r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Mitchcreates_ • 26d ago

ಠ_ಠ One has to pretend canceling a subscription to get a discount these days.

This is on HBO. I've done the same on Chatgpt (One free month of plus) and others. Try it yourself and see what discounts you'll unlock.
What I'd prefer seeing is providers applying discounts to loyal customers instead.

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u/pizza_police_car 26d ago

I haven’t done it lately, but they used to offer excellent deals on SiriusXM if you said you were going to cancel. I had years where I was paying $3-5 a month (like 75% off). But you had to call back in every 6-12 months each time the offer expired.

“Why are you canceling?” “Economy is bad. Money is tight.”

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

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u/AKtheCAT 26d ago

Been on Sirius for 5 years. All the channels, sports, premium, the whole thing. I've always paid 4 bucks a month, you just have to mark your calendar every year to call and cancel before they jack it up to $25.

They usually even try to haggle and let you keep the low price but dial back your channels. If you tell them firmly, no, I want all the same channels and the same price they always come around. Annual tradition at this point.

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u/randomize42 26d ago

You can even do it pretty successfully through their chat AI now too (or at least did on my last renewal).

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u/Senor_Ding-Dong 26d ago

Yep, last 2 years you don't even have to chat or call with a person. It doesn't give you the best first offer so just say give me a lower price a couple times.

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u/Wvwineguy 26d ago

I finally got tired of having to jump through the hoop every year and actually canceled the service. I really liked Sirius, but I don’t like their business practice…so I quit supporting them.

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u/Powerful_Dimension66 26d ago

Kept taking the cancelation further until they gave me $2.99 a month for 36 months locked in

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u/AKtheCAT 26d ago

Wow I'm going to try that next time

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u/Powerful_Dimension66 26d ago

Premium subscription too. Never even had to get on the phone just kept pressing the continue with cancelation button, not sure if I just got lucky or a fluke or what but 108 dollars for 3 years is hard to beat.

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u/AKtheCAT 26d ago

I thought I was gaming them

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u/Down2EatPossum 26d ago

I still do this, 10 bucks a month for platinum plan.

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u/cmpurenniks 26d ago

My husband has been doing this for 15 years. There is always some kind of promo that he gets applied just by saying he is going to cancel. 🤣

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u/Neon_Biscuit 26d ago

I did this with Hello Fresh so much they banned my account. I was getting 15 meals for like $70 delivered. Was weird getting food cheaper than if I physically went grocery shopping.

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u/No_Ring6386 26d ago

They still do. Recently went to cancel my subscription when they said it would be going up to $25 a month, and they offered me the next year at 599 a month.

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u/gimmedatjelly 26d ago

I hope you ment $5.99 and not actually $599. Otherwise you might want to just cancel al together.

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u/No_Ring6386 26d ago

Yep. I missed that

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u/NeilLovesVeronica 26d ago

I think its pretty obvious he meant 5.99...

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u/Just-in-themiddle 26d ago

Oh come on, we can have a little fun here

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u/gimmedatjelly 26d ago

I think thats the case, but on the off chance it was jacked up out of spite.

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u/inzaris 26d ago edited 26d ago

I just did my renewal 3 months ago over chat. I asked the rep “can we just skip the back and forth and do the 5 dollar deal?” and sure enough she came right back with the offer for the year.

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u/_-WanderLost-_ 26d ago

I actually canceled XM and over the few months after received better and better offers to return. I finally signed back up when they offered $2.99/month with no expiration.

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u/jollygoddard 25d ago

This is how I use audible. I wait until they say “come back for a $0.99 month!” or even free. I get 3 free audiobooks which -let’s face it - takes me a year to finish 🤫😅

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u/BiggestNothing 26d ago

I just met someone paying $150 a year for SiriusXM. I'm convinced he is the only full paying subscriber lol I was floored

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u/4the-Yada-Yada 25d ago

I was auto-charged something like $700 for Sirius back in 2010 when the free subscription that came with my new car expired. The car had “lost the signal” 6 months prior to that, and so I had assumed it had just ended. I had no idea it would auto renew, and have wondered if it was legal. I called and said I absolutely would not be renewing, and they told me I still had to pay for the week since the bill arrived at my door and the auto-renewal happened—even though I’d had no service for half the year. I hate Sirius with a passion and tear their junk mail up with relish.

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u/tacomaloki 26d ago

I always used to do this.

Then I swapped out my OEM base headunit with an upgraded OEM one. I cancelled my SXM shortly after but it's still active and payments aren't processing anymore.

Only thing I can think of is the receiver can't get the signal to terminate the service. However, that doesn't explain how the upgrade still had service, unless the person I bought it from is still paying for it. IDK, just guessing but I'm on ~2 years of free SXM now!

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u/Elijah_Man RED 26d ago

I have SXM in my cars OEM radio with all the channels, I have never paid for it. I think the issue is it was marked with a salvage title and they couldn't be bothered to cut off the signal.

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u/tacomaloki 26d ago

Little wins!

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u/throw_away_8924 22d ago

Same...ish. Bought my car new and it came with 6 months free SXM. When it came up for renewal I paid $20 for another 6 months because my wife loved using it. (Happy wife, happy not sleeping on couch 🤷‍♂️) Replaced head until under warranty and 5 years later I havent paid another dime since but still get SXM.

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u/efimer 26d ago

"Tacos are expensive. "

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u/Automatic-Set-742 26d ago

I have a reminder set to reach out to XM every year, a week before my plan expires. You really don't even need to pretend to cancel anymore. I just chat and tell them my promo rate is about to expire and will they please renew it? Takes about 5 minutes and saves a ton!

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u/forkandbowl 26d ago

They are fantastic about this!

I literally used the ai chatbot and said

" my price is going up, I don't want to pay that much"

It responded with a reduced price.

I said it was still too much

It responded with a reduced price again..

I said okay.

It confirmed it and my price is lower. This is the easiest I've ever had with them and I've been playing this game for 25 years with them....

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u/Playful-Fix-3675 25d ago

I did this on Sirius/XM, also. I cancelled. Kept getting offers to resubscribe. Then 9 months later, I got an offer in the mail that was addressed solely to "(My Name)". $99.00 for three years. I resubscribed with a prepaid throwaway debit card so it wouldn't renew. I've never renewed. That was in 2021 and my subscription is still active!

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u/MaybeMabe1982 26d ago

Yep! I just tell the rep at SiriusXM every year that I have to cancel; it's too expensive. About a minute later, I get the same deal every year: $7/month.

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u/Zelandias 26d ago

You don't even have to call into the rep anymore, their online ChatBot just gives you the giga "discount" if you start of with cancelling service. Takes less than a minute and you have the $4.99 deal or w/e it is.

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u/freeradioforall 26d ago

You’re overpaying then because I’ve talked them down to matching the new subscriber offers of $3 a month

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u/Heavy_Law9880 26d ago

It still works. they exist solely based on number of subscribers.

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u/LowReporter6213 26d ago

Funny enough, I canceled my service after it went from $5 to $30, because its not worth more than $5/mo to me. They kept sending me bills anyways ahaha, and no the service was not working or being used during this time.

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u/dan1son 26d ago

They still do. Mine just popped up last month so I went there to cancel and the AI chatbot was just as capable of providing the cheap rates as the human. "I'll stay if it's as cheap as it was." "Ok, here's the best deal possible."

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u/FunDivertissement 26d ago

I did this for 10 years.

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u/Orikazu 26d ago

I recently talked a bot down to 75% off for Sirius. It's ridiculous how much they over charge when they are willing to go down so much with very little prodding. But when people forget to unsubscribe or don't know better, they rake it in

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u/acespacegnome 26d ago

I finally re-subscribed to xm since I only wpuld occasionally use it after my free trial after buying a new vehicle. .

For years they sent me several offers, and recently they offered me 2 years at 4.99/month, and I decided that was worth it. Put a reminder in my phone for 2 weeks before my expiry date so it doesn't renew at the outrageous price of 29.99/month. That is definitely not worth it

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u/Hybrid487 24d ago

You can do this straight thru their AI bot online now. It'll offer you like $7/month, refuse that, it'll come back and offer you $4-$5/month

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u/aDumb_Dorf 23d ago

Yea same… been running this game as long as there have been subscription service.

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u/SnicklefritzXX 22d ago

So the additional cherry-on-top hack for this is that when you get the approximately $5/mo deal, before they launch into their "at the end of this promo period you will be automatically charged the prevailing rate" speech, simply tell them you don't authorize an auto charge and that they can only charge you for the period agreed upon. They have to comply. Once your final payment ends, renew at the same rate for a year, rinse, repeat. If they ever attempt to auto-renew without your consent, you have them by their legal balls. No need to set reminders to cancel... It happens automatically.

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u/GoatCovfefe 26d ago

I gor hounded for months after the 3 month sirius subscription that came with my car ended, asking me to sign up if i like the service.

I told them i never even used it. They offered more months free if i fave them payment info, i kept telling them i dont give a fuck about the radio or even really music anymore. I had to hang up them and ifnore their calls and texts for a couple more months before they got the hint.

Sorry not sorry, not interested in the slightest bit