F Comcast
 

Over the summer, Comcast "redid" my cable package. That meant that they added a bunch of channels I didn't want and charged me $15 for the privilege. In order to get my cable bill back down, I had to drop many channels I actually watched (like BBC America, NatGeo, and the Science Channel) but the new channels I didn't give a flying f*** about were now part of the "basic" package.

So today I open my Comcast bill and it is suddenly $10 more expensive. I look through my bill and I can't find a reason for this.

I called Comcast. After waiting 50 minutes on hold (and being mysteriously disconnected twice), I finally talked to a customer disservice minion who told me that I used to have a $10 a month discount, and it had expired.

Sure enough, I used to get a $10 month discount for having both cable and broadband. I asked if Comcast was discontinuing the discount. She couldn't tell me. Could I get the discount back? She didn't know. She simply said that my promotional discount had expired.

I explained that this was NOT a promotional discount. I'd been receiving it for three years from Comcast, and for five years prior to that with Insight. It doesn't expire. She couldn't help me, she said.

I opted for a "customer service survey". I got called about 10 minutes after the first phone call. Sure enough, before I could answer a single question, I got hung up on. Is Comcast perhaps rigging their surveys to prevent bad feedback?

And I see that they are "adjusting" the cable packages again in February--but no details on what that means. I assume it is moving the channels I watch to a premium tier and adding more crap to the basic tier, and charging me more, again.

:mad::mad::mad:

I feel your pain...Cindy & I have discussed dropping "comacast" & going dish for the TV...but then, what to do for high speed internet?

I agree with your sentiment.

When are they gonna offer the "Travel channel / food channel / Discovery / NatGeo / Local news only" Package?

I think you can do "double play", phone and internet, but they'll find a way to get the money somehow anyway.

We have DSL with Bellsouth and TV with DirecTV.

So far so good.

Drop them. Go with another service, and soon Comcast will be sending you special offers to win you back. These companies always offer new customers much better deals than their existing, loyal customers.

If you can stomach the hassle factor, switching back and forth between providers every couple years is the way to go.

When did Stockholders become more important than customers to businesses in America?

Anybody else remember the old business rule that it was cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one?


I have Directv and was mumbling about my bill.
What do you think of a $2.00 a channel a la cart plan. I probably only watch 10 or maybe 20 channels. At $2.00 a channel that would cut my bill by over 50%.

What is your contract length?

Typically any change to your service resets your contract.

FIOS tried that with me last year. My original 2 year term was nearly over and i made a change to my broadband that reset it.

Couple of weeks later they completely eliminated my original package and to maintain the same service was going to be $40 a month more, F that.

I called and *****ed up a storm.

My argument was pretty simple, I agreed to pay you X for the next 2 years in exchange for Y. You have eliminated Y so you are in breach. If I try to cancel my service then you would hit me with a $300.00 early termination fee. You can't have it both ways.

I got my channels back.

You'll likely not get far calling the normal support lines. Look up their Corporate numbers, find the Consumer Relations group. They have their own team of people that actually have the juice to do anything they want.

Be nice but firm. They listen to complaints all day, they'll have little interest in helping raging A-holes. If you can make em laugh a bit it helps.

Good luck.

I've thought of the same thing. Would make a ton of sense for the consumer. Won't ever happen. They need to pay the networks to carry the programming. The math would eliminate the ability to carry a lot of content.

Paul,
How do you feel about Qwest High Speed Internet? or is that not an option where you live.

Best,
Tom

that's why they are a good stock pick

they can screw people b/c they have virtual monopoly (or at least, duopoly) power

I have had Comcast for quite a few years now. They have a stronghold on the Philly market. I call every 6 months or so, shortly before my current plan expires, and ask for the latest and greatest promotion that saves me money. This has been working for me. I mark it my calendar so I don't forget to call.

I forgot to call once and my savings / promotional plan expired. It took some smooth talking, but they did credit me the difference on my next bill after they backdated the new plan.

You need to get them to forward you to the "retention" dept. Go get a couple ads for Direct TV and Dish network and call them back. Ask "why shouldn't I cancel and go with one of these?". Ask me how I know...

Verizon uses similar tactics. One of these days, I would like to only keep broadband internet and do everything with it (Phone, TV , movies...).

I'm real happy so far with AT&T Uverse. It is cable and high speed internet. Lots of high def channels and internet speed is good. May not be the cheapest but I like the quality and reliability. I have 8 TV's on it and they all are clean crisp pictures.

It's funny, I would pay more for the service if I knew they weren't continually trying to screw me. I wonder what would happen if someone entered the market with a little integrity.

Over the air digital broadcast + Hulu?

I hate comcast!!!!

Media monopoly is wrong

Cool. +1 for the good guys.

We will not experience free enterprise and competition as long the same company can legally provide both broadband access and broadband content. They know cable is the best access to broadband and they use that sword over our heads to sell us whatever content they feel like selling at whatever price they want to charge for it. Until we are free to buy from Comcast, Time-Warner, NetFlicks, and any the other content provider we want over our cable, we are at the mercy of whatever combination content/access provider has the monopoly in our area. They are always going to work every angle to give us fewer choices for more money.
The solution involves (teapartiers and republicans cover your eyes) government regulation.

Free Market Capitalism ROCKS!

F Government Regulation. Free Market Capitalism always lets consumers choose a brand they trust, and when that trust is broken, they have competitors lined up to choose from and accept their business.

Where else can companies F you over as they like, and when you change brands, they hit you with a cancellation fee, and the new brand you switch to hits you with an installation fee?

The Consumer is always in the driver's seat and companies are at their mercy, always working hard to earn the Consumer's business and money.

The problem is cable companies fronted the cost of installing all the cable. It was a huge capital investment, so in order to get payback the companies were given monopolies. So it's hard to have Free Market Capitalism on lines that Comcast, TWC, etc. own.

I dropped COMCAST cable TV and Internet access after Hurricane IKE. Our service was working fine for 2 weeks after the storm, THEN the signals went weak. Many channels wouldn't work and the internet connection was slow. I had many tech out, but they couldn't fix it, since it was a system issue. 2 months of that and it was gone, replaced by Dish and DSL through our business line.

The DSL ended up being too slow. We did run it that way for a year, but eventually I ponied up for a super highspeed internet (@$80/mth) back with Comcast.

I keep looking to re-combine my HDTV with the Cable Internet, but:

1) I cannot get U-verse on THIS block
2) Comcast doesn't have all the channels I get with DISH in HDTV
3) It won't really be any cheaper

I still have the DSL line as a backup, but it is almost free under my present business agreement.

I see that comcast raised my internet service by $7 also.

Xfinity IS Comcast.... I am going through a bunch of crap with thm right now also. Turns out they have been over charging me @ $11 a month for the last three years. They agreed to restitute only 6 months of it because it was MY fault for not letting them know sooner.. And Im also fighting over the phone service, which I dont really want anyway, but it comes with the package..

The cable itself needs to be regulated like any other utility monopoly. What we choose to buy over the cable should be up to us, not up to the company that owns the cable. My gas and electricity get here just fine and the gas and electric companies make a nice profit. That model should work just fine for cable operators.

Government regulation, in this case, happens at the local level, where the cable companies buy...um, er... bid for the local contract. So they are granted a limited duration monopoly.

However, all of this is changing and changing quickly. Why do you think that the net neutrality stuff was so hotly contested? Check out hulu.com, epixhd.com and youtube.com too. Google is in the cat-bird seat, and they have put the cable companies on the run. All of these cable companies want to be able to charge you for the privilege of using someone elses service.

The cables are bought and paid for. They should be deregulated, and thereby allowing multiple cable companies to share the wires. It's entirely possible with today's technology. Too many bought off politicians won't allow that, so the web is the path of least resistance.

It's just a matter of time. The consumer will win out, but the cable companies won't go down without a fight.

Oh, and don't think that the wireless companies don't want a piece of this too.

I will dump Comcast when I can get THIS somewhere else!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1294639411.jpg