Sounds like you're doing it wrong..

Yeah, either you have extremely bad luck of reaching the worst agents every time, or something is wrong in the way you brought it up. I had no problems getting the HD PVR deal just a little while ago, along with everyone else I've told. All it took was one call as well. People in the RFD thread have no problems recently either.

You know that every call you make regarding your account gets logged right? If you call too many times trying to get a deal, your account gets flagged and you won't get any deals whatsoever. The first call should be directly to the cancellation department, else it could be suspicious to them if you try calling all these different departments.

Unless they're feeling extremely generous, I don't think they'll budge if you're just looking for a deal. You've to give them a reason - possibility of losing a customer to a rival company (i.e. Bell, Telus) is a good one. It's called a retention deal for a reason. Like what Blinky said, either be serious about canceling, or be prepared to have your bluff called if you're going to threaten.

Read the RFD thread to get tips on what to say, etc.

I called Shaw back in October as I was thinking about switching to Novus and because of the fact that Shaw no longer allows third party digital boxes to be activated on their system.

Called into cancel and talked to the CSR and then they transferred me to another department and the guy offerred me the following to stay:

rent free HD-PVR for a year with the option to purchase it at the end of the year for half price
all digital channels free for 6 months
xtreme internet free for 6 months

The only thing is that the HD-PVR i got is a refurbished model and I there is a slight problem with it (sound drops out on HD channels and PVR'ed HD shows).

thats normal... both of my boxes do that from time to time... and always have.

There's a thread on digitalforums about this problem and how people have called shaw and have had their boxes fixed / replaced.

I'll be calling in as soon as I get back to Vancouver.

so has anyone tried recently?
i'm gonna call in a few minutes and see whats they have to offer.

edit: ok so i just called in and got owned. the bitch i talked to pissed me off, and she wouldnt budge on anything.
she kept saying shaw doesnt have contracts, where as bell does, bell charges u money for to have techs to come out if u have problems, with bell u dont own the HDPVR where as shaw u pay for it and u own it, bell is sattalite so the service is weather dependent. fuckin bitch. what should i do now.

telus is coming out with hd pvrs today. try to call in and ask them for a deal. see wht you can get with them and then call shaw and see what they can do.

after reading the whole RFD thread, it seems like people in alberta (ed+cal) can get HDPVR deals, like 9/10 people call in and they get it, but it seems like people from van+vic isnt so lucky. like 2/10 people get HDPVR deals.

i'll try and call back tomorrow and talk to the supervisor, i didnt like the bitch that i talked to.

How long have you been w/ shaw and how much do you pay for it monthly?

haha you know what? that sounds like the same bitch who i talked to...you had no idea how pissed off i was after talking to her. She had this stupid attitude problem too, and i talked to her in a nice friendly tone...

10+ years, been with them ever since ROGERS.
monthly bill is arnd $100+
FULL Cable + Extreme-I + FairChild
worst thing is i added FULL cable since last nov, and i realize they're been charging me for the whole year, while i never recieved channels 28+.
now that i think about it, i called them 3 times last year since i asked them to add full cable, but the techs never came OR said they dont have access to the panels. I live in a townhouse and i dont have access to the panels, so who does?! i told them abt the problem and they're like well what can we do, your suppose to call us back blah blah blah. i hate that one fuckin bitch that answered my call. tm i'm gonna call again and ask for the supervisor in retentions. so fuking cocky

i think so too. she pissed me off, kept on cutting me off when i explained why i think bell's offer is better blah blah blah we dont offer contracts and shit blah blah sattlite disc is prone to weather conditions blah blah. if i saw her in person i would've slapped her across the face.

yeah that's what they are trained to say i guess...looks like she gave you exactly the same BS that she gave me...which leads me to believe that Shaw isn't being too generous to us Vancouver customers compared to the customers in the other provinces...

anyways, good luck calling retentions tmr...and keep us posted.

some how, i really don't think that helps all that much, at least in my case...like i mentioned before, my parents has been w/them since 1991 , paying over $100 a month for Shaw's services, and paying on time every month. But looks like that means nothing to them at all. Maybe i was doing this all wrong and saying the wrong things etc etc...who knows, but i have a feeling that they are being strict on us BC customers and not giving us any good deals...

:werd:

Good luck. I'll be trying mine maybe tomorrow (actually today) if not I'll do it weds.

hurrry try and let us know what happens.
i dont know if i should hold out a bit before i call back.
on a side note, it seems like "SOME" vancouver people on RFD got the HDPVR after 2nd or 3rd attempt. i just hope the next time i call i wont get that same bitch again.

i'm calling again right now, i'll update soon.

dam it no such luck.
called in to cancel, rep asked why, told them i'm switching to bell, i said they're willing to waive the 3 year contract for me if i sign up now, rep said similar things about quality, services and stuff.
i told him well i dont mind trying them just becuase of the HD box, it's half the price of shaws. they're like well we cant do anything about it.
i then told me just cancel my service by the 12th of december. he puts me on hold for like 3 minutes, at this point it's win big or loose all.
he comes back, and to my dissapointment, he says ok everything will be canceled by the 12th.
dam this sucks, i just want a freaking HDPVR for 299, i dont care about programing credits or anything.
now i gotta play the waitting game, and see if they'll call me back by the cancel date and offer me anything.
if not i'll have to call back by the 12th to un-cancel my service. dammmmmm itttttttttttttttttt........................

it really seems like the BC reps dont budge on anything. fawk.

now i wonder if i can call into the alberta reps and see if they could do anything lol

that sucks man...

You should just switch to Bell..no point staying on with these guys...don`t give them business if they can`t offer anything to keep you (and you`ve been on for 10 years like you said, and they still can`t even offer you anything...what a bunch of BS). They sure don`t honor their customer`s loyalty...i would leave them if i were you.

Besides, Shaw`s HD PQ sucks anyways...They uses a lot of compression and there`s macroblocking everywhere, and it seems to be getting worse and worse.

FYI..here`s a discussion thread about Shaw`s HD PQ.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=71324

i live in a strata where sat dishes arent allowed. so i have to stay with shaw.
now all i can do is hope they call back before the 12th and asks me to stay.

Hahah pwnd. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

My Deal
 

deal that i got today...

called into shaw today on behalf of a co-worker asking if i could get the student deals for her household as well.. ended up talking to the retention department and about my stuff..

as mentioned earlier.. i secured the half price pvr at $299 last earlier this month already.. but i ended up doing some more negotiating myself.

current plan $75+tax (STUDENT PLAN)...
digital cable (classic cable plus a few channels.. no chinese channels or anything), home phone light, high speed internet..

NEW DEAL $75+ tax (as long as i'm still using the student plan)
1. PVR - 6 months free rental, purchase option @ 50% which should be $299
2. 6 months FREE upgrade to HD PLUS and Shaw High Speed X-Streme which is 10mps vs. my current 5mps
3. 2 months free preview of ALL channels which means we'll save $19/month for 2 months, b/c i wanted to get Fairchild for my mom anyways


happy bargaining folks


btw.. did i mention that i'm no longer a student and i'm got the student plan anyways which basically saves me probably another 30-50 bucks a month?

maybe u should tell me the name of the rep u talked to.
cause both the reps i talked to didnt budge on anything. all they had to offer were programing credits.

his name was arthur

his name was arthur

Post conversation please!

lol, how do i post the entire conversation?

basically, i called in saying that i'm calling in for a coworker who wanted the student deal. and when they said that promo was over a month ago and there were no options, i asked what options were available b/c telus was offering really low prices on their shit.. i told them about the contracts and stuff, and then he goes onto bashing telus service, quality, and contracts saying they were all crap. i mentioned how yeah, i know they're crap.. but remember dude, i'm talking about my coworker... not for me b/c i was already promised a 1/2 hd pvr with 6 months rental.

he asks for my account details, goes in and says yeah.. you've got the deal. i told him i'm still considering the telus deal myself.. but i'm pretty tempted by the 1/2 pvr @ $250.

he tells me no, it's $299. i'm like wtf, it's $250.. you guys sell for $500, so 50% off is $250.

he explains that it's $299 b/c $500 is the promo price now, it's gonna go back to 600 after the holidays. i ask him.. well, can i get it for $250 if i skip the 6 months free rental? he tells me no.

i'm like errrrrrrrr... uhhhhhhhh.. my dad's not gonna like this. i'm the account holder, but he's obviously the one that pays the bills (a lie). then he goes on and gives me the 6 months of hd plus and 6 months of xtreme speed. i'm like great, I"D love this.. but it does nthing for my parents b/c they would only watch the chinese channel and crap.. and they could care less about HD

i then mention how we're planning on getting fairchild.. so perhaps if he gives us a few months free preview.. then that'll make up for the extra $50 for the pvr.. he says he can only do 1 month ($19 dollars savings in our eyes)...

i continue to be indecisive about the issue, thinking out loud.. hmmm.. "299-19 = 280... hmmm. errr.. uhhhh"

guy finally caves and offers 2 months free... so i'm like thanks! this will make my convincing daddy even easier.. can you please note my account of the offer and give me a chance to speak to my dad?

i'm gonna call again and later on when i'm about to pick up the pvr and ask for a 3rd month of full free previews. if they say yes, then hurray! if they say no, i'll go with the deal i got anyways

..... hmmm. guess i basically did post the entire conversation?