Contract ending - What to do?

B

Benji

New member
Hi all,

Our 2-year contract with ExpressVu is expiring on July 14 and I am wondering what to do. We want to stay with ExpressVu because of regional programming issues with the cable company in our area.

We have been renting, for free, for the past two years a 6100 and a 3100. As well, we had a $5 discount (not a price protection) on the programming plus free US channels. Both receivers were new and have been working well.

For the next year or two, our two options are:
  1. Keep renting the 6100 and 3100 for one or two years and then buy a MPEG 4 receivers.
  2. Rent a 9200 for one or two years and then buy a MPEG4 receiver.

Now, here are our questions:

  1. How do we go about getting a new deal:
    • When should we call ExpressVu (before or after July 14)?
    • Should we tell them that we want to cancel our subscription with a 30-day notice to get transferred to the retention department and get a deal? What if they say fine, don
 
you can take your chances with the retention dept (its worth a try i guess)
if you decide to rent a 9200, the contract will only be 12 months (unless its changed since i started renting my 9200)
mpeg 4 is being tested (as per a thread here, and on other sites) so dont buy any HD boxes, for now
unfortunately, just like the cell phone companies, you are an existing customer, and most deals are targeting new customers
i guess you could cancel, and then sign up as a new customer in your wifes name to take advantage of the new customer specials
good luck
 
Many people believe Bell ExpressVu will not have any (significant) amount of HD programming in MPEG-4 for about years; reps from Bell here have repeatedly talked about "2009" for the first MPEG-4 HD channels.

Given that, and 24 months = $240 and contract obligations, why not buy a brand new one for $250 and skip the contract penalties? When Bell moves to MPEG-4, you still have a perfectly good SD receiver and can turn it into cash.

You can also trade in your 3100 for a new 4100 today and rent that on a one year contract at $3/mth. SD programming isn't moving to MPEG-4 so it won't become "obsolete" in 2009. It's cheaper to rent than buy and you get "lifetime" rental warranty.

Bell has indicated new MPEG-4 enabled 9200s are coming late 2007. But the MPEG-4 part won't be "enabled" for about two years. Unless you want PVR in HD today, I'd wait at least till the new models come in.

Stick to 1 year contracts if you can and don't lock in any HD hardware as that's what's going to change eventually. SD hardware is not affected by MPEG-4.
 
There were (are?) deals for existing customers who upgrade to HD and a 9200. Free installation and 6 months free HD were the last I heard. There may be a break on the 9200 rental as well. Renting a 9200 for a year and then evaluating options is probably a good idea.

You could also check out what *C has to offer. They do not rent receivers and their HD PVR is relatively expensive.

Rogers has some decent deals here but local channels can be an issue.
 
When you calll to cancel there is a 30 days policy...

If you wanted your services cancelled on the 14th of July you needed to call on June 14th

The promo of 6 months of HD programming for free is a promo offered to clients that upgrades to HD, it is not for clients who already have HD

When you would call to cancel the CSR will ask you why you want to cancel, explain you the 30 days policy, advise you that there is a 50$ reconnection charge if you ever reconnect, put you on hold and transfer you to the retention departement. Deoending on the reason you will say you are disconnecting for they will make you an offer.

If they haven't convinced you during the 30 days they will attempt to call you again and bonify their offer

If you accept to stay you will be on a monthly basis...no more contract!
 
Thanks for the replies. If we do nothing, will we be subscribing to ExpressVu on a monthly basis after July 14 (i.e. not under contract). If so, can we keep on renting our receivers until the new HD PVR models are out and then buy the new receiver and return the rented ones without any penality? Of course, this will mean no deals.

Agent Express V: if we call to cancel and agree to an offer from the retention dept. why would we be on a monthly basis (and not on contract). We thought that the deals being offered to people trying to cancel were based on 12 or 24 months contracts?

Thanks again,
 
If you get an offer from the retention departement it doesn lock you in a new contract, unless you get new equipement on that deal, any new rental comes with a one year contract

Other than that, if you get a month, or 2 months free it doesn't lock you in a new contract
 
My contract is about to expire, and I'm not looking forward to my bill being jacked up to the modern pricing structure. If I call and tell them I want to cancel for this reason, is it likely they'll offer me some sort of deal? What reasons for cancelling are likely to result in being offered a deal? Also, can I retract my cancellation within the 30 days to ensure I won't have to pay a $50 reconnection fee?
 
I don't think it matters what you say. I know standard procedure for a CSR when speaking to a client who wishes to cancel is to ask why and then transfer to retention. Retention will make the offers, though when I called to cancel, I was not transfered to retention, not that I would have accepted any offer anyway.
 
You could always tell them your going to sign with cable or *C or maybe do like all your friends and just go FTA.

Any of those should get their attention.
If you're going to stay, might as well try and beat back a few of the rate hikes they've taken or will take at some time.

You should never pay any more than is absolutely necessary, after all, it's all the same television.
 
As soon as you say you want to disconnect it doesn't really matter the reason, we will explain the deactivation procedure, the 30 days policy, the break of contract if there is, the 50$ reactivation fee, then transfer to a retention agent

Then the retention agent will try to find out why you want to deactivate...if you say it's because of the price increase they will probably offer a 2 months free of 10% for 6 months. If you say because you want to upgrade to HD they maight offer free HD receiver for a year....the better your records are with the compagny, the nicer they will be to you

If you refuse all offer they will open a work order to cancel services on the 30th days after your call. In the meantime we will attempt to call you to make you a final offer
 
Agent Express V, thanks very much. If the customer changes their mind and calls back to reactivate within the 30 days, would they still be charged the $50 reactivation fee?
 
I assume no since within the 30 days the service has not actually been disconnected, but this is Bell so I could be totally wrong.
 
Whithin the 30 days there is no charges, service is no disconnected yet. And even when you reconnect it's no all agents that would think about going to had the 50$ so you might get reconnected with no charge...
 
What I find quite amusing is that people talk about ExpressVu and contracts like they would talk about cellphones. Really entertaining.

I never had a contract with my cell phones providers, and I still have perks and other advantages such as billing by-the-second. On the same token, I don't see why I would ever want a contract with cable or a DTH provider.

-gmd
 
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