FIOS at it again.

[stomachmonkey]

I'm 1.5 years into a 2 year contract for FIOS triple play, $99 per month.

Jan 6 I triple my band width for another $10 so I'm at $109 and it resets the clock on the 2 year commit.

14 days later I sit down to watch International House Hunters and a whole crapload of my HD programming is gone.

I recall seeing in the previous weekends circular an offer from them for new customers. $89.99 for months 1-12 and then $109.99 for months 13-24 and it includes the higher band width that I'd just upgraded to. Go out to the recycle bin and dig it up.

Friday the 22nd I call to find out what the deal is.

Come to find out that on the 18th they basically eliminated (renamed) the package that I had and if I wanted my programming back I had to get the new one. $109.99 for existing customers but they are going to toss me a $15.00 a month discount for months 1-12 then it moves to $109.99 for months 13-24.

OK, sounds fair, I was willing to go to $109 for the increased bandwidth, so I get that plus my channels back and it's $95 for the next year so I saved $60 for the year.

Kids go to watch Last Airbender tonight, guess what, we don't get it anymore. WTF.

Under my original plan there were 13 kids networks in the package. My "new" package only has 5 of them, the other 7 have been moved to the next level which is $125 per month.

After some spot checking tonight it seems roughly 60 percent of my programming has been moved to the higher package.

Of course if I try to cancel now they'll try and hit me with a $360 early termination fee.

Have spoken to 4-5 people there and not one of them even knew that the channel switch was happening and their phones are ringing off the hook with irate customers.

Now their terms do say *Channel lineup subject to change which I can understand given the recent issue with FOX programming and some cable providers.

But this is different. FIOS have reduced the monetary value of the service that they agreed to provide for customers whose original 24 month contracts have not yet expired. If they replaced the content with HD channels of equal value then fine but that's not what they've done.

They suck.

Calling Consumer Affairs tomorrow.

[jpachard]

I hate to say this but the cable/TV business is horrible. I stopped paying for cable 2 years ago but seeing as you have children that makes it really hard.

[chapo]

bunny ears here. Don't really see the value for it.

[jyl]

Ouch.

I don't like the idea of extended contracts for TV. We tolerate them for cellphone service, but there at least the service you're getting is somewhat fixed during the contract term. All you get is voice service (and maybe data service), the quality might degrade but they can't really take either away.

[stomachmonkey]

So after numerous phone calls I have reached an fair and equitable arrangement with FIOS.

In fairness every representative that I spoke to was polite, courteous, willing to do whatever was within their power to rectify the situation. Every person that told me they needed time to look into it and would call me back actually called back.

Although I spoke to many people who simply did not have the juice to get done what I needed done they were all tremendously helpful so I give them points in the customer support dept.

Things started clicking when I placed a call to the EVP of Public Affairs, Policy & Communications in NY. His assistant answered the phone and although he was travelling she patiently listened to my issue, gave me the names and numbers of the right people to call and told me to call back if my problem was not resolved.

So we're cool again.