[andrewgjohnson]

I like the post but I think you're incorrect on cause. I don't think it's a matter of how large or small the provider is; I think it's a matter of empowering customer support reps (a rose by any other name: the people you talk to on behalf of providers.)

When the rep has the ability to make decisions and give these small deals I think they often will and your blog post is the reason why: it's not hard to see that the discount was relatively minor (I imagine you're not breaking the bank with your monthly GitHub bill) and by giving it to you their downside is the small temporary discount while the upside is a nice blog post praising them and lock-in loyalty for the rest of the life of your company.

Big company example would be Amazon. Every time I have an issue and email them I am amazed by how reasonable they are in the first email. No "here's a bad offer and I'll go talk to 'my boss' about a better one only once you yell at me", no "sorry you should have read the terms of service" but rather "here's the obviously reasonable solution, have a nice day sir"

[sethbannon]

That's a good point. The ability to talk with someone at a company who's empowered to make such decisions might be what makes the difference here.