DirecTv "new" customer?

[arihillfarm]

We (my DH technically) have been DirecTv customers for almost 6 years. We have one HD receiver and one standard receiver with the Choice Xtra package and that's it (no DVR, premium, etc.) and our bill is $94/month. He called yesterday to see about lowering our bill and the best they would do is $20/month so he said to cancel it at the end of our billing period (which is tomorrow). He was also told to call back after it cancels and see what deals they offer then? I found a great deal through Sam's Club for a $200 Sam's gift card with an intro. price for 12 months for new customers. Would I be considered to be a new customer for this purpose?

I'm also now reading about additional discounts for being a AAA member as well as for auto pay. Has anyone been able to combine those discounts with an intro offer?

If this doesn't work, I got a decent offer from our cable co. through which we currently have our internet and I'll just go with them. Of course, my DH refused to even mention the cable co. offer to DirecTv although I know that's the best way to get them to lower your bill. That's why I deal with pretty much all of the financial and billing stuff.

-Astrid

 

[Jeff_G]

From what I have read online its 2 years to get the "new" customer promotions. I switched from Directv to Dish because of the same issue $94 for a basic cable package is nuts. However over time you lose your new customer promotions and the other vendor increases their prices.

I just lowered my dish package and added hulu on top of netflix. I believe in a year or two I will cut cable all together and just go streaming.

 

[BCV2003]

For it to be considered new, you can put it in your name if your name is not currently on the account but you need to have a brand new phone number associated with it also. If you have a cell phone number that is not currently on the account you may be able to use that.

My new husband and I tried to get a similar promotion through Costco recently and failed. I haven't had Directv service in my name for over two years so I signed up as a new customer which was fine and gave them my cell phone number. Well the next day he gets a call about why I signed up for new service on his cell phone number. He didn't call them back and they then called me on my cell phone and asked how I knew him and said that my number was already associated with the account. I guess we had an issue once and used my cell to call and because of that it became associated with the account.

If we try again, we have a different number we'll use.

 

[arihillfarm]

From what I have read online its 2 years to get the "new" customer promotions. I switched from Directv to Dish because of the same issue $94 for a basic cable package is nuts. However over time you lose your new customer promotions and the other vendor increases their prices.

I just lowered my dish package and added hulu on top of netflix. I believe in a year or two I will cut cable all together and just go streaming.

Did you mean that two years have to pass before you can get the new customer offer? I do have my cell phone number that I can give them which is not currently on the account, but I didn't know if having the same last name and the same address would disqualify me.

-Astrid

 

[gshumaker]

We were a long time DTV family (10+ years) and 2 years ago called them to see what deals we could get since we wanted to upgrade to HD and a newer DVR. They would only give us something like $10/month discount, when a new subscriber could get everything we wanted for free and only pay about 1/3 the price for the 1st year and 1/2 the 2nd year. So I went online and registered as a new customer listing my dad's account as the referral (giving us both a $10 discount for 10 months) and using my cell phone with my same name and address that the existing account was listed. They came and installed the new equipment without ever asking about the dish on the roof and the existing boxes that I had. That night I cancelled the old account. Then the calls started begging me to come back and why did I leave. I told them that I had called asking for a few things and was told they could not do that and that I was told this on at least 3 occasions. The lady on the other end apologized and said she could give me everything that a new customer got since I was so valued. I told her that it was too late since I was under contact with "another" provider and I would consider coming back in 2 years. She told me that I could call any time and get my old account reactivated. Next month will be 2 years and I may give them a call to see what they will offer me since I am out of contract but do not expect anything any different as a 2 year customer since they would not do anything for a 10+ year one. If they don't I'll probably cancel again and see what they offer on my old account or maybe sign up again as a new account and get the $100 referal bonus again. We have 4 people in the house and we all have cell phones so a new number is easy to come up with as long as they play their game that a new customer is more valuable than a loyal one.

To the OP, cancel the account and sign up as a new one. In the end you will be ahead and not wasting your time seeing what they will offer you as an existing customer.

 

[gshumaker]

I'm also now reading about additional discounts for being a AAA member as well as for auto pay. Has anyone been able to combine those discounts with an intro offer?-Astrid

It looks like the AAA discount is on top of all others so yes you can combine them per my AAA location:

Enjoy a $10 bill credit every month for 20 months
EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR AAA MEMBERS!

Get $10 off every month on top of DIRECTV’s current promotional prices in your area—that’s a $200 savings. This offer is not available to the general public. Act now and get a free upgrade to Genie™, the most advanced HD DVR ever.​

I've read old posts too that said they got this with the $10/month referral bonus too. SWEET!!!

 

[arihillfarm]

It looks like the AAA discount is on top of all others so yes you can combine them per my AAA location:

Enjoy a $10 bill credit every month for 20 months
EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR AAA MEMBERS!

Get $10 off every month on top of DIRECTV’s current promotional prices in your area—that’s a $200 savings. This offer is not available to the general public. Act now and get a free upgrade to Genie™, the most advanced HD DVR ever.​

I've read old posts too that said they got this with the $10/month referral bonus too. SWEET!!!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the AAA discount and the $200 Sam's Club card, although if I had known that, I wouldn't have gotten the Sam's membership! We were seriously considering getting the membership again anyway, so it's not like it will go to waste, but I could have saved that extra $45 right off the bat by using the AAA discount. The refer-a-friend wasn't available with this offer either. But, my final savings is $575 for the first 12 months as a new DirecTv customer and the price the second year will be the same as what we're paying now, so I'll take it. That's still a little better than the $20 a month they offered my husband. Thank you everyone for your input!

-Astrid

 

[ICF]

I've read old posts too that said they got this with the $10/month referral bonus too. SWEET!!!

it's been a couple of years, but they wouldnt let me do the AAA & referral bonus when I signed up.

AAA was $10 off for 24 months back then, so it was the better option.

 

[sherry7]

My 2 year DirecTV contract is up in a couple of months. If they won't deal with me, I plan on switching to Dish network since the services are so similar.

Personally, I'd like to drop it all together and just use Hulu and our Amazon Prime videos. I'm still trying to convince DH of that though. We watch very little TV, mostly just cartoons for our DD.

 

[AidensMommy3]

We cancelled our DirectTv after having them for 4+yrs. we bought a outdoor antenna and use amazon prime. I'm still mad at myself for not leaving them sooner. We get about 9 channels with the antenna that are clearer than we ever had with directv! And it only cost about 50 bucks for a one time purchase!

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

We have DirecTv. We have one genie HD DVR and one regular HD DVR and 4 other receivers/boxes. So we pay for 6 boxes a month. We pay $10 a month each for the DVR's. We also have a warranty on all our TVs, tablets and computers through them. We have every channel they offer. And after discounts our bill is $160 a month.

We had been given some discounts awhile back and they started falling off and over the last 4 months our bill went from $160 a month up to $195 a month. DH just now mentioned it to me a few weeks ago so I called them and told them we need to get this bill lower so go ahead and cut off ALL MY premium channels. Knock it down to basic channels.

They offered me a few discounts that would get my bill back down to $160 a month with me keeping all my channels.

I didn't know they offered a AAA discount but I am not sure they would stack that on top of the current discounts I am getting. I might call them and see though. Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[MillauFr]

We cancelled our DirectTv after having them for 4+yrs. we bought a outdoor antenna and use amazon prime. I'm still mad at myself for not leaving them sooner. We get about 9 channels with the antenna that are clearer than we ever had with directv! And it only cost about 50 bucks for a one time purchase!

Yes we got an antenna too. Comcast kept jacking up our rates and when it crossed over $60 / month for internet & TV I said enough. I tried to cancel just the TV and they gave me some nonsense that my bill would go up if I canceled the TV. I said fine, cancel everything. They promptly transferred me to someone else and now I just get internet for $39.95 / month. No need to pay for TV when you can get it for free.