What To Say When You Cut The Cord

"Cutting the cord" is the process of ending your contract with your cable provider. You may be replacing the cable company with a provider like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video, or sticking to free services like Comedy Central. Whatever the case, it will take a little work from you to cancel your contract.

Why do so many people put off this simple task? We're not immune to putting this off either – just ask our CEO, Alok. He decided he wanted to cut the cable in February 2018, but put it off until February 2019 which cost him $1,200 for a service he didn't need anymore. His advice, just do it! It takes far less time to call then you might think and 10 minutes could save you lots of money.

Know before you call:

Read your contract to see if early cancellation fees are listed. If you have a few months left in your contract, sometimes it's cheaper to wait it out and not renew. However, if you have eight months left, for example, it might be best to pay the fees for breaking your contract early. To quickly figure this out while you're on the phone, multiply your monthly payment by the number of months left and compare this to the fee you're quoted.

Once you've worked up the strength to call the cable company, here's a script to help you stay on track.

Here's how that call will probably go:

Customer Service: How can I help you today?

Hi, my name is . . . and I want to cancel my cable TV subscription effective immediately.

Customer Service: May I ask why you want to do this? Is there something we can do to better improve your service and retain you as a customer?

I’ve decided to cut the cord with cable TV and no longer require your company’s services. I’m returning all my equipment today and paying any outstanding balance to settle my account.

Customer Service: After looking at your account I see you’ve been an excellent customer. I’d like to offer you a special promotion that includes… how does that sound?

Stay strong! Don't fall for their sales tricks.

No thanks, I’m happy with my decision to cut the cord. I just want to cancel my service today. Will I be charged any fees?

Customer Service: Let me transfer you to our cancellations department.

The cancellation department will be able to process your cancellation, and let you know if you have to pay fees for breaking a contract.

If canceling cable is on your to-do list, what's holding you back from calling? There's no time like the present, and putting this off too long might cost you serious money.