"Sometimes you can get a better price by almost going away…"
Moral of the story: companies want your business. Obvious? Yes. But how badly? On a smattering of services I'm signed with, some on a free trial basis, others on regular, clicking the "Cancel" button and proceeding towards the exit door led me to a page pleading "Wait!" and showing me a somewhat-better offer. This is true in the case of GameTap (another free month trial), Blockbuster (lower monthly charge on some, but not all plans — be sure to compare the before/after tables), and eMusic (but I canceled them anyway because they don't warn before charging you after you run out of 35 "free" downloads, and found myself dinged US$10 without having a chance to confirm… bad form!).
Even if you aren't seriously thinking of quitting a service, try pressing that "Cancel" link anyway — see what's behind the Exit door. Almost always, you get asked to verify. At the worst, you can rejoin with little hassle. At the best, you save some bucks.
This is Torley, helping you build your bling bling holla dollah! 
Got any fave sites you saved money on by nearly canceling? Let me know in the comments.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
It's not a web thing, but US Cellular has an insane retention department. I called to cancel because I was only using the phone a few minutes every month, and they offered me a 5 minutes a month plan for $7/month. When I eventually called to cancel that a year or two later, they still tried to get me to stay, but there wasn't much they could offer at that point.
With credit cards, I wouldn't use this tactic. A lot of them will let you cancel without much attempt to retain you. That doesn't mean you can't get a better deal though. I call my credit card companies about once a year or two and get them to give me something. You just have to ask for it. They can often lower your rate, give you a promotional rate, etc, without any cancellation threats.
Afraid to say but i'm planning on downgrading to Basic on TSL, since I can't enjoy my account anyway at-the-moment, and I pay yearly. My computer currently crashes (the entire computer, not just SL) when I turn on something that uses 3D graphics. (Except for iTunes. Gotta love Apple!) So, i'll format it only in a while, and get my iMac even later than that, so currently, i'm downgrading. Plus, I got enough L$ for now! (I got L$23,000 , which is H-U-G-E for an average dude who knows scripting, on the teen grid
.)
as someone who works in customer service in a call center i'd like to note that this does not always work and you may end up with your service cancled when you don't really want it to be.
the service i work for has a retention team which we send disconnection request calls to, and they try to keep the customer, however, if the customer tries this multiple times in order to get a better deal on service, the retention team will just decide they've had enough offers and close the acct, unless you tell them you changed your mind and to leave it alone.
@Gigs: Good advice; sometimes it pays to ask nicely! (Otherwise, how does a company know you find their price too high?) I know some folks have done it with ISPs too.
@Smiley: That's a harsh situation to be in! Sorry to hear that, and I hope your tech gets back up to speed soon enough.
@nimil: Thanks for sharing, and it's definitely important to keep that in mind.
I guess it all depends on who you are dealing with and what the customer service agent is empowered to do. I heard stories where people were about to get discounts for the next 3 months with Comcast when they threatened to cancel their service. Sometimes it costs more to get a new customer than it does to retain one…. that is how most companies look at it. But then you always have the customers that cost more to keep and you don't mind losing – we call them PITAs…
@Dolores: Yup, so true. Almost always, it doesn't hurt to try, and I'm also reminded of Timothy Ferriss' anecdote of dumping a portion of trouble customers that caused his company disproportional wastes. He cites Pareto's principle to great effect.
If anyone is looking to buy a copy of Maya (3D design software), you'll be offered 5% if you click away from the window before putting your order through. Not a bad savings, considering the software costs $3,990.00.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7931839&linkID=7679627
WINBACKS ARE THE WAY TO GO! CXL YOUR SERVICE AND THEN LESS THAN A WEEK, CALL THEM BACK AND THEY'LL ENROLL YOU IN A WINBACK SINARIO. THE BEST METHOD I'VE FOUND. GREAT DEALS CAN BE HAD TO WINBACKS.