This weekend, a sales rep for Verizon showed up pitching the Verizon FIOS/bundled services and I wanted to pass on my impressions on their tactics and what you should consider in advance of the hard sell I got at the doorstep. While I'm aware that customers switching from Comcast, the worst customer service company I've ever encountered, to Verizon, are quite happy, there are some considerations here that you may find interesting.



Initially, a Seemingly Attractive Offer


At first glance, he seemed to be offering a signup package that was more lucrative than the ad I had just been mulling over from the mail that day. By now, several of my neighbors have switched from Comcast to Verizon FIOS/bundled phone/internet packages and I'm one of the few holdouts in the neighborhood. I assumed that I had some leverage to see if I could push for a more beneficial offering to entice me to switch over since the acquisition costs in this business are high and the incremental service costs are quite low (they're not actually selling me a hard good or providing expensive human capital, it's simply bandwidth and an occasional customer service call so they should be able to afford a cut to acquire a new customer and still turn a handsome profit). Here was what he offered up vs. the best offer in the previous Verizon advertisements.

Salesman Offer vs. Advertised Signup Deal:

• Starting base of $100/month for the phone/internet/TV base package. Same as ad ($99).


• He offered an HD Multi-room DVR free for 3 months upon signup. Verizon ad said "get HD multi-room DVR for the price of a standard DVR" - slight edge to salesman.


• $6/box for each additional TV for non-HD boxes. Ad made no mention of this.


• Since we watch series (what is the plural of series? I digress) on HBO and Showtime, I asked what it would cost for those packages. He handed me a sheet outlining various packages. Each actual channel had an additional fee, so the HBO set was $16, the Showtime set was $15, the Starz package, MAX, etc., each had their own fees. Since we primarily watch HBO and Show, this would be $31. Ad made no mention of those prices (see what I got over the phone below).


• He made no mention of any activation fees. I didn't have the ad in front of me, but later on I noticed the fine print: $29.99.


• He made no mention of an early termination fee. The ad cited: $179. I'm sure for this and the prior item, they would have been in the small print on the contract he wanted me to sign.


• He could not quote any taxes or fees. These weren't noted in the ad either. They like for you to realize this after you get your first bill.

Sounds Pretty Good so Far, Right?

This all sounded reasonable and I was considering switching
except for...

Very Aggressive with an Exploding Offer

In the Negotiations lexicon, an exploding offer is one in which the opposing party presents you with an ultimatum whereby it inhibits your ability to assess your other options, perform your own research, talk over a decision with your wife, etc. This is a common tactic you'll encounter when negotiating a new car deal and services such as DirectBuy (i.e. "If you don't sign up today, you can't enter this store again or sign up for x years [as impractical to track as it sounds, I know people who bought into it and signed up that day for a few thousand dollars only to find later that they regretted it due to the high shipping charges and other factors]). An exploding offer is generally one made from a position of weakness and as a consumer, you should ALWAYS be suspicious of an exploding offer. If a merchant is truly offering you a fair deal, there should be nothing to hide, right? Once you research further and assess your options, you'd come back and take them up on the deal, no?

The exploding offer I got was that I had to sign up for the service on the spot or else there was no other way to attain the same deal he just offered. Here's how the conversation went and how I tried to counter his exploding offer to maintain an advantage.

Sales: So, all you have to do is sign up now to take advantage of this great deal.

Me: Well, I need to research this a bit further; I don't just make decisions like this on the spot. Do you want to take my number and check back in in a day or two?

Sales: No, I'm not allowed to take numbers down, you have to sign up now.

Me: OK?...Well, how about you give me your contact information and if I want to go with it, I'll give you a ring and we can finalize the same deal we just discussed?

Sales: I can't do that either, I can't give out my number, the sales have to be completed while I'm out here.

Me: Look, I don't even know if you can port my number. That was a huge headache with my wife last time we moved. How am I supposed to confirm that prior to signing up?

Sales: I can check that once you sign up and you could always cancel.

Me: Really, this is quite an operation you're running here. Where are you headed to next, are you able to come back later?

Sales: I have some other houses in the neighborhood I have to visit.

Me: OK then, why don't you just pop back in later then. I can do some preliminary research and then you can come back [**my thinking was that I was going to call Verizon directly and see if this was actually a better deal than they were offering or if I could do better through them...I also needed to see what the implications of cancelling Comcast would be prior to signing up].

Sales: No, I can't do that because I'm not affording other people the same opportunity to sign up for this deal that way. Look, you're obviously getting a better deal through me since when you sign up with Verizon, they know you're coming to them so you want the service. With me, I'm coming to you; this is a one-time deal which is very good for you.

[It was clearly evident that he DID NOT want me to research his proposal versus my other options and was attempting to push me into signing up via an exploding offer]

Me: You know, I don't know what kind of operation you guys are running, but I'm not interested. Take it easy. [Slam].

Downsides of Accepting This Exploding Offer:

Termination Fees from Existing Service: Many people are currently locked into 1 or 2 year service contracts with their current service provider and they don't even know it. This is very common for both cell phone companies and cable/TV/phone companies. If you cancel within the initial lockin period, you could incur charges of up to $400 in some cases just for cancelling! In this case, I was not even given the opportunity to call Comcast and see if I was currently under contract for a particular period or if I could cancel at any time. If I was under contract, any savings he could offer with his exploding offer would be trivial.

Able to Get a Better Deal Elsewhere: This is often the case with exploding offers. What I found out upon calling Verizon myself and seeing what they could do for me above and beyond the advertisement was that if you ask for it, you'd be surprised at what you get (see Savings Tip on Making an Offer they Can't Refuse).

Actual Call to Verizon Offered Just as Good a Deal

So, check this out. After he left, I called Verizon and was able to obtain the following benefits over what their ad deal. I started the conversation like this:

Me: Hi, can I speak with a supervisor please?

Verizon: May I ask why?

Me: I'm one of the last holdouts in my neighborhood to signup and I need to have some better terms than what you're currently offering in order to leave Comcast. I need to speak with someone with the authority to grant a change to your stated offer; do you have that authority?

Verizon: Hold on, I'll connect you with my supervisor.

After that, I was able to negotiate the following improved terms:

• For $30, they were able to offer all the premium channels HBO, Show, MAX, Starz, etc. for $30 vs. the a la carte the salesman had at $15-$16 for each station type. I didn't need all these, but for the same price, I would have gotten many more channels for the money through calling in.


• While I'd pay $15.99 for the HD-DVR initially, they were giving me free HD boxes for the other rooms, which he was not. Roughly, a wash, but something he couldn't offer nonetheless.


• They DID confirm that they could port my number, which was important to me. He couldn't.

If I pushed them, I probably could have won out with some additional concessions, but at the initial inquiry phase, the Verizon rep over the phone had already been able to offer roughly the same net pricing that I would have paid to the salesman at the door, but on my terms, my timeline, with my comfort level.

The bottom line is: I could have signed up for something I regretted and worst of all, missed out on the excellent opportunity that followed via my negotiations with Comcast the next day. Make sure to tune in to see how much I'm saving now with Comcast by pitting them against Verizon and how I did it!

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