As inflation continues to rise, people are trying all the life hacks they can in an attempt to save those pennies. And during an episode of the Good Influences podcast, entrepreneur Mike Sheffer revealed how he got his internet bill reduced by $40.
“The best pro tip you if you want your internet bill to be lower, you call them and you say, ‘I’m canceling,'” he said. “You don’t say ‘My internet doesn’t work,’ you don’t say ‘I want it cheaper,’ you say, ‘I’m canceling,'”
For Mike, this is a foolproof method to lower your internet bill because “the cancellation department is trained to keep you as a customer.”
“Like, they would rather cut your bill in half than lose you as a customer,” he explained. “So if you get through to the cancellation department and tell them you want to quit, they will give you a sick f*cking deal before you quit. And then you just take the deal. And my bill went from 70 bucks a month to 30 bucks.”
@taylorblackedits_ Mike’s Pro Tips @Good Influences #fyp #podcast #mattking #eringilfoy #carlyincontro #shafer #tv #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Taylor Montgomery
On the one hand, there were plenty of commenters who could attest to this being true, with one user saying that they do this “once a year” while another shared how, by using this method, they lowered their internet bill from $80 to $25.
“Just request to get transferred to a retention department,” a third suggested, while a fourth commenter, who claimed to have worked in a cancellations department admitted, “It’s true. It hurts our metrics but it’s true.”
However, while it was certainly true for some viewers, the comments suggest that other TikTokers had less luck with their internet service provider.
“When I tried this, I got the person who said ‘Okay, no problem,'” one revealed, while another said their provider “couldn’t care less” whether they canceled their internet or not.
“They wanna keep you but they are more worried about new customers than old,” another former ISP employee revealed.
Ultimately, it looks like you’ll need to take a bit of a gamble in terms of trying this method with your ISP—but if it works, then it’ll be worthwhile.
The Daily Dot reached out to Mike via email.