I hate cable service providers.

[Altitude]

I recently dropped the television portion of my cable service and kept just the internet service which is listed at 42.95 a month on Comcasts website. So I get my bill and there is this $12.00 monthly charge listed as "Performance Tier WOC."

So I called and asked what that was all about and it was explained that WOC means With-Out-Cable and that I have to pay that extra $12.00 because I don't have any television service. WTF? Not that 12 bucks is a big deal, but why the frig don't they just list it as $54.95 instead of listing the $12.00 as a "Performance Tier" making one believe they are getting something extra when it's clearly a penalty for not having basic television cable service?

Worst part is that Comcast has a monopoly in my area and I don't have any recourse other than to go DSL which by the way also requires basic phone service to get whatever pricing they list on their site ( I dropped my land line some time ago as well in favor of cell phone service only.)

Why can't companies just be straight up with their customers? I'm far more inclined to cancel a service after I find out about these sorts of duplicitous tactics than I would be inclined to not purchase in the first place if they'd just tell me the actual cost up front and not try to bullshit me by listing a penalty fee as a "Performance Tier."

*sigh*

[yaris-me]

Welcome to the world. Just bend over and smile. It's not the end, there's more!:bellyroll:

[Altitude]

Welcome to the world. Just bend over and smile. It's not the end, there's more!:bellyroll:

This I know all too well. It's just irritating. Sometimes makes we want to pull a Michael Douglas like he did in the movie Falling Down. Too many people are far too willing to smile in your face as they stab you in the back.

[Cosmonaut]

I love that movie! no one seems to know or remember what it is though.
as for the "service" sometimes politely bitching and complaining works to get discounts.

[zachryboles]

if you get it in your area i have ATT dsl w/o phone for 45..... i love it

[tomato]

Welcome to the world. Just bend over and smile. It's not the end, there's more!:bellyroll:

:clap:

isn't that the truth!

I hate that. I have Comcast and I wanted to drop my TV subscription in June when my trial period is up, and only keep internet, so thanks for the heads up.

$55 for internet only isn't cheap. (plus tax?!! that's close to $65 here) Grrrrrrrr :rolleyes:

[Altitude]

I love that movie! no one seems to know or remember what it is though.

It is a good movie. Here's a little tidbit for those that haven't seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eREiQhBDIk The video is a little screwed up at the start.

[eht13]

Falling Down is great. Comcast sucks. Their customer service scores are consistently low, and they don't even seem to care. Once the digital transition happened, we cancelled our cable and we just get free over-the-air TV now... fewer channels, but all the stuff we really watched anyway, and the quality is usually the same as cable. BTW, in most markets you can get standalone DSL without a home phone line now... and I think the pricing is the same.

[Altitude]

Regarding DSL - my only choice is Qwest and their pricing for service without a phone and for a slower speed than I'm getting now is only slightly less than Comcast. Not really worth it for me.

I think I might call Comcast again and tell them I'm canceling to see what offers they throw at me. But again, it just forces them to throw me a bone to keep me happy when they could just as easily offer the lower price without treating me like a circus monkey performing tricks.

[eht13]

they could just as easily offer the lower price without treating me like a circus monkey performing tricks.

But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun for them. :laugh:

[tomato]

I think I might call Comcast again and tell them I'm canceling to see what offers they throw at me. But again, it just forces them to throw me a bone to keep me happy when they could just as easily offer the lower price without treating me like a circus monkey performing tricks.

that's what they do. I called them once to complain about my package (when I signed on, I was quoted $129 for all 3, internet, basic digital cable and phone, and when I got the bill it was closer to $150*. They neglected to say there were taxes and other stuff tagged on. Learn from me, ALWAYS ask what it will cost INCLUDING TAX AND FEES, because it can make a difference. In California our taxes are close to 10%)

Anyway, I called them to complain and they just threw a couple more channels in the package to calm me down. I don't even know which one to be honest.

I like having access to some TV but I'm not willing to spend a lot of money to watch average programming. I have Netflix for movies anyway, and get my news off the Internet.

Out here AT&T offers u-verse, seems pretty decent, but I hate having to deal with AT&T again.

Not to thread jack or anything but what do you guys have, and how much do you all pay for Internet, Phone, and TV? Oh and where are you located?


* that's an introductory price. Will go through the roof when my trial period is over.

[tomato]

For the record, AT&T was a fine company for years, until they got bought up or split or something a few years back. Then the service went downhill, the bill went through the roof, some of the jobs went overseas, classic story. I got bills hitting close to $90 some dollars per month on a regular basis for a landline I hardly ever used :iono:

By comparison, Comcast's VOIP phone is outstanding, call clarity is excellent, price is fair and you know what to expect every month.

[Gideon]

Agreed on the Comcast sucks. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to take back their DVR and install a CableCard in homemade DVR I made. Had to tell them it was a Tivo in order to get the installer out to put the card in.

I did call in and complain one night when I had the time to kill. 3 reps and 2 supervisors and managed to get the Speed channel for free for a year, which made me happy. :biggrin:

[tomato]

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. A couple of years ago, I was without internet for several months on and off (signal came in and out whenever). It took many phone calls, several visits from people who couldn't figure out what's wrong. Comcast decided the problem was with the building and wanted to drill a hole on the side of the building to get the cable through, was adamant the problem was with the building. One day a supervisor shows up, and find that all that time, my cable was just pinched downstairs in the utility box. Whoever closed the box last didn't notice my cable was sticking out slightly and closed the box right on it, so that's why there was a bad connection.

Months of grief and phone calls and Comcast pointing fingers back to me, and it was something that stupid their own Comcast tech did ... :rolleyes:

[Altitude]

But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun for them. :laugh:

lol - bitches. :biggrin:

[BailOut]

After leaving AT&T for years after learning of the "snoop center" they had set up for the Bush administration in San Francisco (which happens to be the ring most of my traffic goes through) we came back to them late last year. We have their U-Verse package for Internet (12MB/2MB) and Television (U200 package (only wanted U100 and a DVR, but the U200 package is the same price and includes a DVR) and the non-premium HD channels) for $105/month. This reflects a semi-permanent $30/month discount due to my high-level griping about their bullshit local trial for data caps and surcharges.


Funny story about Charter Cable: Last year AT&T said they couldn't get to us for 10 days, and we rely on a Net connection for telecommuting. Charter said they'd be out the next day, so despite knowing their horrible track record regarding customer service and fiscal management (they file for bankruptcy every 4-5 years) we went with them.

The installer looked around our culdesac for an hour, trying to locate the tap that connects to our house. He was digging under snow piles and whatnot and never actually found it. Without my prior knowledge or consent he reported our installation as canceled.

So I call Charter and they send someone else out who actually locates the tap and gets us up and running, but I discovered in the first hour that something was totally screwed up within their email systems. I host our own email server but they force me to route all outgoing mail through them. This wouldn't be much of a problem but whenever we try to forward spam message to SpamCop or the FTC it eats them as spam. (?!)

This is an easy fix that requires their support staff to add just one line to a configuration file which whitelists us as a sender. Simple, that is, until I encountered their support system. To make a long and painful story short it took 3 days, 17 dropped phone calls, being hung up on twice, 4 emails and 2 supervisors for me to learn that they simply could not help me due to the absolute lack of communication and accountability within and between their support units.

I canceled and it was back dated to the point that I only owed them $17 to close the account. However, a few weeks later I received not just one but two offers for free $25 gift cards, one for each of our supposed installations. I used them both, so in effect Charter paid *me* $33 to fight with their support staff. :laugh:

[yarisitis]

Not to thread jack or anything but what do you guys have, and how much do you all pay for Internet, Phone, and TV? Oh and where are you located?

I pay $29.99/month for 1.5Mbps down with Verizon.

I actually talked to a representative yesterday about their 7.0Mbps plan for $39.99/month and found out that because of my location, I'm capped out at 1.5Mbps and can't receive anything faster.

[1stToyota]

I dropped all premium channels like Starz, Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, etc...so now my digital cable bill is only $88.00 per month. :redface:

[kustom play]

we pay about 32 dollars a month for internet through cox cable

we dropped cable, we have one of the computers hooked up to our TV so we just watch everything online or just watch basic TV

cable is a waste. Once cell phone companies come out with cheaper broadband access its going to be over for the cable companies

I use to have Comcast. I would just call them and tell them im canceling and going with Dish. All of a sudden they could magically lower my bill and offer me more options.

[tomato]

I didn't know VZN provided Internet. Good deal, thanks!! Anyone else?

[DevilGirl]

We have Verizon for phone and *finally* DSL. For the longest time, the only thing we could get for internet in our area was either dial-up, 1-way cable, or an aircard I had through Verizon wireless. Even though DSL had been available not more than 250 yards down the road for years...

We have a local cable company (RCN) for cable. They required everyone to get the converter boxes (which were a joke to be able to get up and running, even with 3 tech visits, and probably at least 4-5 phone calls to support). We upgraded one of the converter boxes to a cable card to use in the main TIVO. Even better yet was that a couple weeks ago, the 2 basic converter boxes go on the fritz (during Sunday primetime, I think the Olympics may have been occuring then), but the cable card is running fine. Worked great for his mom out in the living room, but sucked for both him and I in each of the other 2 rooms with TV's... Picture would be there; then gone while the box rebooted; then there again for all of maybe 3 minues; out again for another 10 or so; on again; off again; on again; off again; on again; off again; etc... I lost track of how many times it went on and off within a 45-min period... And of course when I tried to call in, I only received a busy signal. Guess lots of their customers were unhappy then.
:iono:
We tried switching to a different local cable company (Blue Ridge), that stated we were within their service area, scheduled to switch, tech came out to hook us up, only to realize the line coming from the pole was not adequate to support their service (after already drilling a hole in the side of our house), and we would have to wait a few days. So we waited, and guess what? When the other tech guys came out to route the line from the pole to the house, yeah, they found out that they still couldn't get us hooked up because the closet they had service to us was about 4 telephone poles down the road, and it was a terminal run. So, we still couldn't get cable from them. Boy did they get bitched out! :mad:


I lost some of my favorite channels to watch in the switch to all digital. The way they packaged the channels, to get just the 1 we wanted, we would have to buy a whole package. And most of their packaging didn't really make sense. So we had to forego some of the better channels...

[toad]

we have internet-only thru at&t. they have a deal in our area for $19.95/month which is dirt-cheap and we don't have to have a landline or cable(we use our cell phones -at&t also - and over-the-air digital signal - don't watch that much tv). it's listed as 'basic' high-speed internet and the salesrep admitted it's the slowest high-speed they have, but it's still better than dial-up! the only time i ever have a problem is watching stuff on hulu.com that i missed on broadcast tv. buffering is annoying, but i keep telling myself 'it's less than $20 a month!'.

[sqcomp]

I don't know what you little girls are complaining about!?! I have to pay $75 per month for eFn dial up crap. Not only that, I have to watch military propganda advertisements if I even turn on a tv here. Don't commit suicide! Don't beat your wife! Don't drive drunk! Re-enlist!

ARRGH! I'm gonna re-enlist, get blitzed, kick my wife in the poop hole, and then kill myself if you friggin' make me watch any of this anymore! (just kidding...I wouldn't want to hear the bitching if I kicked her in the cornbucket)

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent041.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

...does it count that I'm in Iraq though?

Aside from DFAC tv, I haven't watched a tv since early December.

[Altitude]

So last month my cable went out and I called Comcast. They sent someone out to fix it and discovered the cable had been disconnected at one of the drop points on a pole. So I get my bill and see this $40.00 charge for a "video trouble call". It is explained to me that the $40. was the service fee because I don't pay $1.45/month for a service protection plan. There are several problems with this:

A) I've NEVER paid for a service call before
B) When I called them about the problem no one told me I'd have to pay to have it fixed.
C) I didn't know the Mafia took over Comcast and requires that I pay $1.45 "service protection" per month to avoid service fees if they need to fix something.
D) How do I know that Comcast techs don't go around town disconnecting people so they can collect the fee?
E) Why the hell should I pay for service when I had nothing to do with the problem?

Seriously, what the frack is going on here? Has anyone else ever had to pay this monthly fee to avoid future service charges? I'm seriously dumbfounded and wish I could just kick Comcast to the curb, but my only other option is to go DSL/Fiber with Qwest, but to get a decent rate I'd also need to sign up for phone service which I don't need.

I swear I'm going to sell everything I own and just drop off the grid.

[GeneralDon7]

I pay $29.99 for verizon DSL 3/1.5mb without phone service . At my work I switched us to Comcast 20/15mb for $85 but it took them 5 months to install it. Comcast has the worst internal communication I have ever encountered with a company. For our other office we have Verizon FIOS at 25/20mb for $125, I would rather deal with Verizon then Comcast anyday. I'm like Tomato I use netflix for movies and the internet for everything else.

[shinlee]

yeah, I'm with comcast too, now that I've moved out here to WA state. Not a big fan of them, but after alot of talking too, they've seemingly reverted to being good providers. I've got their internet for 39.95 a month, and my first bill was almost 200 bucks!! They didn't activate w/e code my account was supposed to have for my internet, charged me an installation charge that I was never told about, and also billed me for 2 months at once!

Got it all fixed, and just recieved my new bill today for my third month, and it's 39.95 exactly, and so I'm happy now :)

[rningonfumes]

I switched from Verizon dsl/land line to a reseller called DSLExtreme and use free Voip via Ooma. Granted I still have taxes to pay on the voip, I come out positive on the deal. I believe I upgraded to 3/1500 for about 35 bucks. I would have stayed with the lower volume dsl but the house was starting to use more bandwidth plus I wanted to compensate for the VOIP.

A quick note on the "extra charges". I don't see a problem with them. Read the fine print and ask the extra questions before you sign up for things. Googling also helps to keep the surprises low on your part and gives you opportunities to make a list of questions you want clarified.

Because I quit the landline service, I knew that I would pay the extra fee to use Verizon's network to get my DSL from the reseller hence the 35 bucks instead of the 30 bucks, you'll see that often.

Understand what you're getting into before you sign up.

[fnkngrv]

My options are Fairpoint for 8mb DSL/digital phone for 30 bucks a month. Cable is Time Warner. Time Warner also has internet and digital phone. I went with TW since I was able to con them down into 117 a month which includes taxes for 10-15mb internet (they do "turbo boost" to the 15 when there is low traffic), digital phone, and 3 cable boxes (2 HD DVR and 1 regular). They were supposed to have a project completed by the end of August which would have taken the HD channel offerings from the 20 or so up to around 50 however they suck and didn't get the fiber run completed or something. I actually hate TW. I have traded in 2 of my HD DVRs for various malfunctions and my modem once. USA HD comes in for crap always freezing every so often and TNT HD does the same several times a week. I know more than their tech support about networks and IP Telephony so that makes it more difficult because I know how to fix the problems when they occur; they just sit on the other end of the line dumbfounded. I actually had an engineer once ask me, "are you some kind of Cisco Expert or something?" I am, but that is besides the point. The oddest thing is that my Vudu and MLB.TV worked SO MUCH BETTER on DSL when I had that then cable internet.