Lower Your DirecTV Bill with These Tips

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A little over a year ago I made my first “I’d Like to Cancel, Please,” call to DirecTV.  This wasn’t exactly an attempt to lower my DirecTV bill; rather, I was fully ready to cut-the-cord and try lower/no cost entertainment alternatives going forward.  Well, the phone call with DirecTV went better than I expected, and I ended up keeping the service.

You can read all about last year’s experience in my piece, “Cutting the DirecTV Cord and Why I Ultimately Stayed.”

The deal I was given was for 12 months, so August 28th marked the end of my savings, and the date I needed to make another call to DirecTV to fight one more money-saving battle.

Now, I’m not the type who enjoys these calls.  I’d rather not have to make them at all.  Some love the haggle, working someone over until you get the deal you want…that’s not me.  But, if I want what I feel is a reasonably priced television option, then I take a deep breath and make the call.

But not before I do way more research than most would be willing to do.

And it’s what I learned as a result of all that research that helped with my latest calls, and what I’ll pass along in this post to help you get a deal, too.

My First Call

So, mid-August, 2017, I call the DirecTV customer service number on the DirecTV website and work my way through the automated segment of the call, saying “cancel service” when appropriate.

My intention was to try not to cancel, but if I had to, I would.

When my call was answered by a customer service rep, I explained I had a 12-month deal that was expiring in a few weeks, and I didn’t want to continue my DirecTV service at the price it would rise to without the deal’s monthly credit.  Because of that, I’d like to set up a disconnect date for the final day of my contract. She went through the typical…I see you’ve been a customer since ___ we appreciate your business, etc, etc.  She then said while I didn’t have any offers on my account, she could continue my current credit ($50 off per month) for one more month, give me 6-months free of HBO and free Sunday Ticket.  Not bad.

But, a true deal maker likely would have said no thanks simply because the per month savings was for only one month.

It was obvious the deal was to string me along for one more month while I got hooked by the 6-months free of HBO, Sunday Ticket and, by the time that one extra month ended, the new fall TV season will have begun making a disconnect potentially less likely.

Knowing all that as soon as she offered the deal, I still said yes.

Avoid additional haggling at the moment, and get a deal that I liked even though it was only for one month was my thinking.

She finished the call by saying to call back after this deal expired to see if any other longer-term offers had become available on my account.

I thanked her and quickly marked September 28 as my next Call-DirecTV-Date.

The clock was ticking.

My Second Call

September 28th, 2017, rolled around and I was ready to make my call.

During my research, it appeared some deal hunters were being offered the same $50/month off deal I had received the previous year, more were being given a $35/month bill credit, and a small number were being offered nothing at all.

Piecing together why one person gets one deal, while another gets a different one, isn’t easy.  Too many factors at play to be able to narrow that down without a scientific analysis.

I just look at the fact that deals are being given and work to get a money savings offer that works for me.  I’m not necessarily going to fight for the absolute best deal.  If I’m offered something I feel is fair to me, I’ll take it and forgo the additional haggling.

Which is what happened during my second call.

I initially called a telephone number via which many seemed to be getting the best retention offers.  It turned out, though, that if you hadn’t already had your service disconnected, they couldn’t work with you…at least that’s what the rep said.  She was very nice about it, and transferred me to another rep who she said could help me.

The first rep with whom I spoke had already informed the second rep I wanted to cancel because of my bill credit coming to an end, so she was ready to go with an offer.

She said she could offer a $35 per month bill credit with a 12-month commitment.  Knowing there were better deals out there, I asked if she could do any better – I was hoping to keep my bill close to what it had been the previous year.

She did some looking and said I could drop to the lowest tier of service ( I was currently on the Entertainment package), the Select package, and get my monthly bill within $4 of what it had been the previous year.

The only thing I’d really miss out on was ESPN.  And I mentioned that.  To which she said she’d throw in the Sports Pack for 6-months free (note: the Sports Pack does not include ESPN), and said I could move between packages, paying the difference, whenever I wanted and still maintain the monthly credit.

For me, that was good enough.  If there is a game or games I really want to see on ESPN, I’ll move to the Entertainment package and then drop back when I’m done.  I took the deal.

Could I have gotten a better deal if I said no, and asked to disconnect my service?  Maybe.  But as I said earlier, the deal that was offered was good for me, so I took it.

And my monthly television/DVR bill stays in line with what I feel is a fair price for what is offered – roughly $50 per month.

Now I’ll enjoy my reasonably priced DirecTV bill until next year when I’ll start the call process once again.

My 2018 DirecTV Call

The bill credits from my 2017 call were scheduled to drop from my DirecTV bill at the end of September, so I needed to prep for my 2018 DirecTV call.

I reviewed the tips below, scanned the SlickDeals threads (also below) to get an idea what kinds of retention deals DirecTV subscribers were getting in the previous weeks/months, and planned my call strategy.

Pretty much, I followed the tips I suggest in the next section – setting up a disconnect date and waiting for contact from DirecTV with retention deal offers, knowing from the SlickDeals threads what a “good” deal currently is.

And boy did those tactics pay off.

I won’t go into detail on how my attempts to get a better DirecTV deal went – if you want to read the specifics, you can do so at “Here’s How My 2018 DirecTV Lower-My-Bill Call Went.”

Rather, I’ll just post the specifics of my deal and its final pricing.

2018 DirecTV Deal

• Upgrade to Choice Package
• 12-months of HBO
• 6-months of Cinemax
• 4-months of Showtime
• 3-months of Movies Extra Pack

Total Monthly Charge (including all taxes/fees) – $47.49

I was able to increase the number of channels while lowering my monthly bill by $5.74!

The deal I was able to get this time around is a $75 per month credit on the regular Choice Package price of $105 per month (taxes/fees make up the difference in final pricing).

I was very happy with my 2018 retention deal.

Yes, I likely could have done better…you can read my thoughts on that in the full post’s link above…but I was more than content with the deal I got.

2019 DirecTV Deal

Once again, the credits from last year were rolling off and my DirecTV bill was going to skyrocket to a price I wasn’t willing to pay.

My 2019 call was made and while the deal wasn’t as good as in the past, I was still able to save.

You can read the specifics associated with my efforts to save on my 2019/2020 DirecTV bill in my post “My 2019 DirecTV Retention Call Was a Mixed Bag, But in the End I Saved – and Made – Money.”

A quick rundown of the 2019 deal is:

• Choice Package (all included)
• 3-months of HBO, Starz, Showtime and Cinemax
• $200 Visa gift card
• Was offered NFL Sunday Ticket free of charge (declined)

Total Monthly Charge (plus tax) – $53.48

Unfortunately, that price point is only for the first three months – it’s tied to the movie channels deal – it will increase to $67.47 plus tax unless I call to negotiate further.  Which I plan to do when I call to cancel the movie channels.

Read on for the tips that should allow you to get a similar deal on your DirecTV service.

Tips to Lower Your DirecTV Bill

To negotiate your best deal, more times than not, you’ll have to threaten to cancel.  And, in some cases, you’ll have to actually go through with a service disconnect before you’ll be offered a deal.  Only you can decide if you want to go that far to save on your DirecTV bill.

Here are some tips I’ve gleaned researching how to save on my own DirecTV bill.

To begin, always be nice to the DirecTV reps with whom you’re speaking.  Being nice may not get you a deal, but venting your frustrations, or just being a jerk, definitely could make the rep less motivated to even check.

During the automated telephone prompts, and then again when speaking with a live rep, be sure it’s clear you’re interested in canceling your service due to the bill being too high.

It appears DirecTV’s system populates deals on each customer’s account based on publicly unknown criteria. I’m sure length of service, past deals offered/taken advantage of, current tier of service, etc., play into it.  What’s important is, reps really can’t cut deals, the main offers are either on a customer’s account or they’re not, and no amount of haggling will change that.

However, deals seem to populate on individual accounts at various times.  If you don’t have a deal on your account now, you might in a month when a credit falls off, or something else changes with your account.

Reps do seem to have some discretion with other types of offers – free months of HBO/Showtime/Cinemax, a one-time credit, etc.

The ultimate change to your account that most likely will populate a deal is a disconnect.  Which is why that’s the route to go to get the best deals.

Setting up a disconnect date a few weeks out sometimes generates retention deals.  You may get a retention email with an offer, or a telephone call during which the rep will present an offer.  If you’ve set up a disconnect date, you always want to watch your inbox/spam folder and answer calls from DirecTV!

If it gets to within a day of the disconnect date with no retention offers being made, a proactive call will sometimes prove fruitful. Call and say something like, “I have a disconnect set for tomorrow, just wanted to see if there were any deals that would keep me as a customer?”  That sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t.

If it doesn’t, and you want to keep your DVR settings intact, unplug your DVR receiver from the cable connection the evening before your service is scheduled to be shut off.  This usually will keep your DVR’d shows and your TV Series Manager/To Do List from being erased.  Then, if your service is shut off, you can still access DVR’d shows. Update late August 2019: A DirecTV software update may no longer allow DVR’d shows to be viewed after a disconnect. Removing the coax cable and keeping the DVR/reciever unconnected to Wi-Fi/Internet may still allow the DVR to be accessed after a disconnect.

Service shutdowns usually occur around midnight of the disconnect date.  Reconnect your receiver – or check a non-DVR receiver – the next morning to see if your service was indeed shut off.

If service was shut off, you can call, once again, to see if any retention offers have been added to your account.  Some reports show it takes 24 hours after service has been disconnected to have offers populate on an account.

The phone number(s) that seems to work best at getting deals once your service has been shut off is/are: 1-855-291-0398 or 877-445-0625.

If you still can’t get a deal even after your service has been shut off for 24+ hours, you’ll have a decision to make.

Sometimes, the box in which you return your DirecTV equipment will have an offer to lure you back, but I wouldn’t count on that.

So it’s time to either let the cancelation stand, or call back and say you’ve changed your mind and want to re-establish service.  Which likely will be at the price you didn’t want to pay.

But, you won’t be on a contract, so after a month or so, you can try calling again to get a deal.

And, one other option, if you have a spouse or other household member, you can have him/her begin service with DirecTV using one of the many new customer deals that are out there.  Address doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor in starting new service, it’s the individual’s personal/credit information in which the service will be activated.  Just be aware of the latest new-customer price changes..you can read more in our piece “Is This a Bad Omen for DirecTV Deals Going Forward.”

Get Timely DirecTV Deal Info

Depending on when you read this, some of the deal information may be out of date.  SlickDeals has a long-standing thread titled, “DirecTV customers – Free offers to stay with DirecTV.”  Click the link below, select the oldest post on the thread (it’s currently on page 437 of the thread on Oct. 25, 2017) and click back a ways to get a feel for what the latest offers are.

SlickDeals DirecTV Deals Thread 

While the above thread still has some current DirecTV deal postings, a newer SlickDeals thread is much more active with recent DirecTV bill lowering experiences.

I’d recommend giving the above link a quick look, but focusing more on the SlickDeals link below for a larger population of current deals.  I’ve started the link with postings mid-July 2018.  Again, depending on when you’re reading this, select the oldest posts on the thread and click back a ways to get a good feel for the latest offerings.

DirecTV Has Crazy Retention Deals Right Now

Wrap Up

Pay television, whether it’s DirecTV, Dish, or one of the many cable providers can get extremely expensive once the initial savings offers drop off.

But you don’t have to continue paying that exorbitant amount month after month, year after year.  Use the tips from this post, and going forward, the suggestions/deals on the SlickDeals thread to negotiate your way to a more economical DirecTV bill.

And if the deal you’re offered is still too much, search Savings Beagle for our cut-the-cord options that most definitely will save you money.

What deals have you gotten from DirecTV? Let us know in the comments section, and be sure to help others lower their DirectTV bill by passing this post along via email or social media!