This constant struggle against not being abused is a real pain. Very unpleasant. Although it probably works for people who are aggressive by nature and live to fight.

> Although it probably works for people who are aggressive by nature and live to fight.

As these people are in the minority, the companies can afford giving them the goodies - the "suckers" foot the bill regardless.

I haven't used them since I only have one bill I realistically have negotiation power on, but BillShark seems like a pretty good deal if they actually are skilled negotiators.

Recently had an issue with Verizon where they flat out refused to give us the new customer discount, regardless of how hard we pushed. Ended up leaving Verizon. Someone will give us the discount, I don’t care if it’s their competitor.

My parents have the 12 month "deal" expiration from Comcast on their calendar. Every time it expires, they call and say they want to cancel, causing another "deal" to happen. They fully expect it.

I used to do that as well. Now, I generally lock in the discount rate for 2 years on the call, cutting my work in half.

The opposite thing happens to me though - with regards to communicating with the telecom company. I usually do it over the phone, ensuring that I get escalated to their Customer Care manager, who in essence, have more power to give you better deals. I find most of the staff at kiosks for Telecom companies are only focused on selling, and does not have any power to provide you a deal that you cannot resist.

A lot of the "kiosk people" have more power than you'd expect. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding the one who has bothered to explore the system, or goading them into it.

I looked a little over the shoulder of one of the guys in the AT&T store. They can override pretty much all prices. For example this guy gave me a $39 plan for $19 because they had messed up a previous order. He just typed in different price numbers for each item on the bill. I assume they have a certain amount of discounts they can give away each month.

> You can go in and demand the "new customer" deals. I've done it several times with Comcast. It's a pain, but they will do it. Best to do it in person not on the phone. It's not possible online AFAIK.

Sadly, everyone's favorite darling Sonic.net doesn't do this. They will gladly charge long-time customers more than the advertised rate though.

I just tried this, although I guess I did so on the phone. Cox wouldn't budge.