My Spectrum cable bill has been slowly creeping up for the last few years so I finally called them last night to try and lower my bill. I was especially motivated after trying to watch ESPN and receiving a notice that Disney has pulled their TV channels from the Spectrum platform. RELATED: Why You Should Travel With a Roku Streaming Stick
Per CNBC, “Disney yanked its TV channels, including ESPN and ABC, from 15 million Charter Communications customers as the companies fight over a new deal on fees.” This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, especially after I saw in my local Facebook group that many friends and neighbors had reduced their bill by calling Spectrum up and threatening to cut the cord … and they came away with a good deal. This time, I wasn’t bluffing.
I was on hold for over an hour, which I think might be one of their tactics to retain customers, hoping they’ll just give up and hang up. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had a callback option like American Airlines does but they don’t.
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The good news is that the agent I spoke to, who was based in south Texas, couldn’t have been any nicer. While he was pricing out different plans, we briefly talked about everything from our Fantasy Football teams (I picked up his sleeper pick, Jalin Hyatt, because he plays for my beloved NY Giants and he’s got a hotel last name). He also told me about nearby South Padre Island, which he says is an affordable, family-friendly getaway. I’ve never been so I can’t confirm it.
However, the most important thing we talked about was lowering my monthly bill from a whopping $233 to $109. He gave me a $15 credit for the Disney debacle, I’m returning our last cable box (he made an appointment so I don’t have to wait in any long return lines) and he found some promotions to apply to my account. After today, I am only going to have 15 Spectrum channels, not including the local channels, which is more than I watch anyway. I rarely watch TV and my wife and kids all watch different streaming platforms including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Disney, Hulu, Max, Netflix and PBS Kids. He even threw in a premium Peacock subscription and increased our internet speed to the highest possible for free for two years. I thought we already had it but we didn’t so it saved me $20 monthly. He also confirmed that there is no contract so I can still switch providers at any time if I choose.
So my advice to you is is to call up your cable company, prepare for a long hold, and threaten to cut the cord. I seriously was about to sign-up to YouTube TV and T-Mobile Wifi if I didn’t get my bill lowered significantly. I still might but I don’t feel like taking on that hassle right now. Saving over $100 a month has, for now, made me a much happier customer.
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Spectrum sucks. Lose channels all the time.bill never gets cheaper
We went from DirecTV to streaming 3 years ago, and our bill was instantly cut in half. We stream via YouTube TV, and for one of the previous commenters you CAN record (quite easily) on YouTube TV. Highly recommend!
John J
Brazil, IN
I’ve begged them to lower my bill. Remember being told there are NO CONTRACTS! They told me until the end of my start date it can’t be done. It’s gone from 99. dollars a month to $121. I told them I’m a Senior and have limited income. They don’t care. I missed my cancellation by 4 days so I had to pay another full month. Considering many companies are doing the same, soon I will be buying an Oil lamp if I can afford the oil or digging a hole to cook my food and see at night. Our government is slowly killing the body and spirit of every legal citizen that is millde and low-income!😡😡😡🥺🥺🥺
That’s terrible. Did you pay by credit card? They might be able to reverse the charge
I pay for so many channels that I don’t watch, it’s simply not worth it. After losing my favorite sports channel, it was the straw that broke the camels back. I’ve already upgraded HULU, and I’m ditching cable.
Going through a similar thing with Dish. They have a dispute with Fox that has been going on for a while. Football season is now here and we are unable to get any games NFL or NCAA that are broadcast on Dish.
I had the opposite experience. I had a super nice lady at first and then was connected to someone else that was one of the worst customer service calls I’ve ever had. I felt like I was a complete inconvenience. I also discovered that I was being charged for a receiver that I returned a year ago $10.99. I realized I should have looked at my bill closer but I receive via email. I have no idea if I will be reimbursed. There is case number or reference number and not sure if they’re going to call me or not. I am completely frustrated with Spectrum and may pull the plug. I told the lady that we had Alta fiber coming out and that I really like spectrum and a was hoping to lower my bill. She didn’t say one thing. Didn’t seem to care. Horrible customer service.
I Have T Mobile WIFI and You Tube TV. $30 & &74.99 per month
I have had T mobile WIFI for 2years and am completely satisfied. There has to be a T mobile tower within range of where you live which can be checked out on the web
We use the WIFI to stream TV, for video calls etc and have never had an issue
What a joke. Spectrum is charging so much money for their cable and then they have nerve to cut us off tv channels by saying that they are trying to save its customers money. What a crock. Now soectrum has no US Tennis football and ABC NY Soectrum. Just pay Disney what they want and increase our cable bill by 10 dollars a month. Who cares if yoh pay 200 a month or 210 a month. Soectrum will lose so much money now by this action by people switching to different choices And Spectrum pleaae stop spending millions on TV advertising. Just Pay Disney The same ads all over again. How many of you are tired of the guy with beard and mustache on soectrum TV.? He is so annoying
Hi Johnny. My Spectrum bill has been creeping up during the past 5 years, and I have been considering satellite. The loss of the Disney channels (ABC, ESPN, History, etc.) was the last straw for me. I will take your advice and plan on spending an hour or two trying to settle this problem. I am not a huge fan of streaming because I like to record shows, so I can watch and return at my leisure. In the past I had satellite TV (although I lived in the Pacific Northwest at the time and lost signal often) and that experience made me prefer cable. Here in Southern California weather is not really much of a problem, so this might be the time to go for it. I would be very happy to save $100 a month!
You’ll have to confirm this, but Samsung TVs (and a few others) have the Spectrum App built in, so you don’t need their cable boxes anymore. From what I was told, LG TVs and Apple TV boxes do not take the Spectrum App. either.
Nice, but cutting the cord would be better. Those special “promotions” tend to expire, and then you are back to paying the $200 bills without realizing it. Best thing to do is get your Internet from someone like T-Mobile, and get the streaming channels you want. YouTube TV is great but they keep raising the monthly tab. Pluto TV is free and not bad. Roku TV is free and offers live local channels.
Johnny, great tip ! I cut the Spectrum chord a couple of months ago because I wasn’t watching either cable TV or using my DVR anymore and my bill went from $244/month to just 84.99/month for just internet. They also bumped my internet speed for free. I also was able to return my cable/DVR box at any UPS Store.