This post started with very minor frugal intentions, but turned into major savings thanks to a very helpful tech support staff member.
I received my monthly Internet bill today and noticed that, once again, my bill had increased by a dollar. It's just a dollar (don't crucify me for saying that in this sub), but I've had this issue multiple times before and I'm not a fan of companies practicing shady behavior to pull in more money while screwing customers. As it turns out, it was an equipment rental fee increase that they had notified customers about somewhere between all the promotional material in the previous month's bill. All's well and good, but feeling slightly annoyed I decide to follow up with a complaint about my internet speeds not being up to par for my plan - I'm receiving ~85 Mbps average while paying for ~150 Mbps. I've called on this issue before and was told numerous times there was nothing wrong w/ my connection, modem, or service. I've even been charged for a technician visit since he traveled out and didn't find an issue. Regardless, things weren't better, so I figured I'd follow up again. The account specialist says no problem, and he transfers me to their tech support line.
After a short hold a technician picks up the line. I tell her my problem and she immediately runs through a few diagnostics. At first she says everything looks fine, but then she notices the smoking gun - my modem/router is rated for 25 Mbps while I'm paying for a service up to 6x those speeds. She was the first person out of the 5 I'd talked to before her to notice this issue. I have her schedule a visit to upgrade my equipment, ask if she wouldn't mind making a detailed note on my account of the issue, and get transferred over to the billing team; I know that I'm going to be getting some account credits at this point.
Once on the line with the billing team member, I go over the account charges I'd like reimbursement for:
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I've been a customer paying for this Internet package for 3 years and 9 months (I found the exact date I paid my first bill)
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The total dollar amount difference between the plan tier my service was rated for, and what I was actually receiving
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The cost of the technician visit I was charged for due to "no issues found"
I was put on hold for a short while, and after crunching some numbers, he said I would be getting an account statement credit of $476 - all for just an hour of my time on the phone. While it was frustrating to have been receiving sub-par service for the duration of my account, it's great to be receiving a good chunk of compensation.
TL;DR: Found out I wasn't receiving the full service I was paying for due to a mistake, received full compensation for the amount difference. It's always worth it to try and negotiate lower bill payments or negotiate reimbursement if your service isn't up to par.
June 19, 2017 at 06:47PM
