What I learned from switching to Centurylink

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My husband and I started this experience with Cox internet and phone services.  There were salespeople for Centurylink who come through our  neighborhood every once in a while, and in the past I haven’t considered their sales pitch.  This time I listened.  In an attempt to know exactly what we were getting, I kept asking them what the full price for the services was, and for some reason, this salesperson said that with taxes and fees included, it would not be more than $80/month.

That sounded pretty good, so I had my husband talk to him.  To make a long story short, we signed up for the service, but the costs were quite a bit different from what we were quoted, not even taking into account the careless statements about including taxes.  (Turns out the salesguy shouldn't have been saying taxes were included.) Not taking into account taxes, we were paying $20 more.  And that’s even after a $20 monthly discount that was supposed to be applied for 36 months. And there were other charges in there too that we didn't expect.

Thinking back on the experience, I realize that we made some assumptions that turned out to be untrue.  But we also learned some valuable lessons that I think would be helpful to share.

Lesson #1  Phone/internet service companies make money from customer inertia. 

What this means is that they structure their business on the bet that you (the customer) will probably not want to take the effort to switch services or even to find out if the promotions their salespeople are offering are actually the best out there. 

Cox, the company we were with before this experience, had raised our rates over time until we started to look for ways to cut costs.  They were betting on the assumption that we didn’t want to take the trouble to try switching for a lower rate or that we would even call to try to get a lower rate.   Cox offers very nice promotions, but they seem to be only for new customers.  What about us old customers?  What are we supposed to do to get those nicer rates?

Lesson #2  Promotions offered by sales people may not be the best possible deal.  Make sure that you find the best deal before you sign up.

We listened to the Centurylink sales people who showed up at our door because we thought that surely they knew their business best and we trusted that what they offered was the best possible deal, possibly even better than what was on their website.

As it turned out, the promotions the sales people offered us were pretty lame compared to the promotions on their website.   (And that’s after we discover the taxes-included claim was false.)  But by the time we looked at their website, we were already using the first promotion which wasn’t saving us as much.  And when we called to try to switch to their website promotion, they wouldn’t let us.  They did not allow us to switch promotions.   All they could do was give us a $10 discount for 12 months.

Again, you have to get it right at the beginning because you won’t be able to switch promotions afterward.

Lesson #3  It is good to switch to a different company at least once. 

One of the reasons switching companies is a pain is it means different lines and different equipment. 

Yes, there are equipment charges.  One of the charges we discovered Centurylink hit us with was a 7.99 charge for leasing their modem over 36 months.  Over that 36 months, we would pay a total $287.64 for what is really just a factory-refurbished piece of equipment.  (This is a major overpayment.)     

 Or we could buy outright a $99 modem (new) from Centurylink and also pay $14.99 for shipping and handling. (After we had already paid a $14.99 charge for shipping and handling to get the first modem, another charge we weren't warned of.)  

 Or we could just buy the $99 modem from Bestbuy.   

Or we could buy a modem off ebay for whatever price we can find there.   

(See how the prices can vary, depending on your level of technical expertise and inertia?)

Cox on the other hand, provides their modem, which you have to return if you terminate your service, otherwise you get charged.  They also have a bit of a set-up fee. 

Now, why would it be good to switch companies at least once?  In order to switch to a different company at least once, you probably have to buy equipment to get all situated and working.  At first this seems like a problem, but over time it becomes an advantage because it will lower your switching costs in the future.  The easier the move, the easier it will be to take advantage of deals.  If X company doesn’t give you what you want, you can switch to Y company and you’ll already have the equipment you need.  Then if Y company starts jacking up the prices, then you can switch back to X because you still have the equipment for that. 

This is about lowering your inertia for switching costs in the future.

Lesson #3  Experimenting with lower levels of service is a good thing to do when switching companies. 

After all, when you are switching companies, you are experimenting with them.  (How is their customer service? How open are they about costs? How is their tech support? How closely do their price promises match the bill you get?) You are also experimenting as you try to lower your bill.  It is cognitively efficient to do your experimenting all at once and experiment with lower levels of service too.  

  At Cox, we were getting 50 Mbit internet service.   Centurylink’s offer of internet speed was lower (15 Mbit), but promised to be more consistent during peak use times because of a dedicated line.   We didn’t know if we would see a slowdown in our internet, but we were willing to try. 

At Centurylink, 12 Mbit proved to be perfectly adequate.  What this means is that when/if we switch back to Cox, we should be confident we can switch to a lower tier of internet service without seeing any problems.  Lower tier means a lower cost.

What about phone?

At Cox, we were tired of seeing long distance phone bill charges, so when Centurylink promised us unlimited long distance, we jumped at that. 

Only later when we saw how much that unlimited service cost ($15) (which the sales people were not terribly forthcoming about mentioning) did we realize we had made a mistake because our typical phone charges were less than that.

What about TV?

We don’t have TV service, but if I were to think about it as if I did use TV service, I would seriously consider what I watched and how often.  My husband loves to watch NBA games of his favorite team, but he will listen over the internet too.  Which is better—subscribing to the NBA channel over Roku or getting a NBA radio subscription or buying access to a whole bunch of channels that we won’t watch?  Is it better to get a bunch of channels or to buy subscriptions to hulu and Netflix? 

You can’t watch it all.  Your time is limited as it is.  You really don’t need it all.  And here’s a tip—you’ll feel better about yourself if you can make do with less. 

Bottom line?  Check to make sure that that you are not paying for too much service.  Experiment with lower service levels.

Of course, it will not feel efficient to do all this experimenting.  It will feel hard and obnoxious.  But it is more efficient to get it all done at one time than to spread it out and then have to fight the inertia again.) 

Lesson #4  Beware when salespeople say your techy friend-neighbors are considering switching services.  Or even when they say those techy friend neighbors decided not to get the service.  

This argument style is a subtle tactic, but it can be very powerful and I suspect it is quite successful because it is an appeal to the authority of a qualified friend.   However, do not go by what the sales person says your techy friend has decided.  Go straight to your techy friend privately and tell them what has been said about them, ask them about their assessments of the service. 

My husband and I were told by the Centurylink sales people that our techy friends the Q family (names concealed to protect their privacy) a few streets down were considering the service.  We should have just called them.  (Silly us.  It’s that inertia again.)  A few weeks after we had signed up for the service, I had an opportunity to talk to Mrs. Q and she said they had considered switching, but then after researching decided that the deals were not as good as was being hyped.  So the Qs didn’t switch after all.  

Even more interesting, Mrs. Q said that the sales people had told Mr. Q that the V family (more techy friends we knew and trusted) had considered switching but decided not to. However, that the sales person tried to use it anyway by asserting that Mr. V’s decision was a mistake and Centurylink could have done a lot to help them.  

Conclusion

We made mistakes all along the way here by trying to just do the easy thing.  But you can avoid the mistakes we made, since you are obviously researching this stuff right now, otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this.

If your rates go above your comfort level, don't wait for the salesguy to find you in your driveway, get on the internet and start comparing prices.  

1. Look for the lowest rates of what you need offered by competing services.
2.  Save up a nice little $200 cushion so you won't be financially cornered by any unexpected switching fees. (I'm not saying they will be this high. This cushion will just give you piece of mind in case you discover you have to buy additional new equipment to make a new, different service work with your stuff.)
3. Call the competing service to find out about any associated switching fees so you won't be surprised.  This is the send-out-feelers stage.  Don't actually commit yet.  Also make sure to learn if there are any early termination fees.  Write things down. Question, question, question when you don't understand.
4. Call your old service to find out if they can lower bills to match the competition's nice promotions.  Be ready to switch if they are not willing to. 
5.  In the event that you switch, consider keeping any equipment so that it will be easier to switch back in the future.
6.  If you switch and discover over time that the new service disappoints you, you can then take advantage of new customer promotions and deals offered by your old service. But find out all their terms before you go order them.
7.  Whatever service you decide to keep, put a note on your calendar around the time when your promotions expire so that you know to start looking for deals again for competing services. 

May I add one final thing to remember?

The customer representatives of these service companies are human beings and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  Even if you are angry, yelling and swearing at them will never help anything.  Getting belligerent also doesn't help.

Here are some things that I suggest for getting the best cooperation:

• Do your very best to assume that the person you are talking to will want to help somehow. (They are usually trying to work within their company's rules and policies and also to do what they can using whatever computer system they have for customer service records, and the computer system may not allow them to do everything we often think should be possible to do.)
•  Keep voice level and polite.
• Stay calm and in control of yourself.
• Avoid profanity. 

Good luck!