Verizon FIOS question about "fees and taxes", and a POLL

[xbure9x]

Originally Posted by Joanne teacher

My mother just switched over to FIOS, and when she contacted cable they didn't ask her anything about staying. They just told her that her last bill would be in the mail. No offers to try and keep a $200 a month bill that was always paid early. They are not too concerned about keeping people.

That's interesting, because I called CV before, and without even mentioning that I had a Fios order number, they gave me the triple play price promo for 1 year.

This is where the fun started...I called verizon to cancel my order, and they actually beat the CV price for a year, and guaranteed me that if they could not at least match this promo price after the year, they would waive my early termination fee and let me be a free agent.

So now I will go back to CV and tell them if they can guarantee my triple play price for 2 years instead of 1, I will keep them. If not, I guess I'm getting Fios next week

It's amazing how many different stories there are about what these companies will and will not do.

[PANIC]

Originally Posted by xbure9x

What is this process you speak of? Wouldn't you just call and tell them you are set to have Fios installed, is there anything you can do for me before this happens, or else I am cancelling CV?

I told cable that Fios was cheaper and i'm considering signing with them CV came down to $143 a month for the triple play and Fios was still cheaper at $128 a month for the triple play , i feel after having CV for over a decade Fios is much better and doubt i'll go back to CV . I'm at $110 and loving it call back Verizon and tell them you want to cancel because CV came down in price and you will see Verizon come down in price as well

[villager-li]

For those that are concerned about FIOS pricing going up after the promotional period is over:

I got a letter last week saying my promotional period was over and that my triple play price would go from $95 to $105. $10 is really not that bad, and with the movie package ($30) plus taxes and fees, my bill would go from $152/month to $162-or so. Note that with Cablevision, I was paying $180+ with the "Gold" package, and my service was not as good (Optimum Voice especially).

So, once I got this letter, I gave Verizon a call and asked if there were any better deals I could get. The sales agent said she would put a $10/month credit on my bill starting in May (the month my promotional pricing expired). So with a simple phone call, my bill is going to remain the same for another year.

Can't complain about that.... The Cablevision prices were always creeping up throughout the year. My pricing with Verizon has stayed exactly the same since October 2008.

[krewat]

Thanks villager-li! Interesting information.

[agt7575]

I live in NJ, and was a CV customer until 3 years ago when I switched to Fios. However, I am now switching back to CV. I am very happy with the Fios service, but paying $30+ in taxes and surcharges a month is ridiculous. Plus, I am saving $94.00 a month by going back to CV with pretty much the same number of channels and features as Fios. The only difference is the internet speeds, where CV is giving me 50 compared to Fios at 75.

My Fios bill per month Including taxes is $243.95, with 5 TVs and multiroom DVR. My CV bill per month including taxes is $150, for same number of channels, including movie channels, and with CV multiroom DVR in which I can record 10 channels at once, while still watching an additional channel, which is WAY beyond what the Fios multiroom DVR service is providing.

Yes, if the difference in price were $30-$40/month, I would just stay with Fios because they do have a better service, HOWEVER, there service (IMHO) is not $94/month better than CV.

[mitsguy2001]

I signed up for Cablevision Triple Play in October 2010. That was good for a year. In October 2011, they wanted to raise my rates to full price, minus a small discount for having all 3 services. I called and said that I would switch to Verizon, but then Cablevision offered, for a year, to charge me only $10 more than the triple play rate. I accepted that.

In the spring of 2012, Cablevision took away most of the channels that you could watch for free without a cable box. I had one TV with a cable box which I use regularly, and a smaller, rarely used TV which I used without a box. Cableivision, however, offered me 2 free cable boxes for a year, so I took that offer.

In October 2012, Cablevision "upgraded" their software, and removed the VCR timer option, so I could no longer record programs to my DVD recorder. I called, and said that I will switch to Verizon immediately unless they either restore the VCR timer option, or give me free DVR service. They agreed to give me free DVR service for a year, and also extended my promotional pricing (cost of triple play, plus $10) for another year, until October 2013.

In the spring of 2013, my free cable box expired. I will not pay full price for that box, since it's on a TV that I rarely use. I tried multiple times to extend that fee box, but they would not budge. They did eventually offer free Showtime for a year. Since they would not budge on the Cable box, I returned it, and am just using 1 cable box now. They also pointed out to me that I have been on promotional pricing for 3 years now. I threatened again to switch to Verizon, and pointed out their current triple play offer. They claimed that after taxes, Verizon would cost me more than what I am paying now.

In October 2013, I plan to, again, threaten to switch to Verizon, and try to get Cableivison to extend my promotional pricing and free DVR. However, if they refuse, should I switch to Verizon? All I care about is which service is cheaper; I honestly do not care about picture quality or internet speed (I have no problem with Cablevision's picture quality or internet speed). Will Verizon cost me more in the long run? I have heard that Verizon will not allow you to negotiate prices. Is that true? If that is true, then when Verizon triple play expires, would Cablevision allow me back to their triple play, or would I be stuck paying full price, no matter which service I choose?

I do have another reason to avoid switching to Verizon unless it will really save money. My wife is unemployed, and has been actively searching for a job since 2010. Unfortunately, she has been using her Optimum e-mail address. It would be impossible to notify every company that she has ever applied for a job at that she changed e-mail addresses. Yes, I realize she should have used a free e-mail address (such as gmail) to apply for jobs. But, what was done was done, and we cannot change the past. I would switch to Verizon if it would seriously save money, knowing that it will be a major inconvenience to change her e-mail address, and that it could cause her to lose a job offer if a company she applied to in the past sends her an e-mail.

[ovi8]

^ In general FIOS costs more because of the taxes even at basic service levels. FIOS will give you a $8-$10 "valued customer" monthly discount if you ask as long as you're not on your initial promotion. After my promo (which included discounted set-top boxes) was over, they upped my price slightly but also gave me the valued customer discount. All in all, I'm paying $5 over what I had been paying and I'm pretty sure that will stick until they decide to raise prices across the board for everyone - I'm no longer on a contract.

My parents only care about the cheapest price also and have CV - when their promo expired they went up $20 to $105/mo just for the basic bundle. I had to threaten to switch before they finally gave me $10 off for 3 months. They said to call back and ask for another discount in Sept. CV is good at enticing former customers to come back with low prices, but after that promo is over, beware.