Its funny that people say this. For me, I've almost always been with Telus. Their Retention department has been great to me over the years. Until recent, I never paid for than $50 for my plan (previously 6gb, lots of minutes, etc), but recently went to that 10gb plan that they were all hustling.

I do the same process for internet (both Shaw and Telus). Each company has their own process for getting better rates, but it rarely takes more than fifteen or so minutes a few times per year to get them.

I was with Rogers back in 2003 and had their retention give me a killer rate after a few months.

For mobile, I always dig through the loyalty threads on Howard Forums first so I know what to expect.

[1] https://www.howardforums.com/forum.php