25/2012 10:07:46 AM

DirecTV is definitely always worth doing a contract. Aside from the "flip" option, I have found that they have always been awesome to work with when it comes to negotiating the bill. Even when they jacked my price up after year 1, all it took was 1 phone call to have $30/month cut from my bill. They have by far the best retention department that I have ever dealt with.

7/25/2012 11:04:10 AM

Yeah well I got some fuckhead on the line when they changed my bill mid contract, they would not put the price back, so I ordered uVerse because the receivers I had were buggy and slow.

After ATT butchered all the satellite wiring hooking the uverse up when I really did call to cancel they were like "oh we would have put your old price back" by that point I was like tough shit everything is already unhooked.

They proceeded to charge an early termination fee for me breaking the contract that they changed the rate in the middle of so fuck them.

7/25/2012 11:09:03 AM

Know the terms of the contract. Every DirecTV contract goes up after year 1, as do pretty much every other provider's. Shit, some even go up after 3 months. See: Time Warner's $19.99 Road Runner special.

[Edited on July 25, 2012 at 11:14 AM. Reason : a]

7/25/2012 11:14:28 AM