This week we got a phone call from our internet service provider. We've used their services for one year now, and our "special introductory offer" was coming to an end. Although they offered us a good deal for the first year ($29.99/month for speeds up to 20 Mbps), they were planning on raising the rate by 80% to continue the same service. Uh yeah, no can do. In reality, we don't really need to have internet that is that fast in our household. For $30/month, it was great and affordable. For $54/month, it's just not something that fits in our tight law school budget
So, my husband told the customer service representative that he needed to look into other options. Where we live, we only have two choices for internet service so there wasn't much to look into. Our current provider was cheaper than the competition. It didn't look like we really had a choice if we wanted internet service. However, Brett was still determined to see if he could negotiate a better price. The gal who initially took his call was only authorized to set-up new accounts, so she transfered him to the Loyalty Team. These are the folks who can get things done! Initially, the Loyalty Team representative offered us a 20% discount on our existing service. That was nice but it was still going to raise our costs more than we wanted. Then Brett asked if they would apply that 20% discount to a different service. After checking with her boss, the representative was able to give us a discount. We're actually going to be paying less than we were, albeit for slower service. However, the alternative if we hadn't had asked for a discount was to to pay MORE for slower service and a lot more to keep the same service. Yes, it is a bummer that our internet is slower now (only 3 Mbps), but it still meets our needs and fits our budget. At this point in our lives, it is just what we need.
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