So if you never had a bad experience with your cable/internet company, I’m sure you at least heard a handful of people complaining about it at some point.... That is because the vast majority of them suck!!! I made a one year contract for a cable/internet/phone combo with a company last year. They give you a special discount for one year when you are a new customer and then they raise the price in like 50 bucks. So I called them in the beginning of the year saying I wanted to cancel cable because i never use it, and only keep my internet. It took me 3 calls to manage that. The first time the assistant said someone would come to my house to pick up the cable equipment on the following day, nobody showed up and after I called again they said they didn't have anything scheduled.... Awful service! So then I called again and scheduled for them to go pick the equipment today, between 5 and 6 PM because I’m not home before that. Imagine my disbelief when at 1 PM they call me saying there’s someone in front of my house and if I could let them in.... Well, of course I can’t I’m at work!!! Stupid people.... So they assured me the person would go back at 5 PM as previously scheduled. It’s a nightmare to have to deal with these companies. They don’t do anything right. They pay very little to employees, give very little training and expect them to be efficient. But none of these companies are efficient, and the victim ends up being the customer! Have you ever had trouble with cable/internet providers?
I still don't see how any of them could be bad as Comcast. I remember when Comcast was Adelphia. I never had problems with my cable then but of course Comcast had bought them out somehow. When I had Verizon DSL it was a slower speed but their customer service wasn't bad and they had very rare outages. I also don't think they costed that much. Now we are locked into stupid Comcast's triple play. If they were allowed to rule the world they would.
It is amazing how much time and effort major cable/ internet providers put into customer acquisition only to increase the prices drastically once you've become a loyal customer. They have the greatest advertisements, send out millions of flyers in the mail, and have commercial after commercial about how much you can save and how much you get. While planning my move from out of my parents' home to my first place, cable and internet were on the top of my list. What I did not anticipate was the headache of trying to choose between ten bundles and seemingly thousands of channels. Of course the customer service agent tried to sell me on things that he could not explain well. Being in customer service through college, I do understand the frustration of being a new hire, dealing with frustrating customers, all the while not feeling like you have been properly trained. I feel in certain call center environments the main objective and largest reward comes from being able to make a sale. I just don't think the standard of customer service is the same or is as important as making the sale(s). I decided on the bundle he was most knowledgeable on which also happened to be the most expensive and the one he earns the most commission/bonus on. I didn't know that I was locked in on the price for a certain term until I received a bill over $200.00! When I called to cancel, they did try to ask a lot of questions in regards to my dissatisfaction with the service. I did have to hold several times for long periods but ultimately they not only offered for a technician to come out (free of charge, guess there's usually a $30 fee depending on your area ), but they renewed my contract for that same rate. The representative was able to let me know if I called before my contract was up they would renew me at this rate annually. They did give me free movie channels for six months and a month free on my Digital Video Recorder. As a loyal customer I would just prefer they send out a notice of some sort saying your contract is up versus trying to "blindside" me. They do more advertising than that to acquire customers. I can see how your experience would give you a change of heart. I know that Time Warner does charge for everyday you have equipment, even if it's not in use. If they're in your area though they do at least offer the same rate. I know it's not always easy to remember when a cable contract (of all things) expire. They also have the "freebies" (that you have to call and cancel after six months) and discounted rates on services when there's an outage or they're late or whenever you have issues with your service in general. The pro-rations aren't much but when they charge every penny per day, the savings and extras are seemingly worth it! Hope that helps and I hope I didn't break any rules by mentioning company name...
Oh my... I almost wish my husband was here to write this post. We have nothing but issue after issue with our cable company. Just the fact that our cable doesn't work half the time is enough! When we call customer service the initial wait is normally 20 minutes or longer!!! Seriously! I swear I think they want you to get so mad you just hang up. Once you do actually get to speak with someone, you explain the whole issue and it never fails... they say they have to transfer you to someone else. Only to make you say the entire thing again. Their answer to every problem is... reboot your cable box!!! Every time! Then they apologize and say they will set you up with an appt. At least here when they do come they never can seem to find the issue. After all of the problems we have had, unfortunately, it's not easy to just switch to another company or direct TV. We live in a community where our cable and internet is included so we have a contract. UUgghh. Just not easy! Danyel
Uh, oh. I'll bet this thread is going to get rowdy, lol. Cable companies are the worst! Here's my two cents: We moved to Norfolk in 2013, and chose Cox. I use the term "chose" very loosely, because there was only one cable company in town. I won't even get started on the stupid cost for the internet that didn't work or the cable that went offline every Wednesday like clockwork. At least we didn't have a contract. But, setup was a nightmare. I waited on hold for almost an hour for a representative who messed up every step of the call. He entered my mother's phone number (the backup phone number because I didn't have a job yet) as the main number. She lived three hours away and they could never manage to update the phone number. We had to play a bizarre "game" of telephone where my mom called us to tell us which thing they had wrong at each step. They came to the wrong address the first day. The second day, they refused to install the cable because their system for some unknown reason said our apartment was "#D." My lease, my other utility bills, and the post office all said it was "#4." But, the agent would not install cable because of the "4" on the door. The CSR also somehow messed up my security question- about my favorite food. I couldn't actually choose, but I saved a note saying I had said "pizza" that day since that was what I was in the mood for. It took a solid week of trials to get the cable finally installed. What a mess! We moved back to Richmond this May. Now we have Comcast. I was 39 weeks pregnant when we had the cable installed, so I was moving like a turtle. I asked for an afternoon installation so I could shower and get as close to feeling human as possible before they arrived. They gave a 1 p.m. arrival time. At 9 a.m., I heard BANGING on the door while I was in the shower with shampoo in my hair. I made it to the door, and the guy was really short with me. He said it was going to take a while because our wires were "all messed up." He kept going to his van for long periods of time. He smelled a lot like alcohol. I can't be sure he was going back to his van to drink, but if I were a betting lady, that is the explanation I would put money on. Now, we have a coax sculpture over out living room doorway. At least the cable works, unlike Cox, but the bills are insane. Every single cable company is just terrible and I want them out of my life. If only HBO were a la carte...
The place where I worked had a terrible experience with Charter Cable. They came around and installed new cable boxes and left new remotes, only first they didn't get it set up right so none of the TVs worked, then they came back and "fixed" it but ended up disconnecting something else outside, so we had to have them come back a third time to fix their mistake just to get the TVs up and running. It was a huge hassle and there were a number of guests complaining about it and everything. To quote a coworker, "Charter is a problem". I'm sure some people have had a good experience with them, but that's mine.
Ugh, cable frustration does seem to be nearly universal. We haven't really had any issues since we moved last year, but prior to that, dealing with comcast was an absolute nightmare. Same kind of thing...they put a lot of effort into getting new customers, tempting you with good prices and initially friendly service that you would assume would be helpful later on down the line, too. Only to raise their prices (often without even telling you), try to add extras into your service that you didn't ask for and then suddenly become impossibly unhelpful. The scheduling thing was always a problem, too. They'd schedule us for a certain block of time and just never show up at all, or the time frame would be early in the day, say between 12-3 and they'd show up maybe by 6. It's interesting to me that people seem to have these same problems across the board...especially with how much people pay for cable and internet a lot of the time.
Do you have many choices in your areas? As soon as Boardwalk Empire is over, we're dropping the cable altogether until Game of Thrones comes back. We have a Roku box. It does amazing things. With that, a Netflix subscription, and a digital antenna, we don't need cable.
Do they say to you "thank you for choosing Comcast"? That really grinds my gears. What person would possibly choose a company after getting treated as poorly as we did with Comcast? I know the employees are supposed to say that though so it's the idea of the corporates.
It's amazing how all cable companies seem to have horrible customer service. Perhaps its because they know people will pay for it anyway. I have never had good interactions with my company. They have long wait times, don't know how to resolve my problems...and if they send someone, the guy is always late. Sometimes they come a day or two later than expected too.
Forever cable company worker right here. I do have to say that the complaints have more to do with the particular company than just cable being horrible. From my experience working at a small cable company in Western Pennsylvania, I will agree with the majority of these postings. I worked there for about six months and I was surprised at how much we weren't allowed and/or were forced to do. The company I worked for did let customers cancel their service as they did not have any contracts. That was a common question I always had to answer and the majority of people seemed surprised regarding that fact. Usually, we were forced to try and retain a customer and if we couldn't, then AND only then were we allowed to transfer to the proper department. The only time we didn't have to ask why they were canceling their service was when a "death" was the reason for cancellation. I do wish that customers weren't forced into having to use a particular company, but there are deals and contracts regarding all of this. Company A can be on one side of the street, and Company B could be on the other. You can live at 510 Applewood Lane and have A's service and 511 Applewood Lane could have B's service. It's confusing to customers and I understand why they get frustrated. My advice regarding service calls would be to ask and see if you can get a "call before", which means that the tech will call you 15 minutes before they are scheduled to be at your home. It was something that the company I worked for used and customers were happy with it.
Oh my goodness, my saga with Comcast is on-going. Their prices are through the roof and the customer service is appalling. Here's the best tip I can give to anyone having trouble with Comcast cable or Internet: Tweet them! If you send them a tweet @comcast they reply almost immediately and your issue is escalated to the corporate office before having to deal with online chat rooms or un-trained phone employees. It's amazing how fast (by weeks sometimes) this will fix your issue and has a much better chance of getting money back. Comcast is pretty much the monopoly in my area, so I've had to learn the ins and outs. Another tip, don't just accept the price on your bill after the promotional period. Call once it's over, threaten to leave, and see what pricing fixes they can do to keep you. All of a sudden you'll have free HBO and DVR. Amazing!
When I first got DirectTV, I told them multiple times that I was moving and gave them my new address a bunch of times. In spite of all the communication they still sent the installer to the wrong address and even when he reluctantly came to the right address, they sent my bills to the wrong address for 2 months. The DirecTV commercials that say moving their service is easy are lying.
I'm not sure what the cause of the bad customer service in the cable and satellite industry is. It's seems to be a reoccurring problem people have in day to day life. I can't even count the number of people I've spoken to who have complained about it. And the bad thing about it, is that I've heard just about every company mentioned at some point or another. I think it may stem from the fact that people love TV, and they're probably going to pay for it regardless, and there aren't that many competitors in a given market, so customer service is bad because there is little incentive for it to be improved due to the lack of competition.
Yes, I have Comcast, and it does under-perform in services, but ultimately it's my fault for not negotiating better terms and conditions. What's even more annoying is the fact that I live in a area where few cheap internet providers are licensed to do business, so I am stuck with Comcast - yeah, there needs to be more competition in U.S. internet and phone providers, because if one can't get good service at least have cheaper prices. Then again, one day I'll figure out a way to plug my own satellite up in the sky and rig it for rental use, then I'll be my own internet provider.
Anytime you have a lack of competition you're going to see service and the overall quality of a product service. That's why government run agencies are so poorly managed. They don't have any competition that forces them to improve. I definitely think we need more fierce competition in each market for cable and tv companies. It's really the only solution I can see for the poor service.
Well, I know what you say. I think that the problems are because they always try to manipulate you, or at least this is what they did in my past experiences. They always try to manipulate you to "buy" their product, they want you to use their services as much as possible, if it's good for the company then it is good for them too.
