Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Cable Schmable



Comcast and I have a love/hate relationship.  As in, I love to hate them.  I am on the phone with them at least once a month complaining about the newest raise in prices and/or bad service.  I swear there is a flag on my account that pops up every time I call that just says, "Good luck - she'll never be happy."

That's the truth.  I just feel like prices keep getting higher and higher and the "after I've complained" price keeps getting worse and worse.  So now I am curious as to what other people are using.  Are my hands tied?  Do I HAVE to stay with them for cable/internet?  I've threatened to leave so many times now, that I don't think they are buying it anymore.  For once I just want to say, "No, this isn't so you'll lower my price, it's because you drive me insane."

Last week I called, complained, gave them my usual "I think I'll be switching to Dish," line - and I think they decided to add me to a new list of some sort because a few days later THEY CALLED ME to inform me of a better price option.  At first I was very intrigued.  The call went like this:

"Hello, Melissa - I see some notes in your account that say you are looking for better pricing on your current package.  I think I can help you out with that."  I smiled.  "Okay, so it looks like you pay $(X) every month for cable and internet, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm probably switching to Dish - it's just getting to be too much."

"Oh, well - I've got a great plan for you.  Now, do you have a home phone, or do you just use cellular phones?"

"Just cell phones."

"Great, great - this is perfect. Are you looking to get a home phone any time soon?"

"Never."

"Okay - great.  Well, now since you are paying $X/month for your cable and internet, I want to let you know that I can get you signed up today for a package that includes the same internet and cable you have now, plus a home phone line for only $45 more than you're already paying."

"WHAT?  Are you listening to me at all?  I don't want a home phone, and don't want to pay MORE than the bill I am already complaining about!"

"Right.  It's just a really great promotion that's only going on for a limited time, and since you're someone who we know likes to get in on the best pricing, we feel this the perfect package for your family."

Click.

Okay - I didn't really hang up.  I gave a few nice goodbye comments as I punched myself in the face. It's hopeless.

Please tell me you have Dish, or direct TV, and have great pricing and service. Please tell me you use someone other than Comcast - OR that you have slow Comcast internet and it works just fine for your family.  I can handle mediocre internet - and for cable the only real requirement is that I get DVR service.  Heck, I'd take only basic channels if I could get DVR with them.  Is that even possible?


Oh help!

BDEM:  Maddie and I raked all the leaves today.  It always LOOKS like such a fun and easy task.  Two hours later as my biceps and back throbbed I decided that it's just not as fun of a fall activity as I had hoped!  But in this time we had this conversation:


"Mom, all of the kids at school LOVE Michael Jackson.  Everyone but me."


"But Maddie, you DO love Michael Jackson.  Don't ever say such blasphemous words in my home again."  (Second sentence was only in my head)


"Oh yeah - I do like him, but there's somebody else all the kids love."


Eye roll, "Justin Bieber?"


"Yeah!  Him!  All the girls just LOOOOOOOOOVE him."


"Do you even know his songs?"


"No, but I don't think I'll like him.  Besides - I don't really think I'm his type."  


Then she ran away and pretended she was an Indian shooting arrows from her make believe bow.


Now, what kind of pop-star wouldn't be ga-ga over a gal like that?  











7 comments:

kathryn said...

we just do netflix and hulu plus. you should ditch cable/dish altogether. it's liberating.

Nicole said...

In orem we didn't have anything but over the air tv. I liked it - sometimes it was annoying. Right now we have Dish at my dads house - I don't know the price (benefit of living with a parent) but the internet is a good speed and we have DVR We have the 120 channel package with is one of the most basic - I really like it and when we move I will probably stick with them. I just hate Comcast so so SO much!

Stefanie Raynes said...

I'm with Kathryn...we just do the netflix and Hulu plus too...it's actually really awesome. AND...BEST BDEM EVER!!!

ComcastCares1 said...

A apologize for the poor experience. I work for Comcast and I'd really like to look into this incident. If it is not so much of a trouble, will you please contact me, provide your info and a link to this page?

I will also reach out to my contacts to see if we can offer a better pricing option for you so that you can save money.

Thanks!

Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com

kathryn said...

Oh my, is that last comment for reals??? Just how many blog followers do you have, Missy? Are you a secret celebrity?

Stacey said...

At Costco the other day they were advertising for Dish. If you signed up they gave you a $200 cash card for Costco. The cheapest cable price was $19.99/month plus $6 for the DVR. Not sure how their internet service is. The only one we can use here is Comcast and it's not the best service. We don't pay for cable either, just do the local channels, netflix, and hulu. Let me know if you want more info on the Dish deal. I will bring the flyer tomorrow to Thanksgiving dinner.

Anonymous said...

We switched to Directv like 3 months ago and love it. No joke the picture is ton better. We got a $180 gift card to Costco when we bought it, we said my parents referred us so we could get $10 off a month for a year. Anyways we get more channels, better picture, same bill every month, no monthly calls to try and talk down (I did the same game with Comcast). We got 3 DVRs for our house, and after tax our bill is $41 per month, but if we only had 2 boxes it would be $31 per month. If you decide to do that I can tell you how to get the extra $10/off per month for a year too. We are liking it so far. Good luck I hated dealing with all that.
-Stacy R