The DIRECTV gods must not want me to cancel Showtime...

[scots]

All of my promotions have run out, except for a Refer-A-Friend that still has a few months on it - so I'm wanting to do something to get my bill down. I decided I would cancel Showtime because the only thing we ever watched on it was Nurse Jackie, and that show is over now (series finale was a couple weeks ago). I thought I had seen on here somewhere that someone was able to remove things via the online chat even though we're supposed to call to remove stuff, so I thought I'd give it a shot because in general I hate calling companies on the phone. I prefer doing all I possibly can online.

I was connected fairly quickly to "Jerome A." He said I would need to call in to remove Showtime, and asked if I'd be able to do that. I told him that I could, but I'd have to do it later. He then said that he would make an exception and that he would "personally cancel it for me." I thanked him, and he said I would receive a confirmation email and that I could "consider it done." He then said that I could click on the "end chat" button any time I was ready. I was thinking that was too fast and too easy and that he was BS-ing me. He didn't even ask me why I was cancelling or anything - so I asked "So, Showtime has been taken care of?" He told me that it was, so I thanked him again and he again prompted me to click on the "end chat" button. Guess what? He was BS-ing me. There was no confirmation email (although I did receive the transcript of our chat), and Showtime was not removed from my account.

So today I just now called in and tell the system I want to cancel Showtime. It thinks about it for a minute, and then tells me that it's having trouble accessing my account and is connecting me to a representative. I get connected quickly (less than a minute) to a very nice lady. She tells me I'm not coming up on her computer, that they're having some kind of issue, and apologizes. I was really nice to her, told her it was OK, and that I know how that stuff is (I work in IT and also did customer service for many years a long time ago). I guess she was having a bad day with customers yelling at her, because she thanked me for not being angry and said that if she could hug me she would. Then she asks me to hold on a minute because they were telling everyone something. She gets back on the line and says they're asking all customers to call back in two hours because of whatever was going on.

I guess the DIRECTV gods are not wanting me to cancel Showtime. I know *why* they want us to call in (so they can try to talk us out of cancelling), but I wish we could just log into our accounts and do it online. It would be so much easier. *sigh*

 

[Darrell S]

They want you to call in so they can talk you out of cancelling. They keep offering me discounts. I usually get at least 30 bucks off premier or more for 6 months. When I call to cancel after 6 months they give more discounts.

 

[agape56]

This is one of the things they got into trouble over with the FTC. Their website years ago allowed you to change and update all your services. I suppose some Ivy League genius devised a scheme to make it tougher to alter your services in order to upsell you products. I also noticed Directv's website became slower and much more non responsive over the last four years.

Unfortunately, this misdirecting and slow response of web sites seems to have spread to other business sites. Instead of improving customer service their is a rush to "milk" customers at every turn. Yes, I too believe a company should operate at a profit but to gouge customers endlessly with fees and deliberate poor customer service is unreal.

 

[scots]

I called back like they asked, and was very quickly (less than one minute again) connected to a very nice young lady. I told her I wanted to remove Showtime, and she asked why I was wanting to remove it. I told her that I was trying to reduce my bill some, and that I decided to remove Showtime to do that because the only thing we watched on it was Nurse Jackie which was no longer being shown. She didn't make any attempt to talk me out of removing it, but did tell me that if I ever decided to add it back I would have an offer available to me to get it half price for a certain amount of time (maybe 6 months? I don't remember). She then said she would check and see if any other offers were available for me, and said she could give me $20 off per month for a year if I agreed to a 1-year contract. I'm not planning on dumping DIRECTV, so I told her that would be great. So - my bill is now $33.99 less per month.

 

[n4uaj]

I called back like they asked, and was very quickly (less than one minute again) connected to a very nice young lady. I told her I wanted to remove Showtime, and she asked why I was wanting to remove it. I told her that I was trying to reduce my bill some, and that I decided to remove Showtime to do that because the only thing we watched on it was Nurse Jackie which was no longer being shown. She didn't make any attempt to talk me out of removing it, but did tell me that if I ever decided to add it back I would have an offer available to me to get it half price for a certain amount of time (maybe 6 months? I don't remember). She then said she would check and see if any other offers were available for me, and said she could give me $20 off per month for a year if I agreed to a 1-year contract. I'm not planning on dumping DIRECTV, so I told her that would be great. So - my bill is now $33.99 less per month.

Back when Apple announced HBO NOW for AppleTV, I called in to tell them I was gonna drop HBO since I could get it free the first month and cheaper than their price the rest of the year. She wound up giving me HBO for 3 or 6 Months for 5.00 a month. Now that Showtime has launched the same type app I'm tempted to see if they will undercut the 10.99 price the App offers. At least through this season of Ray Donovan :-D

 

[scots]

Back when Apple announced HBO NOW for AppleTV, I called in to tell them I was gonna drop HBO since I could get it free the first month and cheaper than their price the rest of the year. She wound up giving me HBO for 3 or 6 Months for 5.00 a month. Now that Showtime has launched the same type app I'm tempted to see if they will undercut the 10.99 price the App offers. At least through this season of Ray Donovan :-D

If you have a Hulu subscription, you can "bundle" Showtime with your Hulu subscription for $8.99/month on top of the $7.99 for Hulu.

 

[coolman302003]

Their website years ago allowed you to change and update all your services. I suppose some Ivy League genius devised a scheme to make it tougher to alter your services in order to upsell you products.

I remember that I think they stopped allowing it around late 2007 or early 2008, I think it was around the same time they added the customer service department dedicated for it, the "Premium Save Team" which as you can guess they are supposed to try to keep you from canceling by usually offering a "save" offer (half off, 2-for1, free for x mos. etc). I'm sure they are supposed to meet specific metrics as well for saving so many customers from canceling the premiums in a month etc. I believe they also handle most sports subscriptions cancellation calls as well, except when NFLST is in season they have the "ST Save Team" dept dedicated for only NFLST cancellations but I don't think it's year round.

It still may be true that the other departments such as billing, tech support, etc are not allowed to downgrade and completely remove premium movie channels (they can swap), sports subscriptions, at least I think that was the case in the past since they have had the dedicated departments. Retention, OOTP CSRs however can cancel and remove all of the above.

I think with HBO and now Showtime both offering the standalone streaming services that you can cancel so easy online on month-to-month basis; it would be a great time for D* to bring back the ability to cancel and swap premium movie channels online "again", they could even make it where it's only those two that you are allowed to cancel online and still require a call for Starz and Cinemax if they wanted. HD Extra Pack and I "think" Directv Deportes [international] for example can be canceled online without calling in.

 

[n4uaj]

If you have a Hulu subscription, you can "bundle" Showtime with your Hulu subscription for $8.99/month on top of the $7.99 for Hulu.

The only thing that really keeps me from going this route is the uncertainty of internet connections at times. And the uncertainty of whether or not the ISP may cap or throttle the data in the future. When I weigh that with the fact that my DTV barely even waivers in the rain anymore then they gotta show me something to make me totally switch.