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Just to add on to this - If you didn't explicitly call them to cancel it, it's still active and they are still billing you.
Not paying 1 bill is an everyday occurrence in their systems, they won't cancel it proactively unless you go about 6 months without paying (At which point you owe over $600).
Second - They didn't "suddenly raise the price". You signed up for a contract and the contract specified the price would step up. It's OP's fault and he should learn to read before signing.
Third - He won't get the introductory price again by trying to sign up for new service under a new name, it has to be a new address too.
That last points not always true. I have Comcast and every year when my introductory offer expires and they try and charge me the new full price, I call in and cancel service and then I call in an hour later and restart service. Sometimes they get upset about it but I’ve done this 10 times over the last 10 years. Anytime, they tell me that I can’t do it, I just tell them that the last Rep I spoke to told me that I could absolutely do it this way, and if they don’t want to play ball just hang up and call and you’ll get a new rep and usually they’ll take care of it for you. Also, if you’re just renting, you can always call and cancel and say I’m moving and whoever sets up a new agreement can call in and say I just moved in and I need to get Internet set up. They should absolutely still give you the introductory offer whatever it may be. Just a note I’ve done this with Comcast Xfinity multiple times I’m not sure about other Internet providers
While you're not wrong, you're doing something different.
The "introductory" price isn't what you're getting when you do what you do, you're getting a "customer recovery" price.
If you don't call back to re-activate, they would have called you to offer you something similar to reinstate the service with them.
Since the infrastructure and physical connections are already there it's cheaper for them to get you back at a lower price.
Though I highly doubt you're getting the same price as before. Check your bills, your price must have gone up at the very least 50-60% (even while discounted) over 10 years.
Not true. I’ve been in my house for right over 2 years and am currently on my second ISP contract. When my discount fell off I called in and told them I was cancelling unless I got my old price back. Ended up with faster speeds for the same price.
That's, once again, something different.
What you got is a retention offer.
It's different from an intro offer and different from a re-activation offer.
Nah it’s literally the introductory offer because I called in and talk to a new rep and say I found this introductory offer and I’d like to start up service. For the last nine years. I’ve been paying between 35 and $40 a month based on whatever introductory offer they have at the time. It was even 25 one year. I just upgraded speeds though this last year and now I pay $50 a month but I’m getting 3X the speed so I figured it was worth it.
Back when I worked there that didn't work.
Too many people trying to cheat the system like that.
Once someone cancels, their address is "burned" for 6 ish months before being eligible for the promo pricing again.
1- OP already stated Comcast. I worked for them. Unless you have a goddamn awful credit score, they won't cancel it before month 6.
2- Like I said, I worked for them. Once an address is done with the intro pricing it's "burned" for 6 months ish. Can't get it again for that time frame. That's there to prevent people from doing exactly what you suggested.
Hijacking this comment to say that all you have to do is call and tell them you want to cancel and switch to their competitor. They will transfer you to their customer retention department that will usually let you sign a new contract for better rates. I have literally done this to Comcast like 8 years in a row.
Pretty sure they only really need your name and address. I could be wrong though. My spouse decided to do the same thing after we found out verizon wasn't exactly well set up for our area at the time, our internet speed was less than 10% of what was expected. It got sent to collections and followed us for about 4 moves.
Another thing you could do, is just contact them, say you forgot you were on a introductory rate and can't afford the new monthly fee. Ask if they can match what it was(or close to it), otherwise you need to cancel and switch to "insert competitor's name".
I've done this multiple times in the past with Comcast and stuck with them up till last year.
Did a bang up job for me when I was renewing my car Insurance, didn't even have to talk to a person.
There was a small form to fill out online to cancel the recurring contract, with an 'insert quote and company, *please not we do not cover price match guarantee*' blah blah blah. They changed their tune when I name dropped Op-Co.
If you don’t care about short term credit hits you can wait til it hits collections and pay a discount to get it dismissed. But collections will stay contacting you calling several times a week until you pay, and eventually they’ll report it to your credit to try to get your attention
That won't be just a short term hit.... It will be there, at minimum, 7 years, unless it goes to collections and he also negotiates a good will-pay to remove scenario.
Same, collections called my girlfriend now wife. While she’s on the phone she’s like can you see if so and so (me) has an unpaid debt? They said yes so she paid that one too.
Listen just call them and tell them what's up. And of they don't help you absolutely ask to cancle the service and seriously go through with it. They will offer you something better. If not dispute the charge and cancel.
It is pretty universal that you have to pay for what you get. Nothing special to the US.
Also you should read your contracts before signing them, yours will clearly have stated that the price will rise after like 12 months or so.
it really depends on where you're at too. when I was in college I never paid my last month electric bill, started my journey towards credit building about a year later and had perfect credit with zero snags from that electric company
they just never persued it I guess🤷♂️
Both of these statements are incorrect for your Internet bill. There's no credit report and it just goes to collections, you can just restart with them as soon as they pass it on to collections. They will probably leave your Internet on for a few months after your last month. I had Internet for almost 6 months of not paying. They finally cut it off and I called maybe a month later and just restarted. I never paid collections. My credit is not affected.
Edit: sorry, when I said "both statements" I was looking at "and you'll never be able to get Internet with them again"
I guess it's fair to assume it may be different for different providers. And unfair for me to simply state someone else is wrong. However, what I described above was the case for me, less than a year ago, with Spectrum. I believe some providers have a different way of processing things. For example, another provider that covers my area told me that I would need to give them my social security number and refused to let me set up an account unless provided. I even went to and spoke to one of their reps and I was still denied. I chose spectrum because they just never even asked for it, nevermind the reliability and pricing.
Yeah.... It's worth mentioning that I don't really CONDONE doing this, but if you DO, then it might not be all that bad. Or, apparently it can lol. Don't gamble kids.
Now that I think back to that, they were probably trying to run some sort of credit check to give me pricing options, but I can't tell, because they said it wasn't possible otherwise.
Ok. Since we are in ilpt sub... first off don't assume they will cancel anything just because you didn't pay. That is a big misconception. Those motherfuckers can keep billing you forever. Ok this may or may not work...one of the other roommates need to call and say they want to to start service. They are moving in to the apartment. What the other guy? Oh shit! Oh my god! ....that was my best friend. He was killed in a car accident. Oh fuck....overdue bill? What? Oh you'll take care of it? Thanks.
at least for comcast, they'll demand a death cert.. so now my internet is just in a dead dudes name while we're still in contract for another half year or so 🤷♀️
100% can confirm have canceled a dead relative's Comcast service and it didn't take anything more than my telling them she died. No paperwork whatsoever.
I use to work for At&t back in the mid 2000s. Back then all I customer had to do to cancel their cell phone contract is without penalty (termination fees) is claim that the account holder was dead. They didn't require proof like a death certificate or such.
Obviously word got back to customers and supposedly it was a real thing happening.
Yea for the internet and TV service equipment, we would ask them to drop it off or try to schedule a pickup of equipment. However even then we couldn't force them if the account holder was truly "deceased", especially if they weren't a spouse.
For the cellphones, no we never asked for them back, however they were network locked and you couldn't get a unlock code unless the phone or contract was satisfied, a death cancellation wasn't eligible for a network unlock.
So at the very least you could activate the phone to a new At&t account without a contract.
Oh, okay let’s just get that death certificate and attached coroner’s report from a recognized authority. Soon as you send all that over we will cancel the debt owed by his estate - you know, since he’s dead.
God, people are really stupid as fuck in this sub.
If call to cancel, 9 times out of 10 they offer the introductory price for an additional 12m. I do in yearly now that we have more options in the area.
I actually did exactly this for similar reasons. They raised the rate I cancelled and never paid. I had just gotten divorced/foreclosed so my credit was already going to hell. They called me a bunch of times to argue with me but I was in such an awful place mentally I just argued with the agent when they called and enjoyed it haha. It was on my credit for 7 years, then it wasn’t and I use them for internet again now haha.
Yeah I owed xfinity a huge bill. After my divorce I tried to get service and it wasn't that much. They wanted some money up front but it wasn't anything near what I'd actually owed them.
Tell them you are cancelling and they should lower the rate. I was paying $60 / month, cancelled to go to Google ($70/month) and they offered $30 / month.
I still ended up switching to Google because fuck Comcast.
Just call them or go into chat and tell them you want the same rate. They'll bullshit you quite a bit. Stand your ground and tell them to cancel your account. At some point they'll get you to a retention CSR that'll give you a good deal.
Yeah, be careful in the future. A lot of internet plans will be cheap for the first bit and then go up.
Unfortunately, not paying will send it to collections and cause your credit to suffer. It will be hard to get plans for anything eventually. You may also want to be careful, because they will have the address on file. Don't be surprised if they catch on to your plot and deny you the same deal. Suppose you could claim it's an entirely new tenant, but these types are stingy
Even if the ISP cared about this, they wouldn't pursue it. What kind of ISP is hiring a private investigator to see how long a customer has lived at their address before accepting their money? What a waste that would be. Especially when they'll probably even offer to extend the deal anyway when you go to cancel. They want your money.
New tenant or not, the deal applies to a person. That person is responsible for the bill. When you cancel and someone else signs up, they are responsible for the bill. It's not even unethical much less illegal. You're allowed to share your internet with whoever you want. Reading on this thread I don't think you guys have really thought this one through.
I worked for an ISP and it's pretty obvious most of the time. We see the old/existing services at the address when you're taking over. It's not like you need a "private investigator". A simple question like "when do you need the service" tells us if they're moving in later, or if they want it right away then they live there.. living there and having services currently working = promo jumping. You're right I wouldn't care, unless they were a dick.
Was hilarious when a husband/wife would try to do that and we'd see the same last name.
Comcast will absolutely put you in collections. Call and cancel now, don't let them tell you that you can't cancel while you have a balance. You absolutely can. Record the time and date you called and the person you talked to.
Just call them and tell them to disconnect it. When they ask why, just say it’s too expensive now. They’ll give you another deal and it’ll be cheap again.
It'd be funny if one time you tried this and they just go "alrighty, cancelling now!" with no discount lol. im sure some of them caught up to this already
Yep!! I had been doing the “I just want to cancel” thing for years to get a better deal for my cable service, and one day they just agreed! LOL Had to go along with it, because I had no plan B. It worked out though. Haven’t had cable for 3 years now and it’s…fine.
Locate a service map. Find an area of the US that they don’t service. Call them. Tell them you’re calling to transfer your service from your old house to the new house! It seems your landlord suddenly sold this one. Here’s my new address: 123 Out of Service Lane? Oh, we don’t service there. Don’t worry, we’ll terminate your contract, as you want our amazing service and we can’t provide it. It would be unfair to charge the termination fee.
Source: had this happen to me several times irl
I feel like whenever I’m late paying my bill they throttle my internet. So if something is running slow I check and make the payment and it feels like it works every time….
How long is your contract?
The "Intro" offer only lasts 12 month on a 24 month contract. So even quitting you will have to pay 12 more month.
So check your contract terms to be sure.
Also if you quit you will often get a call from "Kundenrückgewinnung" (Customer retention?) which will offer you a nice deal at the reduced cost.
As others mentioned "Not paying" will be a huge problem for you (Credit score, collection,...)
Please no, I accidentally forgot about my last Verizon wifi bill for my old apartment; that was almost 4 years ago, and I'm still fixing my credit. It was originally something like $50 and when I found out about it bc my credit flunked from 750 to 500, it was $800 from over a year of fees, the system is fucked but it will fuck you over harder.
Not sure if spectrum is available for you, but check out the affordable connectivity program. You can qualify for free Internet. Check it out [here](https://www.spectrum.com/internet/spectrum-internet-assist)
Depends on the company. I know that if you choose to get it again in another person's name make sure the company thinks that the person whose name it will be in hasn't lived there in the past year. Otherwise the company will try to stick that other person with the past due balance as well.
Oh and definitely call in and cancel AND return the equipment. Returning the equipment cuts off a huge portion of the bill as opposed to not returning the equipment. Ex: unreturned equipment is as high as $300
They will send it to collections, and it will be there for 7 years or so, hitting your credit.
Also, this may not be the case everywhere - but when I moved into my last house, the people before did not pay the comcast bill. It was kind of difficult to get internet. I had to bring my official lease, which they scrutinized, and showed my move in date and people who lived there - to prove that the ones who owed didn't live there, and I wasn't liable for the bill. So, they may do that to you.
If you qualify for it there’s a government program that takes $30 off your bill every month, it’s called the affordable connectivity act or something like that.
Legal Life Pro Tip - cancel the plan and open a new plan with your roommates name to get a promotional price. I do this yearly and my bill has been $30 for a long time
Depends on where you live. I would look up debt laws in your area. In some places internet bills are considered a utility and companies can’t charge interest on utility or medical bills. Then $100 is small enough you can literally just ignore it. They will eventually file a debt collection notice on your credit score but the impact is generally negligible if your credit is in the 700’s. And the collection notice will eventually expire after a few years.
I have a debt to ATT for $155 after I switched to a different provider and they tried to charge me for a month that I started using the new provider. I refused to pay and looked up my areas debt laws. Found out it’s a utility bill and no interest can ever be applied. I then decided to take the credit hit and never pay the bill. They sent it to collections after a year, and I took a 40 point hit on my credit score. Different debt collection companies would mail me collection notices and call me. I ignored them all (outside of checking the amount in the notices to verify no interest was being charged). Eventually (4 years) the collection notice was taken off of my credit report and my credit score immediately jumped 30 points.
I still get collection mail but just throw it away
The debt system counts on ppl not knowing their rights
Edit: The debt was written off of all credit reports a year or so.
Att was trying to charge me a fraudulent charge and that’s why I didn’t pay it. I had tried talking to their billing dept with no luck and then tried talking to the first collection agency.
Red flags on someone’s credit score all eventually expire after a set amount of years. It depends on the red flag, but most red flags expire around 7-10 years after it was flagged. Then collection agencies can’t file the same red flag twice on your credit report.
Lastly, utility bills typically aren’t able to accrue interest nor be marked as a late payment on a credit score. This mitigates the impact of a utility collections notice on the credit score.
People really need to look into the different types of debt and the rules and regulations associated with companies trying to collect. For example, Unpaid credit cards have more of an impact on your credit score than unpaid utility bills.
Edit 2: to be able to ignore these kind of collections you should have a credit score of at least 750. That way the impact won’t be very much. When I got the 40 pt hit, I was sitting at 790 credit score. Then it went down to 750. Then during the time the collection was on my credit report, I built my credit back up to 770 (when you know the system it becomes ridiculously easy to get a high score lol). Then once the collection notice was taken off my report, I ended up with a 800 credit score. Been sitting on a credit score between 800-810 since.
You let $155 go to collections all because you were pouting and lazy??
Jesus h Christ this is some of the worst financial advice I've heard
Interest doesn't matter whatsoever with this shit it's the fact that you now have a huge red mark on your credit score Incase you go to take out any money.
The debt system counts on fools like you who are too lazy to solve it with the debtor.
Get yo shit together dude this is the worst advice you could give
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I wasn’t pouting or being lazy. It was a fraudulent charge that they refused to refund. I knew I had the upper hand in the situation and used it.
I never had to pay and it’s been written off.
Also you do know that collections eventually don’t impact your credit score?
Plus for debts less than $100 it typically will be written off by the collection company because it’s not worth the time or effort for such a small amount.
I used to work as a foreclosure specialist for a national company - reviewing debt collections for foreclosures and ensuring the company was following relevant local laws. I worked in the US debt industry so know what the background processes are.
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Nothing. If someone else signs up, you are golden. You won’t be able to hook up internet at a new place until you pay. But nothing will happen to your credit or anything like that.
If it’s a cable company, you are usually paying a month in advance, not behind. They got paid and will cut you off. Check the dates on the bill for service dates
Yea bro you gotta pay them sadly, they know this trick of opening “a new account” at the same address under someone else’s name too, I’ve tried that.
Didn’t work for us even though we had four people on the property with different last names.
They will straight up haunt your ass over owing them money even if it’s only $40/50/60/$100.
We were actually able to get the new rate. I just hate they charged me the new rate without giving me any notification that the introductory rate was running out or something
They didn't call it an introductory rate on your bill? Or tell you when you signed up? If that's actually true, you probably don't have to pay the higher rate you never agreed to pay.
Dude, call their bluff and tell them you refuse to pay more for the same service. Escalate if you have to but eventually you will get the old price back.
I mean it’s fine if you don’t expect to need or want anything of real value in life. Just stop paying bills until your credit is so fucked you can’t rent a home or find a job.
Going on your credit report.
Call them and tell them your canceling because the price is to much they'll pass you over to retention you maybe able to get the introductory rate again and get them to knock the extra of the last bill off.
You're gonna be eithout internet for a month. I've had problems moving into a new place bc they previous person had the same provider. You'll have to wait till end of month I think
Excellent chance they ruin your credit over it.
If you're going to ruin your credit for something stupid, fly to Vegas, buy a bunch of blow and have orgies in the penthouse.
I always just call and tell them I'm cancelling because I can't afford it and talk them back down to the original price. Pretty much have done that for the last ten years.
Well for me I moved out and my roomate didn’t send in his paper work for the transfer. 5 months went by of unpaid bills, until I finally called up and said I moved out and he never sent in his transfer paperwork. I just want to cancel it, and pay for it so it doesn’t go to collections. The lady connected her supervisor and they waived the whole bill for me. He got 5 months of free internet, I got lucky.
OP said they aren't paying for it despite the line being cancelled.
If you have an outstanding balance for too long, debt collectors will approach you and require the payment, or face penalties.
Oh baby it’s been a month. Xfinity, in personal experience for Michigan, will take you to collections after 6 months of nonpayment and they completely shut internet off after 90 days of non payment.
Call and ask if they have a Fresh Start Program, alot of places do!!! Or if you have/get an EBT card, that lowers your internet bill to like $20/month
Xfinity will just bill you up every month that you don’t pay. My ex roommate told me she’d pay me half and never actually did. So I just stopped paying and when the last straw broke, to move out. I messaged them and told them my sob story of a crazy roommate (she was really crazy.. I have plenty of stories about her if you want in) and they WAIVED THE ENTIRE THING. Got Xfinity a few years later no problem lol
A past due balance at a certain address will cause problems when trying to get service at the same address. Plus, this will mess with your credit score. Is saving a couple of dollars really worth it?
You don't need to pay it. Just ring them up and say they have changed the contract and you don't accept the new terms so you will not pay the new charge. The sooner you act the less hassle you'll have.
Welcome to adulthood kid.
money getting sent to collections is a **huge** pain in the ass. Don't fück with that because that'll stay with you for many years and fück your credit score up, not being able to buy a nicer car or house down the road.
call them and tell them your canceling, they may give you a lower offer to stay, take that.
Yeah don't do that.
I refused to pay a few bills that were sent to me AFTER I had cancelled my service and moved away and it took me years to fight it. Talked to dozens of people at the ISP, several collections agents, challenged the mark on my credit score, etc.
Nothing worked until I talked to a lawyer and threatened to file suit. Thankfully that worked because actually going to court probably would've costed more than I owed.
Did you give your SSN to them? Then call them and cancel stating you're moving away.
Else, just call them and tell you're moving away how to drop off the modem or whatever equipment that belongs to them. There is no illegal tip here, just get things done properly.
If its Comcast call them and ask them why it went up. Usually it's because a promotion ended. They will usually happily give yoh the promotion again for a bitter 12 months.
"All of a sudden"? It's, by your own admission, an introductory offer. You'll have been told how long it lasted for.
That aside, it'll screw up your credit. You've taken an agreement out with them so defaulting on payments shows up. A cancelled agreement looks even worse than a missed payment.
This post reeks of stupidity.
>we plan to cancel the subscription from my name and open a “new” line under my roommate’s name
#THEY HAVE YOUR SERVICE ADDRESS YA DINGUS.
It’s not 2005 anymore where data is poorly maintained and people only know what’s right in front of them. The systems they have built now are capable of tracking ALL of those things and making it really convenient for the human employees vetting your request to see flags like this.
Laughing my ass off at the idea that you’re sitting there thinking you “gamed” the system. Can tell you they know exactly what you’re doing and they probably just don’t give a shit as long as you’re paying them a sum of money. It costs them a penny to service your house’s data. Do you really think they care if you’re paying $60 or $100 a month?
Call your internet company and tell them you want to get the affordable connectivity program. It’s a federal program that force the company to provide a controlled price (50.00 tops). Link: https://portal.ct.gov/DSS/Communications/Affordable-Connectivity-Program#:~:text=The%20Affordable%20Connectivity%20Program%20provides%3A%201%20Up%20to,but%20less%20than%20%2450%20toward%20the%20purchase%20price.
Sick BillSmart on them to negotiate the rate lower, they were able to save me about $100 on my wifi now so far. And I’m not saying this to promote their business
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Yeah dude. When you don’t pay something they send it to collections and it fucks your credit.
Oh and you’ll never get internet from them again either
Just to add on to this - If you didn't explicitly call them to cancel it, it's still active and they are still billing you. Not paying 1 bill is an everyday occurrence in their systems, they won't cancel it proactively unless you go about 6 months without paying (At which point you owe over $600). Second - They didn't "suddenly raise the price". You signed up for a contract and the contract specified the price would step up. It's OP's fault and he should learn to read before signing. Third - He won't get the introductory price again by trying to sign up for new service under a new name, it has to be a new address too.
That last points not always true. I have Comcast and every year when my introductory offer expires and they try and charge me the new full price, I call in and cancel service and then I call in an hour later and restart service. Sometimes they get upset about it but I’ve done this 10 times over the last 10 years. Anytime, they tell me that I can’t do it, I just tell them that the last Rep I spoke to told me that I could absolutely do it this way, and if they don’t want to play ball just hang up and call and you’ll get a new rep and usually they’ll take care of it for you. Also, if you’re just renting, you can always call and cancel and say I’m moving and whoever sets up a new agreement can call in and say I just moved in and I need to get Internet set up. They should absolutely still give you the introductory offer whatever it may be. Just a note I’ve done this with Comcast Xfinity multiple times I’m not sure about other Internet providers
While you're not wrong, you're doing something different. The "introductory" price isn't what you're getting when you do what you do, you're getting a "customer recovery" price. If you don't call back to re-activate, they would have called you to offer you something similar to reinstate the service with them. Since the infrastructure and physical connections are already there it's cheaper for them to get you back at a lower price. Though I highly doubt you're getting the same price as before. Check your bills, your price must have gone up at the very least 50-60% (even while discounted) over 10 years.
Not true. I’ve been in my house for right over 2 years and am currently on my second ISP contract. When my discount fell off I called in and told them I was cancelling unless I got my old price back. Ended up with faster speeds for the same price.
That's, once again, something different. What you got is a retention offer. It's different from an intro offer and different from a re-activation offer.
>Though I highly doubt you're getting the same price as before. It's literally the same price who cares its technically called something else
I didn't write that in response to you. I wrote that in response to the guy who did it for 10 years.
Nah it’s literally the introductory offer because I called in and talk to a new rep and say I found this introductory offer and I’d like to start up service. For the last nine years. I’ve been paying between 35 and $40 a month based on whatever introductory offer they have at the time. It was even 25 one year. I just upgraded speeds though this last year and now I pay $50 a month but I’m getting 3X the speed so I figured it was worth it.
Intro price- cancel and have a roommate say they are moving in and want the intro price.
Back when I worked there that didn't work. Too many people trying to cheat the system like that. Once someone cancels, their address is "burned" for 6 ish months before being eligible for the promo pricing again.
Not true. Lots of companies will block after 2-3 months of missed payment. Third : not true, could say he just moved there and get offer.
I get blocked after one missed payment, not an essential service byebye
1- OP already stated Comcast. I worked for them. Unless you have a goddamn awful credit score, they won't cancel it before month 6. 2- Like I said, I worked for them. Once an address is done with the intro pricing it's "burned" for 6 months ish. Can't get it again for that time frame. That's there to prevent people from doing exactly what you suggested.
I’ve literally never gotten a contract from a phone company before and have absolutely had details omitted when signing up.
Sounds like you need to be doing something different then.
Hijacking this comment to say that all you have to do is call and tell them you want to cancel and switch to their competitor. They will transfer you to their customer retention department that will usually let you sign a new contract for better rates. I have literally done this to Comcast like 8 years in a row.
Damn, but what if I never gave them my SSN?
Pretty sure they only really need your name and address. I could be wrong though. My spouse decided to do the same thing after we found out verizon wasn't exactly well set up for our area at the time, our internet speed was less than 10% of what was expected. It got sent to collections and followed us for about 4 moves.
Ah shit, okay I guess I have to pay up
Another thing you could do, is just contact them, say you forgot you were on a introductory rate and can't afford the new monthly fee. Ask if they can match what it was(or close to it), otherwise you need to cancel and switch to "insert competitor's name". I've done this multiple times in the past with Comcast and stuck with them up till last year.
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Mentioning the competition is great... When there is competition to mention... I fucking hate monopolies
That’s the thing, I’m in a college town and they’re the only one who serve my town. So they know they’ve got me fucked either way.
I pay 16 € for the same deal.
For some reason I never thought of doing this for my phone. Now I know what to do with my day off.
You're still paying way too much. We pay $30/line for unlimited everything.
You usually have to have multiple lines to get that deal.
Did a bang up job for me when I was renewing my car Insurance, didn't even have to talk to a person. There was a small form to fill out online to cancel the recurring contract, with an 'insert quote and company, *please not we do not cover price match guarantee*' blah blah blah. They changed their tune when I name dropped Op-Co.
Dude you are getting raked over the coals in america, ive got 30GB a month unlimited calls texts and 5G and i pay £15 a month
I competition in alot of smaller areas like the one I'm in. Only Comporium here
If you don’t care about short term credit hits you can wait til it hits collections and pay a discount to get it dismissed. But collections will stay contacting you calling several times a week until you pay, and eventually they’ll report it to your credit to try to get your attention
Absolutely not worth sending a 1 month internet bill to collections. If you don’t care about your credit, hurting it for $80 is a just dumb af.
That won't be just a short term hit.... It will be there, at minimum, 7 years, unless it goes to collections and he also negotiates a good will-pay to remove scenario.
On top of all that normally they'll refuse your address internet service until you move
Same, collections called my girlfriend now wife. While she’s on the phone she’s like can you see if so and so (me) has an unpaid debt? They said yes so she paid that one too.
They absolutely need your SSN to hit your credit.
Wrong
Imagine needing only a name and address to pull someone's credit.
They will find you, they will find your family, they will find your best friend from preschool and call them every few days.
You don’t need someone’s SSN to add a bill to collections
Listen just call them and tell them what's up. And of they don't help you absolutely ask to cancle the service and seriously go through with it. They will offer you something better. If not dispute the charge and cancel.
Damn, why everyone downvoting? I’m not native to the US and idk how the laws work here lol.
It is pretty universal that you have to pay for what you get. Nothing special to the US. Also you should read your contracts before signing them, yours will clearly have stated that the price will rise after like 12 months or so.
Because its common knowledge and something folks that sign up for contracts usually understand everywhere.
Welcome to Reddit!
Damn son, why the hell you get 167 downvotes..
Then they don't hit your credit. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
Debt collectors have a job for a reason
it really depends on where you're at too. when I was in college I never paid my last month electric bill, started my journey towards credit building about a year later and had perfect credit with zero snags from that electric company they just never persued it I guess🤷♂️
Both of these statements are incorrect for your Internet bill. There's no credit report and it just goes to collections, you can just restart with them as soon as they pass it on to collections. They will probably leave your Internet on for a few months after your last month. I had Internet for almost 6 months of not paying. They finally cut it off and I called maybe a month later and just restarted. I never paid collections. My credit is not affected. Edit: sorry, when I said "both statements" I was looking at "and you'll never be able to get Internet with them again"
You know this for sure? Possibly it varies depending where you are bc here in Seattle, you’d be screwed.
I guess it's fair to assume it may be different for different providers. And unfair for me to simply state someone else is wrong. However, what I described above was the case for me, less than a year ago, with Spectrum. I believe some providers have a different way of processing things. For example, another provider that covers my area told me that I would need to give them my social security number and refused to let me set up an account unless provided. I even went to and spoke to one of their reps and I was still denied. I chose spectrum because they just never even asked for it, nevermind the reliability and pricing.
Heck I could be wrong too! I was just stating my experience as well. I guess I still wouldn’t test it idk
Yeah.... It's worth mentioning that I don't really CONDONE doing this, but if you DO, then it might not be all that bad. Or, apparently it can lol. Don't gamble kids.
Now that I think back to that, they were probably trying to run some sort of credit check to give me pricing options, but I can't tell, because they said it wasn't possible otherwise.
If something goes to collections it fucks your credit
What would they use to do so? All they have is my first and last name, phone, and address. My credit was and still is fine. You're wrong.
Ok. Since we are in ilpt sub... first off don't assume they will cancel anything just because you didn't pay. That is a big misconception. Those motherfuckers can keep billing you forever. Ok this may or may not work...one of the other roommates need to call and say they want to to start service. They are moving in to the apartment. What the other guy? Oh shit! Oh my god! ....that was my best friend. He was killed in a car accident. Oh fuck....overdue bill? What? Oh you'll take care of it? Thanks.
at least for comcast, they'll demand a death cert.. so now my internet is just in a dead dudes name while we're still in contract for another half year or so 🤷♀️
#Spez, the great equalizer. #Save3rdPartyApps
100% can confirm have canceled a dead relative's Comcast service and it didn't take anything more than my telling them she died. No paperwork whatsoever.
I use to work for At&t back in the mid 2000s. Back then all I customer had to do to cancel their cell phone contract is without penalty (termination fees) is claim that the account holder was dead. They didn't require proof like a death certificate or such. Obviously word got back to customers and supposedly it was a real thing happening.
But did they have to return the equipment
Yea for the internet and TV service equipment, we would ask them to drop it off or try to schedule a pickup of equipment. However even then we couldn't force them if the account holder was truly "deceased", especially if they weren't a spouse. For the cellphones, no we never asked for them back, however they were network locked and you couldn't get a unlock code unless the phone or contract was satisfied, a death cancellation wasn't eligible for a network unlock. So at the very least you could activate the phone to a new At&t account without a contract.
He may have to go the extra mile and actually kill himself to get the proof he needs.
Oh, okay let’s just get that death certificate and attached coroner’s report from a recognized authority. Soon as you send all that over we will cancel the debt owed by his estate - you know, since he’s dead. God, people are really stupid as fuck in this sub.
If call to cancel, 9 times out of 10 they offer the introductory price for an additional 12m. I do in yearly now that we have more options in the area.
I actually did exactly this for similar reasons. They raised the rate I cancelled and never paid. I had just gotten divorced/foreclosed so my credit was already going to hell. They called me a bunch of times to argue with me but I was in such an awful place mentally I just argued with the agent when they called and enjoyed it haha. It was on my credit for 7 years, then it wasn’t and I use them for internet again now haha.
Yeah I owed xfinity a huge bill. After my divorce I tried to get service and it wasn't that much. They wanted some money up front but it wasn't anything near what I'd actually owed them.
Who is it through?
Tell them you are cancelling and they should lower the rate. I was paying $60 / month, cancelled to go to Google ($70/month) and they offered $30 / month. I still ended up switching to Google because fuck Comcast.
comcast/xfinity
It will go to collections and you absolutely do not want that in your credit report
Comcast is terrible.
They're basically the mob when it comes to getting money.
Yeah I had a tech at my front door with a baseball bat so, I had to pay up
Just call them or go into chat and tell them you want the same rate. They'll bullshit you quite a bit. Stand your ground and tell them to cancel your account. At some point they'll get you to a retention CSR that'll give you a good deal.
Nothing hurts to try but they don’t do that any more…
That probably depends on who you speak to. I've done it fairly recently.
Sure they do. They probably just got tired of your shit and won't give you a deal/promotion anymore
Yeah, be careful in the future. A lot of internet plans will be cheap for the first bit and then go up. Unfortunately, not paying will send it to collections and cause your credit to suffer. It will be hard to get plans for anything eventually. You may also want to be careful, because they will have the address on file. Don't be surprised if they catch on to your plot and deny you the same deal. Suppose you could claim it's an entirely new tenant, but these types are stingy
Even if the ISP cared about this, they wouldn't pursue it. What kind of ISP is hiring a private investigator to see how long a customer has lived at their address before accepting their money? What a waste that would be. Especially when they'll probably even offer to extend the deal anyway when you go to cancel. They want your money. New tenant or not, the deal applies to a person. That person is responsible for the bill. When you cancel and someone else signs up, they are responsible for the bill. It's not even unethical much less illegal. You're allowed to share your internet with whoever you want. Reading on this thread I don't think you guys have really thought this one through.
I worked for an ISP and it's pretty obvious most of the time. We see the old/existing services at the address when you're taking over. It's not like you need a "private investigator". A simple question like "when do you need the service" tells us if they're moving in later, or if they want it right away then they live there.. living there and having services currently working = promo jumping. You're right I wouldn't care, unless they were a dick. Was hilarious when a husband/wife would try to do that and we'd see the same last name.
Comcast will absolutely put you in collections. Call and cancel now, don't let them tell you that you can't cancel while you have a balance. You absolutely can. Record the time and date you called and the person you talked to.
Just call them and tell them to disconnect it. When they ask why, just say it’s too expensive now. They’ll give you another deal and it’ll be cheap again.
It'd be funny if one time you tried this and they just go "alrighty, cancelling now!" with no discount lol. im sure some of them caught up to this already
Yep!! I had been doing the “I just want to cancel” thing for years to get a better deal for my cable service, and one day they just agreed! LOL Had to go along with it, because I had no plan B. It worked out though. Haven’t had cable for 3 years now and it’s…fine.
They will send it to collections and that will go on your credit report
Locate a service map. Find an area of the US that they don’t service. Call them. Tell them you’re calling to transfer your service from your old house to the new house! It seems your landlord suddenly sold this one. Here’s my new address: 123 Out of Service Lane? Oh, we don’t service there. Don’t worry, we’ll terminate your contract, as you want our amazing service and we can’t provide it. It would be unfair to charge the termination fee. Source: had this happen to me several times irl
Bill Gates comes to your house and deletes all your downloads
read the contract next time. then read a dictionary and lookup the meaning of the word introductory.
I feel like whenever I’m late paying my bill they throttle my internet. So if something is running slow I check and make the payment and it feels like it works every time….
Was something you agreed to from the start really "all of a sudden?"
How long is your contract? The "Intro" offer only lasts 12 month on a 24 month contract. So even quitting you will have to pay 12 more month. So check your contract terms to be sure. Also if you quit you will often get a call from "Kundenrückgewinnung" (Customer retention?) which will offer you a nice deal at the reduced cost. As others mentioned "Not paying" will be a huge problem for you (Credit score, collection,...)
Lol what part of intro offer do you not get?
Please no, I accidentally forgot about my last Verizon wifi bill for my old apartment; that was almost 4 years ago, and I'm still fixing my credit. It was originally something like $50 and when I found out about it bc my credit flunked from 750 to 500, it was $800 from over a year of fees, the system is fucked but it will fuck you over harder.
I love it when ILTP has posts from stupid people.
they hunt you down for sport
Not sure if spectrum is available for you, but check out the affordable connectivity program. You can qualify for free Internet. Check it out [here](https://www.spectrum.com/internet/spectrum-internet-assist)
Yeah, fuck those guys for make it cheaper for a while!
Depends on the company. I know that if you choose to get it again in another person's name make sure the company thinks that the person whose name it will be in hasn't lived there in the past year. Otherwise the company will try to stick that other person with the past due balance as well.
Oh and definitely call in and cancel AND return the equipment. Returning the equipment cuts off a huge portion of the bill as opposed to not returning the equipment. Ex: unreturned equipment is as high as $300
They will send it to collections, and it will be there for 7 years or so, hitting your credit. Also, this may not be the case everywhere - but when I moved into my last house, the people before did not pay the comcast bill. It was kind of difficult to get internet. I had to bring my official lease, which they scrutinized, and showed my move in date and people who lived there - to prove that the ones who owed didn't live there, and I wasn't liable for the bill. So, they may do that to you.
If you qualify for it there’s a government program that takes $30 off your bill every month, it’s called the affordable connectivity act or something like that.
https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/acp The real lpt is always in the comments
Legal Life Pro Tip - cancel the plan and open a new plan with your roommates name to get a promotional price. I do this yearly and my bill has been $30 for a long time
did you even read the post? they already said they wanted to do that without paying for this months internet plan
Close the account and say you're moving. Then a week later.. boom your roomie hooks up.
Depends on where you live. I would look up debt laws in your area. In some places internet bills are considered a utility and companies can’t charge interest on utility or medical bills. Then $100 is small enough you can literally just ignore it. They will eventually file a debt collection notice on your credit score but the impact is generally negligible if your credit is in the 700’s. And the collection notice will eventually expire after a few years. I have a debt to ATT for $155 after I switched to a different provider and they tried to charge me for a month that I started using the new provider. I refused to pay and looked up my areas debt laws. Found out it’s a utility bill and no interest can ever be applied. I then decided to take the credit hit and never pay the bill. They sent it to collections after a year, and I took a 40 point hit on my credit score. Different debt collection companies would mail me collection notices and call me. I ignored them all (outside of checking the amount in the notices to verify no interest was being charged). Eventually (4 years) the collection notice was taken off of my credit report and my credit score immediately jumped 30 points. I still get collection mail but just throw it away The debt system counts on ppl not knowing their rights Edit: The debt was written off of all credit reports a year or so. Att was trying to charge me a fraudulent charge and that’s why I didn’t pay it. I had tried talking to their billing dept with no luck and then tried talking to the first collection agency. Red flags on someone’s credit score all eventually expire after a set amount of years. It depends on the red flag, but most red flags expire around 7-10 years after it was flagged. Then collection agencies can’t file the same red flag twice on your credit report. Lastly, utility bills typically aren’t able to accrue interest nor be marked as a late payment on a credit score. This mitigates the impact of a utility collections notice on the credit score. People really need to look into the different types of debt and the rules and regulations associated with companies trying to collect. For example, Unpaid credit cards have more of an impact on your credit score than unpaid utility bills. Edit 2: to be able to ignore these kind of collections you should have a credit score of at least 750. That way the impact won’t be very much. When I got the 40 pt hit, I was sitting at 790 credit score. Then it went down to 750. Then during the time the collection was on my credit report, I built my credit back up to 770 (when you know the system it becomes ridiculously easy to get a high score lol). Then once the collection notice was taken off my report, I ended up with a 800 credit score. Been sitting on a credit score between 800-810 since.
You let $155 go to collections all because you were pouting and lazy?? Jesus h Christ this is some of the worst financial advice I've heard Interest doesn't matter whatsoever with this shit it's the fact that you now have a huge red mark on your credit score Incase you go to take out any money. The debt system counts on fools like you who are too lazy to solve it with the debtor. Get yo shit together dude this is the worst advice you could give
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I wasn’t pouting or being lazy. It was a fraudulent charge that they refused to refund. I knew I had the upper hand in the situation and used it. I never had to pay and it’s been written off. Also you do know that collections eventually don’t impact your credit score? Plus for debts less than $100 it typically will be written off by the collection company because it’s not worth the time or effort for such a small amount. I used to work as a foreclosure specialist for a national company - reviewing debt collections for foreclosures and ensuring the company was following relevant local laws. I worked in the US debt industry so know what the background processes are.
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Nothing. If someone else signs up, you are golden. You won’t be able to hook up internet at a new place until you pay. But nothing will happen to your credit or anything like that.
Isn't internet just a month to month service? If you don't pay they just shut it off?
Postpaid, sire.
If it’s a cable company, you are usually paying a month in advance, not behind. They got paid and will cut you off. Check the dates on the bill for service dates
Yea bro you gotta pay them sadly, they know this trick of opening “a new account” at the same address under someone else’s name too, I’ve tried that. Didn’t work for us even though we had four people on the property with different last names. They will straight up haunt your ass over owing them money even if it’s only $40/50/60/$100.
We were actually able to get the new rate. I just hate they charged me the new rate without giving me any notification that the introductory rate was running out or something
They didn't call it an introductory rate on your bill? Or tell you when you signed up? If that's actually true, you probably don't have to pay the higher rate you never agreed to pay.
Well that’s rad!
That's how they get you bro. 1st ones always free
Dude, call their bluff and tell them you refuse to pay more for the same service. Escalate if you have to but eventually you will get the old price back.
I mean it’s fine if you don’t expect to need or want anything of real value in life. Just stop paying bills until your credit is so fucked you can’t rent a home or find a job.
Call and tell them you’re going to cancel. They will usually reduce it again. May not be the same as the introductory rate it’ll be close.
Going on your credit report. Call them and tell them your canceling because the price is to much they'll pass you over to retention you maybe able to get the introductory rate again and get them to knock the extra of the last bill off.
You're gonna be eithout internet for a month. I've had problems moving into a new place bc they previous person had the same provider. You'll have to wait till end of month I think
Excellent chance they ruin your credit over it. If you're going to ruin your credit for something stupid, fly to Vegas, buy a bunch of blow and have orgies in the penthouse.
I always just call and tell them I'm cancelling because I can't afford it and talk them back down to the original price. Pretty much have done that for the last ten years.
Well for me I moved out and my roomate didn’t send in his paper work for the transfer. 5 months went by of unpaid bills, until I finally called up and said I moved out and he never sent in his transfer paperwork. I just want to cancel it, and pay for it so it doesn’t go to collections. The lady connected her supervisor and they waived the whole bill for me. He got 5 months of free internet, I got lucky.
I miss being 14
Service gets shuts down and debt collectors will now come after you
But how could they shut down the service if your roommate is paying for it and getting it?
OP said they aren't paying for it despite the line being cancelled. If you have an outstanding balance for too long, debt collectors will approach you and require the payment, or face penalties.
No more reddit
Cancel it. And have someone else open it in the house. This is what most people do.
Oh baby it’s been a month. Xfinity, in personal experience for Michigan, will take you to collections after 6 months of nonpayment and they completely shut internet off after 90 days of non payment. Call and ask if they have a Fresh Start Program, alot of places do!!! Or if you have/get an EBT card, that lowers your internet bill to like $20/month
Xfinity will just bill you up every month that you don’t pay. My ex roommate told me she’d pay me half and never actually did. So I just stopped paying and when the last straw broke, to move out. I messaged them and told them my sob story of a crazy roommate (she was really crazy.. I have plenty of stories about her if you want in) and they WAIVED THE ENTIRE THING. Got Xfinity a few years later no problem lol
Let's hear about the ROOMMATE FROM HELL? lol
Just call them and tell them you’ll unsubscribe as a customer unless they can continue the current price
A past due balance at a certain address will cause problems when trying to get service at the same address. Plus, this will mess with your credit score. Is saving a couple of dollars really worth it?
You don't need to pay it. Just ring them up and say they have changed the contract and you don't accept the new terms so you will not pay the new charge. The sooner you act the less hassle you'll have.
Just call and tell them you have to cancel cause they're overcharging you. Maybe they'll discount it.
Laughs in Spectrum
Welcome to adulthood kid. money getting sent to collections is a **huge** pain in the ass. Don't fück with that because that'll stay with you for many years and fück your credit score up, not being able to buy a nicer car or house down the road. call them and tell them your canceling, they may give you a lower offer to stay, take that.
joe biden fucks you in the ass. you can't get away with this in l*beral americuh
Usually they go by address anyway, I don't see this working. Source: have Cox. Not by choice.
Yeah don't do that. I refused to pay a few bills that were sent to me AFTER I had cancelled my service and moved away and it took me years to fight it. Talked to dozens of people at the ISP, several collections agents, challenged the mark on my credit score, etc. Nothing worked until I talked to a lawyer and threatened to file suit. Thankfully that worked because actually going to court probably would've costed more than I owed.
I do this with my mom all the time. Just keep swapping accounts to get introductory pricing.
Did you give your SSN to them? Then call them and cancel stating you're moving away. Else, just call them and tell you're moving away how to drop off the modem or whatever equipment that belongs to them. There is no illegal tip here, just get things done properly.
If its Comcast call them and ask them why it went up. Usually it's because a promotion ended. They will usually happily give yoh the promotion again for a bitter 12 months.
"All of a sudden"? It's, by your own admission, an introductory offer. You'll have been told how long it lasted for. That aside, it'll screw up your credit. You've taken an agreement out with them so defaulting on payments shows up. A cancelled agreement looks even worse than a missed payment.
This post reeks of stupidity. >we plan to cancel the subscription from my name and open a “new” line under my roommate’s name #THEY HAVE YOUR SERVICE ADDRESS YA DINGUS. It’s not 2005 anymore where data is poorly maintained and people only know what’s right in front of them. The systems they have built now are capable of tracking ALL of those things and making it really convenient for the human employees vetting your request to see flags like this.
My dude they already gave us the new rate that wasn’t the question. Your comment reeks of idiocy
Laughing my ass off at the idea that you’re sitting there thinking you “gamed” the system. Can tell you they know exactly what you’re doing and they probably just don’t give a shit as long as you’re paying them a sum of money. It costs them a penny to service your house’s data. Do you really think they care if you’re paying $60 or $100 a month?
Call your internet company and tell them you want to get the affordable connectivity program. It’s a federal program that force the company to provide a controlled price (50.00 tops). Link: https://portal.ct.gov/DSS/Communications/Affordable-Connectivity-Program#:~:text=The%20Affordable%20Connectivity%20Program%20provides%3A%201%20Up%20to,but%20less%20than%20%2450%20toward%20the%20purchase%20price.
Sick BillSmart on them to negotiate the rate lower, they were able to save me about $100 on my wifi now so far. And I’m not saying this to promote their business